RIP Ozzy Osbourne

Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” was one of those songs that resonated with my teenage self and still resonates today. Maybe I never grew up. It shaped me, along with Feyerabend’s /Against Method/ and Patti Smith’s “Easter.” And Bru-u-uce of course.

Tell me this is not the ultimate teenage outsider lyric:

And so, as you hear these words
Telling you now of my state
I tell you to enjoy life
I wish I could, but it's too late

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qanF-91aJo

Re: Patti Smith. I bought “Easter” for “Because the Night”, but “Horses” was the revelation. The opener: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZOq5mJkrX0

Springsteen’s album “The River” (his whole oeuvre) really hit home with a pair of working-class kids, first in their lineage to go to college*. Yeah, “Point Blank” is overwrought, but it captures a certain feeling certain people (who I could name) have toward the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQcxrt9-6ZI

As I tediously remind you, I was the first person in my family to graduate from high school*.

Springsteen’s “No Surrender” used to be Our Song when Dawn and I were in our thirties. But the “Point Blank” attitude has taken over as we aged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txKhQ9cbhgo

Though I admit, “Stolen Car” hit home for me even in those optimistic(er) days. These lines seem to me to capture my life:

I'm driving a stolen car
Down on Eldridge Avenue
Each night I wait to get caught
But I never do

Your rebellion won’t make a dent in the universe. You’re not even worth squashing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0RNWwXcQiU

> Your rebellion won’t make a dent in the universe. You’re not even worth squashing.

I think this is too careless mixing scales and needs more specificity with the 'worth' word before drawing any conclusions. i.e. humans don't even come close to having the faculties to judge what the universe deems worthwhile. Though humans do have some understanding about other humans and their judgements on worth, which our rebellion does/can have a major impact.

It’s a statement of recurrent personal mood, not a factual claim.