Gen X is a generation born between the years 1965 and 1980. Sometimes called the middle child generation — as they are sandwiched between Baby Boomers and Millenials — they are anything but when it comes to pop culture. In this episode, Ted Asregadoo welcomes back two of his Popdose colleagues, Dw Dunphy and Beau Dure, to talk about the music of Gen X.

Episode Highlights

In the first segment, the guys talk about what songs, genres, artists, or bands best exemplify Gen X. Beau starts with alt-pop, alt-rock, and artists who were on early MTV. Dw, notes that MTV (in the early years) was very Boomer-heavy in terms of artists featured. However, when Madonna burst onto the scene, she was the first MTV star to really stand out from the standard Boomer rock. He also notes that in addition to MTV, modern rock radio became a hallmark of Gen X’s music taste. Ted says that hip-hop and rap were truly revolutionary in upending the status quo. If there was a genre that really says “Gen X,” it’s hip hop. Grunge was more of a remix of hard rock and punk, while hip-hop remixed pop culture into a musical form that was unlike anything that came before it.

The music of Deftones takes us into the second segment where Dw asks Ted and Beau about chord modulation in music. Specifically, why “the big finish” that was so prevalent in the music of the past is mostly absent nowadays. Dw notes that TikTok may be a contributing factor to the lack of chord modulation. Beau talks about the Canadian group, Alvvays (pronounced “always”) and how their music does incorporate chord modulation into a kind of dreamy ’90s-era throwback sound. He also notes that other Canadian band, Metric, and even Taylor Swift are very much in the tradition of trying different things in their music that includes chord modulation and crossing genres. With Taylor Swift, Ted notes that Jack Antonoff has helped Swift try new things, but his production elements tend to be limited — with some elements getting recycled from “Masseduction” by St. Vincent in 2017 onto Taylor Swift’s “Midnights.”

In the third segment, St. Vincent’s “Hang On Me” (produced by Jack Antonoff) takes us into a discussion about generations being analogous to astrology. Beau, notes that there are shared experiences that can be unique to a generation. Dw says that these generational boxes aren’t really embraced among Gen X and Millenials, but he sees the generational identity strongest among Boomers. The conversation then moves onto rock and alt-rock bands that tend to be embraced by Gen X; bands and artists like Pearl Jam, U2, Talking Heads, The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, Belly, Sonic Youth, X, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkins, Simple Minds, and Tears for Fears…just to name a bunch.

Finally, the episode concludes with the guys talking about two soundtracks: “Reality Bites” and “Singles.” Both movies and their soundtracks were supposed to represent Gen X. And while both soundtracks did a fairly good job doing that for rock and pop, the movies were kind of hit or miss — with “Reality Bites” really missing the mark.