My generation sucks

That there
That's not me

I go
Where I please
Radiohead, "How To Disappear Completely"

People keep telling me that every generation had its share of pop culture bullshit. But how can they explain the nonsense that's been going on the last few years: Taylor Swift winning Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammys after Kanye West couldn't keep his big-ass ego in check for one night. A mediocre series of novels is hailed by millions of their fans as the heirs to the brilliance of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, then become blockbuster movies that appeal to fickle-headed teenage girls who want their dream boyfriends to be sparkly (quite literary), Prince Harry-like handsome, and share sentiments that their life sucks (even though their higher middle-class and come to school decked out in Abercrombie & Fitch gear). Musical heroes aren't what they used to be: we had pioneers like Kurt Corbain, Tupac, Michael Jackson, to name a few, who we idolized, almost religiously, but now heroes consist of manufactured pop schlock like Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Bros., and Justin Bieber. And every generation had its share of fame-seeking, attention whores looking for their 15 minutes, but if they could see what Perez Hilton, Heidi Montag and Paris Hilton will do to keep their names in the tabloids, even they would agree that those freaks are going too far. In my generation, apparently, good taste is hard to come by.