Not So Common Afterall: Marx and Rock and Roll

I was giving a lecture to my class tonight on Marxism. In this part of the country such a lecture does not usually go over well. Of course I have this pathetic need to feel accepted...even by my students....so to get them thinking about class consciousness I play Pulp's _Common People_ (see lyrics below as it is currently my theme song). I think it makes a good point about class consciousness bordering on class conflict. The students liked it, even though they have never heard of Pulp and do not know that a fag in Britain is only a cigarette. Anyway, I'm feeling very cool and hip as some of my students admit in front of the class that Marx isn't so bad and the song was pretty good. I feel 22 all over again. At the end of class my non-traditional student who is well over 55 comes up to tell me how he finds it ironic that Jarvis Cocker (Pulp's lead singer) made so much money off of a song that uses the working class as its protagonist. He then told me how he saw Pulp in concert a few years ago at an outdoor concert in the U.S. So I no longer feel 22 or hip. I then feel like I have to "one-up" him so I quickly let him know that Pulp was in the latest installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise and he looks at me and says, "oh yeah, I know. I saw it last year."