Gen Xer gets nasty once again... hope I don't offend too much

[likethebeer]

Here we come upon the 40th anniversary of Beatlemania. Now let me tell you, the Beatles are one of the greatest bands of all time. That's not in doubt. But you people are acting as if the subject were the ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven.

You know who I'm talking about. You.

Baby. fucking. boomers.

As I noted in a piece last year about the lack of good, contemporary, anti-war music, I have nothing personal against baby boomers, and even dated one. He would talk about that moment when the Beatles came on television (and his "old man" turned them off pretty much after they hit the first few chords). The excitement. He also used to get that way about the movie, Easy Rider. And I got pretty good at giving the guy shit.

And maybe these baby boomers should be given shit as well. I've lived through two shuttle explosions, and of course, 9-11. And yet in February, every five years, you drag out your stories on what it all meant to hear the Beatles for the first time, to see their long hair. I wonder if these baby boomers had ever looked at a history book. Were the 1950s that bland that you had never seen pictures of Louis XIV w/his wig, high heels and stockings? Or contemplate the Revolutionary War leaders with their hair in ponytails? And we are now accused of living in a news bubble, of being ignorant of the world!

In the end, it is I who must learn to live with this constant overshadowing by baby boomers. Because I would have to live to be 85 years old before I can insure that most of the baby boomers are dead (of course, I will be working at 85, because I'll have no social security). I suppose that I will still be surrounded by books entitled, The last living Beatlemaniac tells all that I'll read with my magnifying glass in my cold little hovel.

Comments

From a fellow Xer

[needacrane.livejournal.com]

Amen. Isn't it great that our generation was already being overlooked by the boomers, but now it is being overshadowed by the baby boom that came after us. We're the forgotten middle child.

Re: From a fellow Xer

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

My mother insisted a few years ago that I was a baby boomer. She hadn't yet heard of Gen X (talk about a bubble--actually she's shortly before them, so I wonder if she finds them annoying). But I remember being made to feel almost bad that teachers were being laid off when I was a kid because my classes were never as large as the ones before. Of course, Catholic school is a good place to be made to feel guilty about a lack of procreation.

forgotten

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, but as the forgotten middle child you can get away with stuff and still be loved by your elder sibs (because they had to bail you out all the time & became paternal as a result) & admired by your younger sibs (because you were SO rock & roll and set the standard for what you could get away with and still be loved). In the end, the boomers will be bitter and the Y'ers will end up living the Eisenhower-era boring but good life, anchored by social spirituality, martini's, valium and the burbs.

Will ya still need me, will ya still feed me... WI C

A reply to both WI-C & needacrane

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, true. Or you can be like the middle child in my family: bi-polar.

I don't think taht the boomers will ever be bitter, though.

Re: A reply to both WI-C & needacrane

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know - I knew a whole bunch of really bitter boomers who believed that they were stripped of their entitlement when the market took a dump. All the things they had planned for their money (which didn't include giving it to their kids), well...

Re: A reply to both WI-C & needacrane

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Oh, that bitterness. yeah. That's one of the reasons I like the Mylanders--they never had a chance and they know it.

Re: A reply to both WI-C & needacrane

[(Anonymous)]

You can get away with a lot AND be bi-polar, no? WI C

Re: A reply to both WI-C & needacrane

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

So I remember. Of course, in my family, it provides for interesting stories of my childhood. In the cultural sense, it provides for stories of... The Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan show 40 years ago. and the circle goes on.

[em-porium.livejournal.com]

I spent most of my childhood listening to my parents' boomer music. The Beatles were definitely among them, but so was all of the 60s folk music. And I have to admit that I still listen to all of that stuff. But I do O.D. on it after awhile. One Beatles' anthology is enough for me.

I am right on the cusp between Gen X and Gen Y. I think that the middle child syndrome is really prevalent here. I'm old enough to remember the Rubik's Cube, but not young enough to have ever traded Pogs. (I barely remember what they are anymore.)

Re:

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not the music so much. Some of it raises the hairs on my arms. It's the, "in case you've forgotten, it's now x-amt of years that this incredible thing happened that you will never never understand in a million bilion years blah blah blah. And you people never do anything, you're all slackers in your flannel shirts/low-rise jeans where I can see your butt-crack, oh my god, blah blah blah."

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

Man, I hate that generation. I'm sick of them and their stupid anniversaries. Everything that happened when they were young was SO IMPORTANT.

The JFK stuff is what really gets me. I used to like the beatles, but all of these milestones are so blown out of proportion. Get over it, people. It was a fuckin' band.

Re:

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

George Harrison was younger than you when the Beatles broke up.

http://www.wvi.com/~gcliving/atu/misc/birthdays.htm

Re:

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

Yipe!

Re:

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I keep looking at their pictures to see these people younger than me, and I still can't see them as 20-somethings.