Generation Jones Corner

[JoeWras]

After discussing the Super Bowl ads, and realizing how there's a group of us "in between" the cultural guideposts of the Boomers and Gen-Xers, I thought it was time for a Generation Jones thread. Let's keep it light and not start a generation war. A currently infrequent poster started one 13 years ago. Maybe it is time for another discussion.

For reference, from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones):

Generation Jones is the social cohort of the latter half of the Baby Boomer Generation to the first years of Generation X. The term Generation Jones was first coined by the cultural commentator Jonathan Pontell, who identified the cohort as those born from 1954 to 1965 in the U.S. who were children during Watergate, the oil crisis, and stagflation rather than during the 1960s, but slightly before Gen X.

My siblings and cousins are 7 to 18 years older than me, all Boomers. Many times I cannot relate. Yet, I'm called a Boomer (1963) I want to embrace my Jonesing.

Hopefully, we can talk about some of the unique financial challenges, including being squarely in the social security age changes, and absolutely smack in the middle of the big corporate pension switch overs.

Socially, there's the whole thing about being sandwiched between loose sex and dying of AIDs. Yikes, that put a damper on things.

But I'll start with music, as I touched on in the Superbowl ad.

Joners' sweet spot in pop music saw the transition from the most golden polished rock (say... Fleetwood Mac "Rumors"), to Disco, Disco, Disco, and then New Wave. Sure, we also got a good taste of the 60s and early 70s, as we did of the early 90s grunge and gansta rap.

We only discovered the depth of classic Motown soul later in life, when we had time to listen and also open our minds. Disco simply drowned out every thing about soul at the time, and that's too bad. Similarly, classic rock, especially "prog rock" was just a tad too early (Emerson, Lake and Palmer anyone?) to be in the sweet spot. It doesn't mean we didn't like it, it is just that we didn't see it evolve from a group like King Crimson. Indeed, classic rock got swallowed by the New Wave, and like it or not, New Wave is Gen Jones music.

We didn't abandon classic rock, we just made room for New Wave, a lot of room. Groups like Bondie even introduced us to the future of Rap, and Aerosmith cemented the deal with their collaboration on Walk This Way.

Now, Rap. This is what I think separates Gen Joners from true boomers. We didn't grow up on it, but we made "a little room" for it. Maybe not our favorite, may even turn it off most times, but hey, you danced to "Bust a Groove" (and nearly split your pants) at your friend's wedding and may have been horrified to see your friend's uncle used his massive camera to record it in glorious VHS. Meanwhile, most Boomers have zero room for rap. At the same time, we were a bit horrified to see our kids, nieces and nephews mostly late Gen-X early Millenials, take to rap and gansta rap like flies to fly paper. What did they see in this? And what is with those damn subwoofers anyway?

Country is my weak point in music history as it wasn't my thing, primarily because I wasn't into classic country that my Boomer siblings grew up on. Still, it got into our veins because a new group of near-crossover artists came to soften the fiddles and slide guitars enough to be pop enough for us to embrace. What Joneser doesn't like Kenny Rogers?

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

OK Boomer.

 

[Winemaker]

I can listen to pretty much any kind of music, classic, R&B, country, rock & roll, disco and pop to a point, soul, southern rock, Motown, metal, Latin, polka and bluegrass. I'm a '58 baby. I heard no pleasant sounds were heard by my ears during SB half time. I have season tickets to my alma mater's football games. I cannot hear how the choice of music played can get the crowd enthused and pumped up the cheer the team. I know they're playing music for the college students, but they're only 10% at best, of the ticket buyers in the stand looking for an entertainment experience.

I,too, never heard of the Generation Jones thing.

 

[Qs Laptop]

If Generation Jones are people born between 1954 and 1965, that is only eleven years, but depending on which end of those eleven years you were born, there is a wider overlap of cultural phenomena than one would think. I can distinctly remember MLK assassination, the RFK assassination (I have a vivid memory of this) and the riots at the Democratic national convention in Chicago.

