Generation X- (1957-1976)-The early part of this generation born btwn 1957-1962 are cusp years, but a great majority of them will tell you they identify with generation x more than the boom generation. It might have to do with the generation their parents were from. Some of the early Xers may have been the youngest child born to G.I. parents. They might have been influenced by older siblings and identify with the boom generation, but the first-born child to parents of the silent generation are more likely to be Xers. The silent generation married very young and were already having children in their early 20s. The silents also had a high divorce rate and a good portion of Xers grew up in a dysfunctional home. I can never understand why some like to start this generation at 1965 and as late as 1968. I was born in 1970 and always felt I was more on the tail end of this generation rather than the middle. It was not just about growing up in the 1990s. Our generation came to age in the 1980s and our youth culture lasted to the mid 1990s. Our generation did begin and end with Nirvana. You must have been coming of age when MTV, New wave and heavy metal music was popular during the 1980s, and you must have been old enough to remember the polices of the Regan era. Most of our distinctive members (poster boys) were born in the late 1950's and early 1960s. Tim Burton (1958), Bill Watterson (1958) wrote Calvin and Hobbes. Quentin Tarantino (1963) director of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs,
Richard Linklater (1960) directed Slacker, Ben Stiller (1965) directed
Reality Bites, Mike Judge (1962) directed and wrote
Office Space, Bevis and Butthead,
King of the Hill. Douglas Coupland (1961) wrote Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. The bad boys of SNL, Rob Schneider (1963), Chris Farley (1964),
David Spade (1964), Chris Rock (1965), and Adam Sandler (1966) were fired from SNL because the older generations did not get their humor. Most of the new wavers,
hardcore punk musicians and thrash metalist were also born in the early 1960s. James Hetfield of Metallica (1963), Tom Araya of Slayer (1961), Axle Rose of GnR (1962), Henry Rollins of Black Flag (1961), Perry Farrell (1959) of Jane's Addiction and creator of the Lollapalooza festival. New Wave, Goth, Techno, Rap, and
Electronica pioneers like Duran Duran, U2, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Iced T, Run DMC, Beastie Boys and R.E.M. were all born in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The core of the
alternative rock bands like Rage Against the Machine,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Sound Garden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson and Nirvana were all born in the early to late 1960s. The bands that came out of the very tail end of generation x developed the nu metal and emo sound that kids listen to today. Bands like Korn, Limp Biscuit, Linkin Park, Creed, Green Day, and Eminem were born in the early to mid 1970s. This period was also the beginning of the hip-hop culture that senator Obama likes to identify with.
