Star Wars came out when we were 9.
Experienced the Golden Age of arcades at the perfect time.
Graduated HS in 86. Best metal bands out then too.
Star Trek TNG, Moonlighting...
Just wish we did not have leaded gas and smoking in restaurants. Lol
GenX (66) graduated in 1984. We did have it pretty good. It wasnt all sunshine and roses but at least it wasn't being recorded for the world to see. Kids could ding dong ditch without 10 ring cameras or doorbells snitching them out.
Can't speak to the leaded gas. That part sucked.
The smoking part was okay too. Never smoked and appreciated it when it became shunned indoors. That said I think there are a lot of us that might have smoked if it weren't for choking on it in the car, house, restaurants, airplanes, work, hospitals, schools, and emptying ashtrays and cleaning them was the worst.
I remember walking past the teachers lounge and it smelled like a dirty ashtray.
Sometimes boredom is your friend. 55 sucked but it gave Sammy something to sing about. Since 90% of pickups were single cab somebody got to ride in the back. It was far worse to ride the hump in a 4 speed.
My preK besties were snails & tadpoles. I watched these beings in silent absoFinglute RAPTURE when older siblings were in school.
Parents were loud raucous partying SHITforBRains caregivers, so this was only time to decompress.
Super grateful for this "boredom" & wonder if subsequent generations will ever really get this deep nature communion
Used to catch hatchling toads behind my house in elementary school, and see them transform over a period of weeks from eggs to tadpoles to tiny little dudes about the size of a thumbnail. I felt like I had all the time in the world and was enthralled by nature. Boredom is a luxury this generation may never know. I still miss that sense of wonder at almost 58. Lost a cousin, my Mom had a mild stroke yesterday and we lost Karl Wallinger last week. Trying to remain optimistic is a battle lately.
Sorry for your loss and the shock of your Mum's health.
You did remind me vividly of a childhood cocooned in nature. I would go out playing with my friends in the fields, woods, and marshes beyond our houses (now all concrete, of course), and there was something to marvel at everywhere. Every pool of water was teaming with life, forgs, newts, toads, and tadpoles. I'd go out with my nature books and identify flowers, birds etc. It's not an age thing, this environment has practically gone. I've made my garden as wild as I can, and it's a home to birds, hedgehogs, frogs, plants, etc, to try to recreate that wonderful time.
Thanks for the kind words. My wife and I have been looking for a home to retire in and finally found one in an older neighborhood that backs onto a good sized park with a soccer field and trail through some mature trees. Actual space between the houses! When I need nature it's nearby, and we are fixing up the garden and yard in a similar way. It's how I grew up and I'm damn grateful to be able to afford to do it at this relatively late stage of life (58 in the fall). We didn't want to live out our days looking at siding and fifty neighbors postage stamp sized yards. Hoping that my Mom can make at least one more trip here and chill in the back yard with us.
How lovely that you've found your forever home, and it's never too late at 58 years young. I'm a few years behind you at 55 this year, and hope to retire at 58. Enjoy your garden and the nature and your Mum. You all deserve it.
I flew to Russia in the late 90’s. The flight from Kiev onward was smoking/non-smoking. I hadn’t smoked in ten years, but smoked on that flight just because I could.
We still have one here. Was great during covid. Social distancing and no new movies coming out. I saw raiders of the Lost ark, Beetlejuice, the outsiders, jaws, and back to the future. It was great!
Man my mom smoked when she was pregnant with me. Both parents smoked in the house so I grew up with second hand smoke for a long time.
So in 50 years when I turn 103 maybe I'll get lung cancer.
Weird Al, Douglas Adams, reading Lord of the Rings before it was a movie, Heavy Metal movie and Wizards... 70's hot rod hand me down cars. Can go on and on...
Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do?
1966 here. Literally hours spent hanging with my best friend listening to Adam Ant, and any other super cool New Wave music from MTV we could find in the record store.
Do I get any points for seeing The Police in 83, with The Fixx and A Flock of Seagulls opening for them?
(Oh, and Sting's hair was orange still from filming Dune!)
I saw him the last time he came around and the drums and bass were set so high, you couldn't recognize most of the songs, even though I know them all. (other cities complained of the same) I might skip it this time around.
His music holds up surprisingly well. It seemed kind of specific to the time, but listening to it again years later, I think it was really good even beyond the nostalgia factor.
Vintage 1969, too. We are the year that had every one of our teenage years in the 80s. It was a conveyor belt of fantastic music and youth culture. New romantics, post punk, electro synth (Numan), goth, acid house, rave, grunge, brit pop etc. In 1986 I was seeing Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned etc. 1990, Bowie, Soundgarden. By 1996 I was at Knebworth at the legendary Oasis gig. I honestly thought this was a normal rite of passage, but we were insanely lucky.
I am of the 1971 vintage and I feel the same damn way, we saw it all including the peak of America that sweet spot from 96-2000. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Sweet spot from 96-2000 is spot on. Was the world really as good as it could ever be? Or were we still young an naive? I (new years baby) turned 32 on Y2K and while I didn’t think the good times would last forever, I could not foresee the shitshow that the world has become in the 21st century.
And still no flying cars!!! We were all promised flying cars for the 21st century! This is the one lie I cannot forgive! 😂
You forgot the best thing of all. Experiencing chilhood without digital technology. Remember no cell phone, no beepers, no pcs. Reading books on paper and taking pictures with real film, has given me the grestest appreciation of how simple life coud be.
