# I Want My Generation X Identity Back **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 14, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658 "2005-01-14T03:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/61 "2005-01-16T15:01:32Z")
> [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > **zweisamkeit** : > This one sentence made me laugh: > > “I grew up watching Nick at Nite” > > Yeah, if you _grew up_ watching that channel, you are too young to be an x! Yeah, which is why I said I’m just a bit too young to be an X. 🙂 Although I still say “I grew up watching/reading/whatever that” for things I started doing at, say, age 17 or so, hee hee. But like I said, I kind of feel like I’m in between the two. Can I be a member of “Rick Jay: Generation Me, Volume II”? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/62 "2005-01-16T16:25:26Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > I was born in 1957, and I’ve never thought of myself as a Baby Boomer. I was just a little too late for all the defining events of that generation. Neither am I Generation X - a little too soon for them. I think I’ll agree with **RickJay** : I’m a member of Generation Me. Same here, I tend to identify more with Gen X than Baby Boomers. I find the Bowling for Soup song [1985](http://www.anysonglyrics.com/lyrics/b/bowlingforsoup/1985-Lyrics.htm) hit’s just a little too close for comfort, except without the self loathing and hating my life and shit. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/63 "2005-01-16T19:15:32Z")
> [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > I wouldn’t say that at all - that you have more in common with x rather than y. > There are a ton of y’s out there that love 80’s stuff. What you have in common with them and not us is that they like the stuff, whereas we experienced it, you know? > > It’s one thing to think new wave is cool, it’s another to remember buying the latest from Gary Numan from Sound Warehouse. > > I mean, I like a lot of things from the 30’s: the furniture, the architecture, the music, etc. I wouldn’t begin to suggest that I have lots in common with my grandfather-in-law! > > It’s one of those things: you were there or you weren’t! 🙂 Preach it, brotha! I worked with a bunch of kids (to me) for awhile - they were into 80’s music, and one of them got kinda annoyed with me for knowing **every single song** that he played. Can’t help it - 80’s is my era. My friends and I listened to the videos, bought the albums (yes, some were still actually LPs), discussed who was cool, read the Teen Beat articles, put up the posters on our bedroom walls, and went to see them in concert. We were there. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/64 "2005-01-16T20:06:06Z")
As a representative member of Generation Y, born in 1984, I request an immediate amendment of title. For which of my peers, of any background, from any walk of life, having each taken our individual paths and absorbed our various experiences, cannot look back upon our childhood, on the halcyon days of our youth when the world was but a plaything and a wonderment to our eager and bewildered eyes – which of us cannot reflect upon this time, join hands, and together raise our voices to the heavens and sing: “_Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Heroes in a half-shell…turtle power! They’re the world’s most fearsome fighting te-e-eam…_” Come, members of Generation TMNT! Cast off the label your elders have bestowed upon you, an join me in proclaiming your true identity! _Kowabunga!_ ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/65 "2005-01-16T20:08:55Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Man, be glad you fellas have a generaiton identity. I’m 23 (born 81) and I’m (thankfully, actually) not even a part of G-Y. I’m stuckj in the no-man’s land between all those tiny peeps just now getting into colege and those giants who made all the fortunes and blew them all over again during the heady 90’s. Born in 1982 here (first child). Parents are really early boomers (1948 and 1951). Not sure what generation I’m supposed to belong to. Frankly, I never really worried about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/66 "2005-01-17T10:30:19Z")
I was born in 1978; my mother was born in 1950 and my father was born in 1951. I remember listening to New Wave and buying 12" Nik Kershaw singles. I own compilation LPs with titles like “Raiders of the Pop Charts,” “Dance/Rap '84,” and “Choose 1985.” I remember when Michael Jackson was cool! I remember the Challenger disaster and Chenobyl. I remember fearing that Reagan was going to blow us all to kingdom come. I played with Star Wars figures as a kid and saw “Ghostbusters” and “E.T.” at the movies. I remember hearing “Smells like Teen Spirit” on the radio and being blown away by its energy. My teenage years were during the grunge era. But I was very aware of the world around me at an early age. Most of my peers weren’t. I certainly identify more with the Generation X’ers than Generation Y, but I think I’m close to the cusp. ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/67 "2005-01-17T13:25:38Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Yes, but were they acid-washed and overly tight, with those little triangular flaps on the front? Made me laugh, but no. I wore plain ole Levi’s. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/68 "2005-01-17T14:55:40Z")
