Bitter!

[oneirophrenia]

As I was out and about cashing my paycheck and picking up more highpowered Tylenol for this crushing headache that still is haunting me, I heard someone on a random talkradio station describe my generation--25-to-30-year-olds--as "the most bitter generation ever." Yeah. I can definitely see that. And I am its king (although this is something I'm seriously working on expunging from my system).

Makes me wonder, though...why, exactly, are we all so damned bitter? I think I know, actually.

It's because the 1980s ended and turned into the 1990s--probably the most miserable let-down of a decade ever. The music sucked, the fashion sucked, the books sucked, and aside from the Bill Clinton presidency, everything sucked. That's enough to make anyone bitter...especially when you have to live through it as an adult.

Comments

[raincrystal.livejournal.com]

When I was a teenager (which basically overlaps with the 90s,) not only was I not part of ANY "crowd," but I remember feeling a lot of frustration that there wasn't a crowd I wanted to be part of. I was frustrated because all the things I thought being a teen was supposed to be about... weren't there. All the things that I had been looking forward to getting to be... weren't there.

Only in retrospect do I realize what was missing: I spent my childhood wanting to be an 80s teenager, and when I finally got to be a teenager, the 80sness of it was gone.

[oneirophrenia.livejournal.com]

Sadly, *I* didn't get to be an 80s Teen, either....In 1980 I turned 7, and in 1990, 17--I was only an official teenybopper during the latter half of the 80s, as things were already beginning to turn to crap. If only I could've been a teenager back in, say, 1982 or even 1985, I would've been set: I could've feathered my hair, worn Sergio Valente jeans and Jams, could've had a Members Only jacket and rocked it out to the best music the planet has ever witnessed.

Ohwell....Just more impetus for me to build my time machine and, in the immortal words of Huey Lewis and the News, "get back in time."

[harinezumi.livejournal.com]

Dunno about that, no decade that brought the world trance, grunge, and prog-metal can be all bad. ^^ Seriously, though, I've always regarded the 90's as a decade of promise. No nukes hanging over everyone's heads with the US emerging as the world's sole superpower, all things geek and technological blitzing into the popular conscience, and the irrational exuberance of the economy.

No, if anything, I would say that the bitterness of this generation comes from the fact that just about everything that happened since 2K has made a mockery of the promise of the 90's. If you ask me, I'd trade Justin and Brittney for Kurt and Courtney any day of the week.

[oneirophrenia.livejournal.com]

BLECH! Grunge! Grunge is the antithesis of all things swank and highly-polished, and thereby gets no luv from me! I do agree that there was a lot of promise to the 90s--but most of the technological and ideological revolutions that marked the 90s grew out of concepts that were laid in the 1980s. Some of those highpoints--the birth of the Internet, the PlayStation, trance, and transhumanism--were really high...but otherwise, I think the decade really let me down. Primarily artistically. I hated almost ALL of the music, I hated everything on TV aside from the first three seasons of _The X-Files_ and _Millennium_, and...well, there weren't that many movies I liked, either!

What I would really like to do is hop in my DeLorean, fire up the Flux Capacitor, and ride back to 1988...then start laying the groundwork for a *real* explosion of creativity in the 1990s that would send so many repercussions through the future that Britney Spears truly *would* become the next Madonna instead of a third-rate imitation. :)

If I had a time machine...

[hobsend1.livejournal.com]

1. I'd go back, meet, and become good friends with H.P. Lovecraft. And, while I'm at it, I'd keep him away from August Derleth!
2. I'd knock off Micheal J. Fox, back before he got his first t.v. gig.
3. I'd beat the crap out of Steven Spielberg, before he authorized the Jaws sequels.
4. I'd abort George Lucas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. Then I'd smack Alice Cooper for EVER picking a golf club.
6. I'd make sure Pee Wee Herman kept his pants on.
7. I'd fix the election so that Pat Paulsen actually became President. ('Don't know who he is? Ask yer parents. Ya weren't an 80's kid.)Oh, I'd also advise Carter that admitting he asked his teenage daughter for advice on political affairs is not a good idea.
8. Enjoy seeing John Carpenter's "The Thing" in the theater again.
9. I'd work on Rick Baker's crew, on "American Werewolf in London".
10. I'd assassinate Micheal Jackson, after he made the "Thriller" video.

The list could go on forever. But, those would be the highlights.

But, regarding why our generation is so bitter and cynical: Concider we come from the era where we saw the end of the Vietnam War, 4 years of Gerald Ford, 4 years of Jimmy Carter, 8 years of Ronald Reagan, 4 years of George (Daddy) Bush, The Gulf War, 8 years of Bill Clinton, the (almost) impeachment of Clinton over a blowjob, the (presumably) terroristic attack on N.Y., and the 4 year reign of "King George". Within our lifetime, we've seen nearly all industry "re-locate" to China, Canada, and South America. We've seen the birth and choking of the internet with Spam, and unwanted Viagra adds. Commercialism has hit all new lows. Bullshit movies like, "Dude, Where's my Car?", the "Ernest" series of movies, "Jason vs.Freddy", "I robot" starring Will Smith!!!, Jim Carrey movies, etc. We've also seen the biggest travesties of justice ever, the O.J. Simpson Trial, the Willian Shatner trial, Winona Ryder trial, etc. And the list goes on, and on, and on... (Damn it's enough to make the Energizer Bunny sick!!!)

Basicly, we've delt with more bullshit than any other generation before or since. And, worse yet, we actually know it's all bullshit!

(Pant, pant, pant... get that soapbox out of here!!! It's killing me. Help, HEELLLPP!!!)

;-)

-Hob