Generation Jones Corner

[Qs Laptop]

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.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm fairly certain I remember getting a postcard in the mail saying I had to register and I did register. I guess the memory cheats, though, and the registration was voluntary.

 

[Major Tom]

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.

It's all quite amusing. It's not enough to label an entire generation. We also have to come up with labels for the groups that bridge the periods where one label ends and another begins. So many categories and labels. It's all quite confusing.

In reality, we are all different, and infinitely unique, but still we persist in trying to jam people into categories, so we can label them. I had not heard of Generation Jones until this thread. I suppose I'm part of it (end of the Boomers) but really, man - don't label me. I'm a person, and not a number! As an example, an old school friend doesn't identify with popular culture at all. She loves opera, and performs in the local opera group. Like me, she is "Generation Jones" but I doubt that much of the advertising aimed at this supposed cluster of people would work on her. She marches to the beat of her own drum, and long may she do so.

I vote for us all flying our own wonderfully individual freak flags, and losing the labels. And yes - I am aware that much of this is so that advertisers know how to target particular demographic groups. Even more reason to not buy into it.

 

[rodi]

I, also, had never heard of Gen Jones before. But I like it.

Like finnski, above, I was firmly in the disco sucks camp - prefer Ramones and X to Donna Summers et al. My sister, 4 years older, loved the disco stuff... Probably because she was old enough to go to discos in the late 70's. I didn't have ID till new wave had firmly taken hold and that was my jam in my early 20's.

Hubby(10 years older than me and not Gen Jones) is firmly in the boomer camp. By the literal definition... His dad came home from WW2, married his mom, and started popping out kids. My dad served as a radar tech during the Korean conflict... no baby boom associated with that one. Hubby had the dreaded single digit draft # for Vietnam, had his plan to go into the corps of engineers if he didn't get accepted to his Architectural program following his associates in engineering... fortunately he got the college acceptance. And later that year the draft ended.

Like Amethyst - the equal rights movement was moving forward during my formative years and, like her, I avoided a traditional female role - in my case going for engineering. My sis went for a business major with the same mindset (but later went back and got a credential and followed her passion for teaching - a traditional female job.) My parents were progressive enough to tell all three of us we could be anything we set our minds to - and made sure we all knew how to type (came in handy for programming!) cook, do laundry and mend, and change oil on our cars. My brother actually sewed rock climbing gear during college for extra cash.

 

[Amethyst]

Sewing was a "masculine" art until fairly recently. People have forgotten that crocheting and knitting were invented by sailors, who would have been male (or identifying as such ). Sailors obviously knew how to sew - mending sails and their own clothing while at sea.

Tailors were male back then, too!

My brother actually sewed rock climbing gear during college for extra cash.

 

[disneysteve]

I vote for us all flying our own wonderfully individual freak flags, and losing the labels. And yes - I am aware that much of this is so that advertisers know how to target particular demographic groups. Even more reason to not buy into it.

Oh, my wife and I almost never relate to any of the advertising supposedly targeted to our demographic. We definitely march to our own drum. The fact that we're set for ER speaks to that. We've never bought in to most of the consumer culture, even at a younger age, which is what has allowed us to get to this point. So ad dollars are usually wasted on us.

 

[JoeWras]

Like finnski, above, I was firmly in the disco sucks camp - prefer Ramones and X to Donna Summers et al. My sister, 4 years older, loved the disco stuff... Probably because she was old enough to go to discos in the late 70's. I didn't have ID till new wave had firmly taken hold and that was my jam in my early 20's.

Here's what I find about "Disco Sucks".

It is not a hard and fast rule, but most Gen Jonesers hate YMCA by the village people. Many of us were in high school so it is cringe-worthy, especially when your older siblings who were disco nuts took to it.

And then insult of insults occurs, where the young kids born after YMCA love it when they play it during sporting events! There you are at a wedding, and everyone is dancing (young and old) except you and your friends your age.

I warmed up to disco in the last decade or so. It is now nostalgia. I've also come to accept the fact that Bee Gees were extremely talented people when you listen to their full body of work, from NY Mining Disaster through their work with other acts in the 80s, mostly behind the scene.

It's just that, man, they were EVERYWHERE in the late 70s, and that sucked. So along come Steve Dahl and "Disco Sucks".