But to music...No matter when you were born I think most kids start getting into popular music around the age of 9 or 10, at least this was my experience (b. 1958.) Thus, my earliest musical memories of sing-along songs were the string of Beatles singles, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "I Saw Her Standing There", "All My Loving", etc. My sister had the Monkee's single "I'm a Believer", which she played continuously. I also remember Motown hits like "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay", "Heard it Through the Grapevine", etc. Also knew a bunch of country hits, though they were more likely considered pop songs like "Wichita Lineman", "Skip a Rope", "Harper Valley PTA, even "King of the Road".

The disco era was despised by me and all my friends. Some of our girlfriends were secretly into it, and did their best to hide it from us. When Rod Stewart came out with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" they swooned and we felt betrayed by Rod.

Just being 6 years older than JoeWras meant that I really didn't get into New Wave or Punk. The Ramones? Sex Pistols? Devo? Forget it. Blondie was OK, as were Talking Heads. You're right about Blondie pioneering rap--just listen to "Rapture" again. At the time Debbie Harris' talking/rhyme style seemed like a novelty. But making space for rap and hip hop? Never.

I went through a country phase in the early to mid 90's. I guess the shift to alternative and grunge rock just didn't appeal to me. I was looking for songs with an actual melody and a story behind them instead of screaming vocals and fuzz guitar sounds.

 

[aja8888]

I was born in 1943 and liked ALL the music all the way up to RAP, which I don't care for.

 

[finnski1]

Okay I'll bite.
First of all born in 1959 and I have never heard the term "Generation Jones" before.
Since you are starting with music in this thread....
Graduated in 1977 and I remember Disco was becoming popular but I was in the "disco sucks" crowd proudly wearing t shirts to proclaim it.
Yes new wave was also beginning and I actually enjoyed some of it.
Rap I don't get at all. The latest Superbowl half time show was pathetic. 40-50 year olds grabbing their crotch like they were 3 year olds having to go the bathroom? Waving their arms around in some spastic contortions like they can't get their mittens on? Pseudo strippers dancing and twerking all around them in some misogynistic ritual to detract from the fact that they have zero musical talent? Glad to be a boomer!
Give me Prog rock, or as I like to call it cerebral rock, any day.

Yes I didn't witness a lot of the greatest music when it came out but soon discovered it in my teens and it was easy enough to look back to the mid 60's and still consume and enjoy it fairly relevantly .
Beatles, Stones gave way to many great musicians for me. Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues,Yes, The Who, CSNY, Steely Dan. The Doobie Brothers, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Traffic, Cream, Santana, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, etc.
Then a little later on got into singer/song writer types... Bruce Cockburn, Richard Thompson, John Hiatt , Dan Fogleberg, Nancy Griffith etc

I did find some more great music a little later on. Bands such as Crowded House. Then even later and more recently October Project, Radiohead, The Decemberists, Of Monsters and Men.
I still try to keep an open mind and I simply say good music is good music regardless of genre and time frame.
However if I had to pick one Decade and if someone said you were stuck on a deserted island and could only listen to it would probably be the mid 60's to mid 70's or more specifically '64 to '74 or maybe '65 to '75. When musicianship was incredibly important and not image.
Yes I'm biased but who cares.

And stay off my lawn dammit!

 

[qwerty3656]

I was born in 1963 and my youth definitely is '70s rather than a '60s. I cannot relate to the hippie movement.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Excellent post! (Joe and I had a private exchange before this post.)

I had never heard of Gen Jones before Joe used it in the Superbowl thread. However, it puts its finger on something I had long felt. I was born in 1963, and my DW in 1965, but we are both the youngest of a large family. Our older siblings were more Boomerish, and this helped drag us along, but we were too young for some of the supposedly defining experiences of leading-edge boomers.

