BTW
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001XAMLS/104-3189574-8527924?v=glance
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.
Late childhood memory, Carter in the sweater giving the infamous "Malaise" speech. And then, I've spent my entire adult life with minimal inflation. To this day I cannot understand why that man has any influence. He's been utterly discredited by events!
Sodden thought - Billy Idol with a tupe ..... ;)
The 80s were brilliant. It was about striving to be better than what you were. Everyone wanted to be rich and successful. Now--it's all about thug culture, baby daddies and hooking up.
Oh, and DJ culture--what's up with that? People knock the 80s--but at least our musicians PLAYED MUSIC!
::Raising lighter while Eddie rips into another solo::
I remember the Saturday morning cartoons, but one of my favorites (I'm a late Gen-Xer) was Mask...anyone remember that show? I used to have to get up at 5:30 in the morning to take a shower just so I could watch that show at 6:00 and then leave for school around 7/7:30...it was great! Anyone remember the theme music???
In my 38 year old mind there was a SHARP divide between the 70s and the 80s, and it had to do with 1) who was President at the time and 2) the Death of Disco and the Birth of New Wave.
Do you know, my 11 yr old daughter was given two of those iCandy/Bratz dolls that are supposed to be dressed up in teh different decade fashions, and one of them was supposedly dressed up in 80s style. Its clothing colors were neon orange and yellow, which I guess refers back to that shortlived time period when everything was DayGlo Neon colors, and a short skirt and Flashdance type top, but then the doll has on roller skates. Along with this doll came a CD that has the title "80s Music" plastered on it...but do you know what music they chose to put on that CD?!?! "Saturday Night Fever" "I Will Survive" "RESPECT" and a couple of others that I could SWEAR were solidly 70s hits. Why couldnt they have put "Flock of Seagulls" "Duran Duran" "Van Halen" and others on there? THAT was 80s music.
Daughter is getting REAL tired of me correcting stuff like that.
That stuff gets me crazy as well. I'll watch films set in the 80s, and they always get something wrong. I really annoyed my friends while watching American Psycho. I think it was set in 85, but in one off the club scenes, they're playing Pump Up the Volume by MARRS which didn't come out until I was a sophomore in college (1988). When I noted the mistake, they hushed me and said, "It doesn't matter! It's an "amalgum" of the 80s." Yeesh.
But it still made me seethe. You'd expect them to do a better job.
Roller disco is something I'm glad has never made a come back, although with this new movie coming out, it might. You'd think we would have learned a thing or two from Xanadu.
Just a few of mine. I was a long-haired, leather-clad, metal-thrashing madman back then. Partying all day outside Market Square Arena before a show, hoping to get as close to the front row as possible when the stampede gates opened.
Those was the days - and I had the common sense of a fence post!
Now I wear khakis and buzzcut, and consider going to the corporate-named ampitheatre to roast in the hot sun, pay $7 per paper cup of flat draft beer, and see today's half-a$$ed performers from 200 yards away to be a big waste of time and profits.
Damn kids. LOL
Favorite Def Lep song: High And Dry
I remember that, too. Not too clearly, and I didn't really understand what was going on, but I do remember how peeved I was because the coverage was pre-empting my Popeye cartoons.
I also coach a grade school basketball team, so I see parents of all different ages. Too much older than 40 and the parents seem to believe anything their kids tell them. The kids who have parents who are pushing 40 can't get a thing past them.
It makes me wonder sometimes what exactly my kids did during their growing up years that they are so suspicious of their own children. But then I remember I don't really want to know.
It's just a jump to the left..............
Guess you'd need stupor glue.
( isn't today Punday?)
Makes great potato gun propellant!
BTW
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001XAMLS/104-3189574-8527924?v=glance
mark
I don't remember that show. If it was at all superhero related, my brothers probably watched it. I watched many an episode of the Justice League, Shazaam! and "Oh Mighty Isis!" But what I lived for was this:
That was all just corporate glam bighair metal. What about Punk Rock? Hardcore punk was IT. Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Descendents, 7 Seconds, The Misfits, DRI. All us latch-key children of divorce gettin adolescent scary and pissed off. No one would play our music, we did it ourselves (like everything else).
LuceLu
Actually, I turn 30 next April. I can remember when my mom turned 30 (the day John Lennon was shot). That scares me.
This is nothing. I turned 30 on 9/11/01.
I was more of an X, Mekons, Minutemen kind of punk fan. Like my punk with a little twang.
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