I lived in Chicago so "Disco Sucks" was a huge thing, and square in the zone for Jonesers to embrace. The musical world was rocked by this event and it really changed the sound nearly overnight!

 

[Amethyst]

To me, it is the musical predecessor to "Macarena."

It is not a hard and fast rule, but most Gen Jonesers hate YMCA by the village people.

 

[JoeWras]

To me, it is the musical predecessor to "Macarena."

Gen-X's nightmare.

Maybe all of our nightmares.

 

[Beststash]

1950 - part of the generation that worried about getting that draft notice in the mailbox, a generation that saw the British invasion of music in the 60's, part of the counterculture that questioned everything and began the fight instead for social, economic and political equality and justice for many disadvantaged groups, smoked at work, on planes, and at home. Also part of the generation that has left this planet in a big ole mess.....We used to say "Got the Jones" when we wanted something REAL bad.

Peace

 

[Koogie]

DW and I fit this gap.

She was born in 1965 and I always kid her about her "dinosaur rock" and later love of David Bowie.

I was born in 1973 and she kids me about being devoted to punk and grunge and wearing a lumber jacket for 10 years straight (jokes on her... I'd been wearing it since I was a kid).

Being older now our tastes have changed... she has reverted to listening to the jazz her parents listened to and I have gone back to my "blues" period as well as vintage stuff from the twenties and thirties (Louis mostly...)

 

[pacergal]

I vote for us all flying our own wonderfully individual freak flags, and losing the labels. And yes - I am aware that much of this is so that advertisers know how to target particular demographic groups. Even more reason to not buy into it.

Amen to that!

 

[Gumby]

Many have mentioned the music they grew up with. For me, one memorable hit out of the early 70s was "When the Levee Breaks", which was on the Led Zeppelin 4 album (the man with the big bundle of sticks). It finds new life in 2022, with a group of musicians from around the world. I think it is as great as ever and I hope younger people may find new meaning in a song originally written in 1929.

 

[CaptTom]

Hubby(10 years older than me and not Gen Jones) is firmly in the boomer camp. By the literal definition... His dad came home from WW2, married his mom, and started popping out kids.

This was always the definition of "Boomer" that I understood, until at some point they started including me in that cadre!

This always irked me. Supposedly the "baby boom" was due to servicemen coming home and, er, resuming normal activities. The war ended in 1945.

So how do I, born 15 years later, fit into that group? I was born almost a whole generation later. It's possible people born to returning servicemen were already having their own babies in 1960.

So, I'll take "Generation Jones."

 

[captain3d]

Obviously there is no such thing as ‘generations’ just a continuous progression. Never heard of this categorization until coming to the US.

I accept unifying experiences like WW2 shaping the thinking of many people simultaneously but not some made up ‘age grading’ scheme.

 

[Amethyst]

It started with social science ("baby boom" was the first generational nickname; as a child, I was well aware of it because of discussions about building new schools).

Now it is all for marketing, and/or a way to promote ageism on the Internet without seeming ageist.

The funny, or sad, thing about "baby boom" is that to advertisers, there is essentially no difference between 60 and 100. The same dreary ads get shopped to everyone in those age ranges, because either you need a walk-in tub, or your parents do.

I accept unifying experiences like WW2 shaping the thinking of many people simultaneously but not some made up ‘age grading’ scheme.

 

[JoeWras]

Many have mentioned the music they grew up with. For me, one memorable hit out of the early 70s was "When the Levee Breaks", which was on the Led Zeppelin 4 album (the man with the big bundle of sticks). It finds new life in 2022, with a group of musicians from around the world. I think it is as great as ever and I hope younger people may find new meaning in a song originally written in 1929.

Great post, Gumby. Zep is a band that Boomers and Jonesers share, although I find that many Boomers gave up on late Zep (and joined The Deadheads) while Jonesers embraced late Zep, as is heard on "In Through The Out Door."

It is fitting you reference this new version (which I also like a lot) featuring JPJ. JPJ's influence on late Zep was heavy on the synthesizers. Jonesers grew up with synthesizers ("Popcorn" anyone?). Early Boomers encountered them in adulthood.

One more thing about Zeppelin: it takes a bunch of Brits to subtly teach a little history to the American kids. The Stones and Zeppelin embraced the history of rock which is found in those Delta Blues. Yet, the kids I grew up with wouldn't be found dead listening to such music. Meanwhile, we were listening to the music and didn't know it.

