Ever feel like you born in the wrong generation?

[RyRob813]

I REALLY do.

I was born 1990- so I grew up in the age of post-grunge, followed by the downward spiral into boy bands, Disney Channel music, overly-produced hip-hop and electronic music.

I've been watching Ken Burn's History of Jazz documentary, and I'm about halfway through...all nineteen hours of it

Learning so much about the Jazz age and the roaring twenties, I really think that's when I would've liked to have lived. The Great Gatsby has also always been one of my favorite books. I realize it was a time of pretty severe inequality, but the scene I'm imagining is the New York City jazz scene: speak easies, and all night, integrated jazz jam sessions in harlem apartments, dancing and drinking all night.

Beyond that, the economy was booming, (for awhile at least,) and young, popular culture was great: classy dress, classy talk, appreciation of jazz and IMHO "real" music, and also IMHO "real" dancing.

So that's my kind of romantic image of what would've been cool. Do you think you were born in the wrong generation? Which one would you have rather lived in?

 

[JimB52]

I wish I was born 10 years earlier, although growing up in the '70s didn't exactly suck.

 

[hover]

yeah, I was really holding off for the 3000's, but my Dad had to go and get jiggy back in '70.

 

[Kale]

Yea the 20's were great for music, but having the dirty 30's and the war years ahead of you, not so great! I showed up in the early 60's but was too young to really appreciate the emergence of Rock and Roll of the Woodstock era, fortunatly with the technology of today I get to enjoy it now in all its glory sans the drug induced haze!

 

[jdieh1]

I wish I grew up in the late 70's, and experienced the whole of the 80's. That's when my favourite music was produced. Too bad I was born in '92. I have missed pretty much everything, it sucks

Plus the fashion was wayyy better then. I'm not even kidding. The girls were hotter too.

 

[Rocker949]

I'm also fascinated by the Jazz Age/Roaring Twenties. But there is a bright side to this: there is no way music can get any worse than it has become in the last ten years or so. That would be impossible.

 

[RyRob813]

I wish I grew up in the late 70's, and experienced the whole of the 80's. That's when my favourite music was produced. Too bad I was born in '92. I have missed pretty much everything, it sucks

Plus the fashion was wayyy better then. I'm not even kidding. The girls were hotter too.

Damn straight haha. Although I think it was just that they put more effort into their appearance. Being that you're in my generation...I graduated high school two years ago, and I don't know if it was just my school or what, but I'd say more than half the girls came in every day in sweat pants and a hoodie, no make up, hair in a ratty pony tail, and saying they woke up ten minutes ago.

***?!?!?!?! I, as a male, put more effort into how I looked! Did/do you have that problem at your school? I mean these are otherwise knock out 10's that we're talking about here, and they looked terrible! How was I to even be attracted to any of these girls?

 

[mike_v_s]

Damn straight haha. Although I think it was just that they put more effort into their appearance. Being that you're in my generation...I graduated high school two years ago, and I don't know if it was just my school or what, but I'd say more than half the girls came in every day in sweat pants and a hoodie, no make up, hair in a ratty pony tail, and saying they woke up ten minutes ago.

***?!?!?!?! I, as a male, put more effort into how I looked! Did/do you have that problem at your school? I mean these are otherwise knock out 10's that we're talking about here, and they looked terrible! How was I to even be attracted to any of these girls?

Wow. I'm siding with the chicks in sweatpants on this one.

Mike

 

[COOL AND DEADLY]

I wish I grew up in the late 70's, and experienced the whole of the 80's. That's when my favourite music was produced. Too bad I was born in '92. I have missed pretty much everything, it sucks

Plus the fashion was wayyy better then. I'm not even kidding. The girls were hotter too.

I was born in 1970, experienced the 80's and sometimes think I would have liked being born in 1960! I would have loved to see Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Jaco, etc.

 

[Unrepresented]

yeah, I was really holding off for the 3000's, but my Dad had to go and get jiggy back in '70.

I'm of the same mindset. The future will potentially yield better things for us than any of the past generations will have.

Longer, healthier, more comfortable lives, more educated populations, less war as a result of education and technological advances, etc.

I think all of us should feel cheated for having to build a better society for the future when we'll likely not even get to see the best parts.

