The three young drifters who occupy center stage in Coupland's first novel hang out in Palm Springs, California, pondering the future and underachieving at their "McJobs." This is the book that defined the last lost generation of the century: underemployed, overeducated, and definitely unpredictable.

Nirvana's definitive grunge album, NEVERMIND, turned 1991 into "the year punk broke" -- a mere 15 years after the debut of the Sex Pistols. The gloriously cynical and powerfully melodic album sold 10 million copies and introduced an unwilling underground star in Kurt Cobain. Meanwhile, somewhere in England, Massive Attack and My Bloody Valentine pushed the sonic envelope with two other landmark recordings.