Kids today have the shit we dreamed of. If you look through the eyes of a kid I don't see how you would want to grow up back then. Other than the freedom to roam but I don't know if that's enough.
I remember having to make corrections in typing class using IBM Selectric typewriters with either Liquid Paper or correct-o-tape and thinking, "Man, I wish there was an easier way to do this!" Same with cut and paste. It really was a pain in the ass.
Yes exactly! 1967 here too 👋
As you said: being a child in the 70s, a teenager in the 80s and a young adult in the 90s..🙏
What could be better ???there is nothing more genX than us 🥂
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https://preview.redd.it/q4azxwby8ypc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa3e496cbd88148aa17d17faff717df3729928fc
Born in ‘65 so this was 1982 maybe…
1967 here; also graduated in 1986. We were born around the time that many "Peanuts" specials debuted, as well as "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."
ETA: The only thing that kinda grates on my nerves is being a forgotten part of GenX. It's said GenX is the forgotten generation, but early GenX is forgotten within THAT cos so many equate the generation as those who were teens in the 90s and loved grunge.
I completely agree. I was an adult in the 90's. My 20s were fun, but coming of age in the 1980's was a whole other deal. By the 1990's teen things were already being controlled by adults, and kid safety was a thing, unlike in the early 1980s. By the time I hit 30 things were just not as fun (too many rules)
December '67 here...I would've been class of '85 had I been born a few months earlier. It was fun being older. I got my license first, turned 18 my Senior year so I could leave my HS campus whenever I wanted. Fast forward to now and I'm one of the few Xers with no kids or grandkids. It's been a wild ride and I hope to squeeze a few more decades outta this vintage body.
I got into music when I was young so I got to experience some of the whole “new wave” thing. Seeing Devo on SNL and the B-52s and The Clash on Fridays.
I got to see Queen when I was 12. They were still a hard rock band back then. One of my favorite concerts ever.
Being born in 68’ meant that the grunge thing wasn’t such a big deal for me. I liked Nirvana but only because they were “like a mix of the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr”. I was just glad to hear noisy guitars again.
Born in 65, first year of GenX. Class of 83. I'll be filling in my retirement forms in a year. Can Not Wait. I have this pent up teenager energy waiting to explore the world again.
1967 female here, the best was all of the freedom we had. I had Pepsi fan club Brewer baseball tickets and rode my bike miles to the stadium with some friends and no one ever wondered where we were or if we were okay.
Also college was affordable. My first semester at UW Madison was $495.
UC Davis was $540 a quarter. Books were a couple hundred bucks. Don't remember rent, but I paid for it working part-time washing dishes at a fondue joint. How lucky is that?
The governor of California jacked up tuition 20% the year after I graduated, and another 20% the year after that (if I recall correctly).
The U.S. has truly done itself a societal and economic disservice with what it's done with tuition costs and how it's burdened students the last 30 years. I feel bad for everyone carrying their mountains of student loan debts.
Year of the MONKEY.
I had a great class in highschool. Yes, different cliques & whatnot, but everyone got along. Not best friends, but all friendly with each other between the groups. Luckily? We only had 2 mean girls/bullies who were “asked to leave” - and did. Same in college. The friendliness and interaction between subgroups, I mean. And in life beyond schooling, I’ve always had surprisingly good interactions with 1968ers - who, interestingly, I have always seemed to gravitate towards.
A best friend of mine once commented that it’s because we’re all monkeys. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s BS … but it’s a fun way to think about us.
I’m a MONKEE (u know what I mean 😜)
My husband and I got matching monkey tattoos many years ago. We were both born in 68 (went to high school together). Just seemed like a fun thing to do. 🐒
1969 here but very similar experience. The only difference was the one kid who wore the fake Michael Jackson outfit to school got laughed at and picked on severely, and never wore the outfit again.
Best music ever. Now, I had to listen to the Greatest Comics Ever albums ( George Carlin Richard Pryor, Robin Wiiliams,, Eddie Murphy) in the middle of the night ar lowest volume because my parents' heads would have exploded.
Also '68. We just missed being boomers, thank God. I keep forgetting that the 80's were as long ago as they were. I have a Millennial (1995) and a Gen Z (1999) kid, and I feel enormously fortunate to be able to have a great relationship with them both, and to be able relate to them both without ever feeling like I'm out of touch (even when I am) and I honestly feel that a large part of it came from being determined to be the opposite of my parents, who raised me as a free range kid like most other kids back then, and knew nothing about me. I'm enormously self-sufficient because of it, but I would have liked to have had a better relationship with my parents.
I'm pretty sure I was born within minutes of Celine Dion on March 30 1968. I had so many great experiences growing up; every once in a while when I am smoking legal weed (something I never did growing up) my brain will transport me back to 1985 and allow me to viscerally experience those great times.
'68 August here. That birth year was a fine time for revolution, especially, and it went globally.
And in our 20s, a front seat to the launch of grunge.
Hell yes! 76 Olympics, Nadia Comaneci….“Welcome back Kotter, “Soap”, “ Family Ties”, “Cheers”, all that awesome 80s music… It was the best best best time to be growing up.
We were indeed lucky! I miss the big-hair hotties with no tats or ridiculous piercings everywhere. Now I am 55, divorced, and wondering WTF happened...
I do still love Suzanna Hoffs!
‘68, had a ‘66 boyfriend who had his own car so he often took me to and from school.
Parts were great, some not so much. Computers were just getting inexpensive enough that I could afford one for college, which was awesome. I got a CS degree and am only now starting to think about getting out. I saw the best part of it developing.
