Is Gen X the most nostalgic generation??
 

I was on a customer trip last week and while we are sitting around drinking one of the guys (44 years old) starts talking about shoes and that the only shoes he is buying from now on are the Nike Air Max 97’s (it’s a reissue from 1997) because when he was in high school and college these were THE shoe to have. Similarly, I like the Nike Tuned Air from 1999 that you can buy today.

So then we started talking about all the things we focus on from our youth- I have bought reissue toys, I have a skateboard collection now of the ones I wanted growing up. I obviously want/have the cars from that era. I just spent a ton of money to see Poison and Motley Crue, Thrasher T shirts- can’t tell you how many I have.

So I’m thinking now that Gen X (my generation) may be the most nostalgic generation and I never saw that coming….

I am a gen X (54yo). I consider myself more nostalgic than not. There isn't much from the last 20-25 years that interests me. The things I do like.. cars.. music.. TV shows.. etc.. are from the 60's.. 70's.. 80's.. early 90's. I will confess... I do like my '21 Scat Pack and my '18 Sierra quite a bit :D .

At 61, I'm a late boomer, and in school in the '60's and '70's, nobody really gave a crap about shoes. It was a pre-digital, pre-information age, and totally different times. No cell phones. No internet. Just roller disco, feathered hair, tight pants, jacked-up hot rods, and rock and roll.

Yeah, the closer you get to dyin the more you long for the good ole days! Just wait till your my age. ��

Glad it's not just me!

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...o/IMG_1919.JPG

I have no idea what you're talking about...says the guy who went to a Pavement concert earlier in the week and was driving yesterday around playing Screaming Trees on the tape deck in his recently acquired '95 T/A yesterday.

Dude you just threw out a screaming trees reference!

Peter- do you ever go to SoCalskateshop. com? That’s where I have bought most of my reissues.

Late boomer here. Obviously old cars, but I have a few neon signs, pinball machines, Slot cars, HO and Lionel trains, etc. Always liked the old gas pumps and soda machines and coolers.

I think all generations want what THEY remember, so the nostalgia is still there, the items just change.

This is a heck of a crowd to make that assertion to. Why do you think we all like these old cars that were popular in our youth?
Seriously, I think every generation goes through it. Certainly not limited to one or two.

I guess I just don’t remember my dad having anything from his youth or reliving it. Maybe we didn’t have the extra money or maybe it wasn’t important to him.

I also didn’t expect things to be reissued like they have been.

Oh, yeah. I'm nostalgic about the time that I felt disenfranchised. But I always had my music. And Alternative was my music. A music genre that seemed to be a product of the challenges that my cohort faced. Some great concerts, got to see Nirvana when they were here. Got to see Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, etc. Sometimes in smaller venues when they were emerging. And these guys were wicked musicians. So I feel very nostalgic when some obscure alternative song comes on that I hadn't heard in years as well. Other than that, my life was very challenging back then. A devastating recession lingered here until 1995-1996. People older than I were more established in their jobs. They weren't giving them up. They weren't retiring. Who wouldn't feel like the lost generation with those kind of opportunites? And now? My kids like to remind me that I'm older, not relevant, and that my stories are anecdotal. Perfect!

Nostalgic
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmuG8z5zAY

I listened to Motley in High School because that is what there was. I had the first version of Too Fast for Love in my area. It came from down south as you could not get it here in 82.
But Gen X is what took down Hair Metal. Alternative was much better music for me.
I was born late 64 and they try and tell me I am a boomer. Rubbish. You mean my wife who was a sophomore when I was a senior is Gen X and I am Boomer ?
Nope, we grew up together, remember the same stuff and that means we are the same.
I am Gen X.

Kurt dying for me was one of those moments for me that I will not forget. Got choked up, was expecting so much more from him.
I can name a good 20 Nirvana song off the top of my head and about 40-50 if I really sit down and think about it.
Early in the 90s something happened in music. It was tiered and worn out for awhile then Kurt changed all that. All this new music started showing up and I started buying records again. My wife used to love it when I would bring home a new CD every week or two.
Great time for music from 88 to the late 2000s.
Ted Nugent, who I agree with on some things stated he was glad when Kurt died. What a creep, I was done with him. It was his kind of worn out music, degrading of women music Kurt helped make go away. Maybe that is why he hated him.
I find it funny Ted goes on some right wing shows, Rush used to promote him. And if you listed to the lyrics from Hard as Nails, Spit it Out( its about what you think it is), Scream Dream, Wango Tango ect they might have had a different opinion of him.
90s alternative, the best.

