U2 and THE Gap – Gen X Preferences
Posted On April 23, 2015
So Millennials don’t like the same things Gen Xers did? Say it isn’t so.
This may come as a shock to twenty-somethings, but thirty- and forty-somethings didn’t like the same things as their parents either. That’s the way the world works.
Time Magazine recently ticked off several former staples of a typical Generation X upbringing that turn off Millennials, from U2 and NBC sitcoms to Cameron Crowe movies and The Gap.
Yes, yes I did use “The” in front of the name of that store you pass by on your way to Abercrombie & Fitch. Because that’s how we said it.
Some of the items featured on the list are curious, however. We Gen Xers loved the Sony Walkman because that was as far as technology had advanced at the time. Had we had iPods back then, no one would have ever known what a Walkman was.
And I’ve got news for Time – baseball was a Baby Boomer thing. It’s too slow even for most Gen Xers.
But does all this really tell us anything about the differences in the generations? Fads come and fads go. Musical tastes change. Technology advances. What once was cool becomes passe. If it didn’t, Gen Xers would have grown up listening to 8 tracks and wearing bell bottoms.
So forgive us if we’d rather watch Seinfeld re-runs than the latest contrived “reality” TV show and if we’re mystified when Kanye West is referred to as a “genius.” Our parents once thought we were crazy, too. And one day, Millennials will think the same of their kids.