“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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