Sums it up really
(media.greatawakening.win)
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I'm glad I was s loner and never did trendy lol
Ha, me too. A proud millennial loner. I have no tattoos or piercings. When I was a kid, I planned on getting a couple tattoos because my mom hated them. Once I got older and noticed all my peers were getting them, I went counter culture and decided I didnt need to be like everyone else. Im glad I stood by that decision. Now I wish I would have listened to my parents about a lot more things.
The punchline is funny, but the setup is all wrong. Shift the generations one back and it works. Greasers were a 'greatest generation' thing, hippies were a boomer thing, and facial piercings were first a gen x thing. I work with a woman who is in her 50's with a nose ring and wears Soundgarden shirts.
Yup, the piercing and tattoo stuff really took off in the mid 90s after the alternative music boom, around the time of lollapalooza
Piercings and tattoos define Millennials not Gen X.
There is a slight crossover. Gen X started the mainstreaming of tattoos, but it was much more subtle. I remember my friends getting them but they were strategic in placement. I know two people who admitted taking into consideration the placement of their tattoos for job prospects in the future, that the look would fade, sag as they aged, etc. But millennials took it to another level.
Initially I believed it was a fad that would fade out quickly, but I was wrong. I just never understood the appeal, in part because I could not think of something that I would want on me for the rest of my life. I get that some are sentimental. But then you have people like my cousin, who is now in her early 30s who has done her entire arms. Honey, that is not going to look attractive at all in 20 years.
Gen X didnt cover their bodies with bad art. If a male got a piercing it was his left ear. But you are probably correct that the very tail end of Gen X probably did begin the trend. It was taken to the next level by the millennials. I was born in the first year of Gen X (1965) and graduated in '83 and I didnt see any of this tribal behavior among my peer group. I saw very little of it among the kids who graduated with my youngest brother in '95 either.
But my youngest daughters class ('06) was full of tattoos and piercings. I was in a constant battle with her to keep her body free the crap. And now that she is almost 36 she is happy she doesnt carry that burden.
Covering your body in tattoos and piercings is a sign of self loathing and fits right in with the goth clothing, emo music and the trend of teenage girls 'cutting' that was the defining characteristics of millennials. I raised three of them.
The body covering tattoos and mass piercings are self mutilation.
Self mutilation is a good description. A lot of the current Trans phenomenon is just that taken to the next level. I saw one picture of a girl standing with her mother who had done a mastectomy. It was recent due to the look of the scars. Horrible to look at, but when I looked closer at the picture, you could tell she was a cutter - her arms were full of old scars. I knew then it had nothing to do with her being in the wrong body.
Gen X didn't do ""ACID"", we did MONEY, Booze, Shrooms, Tattoos, a few did Ear Piercings, to show GAY or NOT GAY, and lots of Old Fast Cars with loud Music, too loud to save the eardrums....
The whole ACID thing is a Boomers 60s thing, but IF you really wanted to define GEN X, just throw up all the Money Symbols, that is the most solid Defining....
Greed is good probably is the best descriptor of our generation. We grew up during stagflation and came of age during Reagan. We were the driving force behind the dot com and Wolf of Wall Street era.
And for sure acid was around but not our thing. We drank Jack back with a beer chaser, smoked lots of pot and ate shrooms. Cocaine but not the crack. Our music was loud and metal. Motley Crue, Poison, Guns n Roses, Metallica but also hot into the 70s guitar rock like Zepplin, Deep Purple and AC/DC. We drove GTOs, SS Monte Carlos and Z28s. We wore Levis jackets with the collars flipped up and cowboy boots.
Still do....
Yup, 75 Monte Carlo Landau, Swivel Buckets, True Dual Mufflers with Long Glass Packs, Electric Everything, AM/FM Cassette, 8- 6x9 Speakers, and 4-10 inch round speakers....
I may have lost some hearing, but everyone knew when I pulled into town....
Starcucks 👀.
The dropping of acid began with the boomers.