Now, there’s a song that still gives me a great feeling. From the early high school days, “Kids In America” is a Reagan era teen angst classic. It smelt like teen spirit way back in 1982, long before Nirvana. You know that girl in high school that could always make you laugh no matter how crappy your day was? The girl that defended you from homophobic bullies just by being so funny she could diffuse any room of tension? That girl will always be Raven.
You know, the girl who was cast as the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz cause she could cackle better than anyone. If you were halfway across school in B Wing, you could hear her screaming all the way over at the gym. She spent most of her day “fixing” people, basically embarrassing people or drawing attention to what was already obviously flawed about them—usually jocks and popular people getting payback. She was a genius at this and got me out of many jams, plus we had a lot of fun along the way. “Kids In America” was one of her favorite songs and she got to lip synch it one New Year’s Eve in 1991. It was actually a paid gig at a goth party and the kids went wild for it. I remember you could still smoke in clubs then and Raven used that cigarette as the ultimate cool prop. It was such a great feeling to watch that performance that New Year’s Eve and see the fruition of the fascinating creature known as Raven!