Moment
Gen X's "The Beatles on Ed Sullivan" Moment, Nostalgia and Cringe, Generational Conflict, The "Tyranny of Choice", Am I Wrong?
Note: I have an essay in which I broach the subject of Globalism and its declining returns for the USA on the go, plus I have also decided to break up the liberal democracy essay into a series of essays. However, it is Friday and it is glorious outside, so today we will keep it light -ed.
Some of this content has been explored here in the past, so please forgive me for revisiting it.
When Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (the father of Justin) was asked what it was like to border the USA, he replied: “like a mouse living next to an elephant”.
I am reminded of this great line whenever I see another squabble break out between generational cohorts on social media, as it perfectly describes GenX’s relationship to the notorious Boomers. After all, it could be no other way; we (GenX) are still living in the shadow of the Boomers, and that has always been our fate. The latter do get a lot of hate directed at them (much of it deserved in my opinion), and their impact has been immense, but credit must be given to them for their positively immense impact on public culture.
I have not come here to bury the Boomers, nor even praise them. I do not identify as strongly as most with my own generational cohort as others do, with some bordering on the fanatical. I have my own tribes with my ethnic group being the top of the totem pole for myself, nor do I begrudge those that do get whipped into a frenzy regarding generational politics. I find it rather silly, like I do men who are really into women’s feet; weird, but okay, I guess.
On the other hand, we are all products not just of our own genetics, but of the environment in which we were raised and in which we live. Years and years ago, I read an interesting article that made the case that one’s musical tastes are generally fully formed between the ages of 27 and 33, meaning that by the time you are as old as Jesus Christ was when He was Crucified, you are pretty much out of the hunting for new music ball game, and have settled on what you are happy to listen to for the rest of your life. There are always exceptions to this rule, but I was reminded of it recently when I was asked what my “go-to” music is on a rainy day, and I answered1 with the following four acts:
Pavement
Stereolab
Spiritualized
Mixes by Cut Chemist
(I will briefly elaborate on these choices later in this essay).
All three of this acts reached their apogee in the 90s, a decade in which I entered my 20s. I am GenX as fuck.