I was born in 1964 and never felt like a boomer for one day in my life. I've also rejected the "Gen Jones" title because it feels like a version of "I'm not a regular boomer, I'm a COOL boomer." No, I'm the Gen X oldest sister. I ran feral with my friends, sprayed Sun-In on my hair, and I remain convinced that REM's first five albums were their best work.
‘54 and me neither. War ended in ‘45. I was youngest of my extended family, eager to reject their tastes. Nine years is a vast gulf during one’s high school and college eras.
I think of Boomers as the people who dug Elvis. I was way too rad to relate at all.
Tail-ender or Early Adopter, a vast swath of people protested that pointless corporate war.
Even high schoolers could see the effect of their classmates’ older siblings coming home in boxes. In the religious schools I had to attend, boys were expected to become medics;(#6- murder) thus putting a premium target on their backs.
You are my people. My name is Judy for fuck sake. 1967 birth. The moment I heard the Clash at age 12, I ditched my Stuffed animals and took up smoking Camel nonfilters. The collapse of the steel industry happened on my back porch.
I kept my stuffed animals and took up smoking Camel straights, both! (OK OK, there was definitely a clove-smoking phase in there too). Another classic: "Judy and the Dream of Horses" by Belle & Sebastian...
I kept mine, too, and didn’t start smoking until I was 14 or so but you get the idea. The beginning of the collapse of the steel industry when I was in 3rd or 4th grade changed my whole world. Halcyon days were over.
What year was that and where did you live/how old were you? It sounds really intense.
I'm from Oregon and mostly just remember the recession of the early '80s. Apparently the rest of the country started recovering from it, but Oregon didn't. I went to the East Coast in 1986 and couldn't figure out what all these signs were in the windows of restaurants and shops. They said "Help Wanted."
I grew up in Youngstown, OH. The steel capital, or one of them, of the US. Google Black Monday Youngstown OH. It will tell you everything. I haven't lived there in a long time, but Youngstown is still my home. I loved growing up there, even with all of the devastation, organized crime, and so on. It was an amazing place because of so many large ethnic families who knew and loved each other.
It's funny, my husband was born in the early 60s and is total Eagles listening, former flared jeans wearing boomer, and I, a mid sixties person, am a full, wore a lot of eyeliner and walked like an Egyptian Genxer. My daughters have a similar age spread and seem somehow strikingly very young millennial and elder GenZ. Anyway, ASK ME ABOUT MY CHOLESTEROL LEVELS.
I wanted to define the demographic by age, but you’re right about this phenomenon with some early 60s folks. I definitely have some high school classmates whose tastes are more Boomer than mine. I guess that’s how it rolls when you’re on the cusp. I’m glad you and your husband could come together despite your differences! 😂
Old enough to remember the events of the 60's, but too young to understand. I thought Viet Nam was the place countries went to fight when they couldn't work it out with their words. I was shocked to learn people lived there.
And the evening news, which was always on during dinner, ended their Vietnam update with news of Wall Street and the number of shares [sold] that day. My 5-year old mind thought they were talking about soldiers sharing things.
I had a cool hippie babysitter who had a POW MIA bracelet, and I remember when they would scroll the names of missing soldiers on the news. My babysitter and I would watch and try to catch the name of the guy on her bracelet (though we never did).
My cousin wore an MIA bracelet for a local boy from my mom's hometown in Minnesota. This was in the early 1970s. 20+ years later, they located his body. He'd died when his helicopter was shot down and crashed, and a local farmer found & buried his body. His family was able to bring him home.
Yes, me too! Because on the news, they always talked about "the war in Vietnam." I didn't realize it was always the *same* war. I thought Vietnam was a place that countries went to have wars when they needed to. I pictured something like a World War I battlefield, trench warfare style, always set up for the next armies to come in and fight it out.
I got woke to politics as a freshman highschooler in Boston thanks to Gore Vidal’s ‘Burr’ and visiting so many historic sites there in our brief residency.
But it was the picture in TIME mag 3 years later, a GI in Nam holding two heads, that ended any innocence that remained.
Why does this all feel like the same old shit right now?
I get that no longer being commercially YOUNG, is a shock. It was for Boomers. But, as an 80-year-old woman who'd, shh, kill a little child to be 60 again, I say "Pull yourself together, Lisa!'' Focus on improving the aspects of your physical health that you CAN control. Like a white- (okay, grey-brown) haired witch, I predict a rosier future if you actively combat time, however you choose to define combat.
