no matter what we do
all it takes is a Dokken or Warrant song to play and I'm back there
Posted on 09/14/2005 9:05:10 AM PDT by Millee
I am 40 years old. I don't know how that happened. But here I am.
People my age don't have a lot in common. That is, most generations share a common experience or cultural phenomenon during those magic years from adolescence to early adulthood. Those of us who grew up in the'70s didn't really have any bonding experience.
The generation before mine had the Vietnam War, the civil-rights movement, the Beatles. The generation before that had the Cold War and Elvis. Before that, World War II and Sinatra. Before that, the Depression. People had their impressions of those experiences from their own vantage point.
By contrast, for kids in the'70s and early'80s, life was pretty easy; no war, no civil unrest. The biggest threat to the American way was disco, and we shouldn't forget what a serious threat that was or how many lost their dignity and hair styles in that battle. The outrageous inflation, interest rates and gas prices of the Carter years were your folks' problem, not yours. There were few hardships. And because of that there were fewer shared experiences. There is not a lot that connects my generation together.
We don't run the risk of being called the greatest generation in history. While it would be wrong to label us the TV generation, it would be accurate to call us the rerun generation. In the days before 100 channels of cable, we had four TV channels and rabbit ears on top of the box. And after school we watched re Clampet? Mary Ann. Mary Ann or Jeannie? Jeannie.
Jeannie or Samantha? Let's see, here. One comes with serious mother-in-law issues. The other runs around the house in her lingerie, calls you master, wants to grant all your wishes, and when you get tired of her you can put her in a bottle. Yep, tough choice.
I would, rather embarrassingly, argue that the most shared cultural experience for 40-year-olds is old "Star Trek." We all know the Vulcan neck pinch. If Kirk, Spock, Bones and some security guard in a red shirt beamed down to a planet, we all know which one is going to get blasted. We all know who will pronounce that the red shirt is dead, and how he'll say it. (And we get it Bones, you're a doctor not a bricklayer.) And we all know which one is going to get it on with the hot alien girl.
I'm not proud that nearly everyone my age can mouth every line to every "Star Trek" re run, even the one in whichSpock gets to wear the goatee. But at least it is something.
My generation has many of those shared icons. My sense is that younger generations may have many more icons, but they are not shared. My father's generation had only a few media outlets. Everyone in America stopped to listen to Uncle Milty on radio. Not what you call a lot of variety, but the whole country knew Milton Berle.
My generation had more outlets, but with only a few TV stations, Dick Van Dyke and Brady Bunch re runs were known to all, and gave us some shared reference in entertainment.
Today the outlets for media are customizable; hundreds of channels catering to every varying taste. TIVO and I-Pods now allow individuals to become their own station programmers. A million different kids can be watching and listening to a million different things at the same time. This is a terrific thing, but will there again be a shared cultural experience? Recently James Doohan, Scotty on "Star Trek," Bob Denver, better known as Gilligan, passed away. These icons from our childhood are just the beginning of what will be an avalanche of old TV, movie and rock music names that we will soon be saying goodbye to.
When they all go, they may be the last entertainment icons shared by an entire country.
Cheeseburgercheeseburgercheeseburger
Remember the taste buds?
Yep. 40 here. I was disappointed at no mention of Renauldus Magnus in the article.
"runs around the house in her lingerie, calls you master, wants to grant all your wishes"
Hmmmmmmmmmm...........
This guy must have watched TV the whole time he was growing up. All of his icons are TV related. I tend to think more of the music in my youth. I'm close to 50 so my music is the 60's & 70's, the best music there is.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
really I have tried to suppress the hair band memories...:)
LOL
To true...
At least I don't have the same effect with Disco.... I was a bit you for that... :)
LOL...
Well at least you can tell your kid that hair bands have more musical talent and skill then the bands playing today...
Unfortunately, some of us were brough up leftists and lived through the era in disgust. Some of us managed to escape the dark side though!
I do...but I think he just thinks
its more mom bluster...
then I remind him of Def Leppards drummer
with one arm...top that I say ;)
Girlfriend with feathered-back hair. Yamaha YZ-80. Atari 2600. Dungeons and Dragons. First VHS in the neighborhood. That was how I spent the early 80s
LOL..
Ah the one armed drummer trump card! :)
Yeah, Ratt was just loaded up with talent. Warrant. Mr. Big. Poison.
Still living @ home?
He left out Herpes and "Free to be You and Me", those other scourges of the 1970s.
Yes and no.... Ratt, warrent, mr. big, posion... were power cord wonders....but the still had more musical skill and talent then Kanye West...Snoop Dogg....etc
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