Episode 83: When Gen X Came of Age
Let’s plop down on the couch in your favorite record store or skate shop for a few minutes. It’s time to relive the end of the 1980s and begin a new decade of cultural change.
In this episode we discuss what was in the news, the invention of the "slacker" character, the mood of skepticism, irony and emotional detachment that grew out of the glossy 80s, culture jamming and not selling out even as personal technology began to take hold. We also try to get to the bottom of whatever the term "alternative" actually meant.
So crack open your most authentic local brew. It's time to dig in the crates.
E X T R A S :
(Top to bottom): The premier issue of Ray Gun, an Art Chantry poster from 1986, the theatrical poster for Richard Linklater’s Slacker
Nintendo’s promotional video pitch to colleges to host their Campus Challenge road show
Additional Resources
Generation X (Wikipedia article)
“Generation Exit” (New Yorker article)
Books
The End of Print: The Grafik Design of David Carson by David Carson and Lewis Blackwell
The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman
Movies
Slacker by Richard Linklater (full movie / trailer)