Songs for a Lost Generation

We wanted to identify what makes Generation X different from other generations. Many books that lay bare this question, but the one that informed most of my thoughts about Generation X was the book Generations by Jean M Twenge. Twenge did not make any real statements about the music of the generation. Instead, she identified differences mostly based on how we interacted with different technologies. For instance, Generation X is the last generation to grow up on analog music and the first to experience digital. We were the first generation to experience MTV which changed the face of music as we knew it. There are many more data points that Twenge pointed out that provide the parameters for Generation X. However the questions I wanted to answer were more related to the content we listened to.

What music defined Generation X? When we started creating our music, what were the trends we created? What impact did Generation X have on our beloved prog rock? Some of the answers may be contained here in this episode, in short, the results of my findings in this all-too-brief exploration of generational music were:

Regardless of the generational divide that seems to show up in culture wars, there is no escaping that the music we listened to growing up came from the previous generation.  Progressive rock itself is a Boomer genre of rock music. We grew up on Classic Rock, Punk, and 80s pop.  When Generation X did start speaking musically, we developed Grunge, and Hip-Hop. However, on the prog side, we had prog metal and post-rock. The earliest rock music from Generation X appears to have been Gun's and Roses (although some members just miss the identified cutoff). The earliest band to speak prog that was a Generation X fronted band, was either Majesty (later known as Dream Theater) or Echolyn. 

The episode provided here is not even close to answering all of the questions, but the research and theme did make for some enjoyable listening. We hope you enjoy this all-too-brief dive into this question.

Artist Title Duration Album Year Porcupine Tree Time Flies 11:39 The Incident 2009 Foghat Slow Ride 8:10 Fool For The City 1975 Kansas Miracles Out Of Nowhere 6:17 Leftoverture 1976 Styx Snowblind 4:46 Paradise Theater 1981 Genesis Land Of Confusion 4:41 Invisible Touch [Remix] 1986 Yes Our Song 4:07 90125 1983 Rush Between The Wheels 5:29 Grace Under Pressure 1984 Peter Hammill Losing Faith In Words 3:35 A Black Box 1980 Adrian Belew The Lone Rhinoceros 3:56 Lone Rhino 1982 Marillion Chelsea Monday 8:14 Script for a Jester's Tear 1983 Pendragon The Black Knight 9:50 The Jewel 1985 Blind Melon Tones of Home 4:21 Blind Melon 1992 Foo Fighters Everlong 4:05 The Colour and the Shape 1997 Blind Melon Tones of Home 4:21 Blind Melon 1992 Foo Fighters Everlong 4:05 The Colour and the Shape 1997 Radiohead Exit Music (For a Film) 4:21 OK Computer 1997 Smashing Pumpkins Porcelina of the Vast Oceans 8:54 Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness 1995 Muse Supremacy 4:51 The 2nd Law (Deluxe Edition) 2012 Echolyn 21 5:37 Suffocating the Bloom 1992 Kevin Gilbert Ghetto Of Beautiful Things 4:48 The Shaming of the True 2000 Phish Monsters 5:09 Evolve 2024 Big Big Train Welcome to the Planet 6:30 Welcome to the Planet 2022 Dream Theater Light Fuse And Get Away 7:15 When Dream And Day Unite 1989 Pain of Salvation Idiocracy 7:03 Scarsick 2007 Threshold The Latent Gene 7:57 Clone 1998 Riverside Friend or Foe? 7:23 ID.Entity (Deluxe Edition) 2023 Moon Safari 198X (Heaven Hill) 3:51 Himlabacken Vol. 2 2023 The Tangent Paroxetine - 20mg 7:39 Down And Out In Paris And London (Limited First Edition) 2009 Frost* The Boy Who Stood Still 7:33 Day And Age 2021 Anathema Summernight Horizon 4:06 We're Here Because We're Here 2010