I am technically a Boomer, though my emotional and cultural outlook is more like someone in their forties. Given that inconvenient truth, some candy-ass millennial marketer assuming what I should or should not like doesn't resonate in the least! Labels! Who needs 'em?!
The low end of your "tweener" definition (1956) is just about the midpoint of the Baby Boom generational birth span. I'm probably missing something here, but many of what you report as your cultural signifiers as a "tweener" are classic Baby Boom references from where I sit (a Boomer born in 1956).
Fair point. I guess it depends on the household that one grew up in. But if you google it, their chart uses the name "Generation Jones" aka "Boomers II" for folks aged 60 – 69! I prefer "Tweeners. Interesting that Gen Xers span 15 years! It's all about putting people in marketing "silos."
Well ranted Mark. I was discussing this the other day that, for me, being born in 1964 puts me officially at the bottom end of Boomers, but in now possible way shape or form do I have any visceral connection with THAT generation. ALso, I am British, and my generation has never been clearly defined... You are older and your cultural connections are different, but I see myself as part of an undefined generation that was too young for punk, but not for the new wave. In other words, we were the younger siblings of punk, the ones who picked up the baton, accepted the gauntlet, whose lives were changed by a cultural revolution we watched play out on the TV and, if you were living in London, on the streets too. We became the New Wave, the mod revival, the 2 Toners, the electro and hip hop fanatics, and later, we were the elder statesmen of the rave culture (in our early 20s by now). I sometimes look on my generation as the first one that refused to grow up. And if they find it hard to market to us, good. FUCK ADVERTISING!
So, I was waiting for an unfortunate punchline... "I wrote the proposal and then publishers said they couldn't figure out a generation to market it to." As you didn't write that punchline, are you at least writing the proposal?
I hate labels, too. Thankfully, like you, I've always loved music and culture so I continue to explore and expand my sphere of influence. My punchline: Never stop with just one or two proposals. Keep churning out content; one must keep the creative juices flowing. Never give up!
I am technically a Boomer, though my emotional and cultural outlook is more like someone in their forties. Given that inconvenient truth, some candy-ass millennial marketer assuming what I should or should not like doesn't resonate in the least! Labels! Who needs 'em?!
The low end of your "tweener" definition (1956) is just about the midpoint of the Baby Boom generational birth span. I'm probably missing something here, but many of what you report as your cultural signifiers as a "tweener" are classic Baby Boom references from where I sit (a Boomer born in 1956).
Fair point. I guess it depends on the household that one grew up in. But if you google it, their chart uses the name "Generation Jones" aka "Boomers II" for folks aged 60 – 69! I prefer "Tweeners. Interesting that Gen Xers span 15 years! It's all about putting people in marketing "silos."
Well ranted Mark. I was discussing this the other day that, for me, being born in 1964 puts me officially at the bottom end of Boomers, but in now possible way shape or form do I have any visceral connection with THAT generation. ALso, I am British, and my generation has never been clearly defined... You are older and your cultural connections are different, but I see myself as part of an undefined generation that was too young for punk, but not for the new wave. In other words, we were the younger siblings of punk, the ones who picked up the baton, accepted the gauntlet, whose lives were changed by a cultural revolution we watched play out on the TV and, if you were living in London, on the streets too. We became the New Wave, the mod revival, the 2 Toners, the electro and hip hop fanatics, and later, we were the elder statesmen of the rave culture (in our early 20s by now). I sometimes look on my generation as the first one that refused to grow up. And if they find it hard to market to us, good. FUCK ADVERTISING!
So, I was waiting for an unfortunate punchline... "I wrote the proposal and then publishers said they couldn't figure out a generation to market it to." As you didn't write that punchline, are you at least writing the proposal?
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I hate labels, too. Thankfully, like you, I've always loved music and culture so I continue to explore and expand my sphere of influence. My punchline: Never stop with just one or two proposals. Keep churning out content; one must keep the creative juices flowing. Never give up!
The greatest tragedy of us tweeners is that we were too young - just by a little - to partake fully of the sexual revolution.
I'm claiming Tweener status (1966) based on watching all the TV shows you named and having a bike with a banana seat. Great read, Dusty!