Musically, I would largely agree with Joe, except I never had much space for rap. This is probably mostly because I am not very musically oriented. I was inculcated on New Wave in college, and still had plenty of space for classic rock. I always favored singer/songwriter types, so tracked Dylan, Springsteen, and Steve Forbert (still one of my faves).

 

[Montecfo]

I'm in that age range. I have very eclectic tastes that included Motown early as well as country, rock, synth, new wave etc.

And I liked fun "rap" like Sugar Hill Gang and YoungMC's "Bust A Move" (is that what you meant OP?). And some things which conjur rap. A lot of artists sampled it and results were better to my ear and sensibilities than actual rap, in my view.

Also did not like grunge.

In fact that thread about "recent" rock songs had me scratching my head. Most of the more recent music I have liked is not all that recent but often female (Corrs, Cranberries, Dido, Miranda) although you can't leave out someone like Luke Combs.

I feel a bit like Paul LeMat's character in American Graffiti who said "There hasn't been any good music since Buddy Holly died".

Rock is not dead at all but the artists are getting long in the tooth. We need a new rock wave in my view but until then we have a lot of great music to enjoy, discover and re-discover.

 

[stepford]

Never heard of Generation Jones, but my high school friends and I called ourselves the "Generation Lost in Space" - old enough to be boomers demographically, but too young to enjoy/participate in the iconic '60s rebellion. We got the '70s malaise instead - lucky us.

 

[Gumby]

Good music is good music regardless of when you were born. I like some music from the 1620s and some from the 2020s, and everywhere in between.

As far as generational identity, I was born in 1959 and had the childhood experiences of the late Boomer era. Although, even then, it was perhaps not typical. In the 1960s, we lived in Hawaii, which seemed to be many years behind the curve and particularly insulated from the social unrest late in that decade. The early 1970's, back on the mainland, were probably the same as they were for anyone else born when I was. But then, at 18, I was effectively cloistered for the next 12 years, first in the Navy and then on the midnight shift in a nuclear power plant. And I certainly did not have the normal late-70's college experience. When I finally went out into the world and attended law school, I was 8 years older than my classmates and, of course, then 8 years older than the traditional starting lawyer at a big law firm. So my professional experience was more akin to GenX.

All in all, I'd say I don't identify strongly with any particular group of people based solely on age.

 

[38Chevy454]

I am a 1963 model, and I can relate to the Gen Jones description. I was a kid in the 70's. Hippies and the 60's counterculture stuff was past. Vietnam War was something on TV, but too far from my youthful understanding. The gas crisis was more of a observer waiting with my parents in the gas lines. By the time I was driving gas had no availability problem, just expensive for a min wage high school worker. The inflation of the late 70s and early 80s was mostly out of my personal experience. Some of the drug excesses of the 70s was filtering down, but most of it was too much cost for a student in high school or college, except for pot.

Music did change a lot when i was a kid. I liked the 60s to early 70s music, then disco came around and it was not really liked by us kids. That was for nightclub scene. Once disco faded, the metal rock came about and that is what had the most influence to me as a kid. Even up through the grunge era is a big part of my earlier years. Never got into country, then or now. Never been a R&B fan much. IMHO rap is just crap without the C, I do not like it at all. Guess that explains why I think the Superbowl halftime showed sucked this year. You all can blame me for posting that and causing much discussion on the show.

Overall, I am closer to boomer than Gen-X in my personal outlook and feeling about where I fit into. But I am not a full boomer as someone 10 years older than me would feel.

 

[disneysteve]

I was born in 1964. Never heard of Gen Jones until this thread. I'm technically a tail-end boomer but never really fit in with that whole description as I'm too young to have experienced much of what is associated with boomers.


Musically, I grew up listening to folk music like Peter, Paul, and Mary, beach music like Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, the Beatles of course, Elvis, Bill Haley, and what was then contemporary stuff like Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, Barry Manilow, The Carpenters, The Monkees, etc.


