Generation X
- This article is about the demographic Generation X - for the comic book, see Generation X (comics)
Generation X generally consists of persons born in the
1960s and
1970s, although the exact dates of birth defining this age
demographic are highly debated. It has also been described as consisting of those people whose "teen years touched the 1980s", born after
baby boomers. The term
Generation X is a cultural idea, rather than a demographic term, and as such describes a cultural period, or a select group of people, rather than a
generation of people, spanning all classes, races, or nations, born in a certain period of time. Most traits associated with this generation are based on a particular segment of society, rather than general phenomena common to most of society.
As a phrase, without the current meaning, the term was coined as the title of a
1964 pulp novel, and was picked up as the name of a
punk rock band featuring the young
Billy Idol. It was later popularised by
Douglas Coupland in his book
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, who took it from a sociological text by
Paul Fussell. It was after the publication of Coupland's book that the term began being used as a name for the generation by the media, who introduced Generation X as a group of flannel-wearing, alienated, over-educated, underachieving slackers with
body piercing who drank
Starbucks coffee and had to work at
McJobs.
Beginnings
\nThe generation was traditionally begun at 1965, taking off from the birth-rate-based Baby Boom span of 1946-1964, but since many notable people who are normally thought of as clearly Gen-X, such as Courtney Love, Janeane Garofalo and Eddie Vedder, were born in 1964, this year is often preferred as the beginning of Generation X. In their book Generations William Strauss and Neil Howe called this generation the "13th Generation" because the tag, like this generation, is a little Halloweenish, and it is the thirteenth to know the flag of the United States (counting back to the peers of Benjamin Franklin) and set its birth years at 1961 to 1981. This generation is sometimes also known as the Baby Busters or just Busters; although in Anthony Brancato's system this generation is divided into two discrete groups, the Baby Busters (Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain) and the Post-Busters (Ani DiFranco and Alanis Morissette), with the former group's first birth year being fixed at 1958 instead of 1961 (this system also observes 1980 and not 1981 as the last birth year for the Post-Busters). "Baby Busters" was, in fact, the only name to be used for this generation before Coupland's book came out. Jonathan Pontell begins the generation at 1966, placing 1965 as part of Generation Jones. In Europe, the generation is often known as Generation E, or simply known as the Nineties Generation, along the lines of such other European generation names as "Generation of 1968" and "Generation of 1914". In France, the term Génération Bof is in use, with "bof" being a French word for "Whatever", the defining Gen-X saying. In Iran, they are called the Burnt Generation. In some Latin American countries the name "Crisis Generation" is sometimes used due to the recurring financial crisis in the region during those years.
This generation's parents are the Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. Generation X's typical grandparents are the G.I. Generation. Generation X's children will be or have been born in the 1990s and the following few decades, including Generation Y and the following generation. Assuming generations have a 22-year average length, this means Generation X's children will be born from 1982 to 2025. Its typical grandchildren will be born from 2026 to about 2048. (What is meant by typical is that a generation's grandchildren will be born at a bell-curve rate and those years are the top of the bell curve.)
Generation X consists of far fewer people (19 million, U.S.) than the baby boom generation (72 million, U.S.) and has had correspondingly less impact on popular culture, but it came into its own during the late 1980s and early 1990s. A fashion for grunge music exemplified by the band Nirvana expressed the frustrations of a generation forever doomed to live in the shadow of its elders. As is common in generational shifts, Gen-X thinking has significant overtones of cynicism against things held dear to the previous generation.
Outlook
\nSome have suggested that Generation Xers are proud to not be from the baby boom generation and actively rebel against the idealism the baby boomers advocated in the 1960s. Some would also argue that it is not merely the idealism of the 1960s which Generation Xers are rejecting, but a deeper cynicism of the fact that such "idealism", inevitably doomed in its gratuitous naïveté, so quickly gave way to an era unequivocally focused on commercial and industrial progress; a period which incubated many of the problems facing their, and coming, generations. They fantasize about how the 1960s and 1970s supposedly offered Boomers easy sex without consequence while resenting the lasting damage done by an era in which they now realize they were the babies adults were trying so much not to have.
Other people born in the described time period reject the labels as not particularly useful, and point to social class, geography, and other factors having far more influence than chronology. The fuzzy boundaries of Generations X and Y give some credence to this argument; though perhaps, more obviously, such facts underwrite the very problem central to the definition of Generation X, and alluded to in the title itself—namely a crisis of identity.