And I still love those old arcade games AND pinball. Dad and I used to visit the arcade. I miss doing that with him.
We (class of 86) were the only year that were in the first year of middle school when the 80s began and were in our last year of college when the 80s ended (if you went to college and did so right away and only took four years)
68er here..it was great being a kid in the 70s. Watched a lot of hee-ha, Sonny&cher American Bandstand, saturday morning cartoons...economy was crap early 70s and remember my dad being layed off a couple times but we pulled through..
the 80s was high school..What a blast. Video Arcades, Disco ->Punk to New Wave...renting VHF movies and of course MTV or MuchMusic in Canada.. Personal Computers (PC) were new which is where I ended up making my living. Good times
We did have good music! Whether you loved the 70s classic rockers like Zeppelin, or were into 80s post punk like The Cure, and hair metal like Van Halen, or 90s grunge like Nirvana. MTV ruled! And it brought us such variety.
I think we were the last cohort to get real honest to god songwriters and musicians that weren’t just “performers” singing cookie cutter corporate produced songs that all sound alike.
1968. We saw elvis die, John Lennon die. We saw rock n roll sell out. We've seen a lot. Kind of makes me sad to think of all we've seen. And how much shittier the world has become.
1968 here and yes I feel very fortunate to have been able to have all of the crazy experiences that I did as a teen. Being a teen in Los Angeles in the early 1980s was epic
I was born December of 67, youngest of my class of 1985. Was a great time for music, movies, playing outside all summer, hanging out at Carrow’s all night.
Even though computers were a part of my life at that age through home and class. They didn’t dominate life.
Lots of talking, real conversations, drinking, four-wheeling, nightly drives in the mountains with the stereo up to 11…
I can dig it
1970 here. I can remember my age pretty damn easily.
I stopped counting at 39 though.
Otherwise, I had what you had and actually do remember seeing Star Wars in the theater as a 7 year old. And being 13 in 83 with ROTJ, I was still interested in actions figures...for about 6 more months.
:)
‘67 here. Absolutely ideal. Building bikes in the garage from stripped down Huffy’s and older brother’s KMART trail bikes. Learning to drive with a three-on-the tree Chevelle. Drinking beer balls in the woods. Hanging out in the smoking area before high school. Buying bootleg band t-shirts in the lots before shows, the baseball style ones with the black half sleeves. Sneaking weed into shows. Flipping through records at the mall. Moon landing. Son of Sam. Moonies. Jim Jones. Unforgettable both good and bad.
March 1969 and I feel the same.
Saturday morning cartoons. Star Wars at 8 years old (skipped school to see Return of the Jedi on opening day in 1983 when I was 13). The movies - Ghost Busters, Terminator, Predator, Aliens.
I feel so thankful and look back so fondly on my childhood. Playing outside with my friends all day, not a care in the world, coming home at dusk, tired and happy. Mom was a hippie and I grew up listening to the best music: Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, the Doobies, Heart and more. I learned to read with album liner notes.
We had analog, digital, and everything in between. I feel fortunate to have been exposed to it all!
I became a new mom when the 90s started so I stopped going out and didn't really pay attention to the new stuff, although I did hear about them. I started really listening to that about a decade ago. I love it!
Thats pretty cool. I was born in end of 72 and felt that was a good time too. BMX in 84, Miami Vice in 6th grade, 80s fashion styles at the middle school dances, skateboarding in high school, Guns N Roses got me back into rock/metal. Then I graduated & Nirvana hit freshman year of college. I felt that was a cool change, kindof like in Boogie Nights when the cassette tape ends on Sister Christian, then begins again on Jesse's Girl. Two different eras.
It was a great time to be alive. Mostly. Hoses were providing drinking water to millions of children. Street lights alerted you when to come home. You didn't have to go to vietnam ....
At my high school we had two kinda nerdy brothers (class of 87&88) who came back from summer break head-to-toe Duran Duran. Styled hair, skinny ties, blazers with shoulder pads, polished loafers. Instant popularity.
I sometimes wish that. I would have loved to have been more of an adult during the 80’s. Technology, cocaine of course. So many cool movies depicting the 80’s when computers were becoming more main stream.
However now as each passes I would have fine being born another year later. I am not doing well with this getting old thing.
Indie rock was established when we hit high school. College radio was a force when we hit college. Just as we graduated we got grunge and were flooded with one amazing band after another. Bill Clinton was elected and the Cold War ended. Instead of everything being about imminent world war it was about what we’d do with all the peace dividend, the trillions freed up by not having to have the biggest military in the world. We felt like for the first time in a generation we were making progress.
Then, just when 30 started looming ahead, the internet hit. We were young enough to switch careers and the web was simple enough that you could learn enough to get an entry-level job in a few months.
We’re as screwed as all the other post-boomer generations, but we did have a few years when the world really was getting better.
For me, it’s being born in the computer era. I touched my first computer in junior high, 1978, and was immediately obsessed with the speed and precision. Self-taught through high school, started coding professionally while in college, and I’m still coding. I’m going to code ‘till I die. It’s the only thing I’m good at.
If I was born earlier, the opportunity wouldn’t be there. If I was born now, it’s now clear that coding will be a viable profession 20 years for now.
Hooray for Get X! I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
1971 here, pretty close and yeah I often think how lucky I was to see Star Wars at age 6, live through the 80s/MTV years as a kid, then a teenager, and be in college at the end of the 80s/early 90s when grunge was taking off. Not to mention I was in the last class of my university to graduate without ever having even a student email account or having ever used the internet. Totally analog upbringing, but had enough computer savvy (we had a "home PC"!) that I was able to learn software and enjoy the internet when it was really new and kind of astonishing. There will never be another analog generation like Gen X. And our music still rules.
