Saturday, November 15, 2008

The Gen Game


In my last post I bloviated about baby boomers and even made up some brand new categories for them. I came up with four different semi-distinct generations that precede, coincide with, and follow the Baby Boom. But rather than get all sociological and philosophical about the differences between them, it's easier to just use examples.

That is why I've invented the Gen Game. You just have to come up with four related people, groups, events, or things with one belonging to each of my generational divisions. The relationship can be as explicit or as subtle as you want. Here are my examples:
Proto-Boomers
(1938-1946)

Hippie-Boomers
(1946-1958)

Tail-Boomers
(1959-1968)

Generation X
(1969-1980)

EisenhowerKennedyNixonReagan
Lee Harvey OswaldSirhan SirhanSqueaky FrommeJohn Hinckley
Strom ThurmondGeorge WallaceJohn AndersonRoss Perot
BessJackieNancyHillary
Apollo 1Apollo 13ChallengerColumbia
Leave It To BeaverBrady BunchCosby Show90210
Dobie GillisRoom 222Welcome Back KotterSaved By The Bell
American GrafittiAnimal HouseDazed and Confusednone
beerLSDcocaineEcstasy
pregnancysyphillisherpesAIDS
AMFMMTVNapster
Wham-OMattelAtariSega
Sock HopLove-InDiscoRave
The Day The Earth Stood Still2001Star WarsThe Matrix
Krazy KatFritz the CatGarfield the CatBucky Katt
Bye Bye BirdieHairXanaduRent
Marilyn MonroeJane FondaFarrah FawcettKathy Ireland
Ed SullivanAmerican BandstandSonny and CherTRL
The QuarrymenThe BeatlesWingsPaul McCartney
Buddy HollyJimi HendrixJohn LennonKurt Cobain
Diana RossJanis JoplinMadonnaBritney Spears
BeatlesOsmond BrothersBay City RollersNew Kids On The Block

I invite quibbles, substitutions, and additions. Feel free to explain why something does or does not belong.

BlatantCommentWhoring™: Now it's your turn to play. Just leave your Gen Game list in the comments.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you're pushing the 'xers' too young.

specifically; gen x'ers were at least in grade school when the challenger blew, and mostly out of college when the columbia blew.

further examples: Gen'x people are more MTV, less Napster, and Definitely more Garfield (Bucky came around when the YOUNGEST gen'xer was out of HS). Also, "Dazed and confused", alot of us were in HS or older and yeah...


I think we're back on the same problem, where your generation is just kinda a tragic gap where not much was really going on :P Or maybe The gen-x'ers are the tragic ones, one of the definitions I often see is being raised on the detrius of the boomers.

So heres my question back: Are the tail-boomers leeching off the x'ers culture, or vice versa?!

yellojkt said...

All good points. Bucky Katt is a real stretch, but I needed something to fill it out.

And Dazed and Confused isn't about when it came out.

Dave2 said...

Charlie McCarthy - Howdy Doody - Lamb Chop - Kermit the Frog

Sadly, today's generation would have to be "Crank Yankers."

Jeff and Charli Lee said...

Impressive. You've really put some thought into this.

I'm also impressed you got the columns and rows formatted so nicely. Blogger isn't that friendly by default.

Anonymous said...

I agree somewhat with Windie that you are pushing the Xers a bit too young. They really are the MTV generation. It launched in 83 after all. Maybe you can replace Bucky with Bill the Cat? And Krazy Kat should probably be replaced by Felix the Cat.

Here's a couple riffing off of some of yours:

45-LP-CD-MP3
Ricky Nelson-The Monkees-Bay City Rollers-New Kids On The Block
Juvenile delinquent-Misunderstood-Gangbanger-ADD

yellojkt said...

Bill the Cat is a much better choice. How quickly we forget.

And your other three additions are genius.

Anonymous said...

I’ve got a couple more and a couple that need work.

Bill Cosby-Richard Pryor-Eddie Murphy-Chris Rock
Rockabilly-Psychedlic-Prog Rock-Grunge
The Producers-Blazing Saddles-History of the World, Part 1-Spaceballs
That one is interesting, because the next one is The Producers.

This one seems slightly off: Lenny Bruce-Richard Pryor-Andy Kaufmann-Sam Kinnison

This one needs something for the first position:
???-I am not a crook.-Read my lips: No new taxes.-I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.
I thought about “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore,” but a) he wasn’t president at the time and b) it seemed unfair to ding him twice.

And speaking of incomplete lists, your list that starts with American Graffiti will probably be completable in the next 5 years. Yes, 80s nostalgia is just around the corner.

Ed & Jeanne said...

I agree with Jeff...how on Earth did you get that all formatted nicely? I can barely understand what blogger is doing with paragraph and line spacing sometimes.

It's a good list and I have no complaints with it at all which is highly unusual.

Nice post...

yellojkt said...

jeff and VE,
The miracle of hand-coding HTML tables. It's one of my secret formatting tricks.

D-x,
I looked up some LBJ quotes and nothing worked, so I think the Nixon one works best.

Anonymous said...

Hey, yello, I'm right in the "Hippie-Boomers," having been born in 1948. I still listen to Jimi and Janis, and Kennedy's assassination affected me and most of my generation profoundly. But you totally skipped other seminal events of my young adulthood. I'd add Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement (Bull Connors, fire hoses, murdered Civil Rights workers lunch counter sit-ins, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts). Then there's Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, et al and the Feminist Movement. The Anti-Vietnam War Movement- Kent State, the Chicago 8, Eugene McCarthy, the March on Washington, the SDS, Bobby Kennedy, etc. (Let's also throw in the Black Panthers, Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army, Charles Manson.) I could go on all day. As you might guess, I was more politically oriented, rather than being into the "sex, dope and rock and roll" thing, and I do remember the 60's quite well, thank you very much. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Right on! Must've taken a lot of work to put this together.

I was initially confused about American Grafitti-Animal House-Dazed&Confused until I realized it was referring to the time periods depicted in the movies, not when they came out. Heck, I'm a Tailer (1960) but I was at the first ever showing of Animal House (the legendary Denver preview). That was also my first R-rated movie.

I would definitely put myself in the MTV generation, as I was in college when it started up and was endlessly fascinated by it, even going so far as to go to the bar just to watch it (and drink, of course). That was back in the day when they actually showed music videos. (As people from my generation endlessly point out.)

The Mistress of the Dark said...

GAH! I'm part of the X generation :(