The problem may be that this generation lacks a core. While Boomers couldn't escape their generational center, Xers struggle to find one. Generation X is the most immigrant generation born in the twentieth century.
Generation X has survived a hurried childhood of divorce, latchkeys, space shuttle explosions, open classrooms, devil-child movies, and a shift from G to R ratings. They came of age curtailing the earlier rise in youth crime and fall in SAT test scores -- yet heard themselves denounced as so wild and stupid as to put The Nation At Risk. As young adults, maneuvering through a sexual barricade of AIDS and blighted courtship rituals, they date and marry cautiously. In jobs, they embrace risk and prefer free agency to loyal corporatism. Politically, they lean toward pragmatism and nonaffiliation. Sometimes criticized as "slackers", they nevertheless were widely credited with a new growth of entreprenuership and the resulting dot-com boom.
Cultural endowments
\nGeneration X's cultural endowments have included the following:\n*Hip hop music genre\n*Grunge music genre\n*Industrial music genre\n*Liar's Poker (Michael Lewis)\n*Sex, Lies, and Videotape (film, Steven Soderbergh)\n*Less Than Zero (novel by Bret Easton Ellis, later a movie)\n*20 under 30 (Debra Spark)\n*Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (novel by Douglas Coupland)\n*Dartmouth Review\n*Slippery When Wet (album, Bon Jovi)\n*Short Sharp Shocked (album, Michelle Shocked)\n*Fast Car (song, Tracy Chapman)\n*Nothing's Shocking (album, Jane's Addiction)\n*As Nasty as They Wanna Be (album, 2 Live Crew)\n*Pulp Fiction (movie, Quentin Tarantino)\n*Clerks (movie, Kevin Smith)\n*Think of One (album, Wynton Marsalis)\n*Remote Control (MTV)\n*Murmur (album, REM)\n*Too Much Fun (graffiti art, Brett Cook)\n*Nevermind (album, Nirvana)\n*Exile in Guyville (album, Liz Phair)\n*Fight Club (novel by Chuck Palahniuk, later a movie)
Gen-X celebrities
\nCelebrities born 1961 through 1981 include:\n*1961\n**Diana, Princess of Wales (British-born, died 1997)\n**Michael J. Fox, Canadian-born actor\n**Wayne Gretzky, hockey legend (Canadian)\n**Sean Hannity, political commentator\n**Peter Jackson, New Zealand-born filmmaker\n**Greg LeMond, cyclist, three-time Tour de France winner\n**Carl Lewis, track and field legend\n**Eddie Murphy, actor/comedian\n**Kirby Puckett, Baseball Hall of Famer\n**Dennis Rodman, basketball player\n*1962\n**Paula Abdul, pop music singer, American Idol judge\n**Matthew Broderick, actor\n**Garth Brooks, country music star\n**Jon Bon Jovi, singer/actor\n**Jim Carrey, actor\n**Steven Curtis Chapman, contemporary Christian music star\n**Roger Clemens, baseball player\n**Tom Cruise, actor\n**Joan Cusack, actor\n**Sheryl Crow, pop music star\n**Emilio Estevez, actor\n**Patrick Ewing, Jamaica-born basketball player\n**Jodie Foster, actor\n**Andrew McCarthy, actor\n**Dylan McDermott, actor, theatrical director\n**Demi Moore, actor\n**Jerry Rice, football player\n**Ally Sheedy, actor\n*1963\n**Charles Barkley, basketball player\n**Len Bias, basketball player (died 1986)\n**Michael Jordan, basketball player\n**Whitney Houston, musician\n**Julian Lennon, singer; British-born son of John Lennon\n**Heather Locklear, actress\n**Karl Malone, basketball player\n**Mike Myers, Canadian-born actor\n**Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigeria-born basketball player\n**Tatum O'Neal, Oscar-winning actress (Paper Moon)\n**Quentin Tarantino, filmmaker\n**Brad Pitt Actor\n*1964\n**Barry Bonds, baseball star\n**Tracy Chapman, blues singer\n**Rob Lowe, actor\n**Jim Rome, sports commentator\n**Jeanne Tripplehorn, actor\n**Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam\n*1965\n**Jon Cryer, actor\n**Robert Downey Jr, actor\n**Jami Gertz, actor\n**David Robinson, basketball player\n**Charlie Sheen, actor\n**Brooke Shields, model, actor\n**Shania