When L7 released “Pretend We’re Dead” in 1992, the song distilled the reactionary spirit of grunge, alternative rock, and young culture in the early 1990s. But the Los Angeles rock band wasn’t trying to kickstart a movement. They just wanted to rock. And as “Pretend We’re Dead” proves, that’s what they did. But the song’s origin story may surprise you.
Apathy Is the Point
Donita Sparks delivers the song in the kind of ennui that partly defined Generation X. She speaks to the boredom and isolation many felt in the early 1990s. And if Neil Young is the Godfather of Grunge, then you might see this track as a descendant of his “Rockin’ In The Free World”.
What’s up with what’s going down,
In every city, in every town.
Cramping styles is the plan,
They’ve got us in the palm of every hand.
Speaking about the ruling class in America, Sparks wonders whether ignoring them might somehow empower the powerless. However, apathy is often a primary goal of politicians, so sitting out the elections is exactly what they’d prefer. John Lennon once sang about this in “Working Class Hero”.
When we pretend that we’re dead,
They can’t hear a word we’ve said.
Neither Moral Nor Majority
In 2012, Sparks told Spin that “Pretend We’re Dead” was nearly a love song. In her Echo Park apartment, she began writing lyrics about a guy who had broken her heart.
“The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘I just pretend that you’re dead.’ And I didn’t mean it in a malicious way, not like I wanted him dead or anything, but I truly felt that the only way I could get through this was to pretend this guy was dead. I had to mourn him.”
However, the nature of the band at the time didn’t allow for something so exposed. “At that time, there was no room for showing vulnerability in our band, so love songs were out of the question. No one knew about it. It was a personal suffering,” she said.
So instead, the song “became kind of a commentary on Reagan/Bush-era apathy.” For those too young to remember—and I envy you for this—the “Moral Majority” was a political movement founded by the televangelist Jerry Falwell to mobilize conservative Christian voters.
This is Sparks’s revolt against the movement’s absurdity. Still, “Pretend We’re Dead” could have been a breakup song. And it may reveal a different kind of truth about the allure of identity groups and the many façades they conceal.
Turn the tables with our unity,
They’re neither moral nor majority.
Wake up and smell the coffee,
Or just say no to individuality.
Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images