I didn't even bother watching the halftime show as I hate rap and had even less interest in seeing that as I did the actual game, which I only watch for the commercials as I'm not the least bit into football.

 

[JRon]

I fall pretty much in the middle of the Jones gen - late ‘59. I was exposed to 60’s music and liked it, but 70’s music was our mainstay. With no money to spend on records we listened to the only free source of music we could find - AM radio playing the top 25.

An old DJ once told me they took requests, but didn’t really listen as 95% of the requests were for songs they were going to play anyway and the rest were for crap no one wanted to hear. Once in a while someone would request a great song not currently on Billboard so they would play that.

When I finally bought music it was on cassette tape and I got 16 tapes for 1 cent. Remember Columbia Music? Ya, I did that.

I listened to current music into 90’s Country and then went to odies and havn’t listened to new stuff since.

 

[Andre1969]

Sounds like a Jonny-Come-Lately term for "late Boomer". But yeah, it's pretty pointless to try and lump people in an 18-19 year span all in one broad group. The younger ones were playing with G.I. Joe dolls while the older ones were fighting in Vietnam.

 

[Dash man]

I was born in 1956 and learned to appreciate all kinds of music up until disco came along. I couldn’t get into it even though my wife wanted to take disco dancing lessons. They didn’t go well.
The only time I enjoyed rap music was when we attended the Broadway show Hamilton. It was amazing! But that’s the only rap performance I’ve enjoyed. The Super Bowl halftime show had me leaving the room until the third quarter began.

 

[dixonge]

1961 - so my earliest cultural memories are TV and radio. I only remember Star Trek on TV, and some cartoons. Moon landing too.

Musically I grew up in a remote area but got some AM skip at night and remember Lion Sleeps Tonight and Black Sabbath's Iron Man. Also Bowie's Major Tom and Steely Dan's Reelin' In the Years and Do It Again. Then we moved to the big city and there were stations all up and down the AM and FM dial! I listened to Top 25, Motown, and Album Rock stations for the last six years of my schooling. I liked Disco but didn't know how to dance (or have permission to go to them).

In the early 80's I was a super-serious fundamentalist Christian in college, but I later enjoyed grunge and rap. The only genres I ever disliked were Country and Alternative (as exemplified by REM). Watched a lot of MTV, liked most of it.

Politically my first election was Reagan and I voted straight GOP ticket until 2008 after going quite progressive (and atheist).

Generation Jones makes sense to me, and I like that it encompasses both my own birth year and my wife's. Post-hippie, but out of high school before Gothic Rock.

 

[Ronstar]

1955. Never heard of Generation Jones. Always thought that I was smack dab in the middle of the baby boomers. As for music - it ended for the most part in the mid 70's. Didn't like disco, hate rap, and I was horrified by the half time show.

 

[JoeWras]

I'm in that age range. I have very eclectic tastes that included Motown early as well as country, rock, synth, new wave etc.

And I liked fun "rap" like Sugar Hill Gang and YoungMC's "Bust A Move" (is that what you meant OP?). And some things which conjur rap. A lot of artists sampled it and results were better to my ear and sensibilities than actual rap, in my view.

Yes! Exactly.

I think us later Jonesers can handle a little bit of the early fun Rap. The serious gansta stuff of the 90s is for the following generations.

Wikipedia's current editor likes to put the Jonesers at 54 to 65, but this is fluid.

I think going back to 54 is flawed, and here's why:

VIETNAM

The experience -- or non-experience -- is very different for the early boomers versus late boomers, i.e. the Jonesers. Early boomers were IN the war. Mid boomers worried about it. Late boomers remember it as early grammar school history.

'54 babies were sweating bullets over Vietnam. It is a different experience for those boys born say '57 or later. We were getting old enough to pay attention to the possibility of being drafted, but you know, 2 or 3 years seems like eternity at age 12, so by the time 2 or 3 years went by and we were 15, the draft was over. Not so for the 54 through 56 boys. They were very aware of the possibilities of going off to war.

