Sexlib’s Critiques DISCLAIMER These critiques are of stories that usually deal with sexual conduct. As a result, these critiques may be unsuitable for some audiences. Reader discression is advised. “Teen Spirit” by Bradley Stoke This is an uncharacteristically bad story from Mr. Stoke, at least based upon those stories of his that I have taken thus far the opportunity to read. This story, more specifically, suffers from a number of mistakes, mistakes that cause an otherwise excellent work into a mediocre piece. The author clearly implies that Nirvana were metal. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a metal band, of course, but Nirvana were definitely and purposely <i>not</i> metal. Most would label Nirvana as grunge, and indeed Nirvana <i>was</i> the band that brought grunge into the mainstream. But grunge can be a vague label, as bands like Tad are more likely to be labeled metal and bands like Mudhoney are more likely to be labeled punk; thus, for a wholly descriptive examination of Nirvana’s music, one must go beyond merely saying “grunge.” Nirvana was influenced by both metal and punk, although they primarily saw themselves following in the tradition of the latter style. According to a news report, the audio of which is contained on Nirvana’s <i>Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!</i>, the band is best described as a post-hardcore band. I tend to think that this description of their music is most apt, although reason compels me to add that they also recorded some alternative rock songs that could not be described as a varient of <i>either</i> metal <i>or</i> punk. Suffice it to say, however, that any description of Nirvana being a metal band is simply and wholly inaccurate. Next, the author claims that the main character is listening to Nirvana’s <i>Nevermore</i> when a second character enters his room. Yet, Nirvana had no such album. Their most famous album was titled <i>Nevermind</i>. Let us not confuse Cobain with Poe. The second character has to look at the back of the CD case to discover the title to track one. One could possibly forgive her for this, if she is simply not very familiar with music. But this character is only thirty, and indeed <i>has</i> some interest in music. One would think she’d be at least familiar enough with the most famous song of the ’90s not to need to look at the back of the CD case for confirmation on its title. One would think, but again, we should probably forgive her for that. We cannot forgive, however, the author for his error in presenting the title of the song. Consider the following paragraph: <blockquote><blockquote> “<i>Smells like Teen Spirit</i>?” she commented, reading the sleeve notes.</blockquote></blockquote> Titles of songs are not supposed to be placed in italics, but rather in quotation marks. But beyond this, the ‘L’ should be capitalised. With the exception of the song “tourette’s,” the first letter of every word in every title of every song by Cobain should be capitalised, as this was the convention Cobain employed. Thus, this sentence ought to have read as follows: <blockquote><blockquote> “‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’?” she commented, reading the sleeve notes.</blockquote></blockquote> Other than this, the story was absolutely excellent, and does well to demonstrate my view that lack of proper communication leads to most of the world’s stories. Definitely worth the read, once you get passed the music-based errors. • No rights reserved. •