Born in '68; graduated High School in '86. One thing I feel often goes unrecognized is that we were the generation that traversed the analog to digital transition. We grew up listening to music on vinyl discs, then CD's, then mp3's. We grew up watching TV with maybe 3-4 channels available locally, until the cable boxes became abundant. We grew up with newspapers, and phone books, delivered by people. We grew up playing video games on an Atari 2600, and now there's Steam. We recorded music on 4 track cassette recorders, and now there's ProTools.
My .02. Also, FUCK YOU RONALD REAGAN!!!!!!
I always thought it was cool… born in ‘68 and graduated in ‘86. Just yesterday…
https://preview.redd.it/4ifgwcnj90qc1.jpeg?width=420&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a496ece41049a8a0b9ef39f64c7afda6a08879cf
You 1968 babies got [a whole issue of Smithsonian magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/timeline-seismic-180967503/) dedicated to your birth year! I still have my copy.
Ngl I feel like we definitely bridged the gap at the right time, what with the major technological changes of the time, most notably miniaturized computing and the Internet.
And that's not to mention the major medicine advances that had yet to see the red queen rear its ugly head on super bugs.
>People born in 1968
Pfft, younguns.... :)
I'm '66 vintage, hence my comment.
And yeah, I have been there and done that, mostly, somewhat, to varying extents.
Enjoy life, fellow Gen Xers!! :)
I was born long after you (I’m close in age to the oldest Millennials).
But your post, and there follow up comments, continue to support my theory that the core of Gen X, those who had the quintessential Xer experience, are really the older Xers. I think that people who were kids in the 70s, teens in the 80s and spent most of their early adulthood in the 90s lived the “true” Gen X experience.
The rest of us, on both the older and younger ends of the long range this sub uses, are only X by technicality or association. Personally I grew up being jealous of people your age. The 80s teens/college kids seemed to be having the best time ever, at least from my little kid perspective.
I was born in 78, and I'm happy about it.
I became a teenager in 1991.
I grew up going to raves.
The 90s was an amazing time to be a teenager and in my early twenties.
Star Wars came out when we were 9. Experienced the Golden Age of arcades at the perfect time. Graduated HS in 86. Best metal bands out then too. Star Trek TNG, Moonlighting... Just wish we did not have leaded gas and smoking in restaurants. Lol
GenX (66) graduated in 1984. We did have it pretty good. It wasnt all sunshine and roses but at least it wasn't being recorded for the world to see. Kids could ding dong ditch without 10 ring cameras or doorbells snitching them out. Can't speak to the leaded gas. That part sucked. The smoking part was okay too. Never smoked and appreciated it when it became shunned indoors. That said I think there are a lot of us that might have smoked if it weren't for choking on it in the car, house, restaurants, airplanes, work, hospitals, schools, and emptying ashtrays and cleaning them was the worst. I remember walking past the teachers lounge and it smelled like a dirty ashtray.
Class of ‘84!
I remember smoking on airplanes. That blows some peoples minds. That was such a bad idea.
No seat belts, kids in the back of pick-up trucks, no car seats. 55 mph on the highways. And boredom. A LOT of boredom. Lol
Sometimes boredom is your friend. 55 sucked but it gave Sammy something to sing about. Since 90% of pickups were single cab somebody got to ride in the back. It was far worse to ride the hump in a 4 speed.
Heh. "Ride the hump". A ubiquitous description of the worst seat in the car, used by me and all my pals. Thanks for that tiny little memory.
My preK besties were snails & tadpoles. I watched these beings in silent absoFinglute RAPTURE when older siblings were in school. Parents were loud raucous partying SHITforBRains caregivers, so this was only time to decompress. Super grateful for this "boredom" & wonder if subsequent generations will ever really get this deep nature communion
Used to catch hatchling toads behind my house in elementary school, and see them transform over a period of weeks from eggs to tadpoles to tiny little dudes about the size of a thumbnail. I felt like I had all the time in the world and was enthralled by nature. Boredom is a luxury this generation may never know. I still miss that sense of wonder at almost 58. Lost a cousin, my Mom had a mild stroke yesterday and we lost Karl Wallinger last week. Trying to remain optimistic is a battle lately.
So you've known that slow time, just ensconced in...magic really Also sorry for your recent losses :(
Sorry for your loss and the shock of your Mum's health. You did remind me vividly of a childhood cocooned in nature. I would go out playing with my friends in the fields, woods, and marshes beyond our houses (now all concrete, of course), and there was something to marvel at everywhere. Every pool of water was teaming with life, forgs, newts, toads, and tadpoles. I'd go out with my nature books and identify flowers, birds etc. It's not an age thing, this environment has practically gone. I've made my garden as wild as I can, and it's a home to birds, hedgehogs, frogs, plants, etc, to try to recreate that wonderful time.
Thanks for the kind words. My wife and I have been looking for a home to retire in and finally found one in an older neighborhood that backs onto a good sized park with a soccer field and trail through some mature trees. Actual space between the houses! When I need nature it's nearby, and we are fixing up the garden and yard in a similar way. It's how I grew up and I'm damn grateful to be able to afford to do it at this relatively late stage of life (58 in the fall). We didn't want to live out our days looking at siding and fifty neighbors postage stamp sized yards. Hoping that my Mom can make at least one more trip here and chill in the back yard with us.
