The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin by Maxim W. Furek
Book

Review by Jim Colyer

People born between 1965 and 1978 became known as Generation X. In his book, The Death Proclamation of Generation X, Max Furek portrays them as a Lost Generation, not unlike the one Ernest Hemingway wrote of in The Sun Also Rises. Generation X is marked by low economic status and a sense of alienation. Many are from broken homes, children of Baby Boomers who became parents in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Furek uses celebrities, noted singers and musicians, as examples of how the good life passed this group by. Xers are prone to drug use, especially heroin, the hip drug of the 1990s. Furek has researched his subject meticulously. The volume of young celebrities he confronts us with is at times overwhelming. I have heard of many of these music groups while knowing nothing of their music. The themes tying Generation X together are those of frustration and despair. Their barren youth expresses itself in their art. Three Xers tower above the others. They are Kurt Cobain (b. 1967), Marilyn Manson (b. 1969) and Anna Nicole Smith (b. 1967)

Kurt Cobain and his group Nirvana became the focal point of the so-called grunge movement, originating in Seattle in the early '90s. Nirvana hit the big time with an album called Nevermind. Cobain was addicted to heroin. He lacked the inner strength to deal with stardom and committed suicide in 1994.

Marilyn Manson defies all standards of decency. Some see him as a second generation Alice Cooper. But Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, took it much further. He billed himself the "Antichrist Superstar" and took to ripping up Bibles on stage. The press proclaimed him the leader of "Goth," a trend among Xers toward black clothes, morbid themes and mideval interests. I corresponded with an ABBA fan who was born in 1965. She had an affinity for the Middle Ages and the books of Anne Rice. It might have been ABBA who saved her. Indeed I saw the 90s in terms of the worldwide ABBA revival, one which culminatated in the Mamma Mia! stage musical and finally in the movie with Meryl Streep. For someone who defines the music of the last 55 years in terms of Elvis Presley, The Beatles, ABBA and Shania Twain, Furek's book is a revelation, often shocking. I was vaguely aware of many of the tragedies described but chose to look the other way. My indifference may have contributed to the marginalizing and scapegoating of Generation X.

Anna Nicole Smith's real name was Vickie Sue Hogan. She seemed to lack a real identity. She was a high school dropout and topless dancer who, at 26, married an 89-year-old Texas oilman and billionaire. Anna Nicole became Playboy's Playmate of the Year for 1993. Her ambition was to be the "new Marilyn Monroe." She was found dead at a Hard Rock Cafe Hotel in Florida in 2007 with 9 substances in her bloodstream.

Not all Xers have self-destructed. Shania Twain, born in 1965 in northern Canada, used her talent and looks to forge a massive career in country and pop. She took responsibility for her siblings when her mother and stepfather were hit by a logging truck and killed in 1987, and despite a recent divorce from Mutt Lange, Shania gives all indications of being down to earth, a good mother and shrewd business woman.

It took 10 years for Max Furek to write his book, and his study is a penetrating one. He remains an avid crusader against heroin and other dangerous and addictive substances.