Twain, Canadian-born country music star\n**Larry Wachowski, filmmaker\n*1966\n**Michelle Akers, soccer star\n**Halle Berry, actor\n**Cindy Crawford, model\n**John Cusack, actor\n**Janet Jackson, R&B music star\n**Greg Maddux, baseball player\n**Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian-born actor\n**Mike Tyson, boxer\n*1967\n**Jim Abbott, baseball player\n**Pamela Anderson, actor\n**Boris Becker, tennis pro\n**Lisa Bonet, actor\n**Kurt Cobain, musician (died 1994)\n**Dave Matthews, South Africa-born jazz-rock musician\n**Keith Urban, New Zealand-born, Australia-raised country music star\n**Andy Wachowski, filmmaker\n**Moon Unit Zappa, entertainer; daughter of Frank Zappa\n*1968\n**Patricia Arquette, actor\n**Gary Coleman, actor\n**Céline Dion Angélil, Canadian-born singer\n**Anthony Michael Hall, actor\n**Tony Hawk, skateboarding legend\n**Salma Hayek, Mexican-born actress\n**Mary Lou Retton, gymnast\n**Molly Ringwald, actor\n**Barry Sanders, Pro Football Hall of Famer\n**Will Smith, rap music star, actor\n**Sammy Sosa, Dominican baseball star\n**Wuer Kaixi, Chinese politician\n*1969\n**Jennifer Aniston, actor\n**Alexis Arquette, actor\n**Brett Favre, football player\n**Steffi Graf, German-born tennis pro, wife of Andre Agassi (see 1970)\n**Emmitt Smith, football player\n*1970\n**Andre Agassi, tennis star\n**Mariah Carey, pop music star\n**Ani DiFranco, pop music star\n**Deborah Gibson, pop music star\n**P. Diddy (a.k.a. "Puff Daddy", born Sean Combs), R&B music producer and star\n**River Phoenix, actor (died 1993)\n**M. Night Shyamalan, India-born filmmaker\n*1971\n**Jeff Gordon, Nascar Driver, four-time Winston Cup Champion\n**Lance Armstrong, cyclist, five-time Tour de France winner\n**Brad Friedel, soccer star\n**Tiffany Darwish, pop music star known as Tiffany\n**Pedro Martinez, Dominican baseball star\n**Selena Quintanilla, Latin music star (died 1995)\n**Pete Sampras, tennis star\n**Tupac Shakur, rap music star (died 1996)\n**Felix Trinidad, boxer\n**Ryan White, AIDS activist (died 1990)\n**Luke Wilson, actor\n*1972\n**Cameron Diaz, actress\n**Eminem, rap music star (born Marshall Bruce Mathers III)\n**Mia Hamm, soccer star\n**The Notorious B.I.G (a.k.a. "Biggie Smalls", born Christopher Wallace), rap music star (died 1997)\n**Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player\n**Samantha Smith, political activist (died 1985)\n*1973\n**Rose McGowan, actress\n**Monica Seles, Yugoslavia-born tennis star\n**Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball star\n*1974 \n**Leonardo DiCaprio, actor\n**Jewel (born Jule Kilcher), musician\n**Alanis Morissette, Canadian musician\n*1975\n**Drew Barrymore, actress/producer\n**David Beckham, English soccer star and cultural icon\n**Alex Rodriguez, baseball star\n**Tiger Woods, golf superstar\n*1976 \n**Jennifer Capriati, tennis player\n**Tim Duncan, Virgin Islands-born basketball player\n**Peyton Manning, football player\n**Ronaldo, Brazilian soccer star\n**Alicia Silverstone, actress\n**Reese Witherspoon, actress\n*1977\n**Brittany Murphy\n**Peja Stojakovic, Serbian NBA player\n*1978\n**Kobe Bryant, basketball player\n**Ashton Kutcher, actor\n**Brandy Norwood, singer/actor\n**Dirk Nowitzki, German NBA player\n*1979 \n**Aaliyah, singer, actor (died 2001)\n**Claire Danes, actor\n**Matt Mahaffey, musician\n*1980 \n**Christina Aguilera, singer\n**Macaulay Culkin, actor\n**Jake Gyllenhaal, actor\n**Christina Ricci, actor\n**Venus Williams, tennis star\n**Yao Ming, Chinese NBA player\n*1981\n**Ashanti Douglas, singer\n**Beyoncé Knowles, singer\n**Britney Spears, singer\n**Serena Williams, tennis star
\n{| border="1" align="center"\n| width="30%" align="center" |
Preceded by: Baby Boomers1943-64\n| width="40%" align="center" |
Generation X1965-1981\n| width="30%" align="center" |
Succeeded by: Generation Y1980-1999\n|}
\n