I agree with the rough 1961-1981 division. Too late to be drafted into Vietnam or even be close enough to worry and, if 1981, too late to experience the full cold war. Sounds about right. Being a Gen X’r, to me (born 1965) meant: - Actually thinking the U.S. was losing the cold war. News, books etc. had themes of the Soviet Union gaining on us and being able to dominate militarily. It was only nukes that kept the wolf away from the door… - Incompetent U.S. military. It seemed that whereever we went, we had real problems looking like we we’re even in anyones league. Vietnam, Iranian hostage rescue anyone? - Maybe this is my imagination but there seemed to be a de-emphasizing of children. Children seemed less welcome in the world. Movies should teens behaving badly…The Omen, Exorcist, Rosemary’s baby and the like. Schools seemed to be underfunded compared to what _I thought_ the past was like. Children more of a burden then a joy. - A world that seemed to be in economic decline (at least the U.S.). Japan was taking over. High gas prices…harder to find even min. wage jobs. It seemed like the 70’s was one long recession and the 80’s not that much better, especially the later 80’s when graduating college. - Video games. New and exciting, but not involving enough to be overly addicting compared to the games these days. I grew up in a world where the U.S. was on the decline with disaster kept at bay by nukes. Where the U.S. was ineconomic decline, being eclipsed by others. Doom and gloom…doom and gloom. The feeling that your generation was not needed or wanted. That is what being Gen X was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/69 "2005-01-17T15:27:50Z")
I remember the tail end of the Japan-is-taking-over thing. It’s kinda funny now ain’t it? The Shadowrun line of games from Fasa has the Japanese running half the globe and taking over California. **asterion** > [@](#): > > Born in 1982 here (first child). Parents are really early boomers (1948 and 1951). Not sure what generation I’m supposed to belong to. Frankly, I never really worried about it. I didn’t even realize I had to belong to one until a few years ago. I just feel left out cause I didn’t get in anywhere! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/70 "2005-01-18T00:57:15Z")
> [@andymurph64](#): > > I agree with the rough 1961-1981 division. Too late to be drafted into Vietnam or even be close enough to worry and, if 1981, too late to experience the full cold war. Sounds about right. > > Being a Gen X’r, to me (born 1965) meant: > > - Actually thinking the U.S. was losing the cold war. News, books etc. had themes of the Soviet Union gaining on us and being able to dominate militarily. It was only nukes that kept the wolf away from the door… > > - Incompetent U.S. military. It seemed that whereever we went, we had real problems looking like we we’re even in anyones league. Vietnam, Iranian hostage rescue anyone? > > - Maybe this is my imagination but there seemed to be a de-emphasizing of children. Children seemed less welcome in the world. Movies should teens behaving badly…The Omen, Exorcist, Rosemary’s baby and the like. Schools seemed to be underfunded compared to what _I thought_ the past was like. Children more of a burden then a joy. > > - A world that seemed to be in economic decline (at least the U.S.). Japan was taking over. High gas prices…harder to find even min. wage jobs. It seemed like the 70’s was one long recession and the 80’s not that much better, especially the later 80’s when graduating college. > > - Video games. New and exciting, but not involving enough to be overly addicting compared to the games these days. > > I grew up in a world where the U.S. was on the decline with disaster kept at bay by nukes. Where the U.S. was ineconomic decline, being eclipsed by others. Doom and gloom…doom and gloom. The feeling that your generation was not needed or wanted. > > That is what being Gen X was growing up. As someone who was born the same year as you, I had a lot of similar early impressions. The first president I have a clear memory of is Richard Nixon. That means the leader who was responsible for shaping my initial views on the American presidency was a shifty-eyed devious schemer who was brought down largely due to his own insecurity and paranoia. As a result, cynicism about the world took root early in my life (not that I think that’s necessarily such a bad thing). Aside from Watergate and the Moon Launch, my other big early memory about what was going on in the outside world was the Vietnam War. Unlike the Civil War or WWII, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it started for us (I wasn’t aware of the Gulf of Tonkin “Incident” until later), it just seemed to my young mind that sometime in the 60’s, reports of Americans killed overseas and anti-war demonstrations suddenly started appearing on the news every day. It also seemed to me that, for most adults around me, the Vietnam War was like a hammer that was constantly hitting you on the head. After a certain point, you just didn’t care how it was resolved, YOU JUST, FOR GOD’S SAKE, WANTED IT TO STOP! Also, if there’s a term I can use to describe the 70’s (and, I think a lot of people have referred to the decade this way), it’s _seedy_. It wasn’t just that politicians seemed more crooked, the culture more vulgar, and neighborhoods more crime-ridden, there just seemed to be the sense that nobody really gave a damn anymore: gas stations were getting rid of full-service, movie theaters got rid of ushers and let their floors get sticky, American cars got crappier, goods seemed to break more easily, processed and pre-prepared food from chain restaurants and fast food franchises were replacing home-cooked meals, clothes and hairstyles got uglier, streets got dirtier, and the words “quality” and “upkeep” seemed to be on their way to being forgotten. Finally, as previously mentioned, there was the whole “doom and gloom” factor. As bad as they were, in terms of human misery during the 20th century, the 70’s and 80’s didn’t really compare with WWI, the Great Depression, or WWII. Still, there was always that anxious feeling while growing up that we were about to get walloped by something that would make those previous crisises look like tea parties, be it an energy shortage, economic collapse, environmental disaster, or (that old Cold War favorite) nuclear war. It really wasn’t until the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union that people started breathing a little more easier. (Of course, given the last few years, that feeling proved only temporary.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/71 "2005-01-18T02:25:59Z")