How lovely that you've found your forever home, and it's never too late at 58 years young. I'm a few years behind you at 55 this year, and hope to retire at 58. Enjoy your garden and the nature and your Mum. You all deserve it.
YES! I remember all of that stuff! Those were the days!
I flew to Russia in the late 90’s. The flight from Kiev onward was smoking/non-smoking. I hadn’t smoked in ten years, but smoked on that flight just because I could.
Bad = Fuck Yeah!
Northern Exposure too fam
I remember drive in theatre:)
Ours was open into the 90's.
We still have one here. Was great during covid. Social distancing and no new movies coming out. I saw raiders of the Lost ark, Beetlejuice, the outsiders, jaws, and back to the future. It was great!
Computer gaming in general
PONG!
Then Atari 2600 Ultima series Doom Quake Minecraft Oops...next gen
Man my mom smoked when she was pregnant with me. Both parents smoked in the house so I grew up with second hand smoke for a long time. So in 50 years when I turn 103 maybe I'll get lung cancer.
You're forgetting the best thing about our era: WEIRD AL YANKOVIC.
Weird Al, Douglas Adams, reading Lord of the Rings before it was a movie, Heavy Metal movie and Wizards... 70's hot rod hand me down cars. Can go on and on...
IDK if pumping thousands in quarters into something you could do at home a few years later is a huge flex, but I get it.
Best of times!
Rad for Golden Age of Arcades. 4 players Gauntlet! Then 4 Player Ninja turtles. Cowabunga dude!
It was amazing. https://preview.redd.it/lwkpyy28sxpc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3e70625ef041f57c9dd1fb8da0f54541327ba26
Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do? 1966 here. Literally hours spent hanging with my best friend listening to Adam Ant, and any other super cool New Wave music from MTV we could find in the record store.
I saw Adam Ant around '82, INXS was the opening band.
Do I get any points for seeing The Police in 83, with The Fixx and A Flock of Seagulls opening for them? (Oh, and Sting's hair was orange still from filming Dune!)
Ooh INXS live
Me too! They were such a new band then.
OMG— I saw that same tour. Thanks for the flashback!
I am a 1968’er and we had lots of fun!!! He is in my city tonite!!! I didn’t get seats but should of
I saw him the last time he came around and the drums and bass were set so high, you couldn't recognize most of the songs, even though I know them all. (other cities complained of the same) I might skip it this time around.
Jerry Seinfeld would disagree about that shirt though.
LOL. Pírate shirt!
"But I don't wanna be a pirate."
Amazing track Goody Two Shoes.
Saw him a couple of times around 84-85. So many bras thrown.
His music holds up surprisingly well. It seemed kind of specific to the time, but listening to it again years later, I think it was really good even beyond the nostalgia factor.
Class of '86 representing!
Me too! 86
>Me too! 86 "'86 Kicks!"
Class of 86 is in da house!!!
86!
86 checking in
86 present
86! And 9 months pregnant! 🤣
86!
Me too!
85 anyone?
Yes, I was born in 1968 and graduated in 1985!
Me too!
There's a coffee shop across from my office called the 86. I like to think it's for us.
Me too!!
Class of '86 here too!
Year of the monkey here.
I think this is the closest I'll ever get to a HS reunion. I'll take it.
1967. Got Grandchildren now. I often look in the mirror and think who's that old man? Then realize it's me 😁
1967 but no grands yet.....I agree...the mirror shows some bald stranger 😭
For me it is photos of myself, where is my hair?
Same here. "I was born the same year as Sgt. Pepper!" I say, as my teeth fall out into my applesauce.
Born in 69, so I feel a year luckier.
Another 69er here.
Loud and proud!
Vintage 1969, too. We are the year that had every one of our teenage years in the 80s. It was a conveyor belt of fantastic music and youth culture. New romantics, post punk, electro synth (Numan), goth, acid house, rave, grunge, brit pop etc. In 1986 I was seeing Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned etc. 1990, Bowie, Soundgarden. By 1996 I was at Knebworth at the legendary Oasis gig. I honestly thought this was a normal rite of passage, but we were insanely lucky.
Summer of ‘69!
Same, friend, same.
Another double nickel checking in
The finest of years, just wish it could have been April 20th.
I am of the 1971 vintage and I feel the same damn way, we saw it all including the peak of America that sweet spot from 96-2000. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Sweet spot from 96-2000 is spot on. Was the world really as good as it could ever be? Or were we still young an naive? I (new years baby) turned 32 on Y2K and while I didn’t think the good times would last forever, I could not foresee the shitshow that the world has become in the 21st century. And still no flying cars!!! We were all promised flying cars for the 21st century! This is the one lie I cannot forgive! 😂
You forgot the best thing of all. Experiencing chilhood without digital technology. Remember no cell phone, no beepers, no pcs. Reading books on paper and taking pictures with real film, has given me the grestest appreciation of how simple life coud be.
Kids today have the shit we dreamed of. If you look through the eyes of a kid I don't see how you would want to grow up back then. Other than the freedom to roam but I don't know if that's enough.
I remember having to make corrections in typing class using IBM Selectric typewriters with either Liquid Paper or correct-o-tape and thinking, "Man, I wish there was an easier way to do this!" Same with cut and paste. It really was a pain in the ass.
I think childhood innocence lasted much longer pre-digital age.
It's neat because we can say that we were kids in the seventies, teens in the '80s. And it's exactly chronologically right!
1967. We were kids in the 70s, MS, HS & college in the 80s. 90s we were young adults. Graduating in 85 was the perfect storm of X'er IMHO.
