Deviate Unsane writer James Greer on the death of Cobain and birth of Gen X
“This is a thing that journalists do—they take a ‘two is a coincidence, three is a trend’ sort of thing and try to manufacture an idea out of it.” – James Greer
James Greer is a screenwriter, music critic, author, and former rock musician. He-wrote the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh’s film Unsane, which is set for release on March 23rd.
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and James discuss his early career as a music critic and Spin magazine (4:00); Generation X and James’ role in popularizing this demographic cohort (13:00); the Nirvana revolution and the band’s impact on music (25:00); the legend of with Kurt Cobain (39:00); James’ post-Spin life (54:00); and his transition into screenwriting and making movies with Steven Soderbergh (1:04:00).
Notable Links:
- The Upside to All the Online Chatter About ‘Girls”, by Rolf Potts (article)
- Proceeding With Caution, by David M. Gross and Sophronia Scott (article)
- Greer’s 1991 Spin article about Perry Farrell and Generation X
- Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, by Douglas Coupland (book)
- Pretty in Pink: The Golden Age of Teenage Movies, by Jonathan Bernstein (book)
- Generation X (demographic cohort)
- Grunge speak (hoax)
- Richard Linklater (director)
- Slacker (film)
- Janeane Garofalo (comedian)
- Jim Rose Circus
- Bro (subculture)
- Max Keeble’s Big Move (film)
- Just My Luck (film)
- Lindsay Lohan (actress)
- Jonathan Bernstein (screenwriter)
- Steven Soderbergh (filmmaker)
- Sex, Lies, and Videotape (film)
- Sex, Lies, and Videotape Movie Edition (film journal and screenplay)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark, by Steven Spielberg (remix version by Steven Soderbergh)
- Unsane (film)
- Red (digital camera company)
- Day-and-Date Release Strategy
- John Barth (author)
Music-related links:
- Spin (magazine)
- Bob Guccione, Jr. (Spin publisher)
- Rolling Stone (magazine)
- Nirvana (band)
- Lollapalooza (music festival)
- Perry Farrell (musician)
- Slanted and Enchanted (music album by Pavement)
- Matador Records (indie music label)
- Sub Pop (indie music label)
- Nils Bernstein (music publicist)
- Post-punk (music genre)
- R.E.M. (band)
- Hüsker Dü (band)
- The Replacements (band)
- Pixies (band)
- Fugazi (band)
- Soundgarden (band)
- Sonic Youth (band)
- Billy Idol (musician)
- U2 (band)
- Eddie Vedder (band)
- Kurt Cobain (musician)
- Janis Joplin (musician)
- Jimi Hendrix (musician)
- Jim Morrison (musician)
- Ian Curtis (musician)
- Mia Zapata (musician)
- Kim Deal (musician)
- Courtney Love (musician)
- Henry Rollins (musician)
- Guided by Voices (band)
- Dead Moon (band)
- Death Hags (band)
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
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