For some reason, as I get close to retiring, I'm getting more nostalgic. I was out for my daily walk and taked to one of my neighbors, who recently bought a new motorcycle. He offered to let me take it for a ride. I didn't accept, but may take him up on it. I rode motorcycles when I was young, but not the conventional type. I had the big 2-stroke street bikes, notably a Kawasaki 750H2 and a Suzuki GT-550. The Kawasaki was incredibly fast, but the Suzuki was a much better street bike. I always wanted a Suzuki 750 2-stroke water cooled, it was called the Water Buffalo. So last night I start searching Craigslist for old bikes and was playing CCR and other VietNam War mixes on youtube.

One of the people I carpooled with to high school listened to the ‘Singles’ soundtrack on tape and that Screaming Trees song stood out as one of the better ones on the compilation.

Screaming Trees were criminally underrated. Sweet Oblivion and Dust are fantastic albums, even if Lanegan disowned them.

I don't consider myself sentimental, but I've always been nostalgic. Ever since I was a little kid, I've been into history and how culture evolves over time. It's not that I reminisce about "the good old days" at all, but I do have an appreciation for things that represent aspects of pop culture at a certain point in time. As time rolls on, I'm sure things from the '00s or '10 will emerge.

By the way, I'll just leave this here: https://super7.com/

They've taken a fair amount of my money over the years.

I bought the Singles DVD awhile back. Have not watched it.

My dad didn’t want to relive his youth. He was still trying to figure out HOW he survived it.

Me neither.

I think it was because he was out creating the things that I am nostalgic for.

K

My dad, too.

He was from Southeast Missouri, and had to pick cotton so he would have shoes for school.

I told him one time "Dad, when I think of heaven, I think of 1930's farm life".

He said "Son - 1930's farm life is why I am in Michigan working for General Motors".

K

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Nostalgia ain't what it used to be... ;)

I was nostalgic when I was young. I'm 43 and in the 90's I was into 50's/60's/70's cars, music, TV shows, and movies. Most of my current appliances are from that era, even some bathroom fixtures (I hate low flow toilets with a passion).

This thread hit me hard...lol

I'm 53 but never really grew up so I straddle multiple music generations - plus I'm a lazy listener so I don't want to listen to anything new except maybe for the Strokes/Muse/Gretta.

On mondays I'm punk rock, tuesday is New Wave, wed is grunge, thurs is hair metal/hard rock, friday is classic metal, saturday is 80's alternative or Candian content, sunday is classic schlock...

On road trips it is mandatory to put on Screaming Trees Uncle Anesthesia - sorry best one lol

TV I have the sling subscription and watch 80% 60-70-early 80's movies exclusively.

So I don't know if it's a combination of lazy, stuck is my ways those are my jams and my '74 t/a is the only car that fits me like a glove.

Lolapalooza '92 and Ozzfest 97 were defining moments for me as well...haha

Courtney killed Kurt, everyone knows that...lol

That's a very Yogi-istic sort of statement. Good one. LOL.

'75 Xer, don't care about shoes cuz I never had cool shoes growing up, the cars of the 80s and 90s are mostly ugly as were the fashion trends, so I like stuff made before I was born, though I do think about how cool life in the US might have been in the 50s and 60s.

I don't know about that. I was in high school 1974-78. Converse All Stars were the shoes to have, followed by ProKeds.

Keith, my dad’s family was poor. My grandfather lost his farm for delinquent taxes in 1937. In 1940, they move to Jeffersonville so Grandpa would be closer to his job at the U.S. Army Quartermaster Depot. They moved back to the country in 1946 after my grandfather had a severe heart attack and was retired by Civil Service. His only income was his $28 monthly retirement from the Army( he contracted Spanish influenza in 1918, damaging his heart) and his $46 monthly retirement check from Civil Service. Dad quit school in 1948 to help provide for his younger siblings (Dad was the oldest son). He worked as a laborer at Jeffboat until 1950 when he went to work as a laborer for Whittenburg Construction ($2.00 per hour verses $1.25 per hour). In 1951 he enlisted in the Marine Corps and was shipped to Korea in 1952. He was in Korea until 1954. When he came home he was 23, yet had lived more and seen more than either of his parents.