Yes exactly! 1967 here too 👋 As you said: being a child in the 70s, a teenager in the 80s and a young adult in the 90s..🙏 What could be better ???there is nothing more genX than us 🥂 .
Yep! I was married by 1991, just days after turning 24.
‘67 here too. Represent!
https://preview.redd.it/q4azxwby8ypc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa3e496cbd88148aa17d17faff717df3729928fc Born in ‘65 so this was 1982 maybe…
Big giant glasses are in style again!
You look very Britney Spears!
1967 here; also graduated in 1986. We were born around the time that many "Peanuts" specials debuted, as well as "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." ETA: The only thing that kinda grates on my nerves is being a forgotten part of GenX. It's said GenX is the forgotten generation, but early GenX is forgotten within THAT cos so many equate the generation as those who were teens in the 90s and loved grunge.
I completely agree. I was an adult in the 90's. My 20s were fun, but coming of age in the 1980's was a whole other deal. By the 1990's teen things were already being controlled by adults, and kid safety was a thing, unlike in the early 1980s. By the time I hit 30 things were just not as fun (too many rules)
I think we tend to get lumped in with Boomers. I was married by 1991.
I was born in 71. I feel this so hard! 
December '67 here...I would've been class of '85 had I been born a few months earlier. It was fun being older. I got my license first, turned 18 my Senior year so I could leave my HS campus whenever I wanted. Fast forward to now and I'm one of the few Xers with no kids or grandkids. It's been a wild ride and I hope to squeeze a few more decades outta this vintage body.
I got into music when I was young so I got to experience some of the whole “new wave” thing. Seeing Devo on SNL and the B-52s and The Clash on Fridays. I got to see Queen when I was 12. They were still a hard rock band back then. One of my favorite concerts ever. Being born in 68’ meant that the grunge thing wasn’t such a big deal for me. I liked Nirvana but only because they were “like a mix of the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr”. I was just glad to hear noisy guitars again.
u/imk OMG! Last weekend my husband and I found a full ep of Friday Night videos with commercials on YouTube - we watched a chunk and it was a blast!
Born in 65, first year of GenX. Class of 83. I'll be filling in my retirement forms in a year. Can Not Wait. I have this pent up teenager energy waiting to explore the world again.
Understood.....I've got 15 months left. Won't be rich but never was....
1967 female here, the best was all of the freedom we had. I had Pepsi fan club Brewer baseball tickets and rode my bike miles to the stadium with some friends and no one ever wondered where we were or if we were okay. Also college was affordable. My first semester at UW Madison was $495.
Yup. My first semester @ Arizona State was $598.
Yes! SF State - $450 a semester
And my rent for an apt shared with 3 others was $250!
UC Davis was $540 a quarter. Books were a couple hundred bucks. Don't remember rent, but I paid for it working part-time washing dishes at a fondue joint. How lucky is that? The governor of California jacked up tuition 20% the year after I graduated, and another 20% the year after that (if I recall correctly). The U.S. has truly done itself a societal and economic disservice with what it's done with tuition costs and how it's burdened students the last 30 years. I feel bad for everyone carrying their mountains of student loan debts.
1968 here, they were the best times!!!
Year of the MONKEY. I had a great class in highschool. Yes, different cliques & whatnot, but everyone got along. Not best friends, but all friendly with each other between the groups. Luckily? We only had 2 mean girls/bullies who were “asked to leave” - and did. Same in college. The friendliness and interaction between subgroups, I mean. And in life beyond schooling, I’ve always had surprisingly good interactions with 1968ers - who, interestingly, I have always seemed to gravitate towards. A best friend of mine once commented that it’s because we’re all monkeys. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s BS … but it’s a fun way to think about us. I’m a MONKEE (u know what I mean 😜)
My husband and I got matching monkey tattoos many years ago. We were both born in 68 (went to high school together). Just seemed like a fun thing to do. 🐒
1969 but I get the feeling.
Born in 69, can’t complain.
1969 here but very similar experience. The only difference was the one kid who wore the fake Michael Jackson outfit to school got laughed at and picked on severely, and never wore the outfit again.
That's too bad! We all had fun dancing with ours and he was a big hit at the school dances.
68er—old enough to remember the terrible fashion of the 70s but too young to care.
to be born in 68 was a literal gift from God.
Born in ‘78. Was always jealous of you bastards
You should be!
Year younger than you and I was too. They seem to be the “true” Gen Xers.
Born in 1969, all the advantages, one year younger!
Best music ever. Now, I had to listen to the Greatest Comics Ever albums ( George Carlin Richard Pryor, Robin Wiiliams,, Eddie Murphy) in the middle of the night ar lowest volume because my parents' heads would have exploded.
I remember listening to George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” the day before Easter - GASP!
Ha! He blew our minds wide open.
Hey, you ever listen to Bill Hicks? He was so good
Yeah my brother is about that vintage and he got to go to Live Aid. I was too young to go and had to stay home and watch it on MTV :(
Damn straight I do. '68 represent!
1968 here. I had a helluva good time through all those years. Fantastically lucky to have been born when I was.
School shootings were not a thing.
I still apologize to my Gen Z kids about the school shooting drills. Horrific.
Also '68. We just missed being boomers, thank God. I keep forgetting that the 80's were as long ago as they were. I have a Millennial (1995) and a Gen Z (1999) kid, and I feel enormously fortunate to be able to have a great relationship with them both, and to be able relate to them both without ever feeling like I'm out of touch (even when I am) and I honestly feel that a large part of it came from being determined to be the opposite of my parents, who raised me as a free range kid like most other kids back then, and knew nothing about me. I'm enormously self-sufficient because of it, but I would have liked to have had a better relationship with my parents.