It will get worse. Soon everyone is going to blame you for what’s happening in the world today, rewrite the history you lived through or worse, tell you why everything you believe in is bullshit, and also, looks shame you for aging in plain sight.
Enjoy your 60’s!!! Put that Doc Marten boot up on the coffee table to tie the laces. Etc. At 70,
Lisa Borders, you’re the voice of a (geriatric) generation. And now I’m going to creak my ankles toward the kitchen, with “Walk Like an Egyptian” playing in my head.
“Geriatric” is so clever 😂 I was born in 1966, so I’m a true Gen Xer, but growing up in Tokyo, I was a little too young to fully appreciate bands like Talking Heads and The B-52’s at the time. I loved their style, though, so I bought the albums—and now I’m really enjoying listening to and playing their music, along with other New Wave artists I love, like Duran Duran and Blondie.
I saw The Clash, PiL, Prince and the Revolution, and The Pretenders etc. in Tokyo, but I didn’t discover The Cure until Sofia Coppola introduced them in Marie Antoinette. I missed the real ’80s disco era, punk in London, and the New York New Wave scene, and now I’m catching up—playing the music and going to see more shows by some of the greatest bands of all time.
So I kind of feel like I belong to a sub-generation… but I’m reliving the true Gen X era now!
Love the photo! Scary Monsters, REM, Kate Bush, Purple Rain!
However... "Gen X is not the first generation to be defined by youth"... ya know, I don't think Gen X was ever defined by youth. Defining oneself by one's youth is a Boomer thing, maybe a Silent Gen thing for Elvis fans and rebels with or without a cause.
In a Boomer cohort of friends, one said to me, "Of course, every generation thinks their music and fashion were the best." Uhhh, no. That's what Boomers think. Gen X music fans were snarfing up every era of music, all the time, even before the Internet dished it up so easily. Our CD collections, cassettes, vinyl, yes we had them all, were full of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Stevie Wonder along with Nirvana, Prince, and Throwing Muses. Not to mention swing, ska, creaky old folk recordings, newly released collections of music from let's say the Great Depression, the retro '50s craze of the '80s (hello, Stray Cats! Hello, Reverend Horton Heat!).
Gen X were this blob of people who happened to be young, and recognized that we weren't really *of* the existing cultures around us. We partook of things that were around us, various eras of music, but we weren't really part of things and we weren't really defining ourselves much at all especially early on. Maybe we didn't want to BE defined, didn't want to be put in boxes, didn't want to be "labeled" (remember that? sort of the opposite of identity culture?).
Like, Coupland's book is kind of about that. The characters (as I recall? With this aging brain? Who knows) weren't valiantly shutting down the Vietnam War or proclaiming themselves and their generation to be this adjective + that adjective + this clothing look. They were, what, like, wandering around in the desert near Palm Springs for a minute?
But anyway, I dig your article and believe the original 13th Generation thing was correct. 1962. You're a Gen Xer and Google's algorithm and whoever else redefined the parameters of OUR generation can fuck right off.
Wowsa. You take me right back 30 years to flipping through the LPs at Value Village. I can picture most of those covers still. There was a lot of area for artists to work with.
I was born in 1964 and never felt like a boomer for one day in my life. I've also rejected the "Gen Jones" title because it feels like a version of "I'm not a regular boomer, I'm a COOL boomer." No, I'm the Gen X oldest sister. I ran feral with my friends, sprayed Sun-In on my hair, and I remain convinced that REM's first five albums were their best work.
If by first five, you mean Chronic Town through Life’s Rich Pageant, I 100% agree. If you mean Murmur through Document … I probably still agree. 😂😂😂
😂 I meant Chronic Town through Lifes Rich Pageant, but I don't have much to say against Document.
Born in '65 and relate 100%.
I was born in 1963 and call myself a “tail-end boomer” - but I’m really of the the Gen X crowd. Never heard of “Gen Jones.”
Omg the Sun In! I had orangey yellow hair for a lot of the 80s 😂
No worries, you aren't a boomer
‘54 and me neither. War ended in ‘45. I was youngest of my extended family, eager to reject their tastes. Nine years is a vast gulf during one’s high school and college eras.
I think of Boomers as the people who dug Elvis. I was way too rad to relate at all.
I think of Boomers as the people who were the right age for Beatlemania or for protesting the Vietnam War.
Tail-ender or Early Adopter, a vast swath of people protested that pointless corporate war.
