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Why People Born 1955–1964 Aren’t Baby Boomers
Ode to Generation Jones: punks, yuppies, but never hippies
In a documentary on the 1970s punk scene, an interviewee (born in 1959) explained how he didn’t identify with the typical Baby Boomer characteristics and that he was too old to be a Gen X. He felt as though he didn’t belong and just defined himself as a punk.
I often wondered about this group of people. They’re officially classified as Baby Boomers, yet coming of age during “Anarchy in the UK” must have given them a totally different life experience from those who came of age during “Give Peace a Chance”.
Turns out the man in the documentary was a member of Generation Jones. Turns out the 1980s yuppies of the Reganomics era were also Generation Jones.
I’m Generation X and Generation Jones was the cool older sibling I looked up to and relied on for music suggestions. I had way more in common with Generation Jones than I did with my traditional Baby Boomer parents who listened to British Invasion music before growing their hair long.
“Between Woodstock and Lollapalooza, between ‘Turn on, tune in, drop out’ and ‘Just Say No,’ and between Dylan going electric and Nirvana going unplugged, an invisible generation has been silent.” GenerationJones.com
Overlooked even more than Gen X, Generation Jones is the coolest generation you never heard about.
Who is Generation Jones?
Roughly speaking, Generation Jones are born between the mid-50s and the mid-60s. Like the older Boomers, they were born during a period of high birth rates and economic boom.
How did they get their name?
The term Generation Jones was coined by social commentator, Jonathan Pontell. The 1970s slang “keeping up with the Joneses”, or jonesin’ for short, embodied craving or yearning.
The yuppie members of Generation Jones craved big jobs, big money and big shoulder pads, while another cohort of Generation Jones jonesed for something harder. Maybe it’s just my…
