The grunge movement became the face of teenaged angst and rebellion for the better part of a decade. In 1996, 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis fully misinterpreted the sentiments from one the genre's most popular acts when he used a Pearl Jam music video as a model on which to base the mass shooting of his classmates. Much like the subject of "Jeremy," Barry was experiencing major family dysfunction in the months leading up to this--his parents had divorced and his mother spoke frequently of her plans to commit suicide--and the added stresses he incurred at school made him clinically depressed. The boy's attorney argued that the music video, which the real-life incident pretty closely resembled, may have incited Loukaitis' rage and pushed him over the edge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS91knuzoOA This is perhaps unrelated, but it's interesting to note that Pearl Jam didn't release another music video for 6 years after "Jeremy." Lead singer Eddie Vedder has reasoned that the videos too frequently detract from the music, but you have to wonder if the situaton with Loukaitis didn't add to his weariness.