Even high schoolers could see the effect of their classmates’ older siblings coming home in boxes. In the religious schools I had to attend, boys were expected to become medics;(#6- murder) thus putting a premium target on their backs.
You are my people. My name is Judy for fuck sake. 1967 birth. The moment I heard the Clash at age 12, I ditched my Stuffed animals and took up smoking Camel nonfilters. The collapse of the steel industry happened on my back porch.
😂😂😂 Love it!
I kept my stuffed animals and took up smoking Camel straights, both! (OK OK, there was definitely a clove-smoking phase in there too). Another classic: "Judy and the Dream of Horses" by Belle & Sebastian...
LOVE Belle & Sebastian!
I kept mine, too, and didn’t start smoking until I was 14 or so but you get the idea. The beginning of the collapse of the steel industry when I was in 3rd or 4th grade changed my whole world. Halcyon days were over.
What year was that and where did you live/how old were you? It sounds really intense.
I'm from Oregon and mostly just remember the recession of the early '80s. Apparently the rest of the country started recovering from it, but Oregon didn't. I went to the East Coast in 1986 and couldn't figure out what all these signs were in the windows of restaurants and shops. They said "Help Wanted."
I grew up in Youngstown, OH. The steel capital, or one of them, of the US. Google Black Monday Youngstown OH. It will tell you everything. I haven't lived there in a long time, but Youngstown is still my home. I loved growing up there, even with all of the devastation, organized crime, and so on. It was an amazing place because of so many large ethnic families who knew and loved each other.
Thank you for explaining. It sounds wonderful and sad and wonderful again.
😂😂
I bought Purple Rain but i don’t feel geriatric.
I too take issue with PurpleRain-as-geriatric-designator (I'm 1970).
1967 and spry as a spring chick
😂
🤣🤣
It's funny, my husband was born in the early 60s and is total Eagles listening, former flared jeans wearing boomer, and I, a mid sixties person, am a full, wore a lot of eyeliner and walked like an Egyptian Genxer. My daughters have a similar age spread and seem somehow strikingly very young millennial and elder GenZ. Anyway, ASK ME ABOUT MY CHOLESTEROL LEVELS.
Interesting! And lol.
I wanted to define the demographic by age, but you’re right about this phenomenon with some early 60s folks. I definitely have some high school classmates whose tastes are more Boomer than mine. I guess that’s how it rolls when you’re on the cusp. I’m glad you and your husband could come together despite your differences! 😂
get to say, "Ok, boomer" so it's a win to me!
Dear God, the cholesterol. Who knew? I have to care about what now?
Old enough to remember the events of the 60's, but too young to understand. I thought Viet Nam was the place countries went to fight when they couldn't work it out with their words. I was shocked to learn people lived there.
And the evening news, which was always on during dinner, ended their Vietnam update with news of Wall Street and the number of shares [sold] that day. My 5-year old mind thought they were talking about soldiers sharing things.
I had a cool hippie babysitter who had a POW MIA bracelet, and I remember when they would scroll the names of missing soldiers on the news. My babysitter and I would watch and try to catch the name of the guy on her bracelet (though we never did).
My cousin wore an MIA bracelet for a local boy from my mom's hometown in Minnesota. This was in the early 1970s. 20+ years later, they located his body. He'd died when his helicopter was shot down and crashed, and a local farmer found & buried his body. His family was able to bring him home.
Oh, that’s lovely!
Yes, me too! Because on the news, they always talked about "the war in Vietnam." I didn't realize it was always the *same* war. I thought Vietnam was a place that countries went to have wars when they needed to. I pictured something like a World War I battlefield, trench warfare style, always set up for the next armies to come in and fight it out.
yes! me, too!
I got woke to politics as a freshman highschooler in Boston thanks to Gore Vidal’s ‘Burr’ and visiting so many historic sites there in our brief residency.
But it was the picture in TIME mag 3 years later, a GI in Nam holding two heads, that ended any innocence that remained.
Why does this all feel like the same old shit right now?
Oh My God!!! I was born in 1960 and you have FUCKING nailed it!!! I absolutely am going out to the B Dalton and getting your book!!!
Thank you! Even though it’s called Last Night at the Disco, there’s lots of punk and New Wave in it. 😊
B Dalton! I relate. 🙌
I get that no longer being commercially YOUNG, is a shock. It was for Boomers. But, as an 80-year-old woman who'd, shh, kill a little child to be 60 again, I say "Pull yourself together, Lisa!'' Focus on improving the aspects of your physical health that you CAN control. Like a white- (okay, grey-brown) haired witch, I predict a rosier future if you actively combat time, however you choose to define combat.