So, I've seen others put GenJones at 57 to 65, and this is one of the reasons.

AFIAK, nobody born '58 or later was every given an actual draft number. '54 through '57 had numbers, but the draft was winding down. Still, they got the number which made it very real.

In an interesting ironic twist, us later Joners ('60 and later), once again had to register with Selective Service in 1980! So the '58 and '59 guys were completely free and clear of any kind of draft interaction.

When the first Iraq war revved up in the early '90s, I remember well that I was registered. It didn't seem likely a draft would come again, but ya never know.

 

[Act2]

Hard to keep up with all the generational names! So I’m a member of “Generation Jones”? Ok. I also have family members I recently learned are “Generation Alpha”, ages 1-3.

 

[JoeWras]

Defining these bridge generations is mostly in fun, but some people have serious uses for it, like advertisers.

There's another cohort called Xennials who are in a similar sandwich like Jonesers, except they are stuck between Gen-X and Millennials.

Xennials got their first dates before social media. They are fluent in screens and computers, but they know the sound of the 9600 baud modem.

And so on...

 

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

Another factor in this cultural divide is the locality and the spouse. People from rural non large city areas are usually culturally lagging the cutting edge groups. Despite having had the draft as a possibility I also missed out on hippy thing for the most part but have a spouse who fits the Jones dob divide so will watch this tread with interest.

 

[Amethyst]

That is where I fit, as well. My peers and I laughed at the pathetic leisure suits, chest medallions, and godawful L-shaped sideburns, although I always thought disco was fun to dance to. I was the rare female progressive rock fan.

And I experienced the schizophrenia of being raised with an eye toward traditional female roles, and then confronted by the strengthening women's movement at the beginning of my teens. Being a secretary was not going to cut it; I was headed for the executive suite! I still remember Dress for Success for women: "Don't dress attractively, or you won't be taken seriously." But, hey, I also want to find a mate. How can I do that, while wearing the obligatory blouse with an ugly neck bow, and a shapeless midi-length skirted suit in gray or maroon?

(Matters loosened up considerably by the mid-1990's, which were great).

The baby boomers? Those were the folks who drove up house prices so relentlessly in the early to mid 80's, that the rest of us were stuck in apartments forever, unless, like me, they were willing to eat ramen and work overtime for years on end. (Hey, sounds like the complaints of young people today).

Never heard of Generation Jones, but my high school friends and I called ourselves the "Generation Lost in Space" - old enough to be boomers demographically, but too young to enjoy/participate in the iconic '60s rebellion. We got the '70s malaise instead - lucky us.

 

[Qs Laptop]

So the '58 and '59 guys were completely free and clear of any kind of draft interaction.

Born in 1958, I had to register for the draft.

Another thing about those born '57(?) through '62(?). They lowered the drinking age to 18 for about 5 years. So we could buy beer and liquor as seniors in high school. Also, my high school had a smoking lounge for seniors to use.

 

[Gumby]

Born in 1958, I had to register for the draft.

Another thing about those born '57(?) through '62(?). They lowered the drinking age to 18 for about 5 years. So we could buy beer and liquor as seniors in high school. Also, my high school had a smoking lounge for seniors to use.

You may have registered, but you were not required to.

On 29 March 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Proclamation 4360 (Terminating Registration Procedures Under Military Selective Service Act), eliminating the registration requirement for all 18- to 25-year-old male citizens. On 2 July 1980, President Jimmy Carter, signed Proclamation 4771 (Registration Under the Military Selective Service Act) retroactively re-establishing the Selective Service registration requirement for all 18- to 26-year-old male citizens born on or after 1 January 1960. Thus, men born between 29 March 1957, and 31 December 1959, were completely exempt from Selective Service registration.

I was born in 1959 and never registered.