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)

• MTV Buzz Bin

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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