I can see the author's point. The last century probably did not as much though bring about the change, only it brought us together via the news and internet and made us more aware. I think it also put ideas in people's heads and made people starved for negative attention- better than no attention.

Nov. 1, 2006 — It turns out that Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" is the voice of my generation.

It narrates the 20th century's transition from optimism to disillusion, beginning with some dude's poetic idealization of his girlfriend, and dissolving amidst the sound and fury of encroaching insignificance.

Watch the full report on the "World News" webcast.

It's like taking your date to the malt shop and winding up in a tomb.

The song's unforgettable opening guitar riff has earned it a place on many an aerobics mix tape, and justly so.

Its lyrics tell of an escapist teen love. I imagine the song's subject, "Sweet Child," wearing ripped jeans and several Cyndi Lauper bracelets, our narrator picking her up in the back of the trailer park in his green Impala, and they cruise to Makeout Point.

As the lyrics go, Axl Rose sings, "I'm just sitting here staring at your hair, and it's reminding me of a warm, safe place where as a child I'd hide." I can see them embracing tenderly, and going to shoplift a six-pack of Schaefer. So far, so good.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Slash's guitar drops the nihilism of postmodernism, and lite-rock riffing gives way to wah-wah-drenched fury. His melody lashes out like the neglected cry of some abandoned creature, like the grasping arms of a drowning man.

Our narrator's voice resurfaces — deep, growling and utterly changed. He's asking a simple question, over and over. It repeats and builds into a falsetto wail, an epic complaint that demands an answer he knows he won't get.

Lost Ideals

It's one thing to write an essay bemoaning the decentering of contemporary man in postmodern society.

It's another thing entirely to play a wailing guitar solo that viscerally embodies that decentering. Slash's solo is our voice — 2,000 years after a resurrection we never witnessed, facing a future that seems insoluble.

"Sweet Child O' Mine" doesn't simply pin its hopes for the satisfaction of mankind on idealized romantic love. Nor does it mow over the daisies and burn down the malt shop.

Instead, it proposes an ideal worth fighting for, admits the ideal is unachievable, and dares to ask, "Why the discrepancy?"

This question continues to echo unanswered from crappy dashboard radios in crappy green Impalas throughout our land.

Curt Cloninger is a writer, teacher, artist, and designer. His work has been featured in I.D. Magazine, HOW Magazine, The New York Times, Desktop Magazine, and at digital arts festivals from Korea to Brazil.