Teenage Rebellion

In 1994 I was thirteen years old
watching Oasis perform Live Forever on TFI Friday
then chat with Chris Evans
and Wiiiill
and they’d advertise a gig at Brixton Academy
and I’d think ‘I really want to go’
and they’d say ‘we’re on MTV tonight’
and I’d think ‘I wish I could watch’
but we didn’t have Sky
and I couldn’t go to London
because I lived in North Lincolnshire
and had to do my homework
and have piano lessons,
play Greensleeves until my fingers bled
and I’d hear Steve Lamacq say
‘Sleeper are at Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Elastica are at the Astoria
Ocean Colour Scene are at Hammersmith Apollo’
and he may have been mentioning Tolkien villages
Jupiter's moons
cities in Ancient Greece - Sparta, Olympia, Corinth
but I liked Blur.
I liked The Boo Radleys
and I still think we’d have won Euro 96
if Steve McManaman had played to his potential
and Jamie Redknapp had stayed fit

but he had bad knees
and Euro 96 was a disappointment
And Supergrass’s second album was a bit of a let down.
Damon Albarn said there was a blizzard of cocaine
but I’d never even tasted Kronenburg
and I’d listen to Nirvana
while I was doing my paper round
and want to run away
I wanted to scream into microphones
I wanted to rip my clothes, live under a bridge
sip whisky like Begbie
but I didn’t because I had to be home
for my tea.

So one night I stayed awake until 3 in the morning
when I heard my dad’s snores
I took his car keys from his trouser pockets
reversed his Peugout 205 down the driveway, swung it out of our cul de sac
waving my middle finger out of the window
like a windscreen wiper
and I threw stones at the window of the prettiest girl in school
she jumped into the passenger seat
kissed me on the cheek
put a bottle of Jack Daniels on the dashboard
and we drove to a field
but don’t even get out of the car.
I turned round, took her home.
we didn't drink any booze
because I was worried that my mum and dad might have woken up
and were sat in the living room
worried
in their pyjamas.