I'm not sure who added the line "Goin' to Chi-ca-go" in the song. I don't think the original had it, because the migration was just starting. In any case, Plant screams it out, and this played well in Chicago where I grew up. It was just a name check to us. Most of us didn't realize with the addition of those words, this song tells an important part of American history: the great Delta-to-Chicago migration which completely changed the history of the American South, Chicago and the Midwest after WWII.

 

[Gumby]

...

One more thing about Zeppelin: it takes a bunch of Brits to subtly teach a little history to the American kids. The Stones and Zeppelin embraced the history of rock which is found in those Delta Blues. Yet, the kids I grew up with wouldn't be found dead listening to such music. Meanwhile, we were listening to the music and didn't know it.
...

Quite true. I would add Eric Clapton to your honor roll. It was through listening to him sing "Crossroads" with Cream that I was introduced to blues legend Robert Johnson.

 

[Pellice]

Wait a minute, the Boomers themselves start only in 1947 or so. "Generation Jones" would siphon off more than half of the Boomers. I'm a middle Boomer and always felt my Boomer label pretty much fit me and my cohort. (Except not the bad stuff, lol!)

 

[braumeister]

Wait a minute, the Boomers themselves start only in 1947 or so.

Close. Boomers are 1946-1964. Some have put the ending year earlier, but others have even extended it to the early 70s. Admittedly an extremely wide range, but highly influential. "The pig in the python".

 

[Aerides]

Close. Boomers are 1946-1964. Some have put the ending year earlier, but others have even extended it to the early 70s. Admittedly an extremely wide range, but highly influential. "The pig in the python".

GenX would like a word.

 

[braumeister]

GenX would like a word.

Hey, it's not me who's saying that:

French sociologist Michèle Delaunay in her book Le Fabuleux Destin des Baby-Boomers (2019), places the baby-boom generation in France between 1946 and 1973, and in Spain between 1958 and 1975.

 

[LRDave]

Many have mentioned the music they grew up with. For me, one memorable hit out of the early 70s was "When the Levee Breaks", which was on the Led Zeppelin 4 album (the man with the big bundle of sticks). It finds new life in 2022, with a group of musicians from around the world. I think it is as great as ever and I hope younger people may find new meaning in a song originally written in 1929.

I coincidentally saw this earlier today - excellent.

JPJ looks pretty good for 76! Hope for us all.....

 

[FI_RElater]

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.

Even though the "draft" was not active (it ended in '73)
those of us earlier (late '56) had to register and show card to get our college scholarships... no card...no scholarship
We certainly remembered the "lottery" even though it didn't affect us directly {An older brother had a higher number (not likely to be called up) but had a student deferment}
some wondered if something else would pop up (that we might get called up for) to appease the "chicken hawks" that didn't like the 'Nam ending

We were probably the last of the group to remember when Kennedy was shot (I was in Texas ...in school ), but we were too young to be at Woodstock. We got to walk long distances to high school as well since the Oil Crisis caused bus services to be canceled (too costly)... I had a number of miles to walk. and, of course the ubiquitous overcrowding of schools : in high school, for one year, there was actually THREE SHIFTS !!! to accommodate, until a school was fast tracked {it was later found to have all sorts of problems because of that... don't know how it was resolved as I was long gone}


What we also had going against us was... returning vets coming home and taking slots in university classes (using GI Bill).... and also at work most of the supervisor positions were already filled by early Boomers (and they weren't likely to be relinquishing those during our likely career length). Some were able to get some time in pensions before they were canceled.... 401k's came later... many pensions were transferred to them ...and Roth's came much too late to be useful (you likely made too much, since you should have been in your peak earning years)

 

[JoeWras]

Some were able to get some time in pensions before they were canceled.... 401k's came later... many pensions were transferred to them ...and Roth's came much too late to be useful (you likely made too much, since you should have been in your peak earning years)

I actually think the pension transition is one of the defining issues of Generation Jones.

For sure, it also affected early Boomers and Gen-Xers too. But those born on the shoulders of 1960 were squarely in the time period of pension transition.

On top of the transition from Defined Benefit --> 401k (or Defined Contribution) --> Roth, Gen Jones also was squarely in the change of Social Security full retirement ages.

 

[Amethyst]

My people-dodging skills, useful even now when trying to move through crowds, were honed during high school class changes while on double sessions.