Cursed by older generations, Generations X means a lot of things to a lot of people. They are a culture, a demographic, an outlook, a style, an economy, a scene, a literature, a political ideology, an aesthetic, an age, a decade, and a way of life.
Here is a collage of the most revered voices of Generation X, demonstrating that while twentysomethings may, indeed, have dropped out of American culture (as it is traditionally defined), they also stand as a testament to American ingenuity, optimism, instinct, and intelligence.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Here We Are
Douglas Coupland — Interview in Elle magazine
Douglas Coupland — Shampoo Planet (excerpt)
Jefferson Morley — Twentysomething
Richard Linklater — Slacker (excerpt from script)
Mark Saltveit — Whatever
Chapter Two: Legacy
Elizabeth Moran — Bradymania!
Pagan Kennedy — My Religious Energy Crisis (from Platforms)
Matt Groening — Life in Hell
Julian Dibbell — Classic Rock (from Details)
Chapter Three: Truth, Justice, and the American Way
Eric Liu — The End of Progress
Lead or Leave — Invest in the Future
Katie Roiphe — The Morning After (excerpt) Ice Cube — Interview by Cheo Choker in The Source
Douglas Rushkoff — Strength Through Apathy Wiley Wiggins — Happy!
Chapter Four: The Dregs
Walter Kirn — Can’t Get Started
Bruce Craven — Fast Sofa (excerpt)
Darius James — Negrophobia (excerpt)
Peter Bagge — Hate
Dan Clowes — Eightball
Mark Frauenfelder — Report from Toys R Us in bOING bOING
Chapter Five: Metamedia
Dan Persons — Analysis of “Stimpy’s Invention”
Beavis and Butt-head — Rolling Stone interview by Charles M. Young
The Immediast Underground — Sieze the Media, Open Pamphlet Series
Mark Kriegel — Fear and Loathing in Atlanta
Hugh Gallagher — Seven Days and Seven Nights Alone with MTV
Chapter Six: Ranting
The GenX Computer Conference — People try to put us down
I Hate Brenda Newsletter — Ben is Dead
R.U. Sirius — There’s No Such Thing as An Original Debt
Maggie Estep — Humping Hilda
David Martin — The Whiny Generation
Chapter Seven: Raving
Jody Radzik — Rave On!
Earth Girl — This Is the Drawing
Meredith Chinn and Todd C. Roberts — “I, Ambient” from URB Magazine
3393 — The Night Before Jesus Woke Up
Marc Laidlaw and Rudy Rucker — Probability Pipeline
Chapter Eight: GenXploitation
Nathaniel Wice — Generalization X
Debra Goldman — The X Factor, in Adweek
Neil Howe and William Strauss — The New Generation Gap, in The Atlantic
Andrew Hultkrans — The Slacker Factor, in Mondo 2000