Can we all collectively agree that each successive generation isn't getting worse, it's just a result of the previous generation fucking them about? Hippies weren't bad, they just resented the overt conservatism and militarism of their greatest-generation predecessors. Baby boomers weren't amoral, greedy dickheads, they just embraced the speed and glamour afforded to them by an increasingly consumeristic culture that their parents railed against. Gen-X kids weren't heroin addicted slackers, they just resented how their parents worked themselves to death at the expense of their families in their conspicuous consumerism and didn't want anything to do with that. Which brings us to now, Gen-Y.
The Gen-Y crop? Well, children of Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers, somewhat prosperous, bombarded by more images of celebrity than any previous generation... am I the only one not surprised that the resounding image for this generation is pill-popping, self- and sex-obsessed vessels of vapidity? Their parents stressed by issues of politics, money and real-estate yet more liberal than any previous generation, a result of the "keeping up with the Joneses" shallow ambition in the case of Baby Boomers or the heady, "the world is going down the shitter and it's pretty much inevitable" heaviness in the case of Gen-Xers, it's only natural that the next crop would want to distance themselves from their parent's worries and fears.
This generation's zeitgeist will be David Guetta and Jersey Shore, mark my words. It's all about bubblegum, upbeat tunes that you can dance to and being sexy and fun instead of one of those cerebral downers. That's not necessarily the fault of this generation any more than Gen-X was the fault of the guys who grew their hair out and wore flannel, but it is their doing.
My prediction for how iGeneration (this is apparently the next batch... I shudder at whoever names these) will turn out pretty much runs this way; it'll rule like hippies and Gen-X did, but the ethos will be different. Hippies had hedonism, peace and love, hallucinogens and weed, Gen-X had acceptance of all cultures, impotent despondency at the state of the world, heroin and weed... iGen will, in my opinion have an increased resentment to conventional "settle down and buy a house" style goals and the capitalist system in general (yesssssss), a distate for politics and selective ignorance (like not knowing how torrents work and why it's not stealing to pirate an album), support for freedom of information and weed. I also predict said generation will have an almost paradoxical obsession with gadgets, but this'd more likely be due to futurist leanings, rather than consumerist ones. Or I could just be projecting.
For your reading pleasure, here is a couple ideas than never became full-bodies posts.
Fantastic Planet by Failure should have been a huge, huge hit, I don't understand why it wasn't. It's definitely not the first really good, critically acclaimed record to tank in sales and it certainly wasn't the last, but it was released in '96, there were way crappier post-grunge records released around that time that went on to do really well. It sounds as good today as it did then yet it was pretty much in step with where popular music was going at the time, there are at least three songs on the album that are hooky and melodic enough to be hits (Smoking Umbrellas, The Nurse Who Loved Me and Stuck On You are my picks, but Sergeant Politeness, Another Space Song and Dirty Blue Balloons could have done it too) and yet, who's heard of Failure? Pop culture is bullshit.
And while we're on the topic of bullshit pop culture, how fuckin' happy is Chuck Lorre right now? Dude may have set situation comedy back a few millenia with Two and a Half Men (the success of that show is inexplicable... I've watched it and I don't understand the appeal. I get it, it's just Charlie Sheen being Charlie Sheen and hardy-har-har, it's a wise cracking fat kid. Not funny) but Big Bang Theory is the form at its best. And the reason BBT is so good? No, it's not because there's finally a show about nerds, because The IT Crowd beat them to the punch and is, in its own unique way, a very good, geek-oriented show. No, the reason BBT has gained so much momentum since it first began is because it took the time to build characters, not just slap together some stereotypes and call it a day. I won't go into my frothing, pop-culture nerd rant, but it's nice to see them take character archetypes (the fun girl, the straight man, the sex pest, etc.) and give them a bit more depth than just "the wacky neighbour." Every character in BBT has stuff going on outside the main group, they just all happen to be friends. Anyway, looping all the way around to the point, Chuck Lorre dumbed down the collective TV-watching horde with Two and a Half Men, then made something legitimately entertaining in The Big Bang Theory, and is now richer than anyone should be. Good going you cynical yet ultimately talented douche.
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