What event defined your generation.

[keep_left]

79. Yes, I forgot about "Generation Jones", which I understand is the group of younger Boomers...

...that I described: acquisitive social climbers, and not particularly interested in partaking of the counterculture. Similarly, a subgroup of Xers has been suggested, though I can't remember what it's called. But likewise, this grouping would contain the later (younger) Xers born in the '70s.

The main thing to remember, however, is that these generational groupings are pretty crude categorizations. Some of them cover much larger spans of time than others do (the Boomers) or contain a much larger population (again, the Boomers), while some groupings are quite small by comparison (Gen X). You can only say so much about any particular generation that is specific; usually only the most broad generalizations are possible.

I remember the days when the Madison Avenue marketing types were still trying to score big with the Xers back in the '90s. And the reality was that the Xers were a pretty diverse group that had also grown up with a lot of exposure to the mass media, and so we were all rather jaded. Gen X was just a really difficult target market, and we also aren't that big (< 30 million?). Eventually the Millennials and Zoomers (or whatever they're called these days) came along, and they're basically a mini baby boom, so the marketers just gave up on us. But I still remember some of the silly marketing campaigns (anyone remember OK Soda?).

As for the name "Generation X", wasn't that cribbed directly from Billy Idol's original (punk rock) band? And I think the name itself originated in disparaging remarks about the punk movement by some reactionary UK politician.