I think GeN X has a pretty broad palette . I’m almost 45 , I’m into a bit of everything as are most of my peers . The Boomers on the other hand - that’s a different story lol . When I started with my company , it was staffed about 90% with boomers . Those guys had pretty narrow taste . Man did they think they were so cool lol An example would be , I like decades worth of music , even new stuff . Boomers , not so much- 60&70’s or they turn it off . Some where just victims of the 60s and just burnouts I think . You have to grow up 1st to be nostalgic and these guys retired still thinking it was 1975 lol

The first book that I remember touching upon the subject of GenX was called Boom, Bust and Echo. It was an interesting read. In the author's opinion, the end of the boom was early in the sixties, with 1962 or so being the first identifiable cohort of a new generation. There's a few interesting remarks from the author, David Foot, who in 1992 opined that wealthy car buffs would put a complete modern chassis under their old classic car. And he was not a car guy.
Also, if you remember, a young Billy Idol had a punk band, fittingly called GenX before he went on his own. That was in 1979.

Shoes?? I have been wearing all black skate shoes for decades..

Nostalgia is about feeling sentimental about a time or place in your past that was special to you. For most people that's their youth. By definition it's about the past.

I think the best example I can think of (other than cars and motorcycles) that the boomer gen really got into was when the Eagles went back on tour. I remember people spending crazy money (at the time) to see the Eagles live.

Something else that I think contributes to this is of course the internet. We aren’t just car guys, we are car guys that are focused on a specific brand down to specific years and models. If you are really into any hobby you can find like minded people on the internet that are interested in the same exact thing you are. These usually generate products (especially now with 3D printing) that cater to those hobbies, genre’s, styles, etc.

My dad didn’t have this forum, he had Smoke Signals, Hot Rod Magazine and maybe a local car club. To make my point- there are a few people on this forum that have almost the exact same list of cars I do- what the odds of finding that person without the internet?

eBay is another thing. How many times have I looked up Sammy Hagar T shirts, old skateboards, or old toys I had that are literally just a click away. Accessibility is also a big driver of this. eBay truly killed a lot of the specialty shops but it sure made a lot of things more accessible to a lot of people.

See ya’ll later I will be on eBay for the next several hours…..

Nostalgia takes many forms, as expected. I'm 52, honestly never thought I'd live this long, probably should have done some things differently.

I miss working with my dad in his garage. The associated smell out there was a mix of obscure, cancer-causing mysterious carb cleaner in a 6 gallon container, rancid gear oil, stale gas, and cigarettes - plus some torch or welding fumes.

Still have stuff from my youth, the go-kart that almost got me arrested, the mini-bike with no brakes that two generations have managed to wreck repeatedly, my train set that only caught fire once, much of my childhood memories came from injury.

But smells certainly do it. My air near my grandparents place in indiana had a particular smell to it that is a combination of all the stuff blooming at the time. when I am back that way it stops me cold.

After my dad died, my mom had many of his shirts made into pillows for family and friends. One of them was my best friend who ended up living with us our senior year of high school when his dads job changed and they had to move four states away. I took one of the pillows, set it in the garage to absorb some of the smell, then mailed it to him in Europe. His wife sent me a pic when he opened it. He took one look and one smell, and there were lots of tears.

Gen X (Me) agree TOTALLY ---- RE: the most nostalgic generation??

I think Boomers invented nostalgia.

"Happy Days" was the first TV program I recall dedicated to reliving a particular era.

K

Here's some sounds and images:

https://gab.com/UniversalDelirium/po...28687913741088

Nostalgia is about remembering good times from the past. I don't know what younger generations are gonna have to look back on.

Now excuse me, while I go chase those kids off my lawn.

True, but I think American Grafitti really started a nostalgia trend. Prior to that there were no oldies stations in Detroit, oldies records were scarce and usually only available on variety albums that sounded like crap. After American Grafitti, Detroit had "Honey Radio" on the AM dial broadcasting oldies during the day. Harmony House had a whole area devoted to 45 RPM oldies.

