All across the land, it’s that special time of the year when the freedom of summer abruptly ends and is replaced with the structure and rigor of institutionalized education. Talking about back-to-school season, of course, and even if those days have passed for some of us, everyone can relate to the feelings and memories associated with this time of the year. And for many (including this writer), those memories are not particularly fond. The late great Kurt Cobain apparently shared that sentiment, but before he was filming iconic music videos in high school gymnasiums mocking “teen spirit”, he wrote a song about the subject of school itself, an absolute banger off Nirvana’s debut album Bleach. “Won’t you believe it? It’s just my luck. No recess!”. It doesn’t get much worse than that, except for maybe this line: “You’re in high school again.” Those of us who hated school can no doubt relate to the palpable angst in this little ditty, captured perfectly in this slamming performance from 1993. Play it loud. R.I.P. Kurt.