Jennifer born in 1964. Definitely GenX, prefer queenager to geriatric. GenX Queens unite!
I love queenager. 👑
Me too!
It will get worse. Soon everyone is going to blame you for what’s happening in the world today, rewrite the history you lived through or worse, tell you why everything you believe in is bullshit, and also, looks shame you for aging in plain sight.
Enjoy your 60’s!!! Put that Doc Marten boot up on the coffee table to tie the laces. Etc. At 70,
things get a bit dicey.
I felt like I dodged a bullet when the moniker "Karen" came about. It could have easily been Sue! 😂
Lisa Borders, you’re the voice of a (geriatric) generation. And now I’m going to creak my ankles toward the kitchen, with “Walk Like an Egyptian” playing in my head.
So much creakage! Rock on, Jessica!
😂
🎶🎵My cankles are creakin’
And damn I am freakin’!
Is there a prescription
So I can ’Walk like an Egyptian’? 🎶🎵
Sorry - can’t help it
Two plates and six screws in my own…
If there can be elder millennials there can be geriatric Gen X!!
Yes!
I was born in October of 1962. Haven't had a hot flash in a decade. Disco was my music. Still stuck in the 70s in every meaningful way.
Fair enough! I didn’t think I liked disco until I started researching it for my latest novel, Last Night at the Disco. And then I realized I love it!
Hi Lisa, fellow ’80s music fan!
“Geriatric” is so clever 😂 I was born in 1966, so I’m a true Gen Xer, but growing up in Tokyo, I was a little too young to fully appreciate bands like Talking Heads and The B-52’s at the time. I loved their style, though, so I bought the albums—and now I’m really enjoying listening to and playing their music, along with other New Wave artists I love, like Duran Duran and Blondie.
I saw The Clash, PiL, Prince and the Revolution, and The Pretenders etc. in Tokyo, but I didn’t discover The Cure until Sofia Coppola introduced them in Marie Antoinette. I missed the real ’80s disco era, punk in London, and the New York New Wave scene, and now I’m catching up—playing the music and going to see more shows by some of the greatest bands of all time.
So I kind of feel like I belong to a sub-generation… but I’m reliving the true Gen X era now!
I love the fact that so many great punk and New Wave bands are touring again so we can fill in those gaps!
Geriatric Gen-Xers, unite! I was born in December 1961 and have never, ever felt like a Boomer. Identify with Gen X all the way.
Love the photo! Scary Monsters, REM, Kate Bush, Purple Rain!
However... "Gen X is not the first generation to be defined by youth"... ya know, I don't think Gen X was ever defined by youth. Defining oneself by one's youth is a Boomer thing, maybe a Silent Gen thing for Elvis fans and rebels with or without a cause.
In a Boomer cohort of friends, one said to me, "Of course, every generation thinks their music and fashion were the best." Uhhh, no. That's what Boomers think. Gen X music fans were snarfing up every era of music, all the time, even before the Internet dished it up so easily. Our CD collections, cassettes, vinyl, yes we had them all, were full of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Stevie Wonder along with Nirvana, Prince, and Throwing Muses. Not to mention swing, ska, creaky old folk recordings, newly released collections of music from let's say the Great Depression, the retro '50s craze of the '80s (hello, Stray Cats! Hello, Reverend Horton Heat!).
Gen X were this blob of people who happened to be young, and recognized that we weren't really *of* the existing cultures around us. We partook of things that were around us, various eras of music, but we weren't really part of things and we weren't really defining ourselves much at all especially early on. Maybe we didn't want to BE defined, didn't want to be put in boxes, didn't want to be "labeled" (remember that? sort of the opposite of identity culture?).
Like, Coupland's book is kind of about that. The characters (as I recall? With this aging brain? Who knows) weren't valiantly shutting down the Vietnam War or proclaiming themselves and their generation to be this adjective + that adjective + this clothing look. They were, what, like, wandering around in the desert near Palm Springs for a minute?
But anyway, I dig your article and believe the original 13th Generation thing was correct. 1962. You're a Gen Xer and Google's algorithm and whoever else redefined the parameters of OUR generation can fuck right off.
Wowsa. You take me right back 30 years to flipping through the LPs at Value Village. I can picture most of those covers still. There was a lot of area for artists to work with.