I'm 70 and my parents had no interest in old stuff. In 1973 I bought a '68 GTO from a guy at work as a toy for me, and Dad didn't see my attraction to the car. He was a GM engineer and he always had a toy when I was growing up, but they were newer cars that my Mom drove and he modified. He would take me cruising on Woodward in Mom's car or to test whatever he brought home from work, then when I got my license, I took him out to cruise Woodward.

They weren't intended to be nostalgic as such, but half the shows on TV in the 1950s and 1960s were Westerns, all dedicated to the Wild West. There were also shows like The Untouchables, which was about catching gangsters in the 1930s

What a great idea...pillows

Am I the only member reading that had no idea the year range for Generation X??? (and had no need to know).

From Google:

Boomer - 1946 - 1954
Late Boomer - 1955 - 1964
Gen X - 1965 - 1980
Millennial - 1981 -1997
Gen Z - 1997 - 2012

I just barely made the above chart.

Before actually looking up the chart, I grouped the X, Mils, and Z's as youngsters!

Jon

maybe.

I know what it is, because when I first heard about it, I looked into it (pre-internet);
I used to firmly be planted into this group, till more and more generation groups came out - and thoroughly muddied things up.

For a while the term "generation x" (there are different names for it too) seemed to be late 1960's through to early 1990's...

According to some web sources (because I had to look up millennial a while back), I am a millennial - but that's only some sources.

I definitely agree that my generation (sometimes referred to as "the latch key generation") is more nostalgic than the one preceding, or after it.

Just look at Tonka, Transformers, He-Man, Lego, NES, SNES, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a myriad of of other things that were new/current when I was growing up.

I'm not only nostalgic, but as my wife puts it, a bit of a hoarder, so the temptation is strong... on so many levels.

I recently learned of some Fisher Price "Little People" sets (airport, Sesame Street, the town, and the a-frame cabin) - and I quite literally had to make myself step back, and resist the temptation to buy at least some of them...
(It doesn't help that my kids are also at prime age to play with those sets!)

Nostalgia, oh yeah - I got that in spades.

I think my generations bit of nostalgia could stem from a couple things;
1) we were marketed to death - and most of us never had so many of the toys we wanted growing up
2) we are now at an age where we can have this cool stuff from our past.
3) everyone gets caught in a time zone; be it music, dress style, or what ever - it seems that every generation has items that define their comfort zone.

I will admit, that getting out a NES cart, blowing on it (to make it work), plugging it in, and playing with it just like I did as a kid has something tactile and satisfying that is often hard to beat (even the "retro NES" setups have lag from the game emulation) - now if I could just get Duck Hunt to work with my current tv!!
LOL

ok unruhjohnny...you win!

wait, there was a competition!?

LOL

I've enjoyed your posts in this thread;
I've always wondered if your user name had anything to do with the Melvins.

Well if it was you should win...if I started buying all my toys back the wife would bury me in the backyard...my T/A is bad enough lol

Definitely a Melvins fan...almost got to see them again in Madison WI but junior isn't 21 yet and they were playing at the bar

:(

I think hair bands get a bad rap for just being glitz and glam. The hair bands of the 80's were about having a good time and hanging out. If I am hanging out with friends I do not want to sit around and listen to Nirvana, not saying they are not a good band but can get a bit depressing. Alice in Chains man in the box does not necessarily put you in a partying mood either.
Then lets mention all the good guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen, George Lynch, Warren DeMartini just to name a few that came out of hair band era. I also miss the good old days of waiting in line for concert tickets, that in itself was a party for a few days. It was first come first serve and for the low low price of 20.00 a ticket. There is no way I am going to be paying a 100 to watch some guy who does not even remember the lyrics to his own songs like Vince Neal or replace the original members like KISS has. KISS is my favorite band but they need to hang it up. I recently just bought a UK KISS Alive II red vinyl record(s) from a garage sale. If I want to feel like I am at a concert I just throw that on, regular vinyl not the red ones and it seems like I am there. I am always on the lookout for new music, I have been into five finger death punch recently, Welcome to the circus is good gritty song, not to much growl. Disturbed, Shinedown, Adelites Way and three days grace are all good bands intertwined with older hair bands on the playlist.

Well I was a bachelor for a long time, so my wife married me when I already had a bunch of old toys...

And even though it's nostalgic, seeing their faces light up when you bring home "retro" toys is pretty cool!

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(they don't know or care that it's old - it's just fun for them!)