The Lonely Death of My Gen‑X Identity

That’s a bloody cheerful way to start the New Year, eh?

Don’t worry. No bloggers were harmed in the writing of this story. We did feel a twinge of emotional pain, though, when we found out the local F.Y.E. is going out of business. With its broad range of CDs, trashy horror and sci-fi movies, rock T-shirts, posters, and other unnecessary music-related doodads, F.Y.E. was one of the last old-school record stores left. For a 40-something Generation X rocker, that’s a big part of my cultural identity dying right there.

The Boomers will always have the tumultuous 1960s and the Vietnam War to mark their place in pop history. The Generation Y gang has a shitty global economy to thank for their living up to the slacker label. And the Millennials – or, I prefer, the Helicopter Kids – will someday represent the age (now) when music and movies became truly disposable.