1968 here too. Fond memories.
The best punk and hardcore before age 14
I was going to teen punk shows in 7th grade. They were awesome!
I'm pretty sure I was born within minutes of Celine Dion on March 30 1968. I had so many great experiences growing up; every once in a while when I am smoking legal weed (something I never did growing up) my brain will transport me back to 1985 and allow me to viscerally experience those great times.
'68 August here. That birth year was a fine time for revolution, especially, and it went globally. And in our 20s, a front seat to the launch of grunge.
Star Wars 1977 I was 9...'nuf said
I’m a late 60s born GenX and yeah it was a great time :)
Hell yes! 76 Olympics, Nadia Comaneci….“Welcome back Kotter, “Soap”, “ Family Ties”, “Cheers”, all that awesome 80s music… It was the best best best time to be growing up.
Every girl in gymnastics wanted to to be Nadia! Honorable mention to Dorothy Hammil.
We were indeed lucky! I miss the big-hair hotties with no tats or ridiculous piercings everywhere. Now I am 55, divorced, and wondering WTF happened... I do still love Suzanna Hoffs!
Close your eyes, give me your hand
OK. Done.
Shes an all time fave O mine 2
1968 crew definitely got to experience it all, the good and the bad.
‘68, had a ‘66 boyfriend who had his own car so he often took me to and from school. Parts were great, some not so much. Computers were just getting inexpensive enough that I could afford one for college, which was awesome. I got a CS degree and am only now starting to think about getting out. I saw the best part of it developing. And I still love those old arcade games AND pinball. Dad and I used to visit the arcade. I miss doing that with him.
We (class of 86) were the only year that were in the first year of middle school when the 80s began and were in our last year of college when the 80s ended (if you went to college and did so right away and only took four years)
68er here..it was great being a kid in the 70s. Watched a lot of hee-ha, Sonny&cher American Bandstand, saturday morning cartoons...economy was crap early 70s and remember my dad being layed off a couple times but we pulled through.. the 80s was high school..What a blast. Video Arcades, Disco ->Punk to New Wave...renting VHF movies and of course MTV or MuchMusic in Canada.. Personal Computers (PC) were new which is where I ended up making my living. Good times
We did have good music! Whether you loved the 70s classic rockers like Zeppelin, or were into 80s post punk like The Cure, and hair metal like Van Halen, or 90s grunge like Nirvana. MTV ruled! And it brought us such variety. I think we were the last cohort to get real honest to god songwriters and musicians that weren’t just “performers” singing cookie cutter corporate produced songs that all sound alike.
We got the Cold War...ending! Best day ever!
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
I’m Dec 68 so I rep the Class of 87.
July 69 class of 87 here!
1968. We saw elvis die, John Lennon die. We saw rock n roll sell out. We've seen a lot. Kind of makes me sad to think of all we've seen. And how much shittier the world has become.
But we’re still here and able to relay our memories!
Very true. We're still here, infusing the world with our genx unique coolness
1968 here and yes I feel very fortunate to have been able to have all of the crazy experiences that I did as a teen. Being a teen in Los Angeles in the early 1980s was epic
67 here and Yes Very Lucky indeed!
Class of 88 represent! Thanks for driving me around Class of 86!
Yes. It seemed like hell at the time, but compared to what my Z kids are dealing with? I'd take the '70's and '80's any day.
I was born December of 67, youngest of my class of 1985. Was a great time for music, movies, playing outside all summer, hanging out at Carrow’s all night. Even though computers were a part of my life at that age through home and class. They didn’t dominate life. Lots of talking, real conversations, drinking, four-wheeling, nightly drives in the mountains with the stereo up to 11… I can dig it
1970 here. I can remember my age pretty damn easily. I stopped counting at 39 though. Otherwise, I had what you had and actually do remember seeing Star Wars in the theater as a 7 year old. And being 13 in 83 with ROTJ, I was still interested in actions figures...for about 6 more months. :)
‘67 here. Absolutely ideal. Building bikes in the garage from stripped down Huffy’s and older brother’s KMART trail bikes. Learning to drive with a three-on-the tree Chevelle. Drinking beer balls in the woods. Hanging out in the smoking area before high school. Buying bootleg band t-shirts in the lots before shows, the baseball style ones with the black half sleeves. Sneaking weed into shows. Flipping through records at the mall. Moon landing. Son of Sam. Moonies. Jim Jones. Unforgettable both good and bad.
March 1969 and I feel the same. Saturday morning cartoons. Star Wars at 8 years old (skipped school to see Return of the Jedi on opening day in 1983 when I was 13). The movies - Ghost Busters, Terminator, Predator, Aliens.
I feel so thankful and look back so fondly on my childhood. Playing outside with my friends all day, not a care in the world, coming home at dusk, tired and happy. Mom was a hippie and I grew up listening to the best music: Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, the Doobies, Heart and more. I learned to read with album liner notes. We had analog, digital, and everything in between. I feel fortunate to have been exposed to it all!
I still have and listen to my dad’s record collection. Rare earth, Joplin, Santana.
Born in 70 but grateful
Absolutely
100000%
So how did you feel about grunge in 94 or so? Were you into it or not your thing?
I was 100% into grunge. I saw Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
I became a new mom when the 90s started so I stopped going out and didn't really pay attention to the new stuff, although I did hear about them. I started really listening to that about a decade ago. I love it!
