Who are “Generation Jones”?
Jonathan Pontell defined Generation Jones as a distinct concept, referring to the second half of the post-World War II baby boom (1954-1965) Its members are still usually identified with either Baby Boomers or Generation X'ers.
I will refer you to Jonathan Pontell’s definitive (as I see it) website about Generation Jones.
Here are some excerpts from his take on the “Jonesers.”
1. “Generation Jones” embodies the idea of a large unknown generation.
You know, like Generation Smith or Generation Doe (But Jones sounds better and has many more meanings). Not only have we been anonymous, but we are also the largest generation in American history. Our 53 million members constitute more than 1out of 4 adults in the U.S. today.
2. One aspect of our collective personality is a mainstream “Jones” quality.
Between the personality extremes of the Boomers' idealism and the Xers' cynicism lies our more balanced mainstream "Jones" character.
3. “Generation Jones” can be said straight-faced or with an ironic smile.
To "get it", you need a postmodern sensibility: that swirl of irony, deconstruction and pastiche that our generation's coming of age in the 70s fueled from the margins to the malls.
4. The slang “jones” (or “jonesin’”) captures a core personality trait of our generation.
"Jonesin'" is a hip, passionate slang word that means a strong craving for something or someone. Our generation has the jones. As children in the 60s, at the absolute height of America's post-World War II affluence and confidence, Jonesers were promised the moon. Then, in the 70s, as the nation's mood turned from hope to fear, we were abandoned. While Boomers began with big expectations that were often realized, and Xers were never given much of anything to expect, it was our generation that was filled with the highest hopes and then confronted with the most dramatically different reality. Huge expectations left unfulfilled have deeply entrenched a jonesin' in us. This jonesin' has made us strikingly driven and persevering, and has given our generation a certain non-committal, pending flavor as we've continued to hold out for our original dreams.
5. There is a major theme of jonesin’ in our generation’s popular culture.
Our generation's popular culture since the 70s has been filled with this theme of craving, unrequited love, and perseverance. Here's just a few examples:
| Songs Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen, '75) Dream On (Aerosmith, '76) Dream Weaver (Gary Wright, '76) Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees, '78) I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor, '79) Fame (Irene Cara, '80) Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen, '80) Hungry Like the Wolf (Duran Duran, '83) Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2, '87) . | Movies Bless the Beasts and Children ('72) Breaking Away ('79) Fame ('80) Personal Best ('82) Perfect ('85) Top Gun ('86) Wall Street ('87) Working Girl ('88) Sleepless in Seatle ('93) Jerry Maguire ('95) |
6. Our generation has a historical claim to the slang word “jones”.
Originally, "jones" was an obscure, narrow slang word. It was our generation that transformed it, in the 70s, into a much more widely used word with a broader meaning.
Our music provides good illustration of our generation's history with this word:
Love Jones (1972) : Billboard top ten hit written about, by, and for our generation. Performed by the Joneser high school band The Brighter Side of Darkness, it told of a Joneser teen's intense puppy love craving. [At least 16 other(not cover) songs titled "Love Jones" appeared during our era].
Basketball Jones (1973) : Cheech and Chong parody of the previous year's "Love Jones", it described another kid our age jonesin', this time to shoot hoops. We made this song so popular it was made into a cartoon for us.
Mr. Jones : A string of songs with this metaphorical title appeared, including versions by: Psychedelic Furs ('87), Talking Heads ('89), and Counting Crows (4 of the 5 band members are Jonesers) ('93)
Numerous other "jones" songs during our era, including:
Peter's Jones ('72) (It's gonna take some time to make you mine/but my jones can't wait/it hurts to hesitate)
I Got a Jones on you, Baby ('77) (I can't kick this habit I have for you)
Jones Crusher ('79) (My baby's got jones crushin' love…that little girl's got the jones)
7. It sounds good.
"Generation Jones" has an ironic, cool, postmodern feel to it. "Jonesin'" has quite a bit of hip cachet. It's passionate, sexy, gritty; it has drama and movement, poetry and eloquence.
8. Generation Jones has a generation jones.
Our young hearts were politically stoked as children being formed during the 60s. We grew up watching the collective bonding and power of generational political activism in the Boomers ahead of us. Many of us looked forward to our turn in the 70s, an opportunity that never arrived.
First we get ridiculously lumped in with the Boomers, then, in the early 90s, Gen X is much celebrated as "the" post-Boomer generation.
Hey, what about us? There has been a growing awareness, albeit unconscious, that we have been passed over. Many of us have wanted our fair recognition as a generation, to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to be a page in a history book.
Generation Jones has a generation jones.
Generation Jones has a generation jones.
9. The name “Generation Jones” symbolizes our personification of recent American history
As Jonesers were being born, the country was undergoing its own rebirth; with 90s hindsight, John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural reference to the "passing of the torch to a new generation" takes on added meaning. We were actual children in the idealistic, childlike 60s, and then lost our innocence as the nation did in the seventies, as we searched for our identity in that adolescent Me Decade. And in the 80s and 90s, America's turn to materialism and security has paralleled our own drift toward middle-age.
This sounds exactly like me…
chris
No comments:
Post a Comment