**Andymurph** and **NDP** (your username has a whole different connotation in Canada, by the way 😃 ), I agree with your posts completely, but it makes me wonder if us Gen-Xers are a gloomy, pessimistic, cynical bunch, and if so, why. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/72 "2005-01-18T02:50:29Z")
> [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > I wouldn’t say that at all - that you have more in common with x rather than y […] I mean, I like a lot of things from the 30’s: the furniture, the architecture, the music, etc. I wouldn’t begin to suggest that I have lots in common with my grandfather-in-law! Actually, your typical person in the 30s wasn’t all that happy with the furniture, the architecture, or a lot of the music. Growing up in the Midwest with older, basically middle class relatives, I learned that stuff like art deco and swing passed whole regions of the country right by. [/hijack], if hijack this be. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/73 "2005-01-18T03:04:31Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Actually, your typical person in the 30s wasn’t all that happy with the furniture, the architecture, or a lot of the music. Growing up in the Midwest with older, basically middle class relatives, I learned that stuff like art deco and swing passed whole regions of the country right by. > [/hijack], if hijack this be. I can see that, but I was speaking generally. Besides, my family isn’t from the midwest (or back then, they weren’t even from the USA). My grandfather-in-law is a pretty big fan of modernism (not deco) as am I. That’s why I used him as an example (not that you’d know that information!) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/74 "2005-01-18T04:03:06Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Poor me. Born in '64 and nobody wants me. Not the Boomers or the X-ers. Sucks, don’t it? We weren’t hippies. We weren’t disco. We might have been punks, but Gen X stole it all from us. Fuckin’ little pukes. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/75 "2005-01-18T10:57:00Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > I > I remember listening to New Wave and buying 12" Nik Kershaw singles. I own compilation LPs with titles like “Raiders of the Pop Charts,” “Dance/Rap '84,” and “Choose 1985.” I remember when Michael Jackson was cool! > > I remember the Challenger disaster and Chenobyl. I remember fearing that Reagan was going to blow us all to kingdom come. > > I played with Star Wars figures as a kid and saw “Ghostbusters” and “E.T.” at the movies. > > I remember hearing “Smells like Teen Spirit” on the radio and being blown away by its energy. My teenage years were during the grunge era. > > But I was very aware of the world around me at an early age. Most of my peers weren’t. I certainly identify more with the Generation X’ers than Generation Y, but I think I’m close to the cusp. No, you’re not. I was out of college and working when these things happened to you. I’m smack in the middle of something I don’t want to belong to, i.e. Gen-X. I cannot fathom why so many people who clearly aren’t part of an arbitrary label about different generations, not really meaning anything, want to be part of that. Being part of Gen-X means being sad that Marc Bolan or Bonzo died so young and shrugging off the death of Kurt Cobain. After all, we’ve seen enough deaths of rock stars to write it off as just another in the line. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658/76 "2005-01-18T12:22:45Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > No, you’re not. I was out of college and working when these things happened to you. I’m smack in the middle of something I don’t want to belong to, i.e. Gen-X. I cannot fathom why so many people who clearly aren’t part of an arbitrary label about different generations, not really meaning anything, want to be part of that. I just enjoy finding where I lie in various schemes, be they generational or personality-based or whatever. Labels can be useful, but YMMV. > [@](#): > > Being part of Gen-X means being sad that Marc Bolan or Bonzo died so young and shrugging off the death of Kurt Cobain. After all, we’ve seen enough deaths of rock stars to write it off as just another in the line. Hey, my friend was devastated at Cobain’s death, but I wasn’t. Seemed not all that surprising, actually. So according to Coupland’s definition (which, admittedly, makes some sense), no, I’m not a Gen X-er. I’m definately a child of boomers. Oddly, both my parents are married to Gen-X’ers (Coupland def.), and the generational difference is apparant. By other definitions, they’re all Boomers. So you’ve kind of sold me on Coupland, actually. That said… I’m certainly not part of the generation who grew up with CDs or VCRs or PCs. These all appeared during my childhood. I’d say the next generation (my generation) was born between 1971 and 1981 (roughly). I’ve got much more in common with someone born in 1972 than someone born in 1984. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-generation-x-identity-back/284658.md?page=3)