 

[Rocker949]

I'm of the same mindset. The future will potentially yield better things for us than any of the past generations will have.

Longer, healthier, more comfortable lives, more educated populations, less war as a result of education and technological advances, etc.

I think all of us should feel cheated for having to build a better society for the future when we'll likely not even get to see the best parts.

It would be nice if you are right, but I doubt it. I can't really see that education and technology are going to reduce the frequency of wars. In fact, they could make things worse. Educational standards are going down all the time. Technological advances could make nations even more likely to go to war, not less likely.

 

[Kwesi]

I wish I grew up in the late 70's, and experienced the whole of the 80's. That's when my favourite music was produced. Too bad I was born in '92. I have missed pretty much everything, it sucks

Plus the fashion was wayyy better then. I'm not even kidding. The girls were hotter too.

LIES!

While I think it would've been cool experience some things before my time (I was born in 1991) I'm convinced that so much is better now than it was 10-30 years ago. The only things that come to mind that have gotten noticeably worse are gas price and instances of extreme violence (shootings, murder, suicide, etc.).

10 years ago the basses I own now would be completely cost prohibitive. 14 years ago talkbass would not have been here and the internet sucked back then anyway, lol. And the girls and fashion now look waaaaay better now than ever. With the exception of Hammer pants of course .

 

[Thunderscreech]

I wish that I was born in an alternate reality, where the 80's never happened, and Frank Zappa was still alive.

 

[mike_v_s]

LIES!

While I think it would've been cool experience some things before my time (I was born in 1991) I'm convinced that so much is better now than it was 10-30 years ago. The only things that come to mind that have gotten noticeably worse are gas price and instances of extreme violence (shootings, murder, suicide, etc.).

10 years ago the basses I own now would be completely cost prohibitive. 14 years ago talkbass would not have been here and the internet sucked back then anyway, lol. And the girls and fashion now look waaaaay better now than ever. With the exception of Hammer pants of course .

As you get older you'll discover that the girls and fashion are just your mindset...especially when some guy born in 2009 comes along and completely dogs the trends that are in today and you realize that the whole thing is just a cycle of stupidity with everyone positive that the most recent take is the best.

At that point you'll come to appreciate girls who don't give a **** and wear sweatpants with ponytails.

Mike

EDIT: Yeah, 14 years ago the internet sucked. Lucky for us there were (gasp!) other things to do. We weren't tethered to a cell phone by our employers or friends. If I didn't call you it was a fair bet I didn't want to talk to or see you. Easy times. Attention whores had fewer stages on which to peddle their wares. I actually took the time to write real letters. I had more face to face conversations than I do now. Perfect? No. Crappy? As much as today is.

 

[alfredpunkjazz]

Sometimes I feel like I would had been very happy on the 60's or stuff like that... But then I think that, 40 years from now I will remember this time as the best time of my life. I am of the opinion that there has never been better music than today, we have everything from the past, and tons and tons of new stuff... Eventhough most people just don't seem to notice that.

 

[scorpionldr]

i wish i were a teen in the late 70s, in Birmingham.

 

[JNowiski]

i think every decade is ridiculous. there's gonna be good and bad from them all.

 

[ADbassman]

I like modern medicine and the internet. I can only imagine the kind of stuff we have to look forward to.

 

[HollowBassman]

I used to feel like I was in the wrong generation from time to time, but now I realize that almost anything that was possible in the past is just as possible now(although possibly with different consequences) and as for the future... well, ignorance is bliss I guess.

Plus, I imagine being alive during the whole Hindenburg thing would be quite a scare to blimp owners like me(Thanks again, Mike)

 

[Unrepresented]

It would be nice if you are right, but I doubt it. I can't really see that education and technology are going to reduce the frequency of wars. In fact, they could make things worse. Educational standards are going down all the time. Technological advances could make nations even more likely to go to war, not less likely.

But information available to us is rapidly increasing. We live in the "information" age, which surely will be nothing compared to the instant delivery available to the populace generations from now.

And for every technology that might be used to create war, there will surely be another that will protect the people from war.

I think with an increase in communication through technology between humans across the world, and a shift towards internationalism we'll see less conflict to begin with.