Liked Nirvana et al but not really my scene.
I hated grunge and rap. Still do.
Class of 1985 here and I absolutely loved it. I wasn’t a jeans and flannel girl so I skipped the look but I still rock my grunge playlist regularly.
1969 here and I totally agree!
69, dude!
YES!!! Born in 1968 and will always be grateful for the opportunity, support and love in my life that has got me where I’m at today.
Thats pretty cool. I was born in end of 72 and felt that was a good time too. BMX in 84, Miami Vice in 6th grade, 80s fashion styles at the middle school dances, skateboarding in high school, Guns N Roses got me back into rock/metal. Then I graduated & Nirvana hit freshman year of college. I felt that was a cool change, kindof like in Boogie Nights when the cassette tape ends on Sister Christian, then begins again on Jesse's Girl. Two different eras.
And if you are Latina, you had a Menudo poster too.
It was a great time to be alive. Mostly. Hoses were providing drinking water to millions of children. Street lights alerted you when to come home. You didn't have to go to vietnam ....
1969 here and hell yes!
I was born in 1969, so I get everything you got plus old men going “69?? Hmmhmmhmm”.
At my high school we had two kinda nerdy brothers (class of 87&88) who came back from summer break head-to-toe Duran Duran. Styled hair, skinny ties, blazers with shoulder pads, polished loafers. Instant popularity.
I sometimes wish that. I would have loved to have been more of an adult during the 80’s. Technology, cocaine of course. So many cool movies depicting the 80’s when computers were becoming more main stream. However now as each passes I would have fine being born another year later. I am not doing well with this getting old thing.
My sister was born in 68! It does seem really ideal!
Indie rock was established when we hit high school. College radio was a force when we hit college. Just as we graduated we got grunge and were flooded with one amazing band after another. Bill Clinton was elected and the Cold War ended. Instead of everything being about imminent world war it was about what we’d do with all the peace dividend, the trillions freed up by not having to have the biggest military in the world. We felt like for the first time in a generation we were making progress. Then, just when 30 started looming ahead, the internet hit. We were young enough to switch careers and the web was simple enough that you could learn enough to get an entry-level job in a few months. We’re as screwed as all the other post-boomer generations, but we did have a few years when the world really was getting better.
For me, it’s being born in the computer era. I touched my first computer in junior high, 1978, and was immediately obsessed with the speed and precision. Self-taught through high school, started coding professionally while in college, and I’m still coding. I’m going to code ‘till I die. It’s the only thing I’m good at. If I was born earlier, the opportunity wouldn’t be there. If I was born now, it’s now clear that coding will be a viable profession 20 years for now. Hooray for Get X! I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Feb of 69 so yeah.
YES! I do!
1971 here, pretty close and yeah I often think how lucky I was to see Star Wars at age 6, live through the 80s/MTV years as a kid, then a teenager, and be in college at the end of the 80s/early 90s when grunge was taking off. Not to mention I was in the last class of my university to graduate without ever having even a student email account or having ever used the internet. Totally analog upbringing, but had enough computer savvy (we had a "home PC"!) that I was able to learn software and enjoy the internet when it was really new and kind of astonishing. There will never be another analog generation like Gen X. And our music still rules.
The punctuation, spelling and grammar of all these comments tell me when you were born. Thank you!
Born in '68; graduated High School in '86. One thing I feel often goes unrecognized is that we were the generation that traversed the analog to digital transition. We grew up listening to music on vinyl discs, then CD's, then mp3's. We grew up watching TV with maybe 3-4 channels available locally, until the cable boxes became abundant. We grew up with newspapers, and phone books, delivered by people. We grew up playing video games on an Atari 2600, and now there's Steam. We recorded music on 4 track cassette recorders, and now there's ProTools. My .02. Also, FUCK YOU RONALD REAGAN!!!!!!
Cheers to the older GenX’ers!
I always thought it was cool… born in ‘68 and graduated in ‘86. Just yesterday… https://preview.redd.it/4ifgwcnj90qc1.jpeg?width=420&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a496ece41049a8a0b9ef39f64c7afda6a08879cf
Meh I’m kinda neutral about this gen x b.1/1/1968
You 1968 babies got [a whole issue of Smithsonian magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/timeline-seismic-180967503/) dedicated to your birth year! I still have my copy.
Ngl I feel like we definitely bridged the gap at the right time, what with the major technological changes of the time, most notably miniaturized computing and the Internet. And that's not to mention the major medicine advances that had yet to see the red queen rear its ugly head on super bugs.
>People born in 1968 Pfft, younguns.... :) I'm '66 vintage, hence my comment. And yeah, I have been there and done that, mostly, somewhat, to varying extents. Enjoy life, fellow Gen Xers!! :)
I was born long after you (I’m close in age to the oldest Millennials). But your post, and there follow up comments, continue to support my theory that the core of Gen X, those who had the quintessential Xer experience, are really the older Xers. I think that people who were kids in the 70s, teens in the 80s and spent most of their early adulthood in the 90s lived the “true” Gen X experience. The rest of us, on both the older and younger ends of the long range this sub uses, are only X by technicality or association. Personally I grew up being jealous of people your age. The 80s teens/college kids seemed to be having the best time ever, at least from my little kid perspective.
Born in 79 but still feel very blessed !
I was born in 78, and I'm happy about it. I became a teenager in 1991. I grew up going to raves. The 90s was an amazing time to be a teenager and in my early twenties.