Category: Music

Chrissie Hynde Taught Me How to Listen

What do a Midwestern punk queen from Ohio and a Beauty Queen from Chicagoland have in common? How would they intersect in a young man desperately trying to be better? Can combat boots and leather impact high heels and lace? Let’s talk about Chrissie Hynde and Lauren. Before I had a vocabulary for feminism, before…
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July 4, 2025
Surviving the Cold War (Again): A Gen Xer’s Guide

If you were a Gen X kid, you remember the Cold War and may be having a familiar feeling right now. Global tension you didn’t fully understand but could feel. We didn’t learn about the Cold War from history books. We learned it from Sting songs, Stallone movies, and being told by our teachers that…
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June 24, 2025
Jill Sobule: Social Legacy Far Beyond One Hit

I was scrolling my Insta on May 1st when I saw my favorite human and Go-Go, Jane Weidlin post in grief that it did not feel real. What didn’t feel real? Jill Sobule passed at age 66. I felt the breath escape my lungs and a wave of emotion hit. She’s one of those icons…
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May 6, 2025
Phil Collins and the Long Long Way to Go Now

Is the world too hard to handle? Do we need to face the suffering? What happens when we turn off empathy? Phil Collins’ “Long Long Way to Go” is a punch to the gut, a reminder of the world I came of age in and how it shaped us. Whenever I hear that haunting chorus,…
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April 21, 2025
Hearts of Glass With the Heartbeat of Blondie

The news hit me hard and this was hard to write: Clem Burke, the drummer of Blondie, died at age 70 after a private battle with cancer. We’ve lost not just a drummer, but the beat of my youth. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Blondie’s songs were the soundtrack of my coming-of-age. Today,…
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April 10, 2025
Joy Division and the New Order of the 80’s!

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced its 2025 nominees for the Hall of Fame! In the list as one nominee is Joy Division/New Order. This is a bittersweet moment in musical history that not everyone knows about. In Gen X Watch, columnist Jeremy Ritch has written about the importance of not being…
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February 17, 2025
Almost Famous and Hearts of Glass Intersect

Almost Famous, released in 2000, is a cult classic by Cameron Crowe. In a 2025 rewatch, there was something familiar in the vibe of the movie to the upcoming book, Hearts of Glass Living in the Real World. Why is this movie special and what do these two works have in common? The Movie The…
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February 10, 2025
Neil Gaiman and the Fall of Gods and Men

This is not the follow up piece to the Miami Vice Episode Eerily Relevant Now article I expected to write. But what do we do when heroes or friends are accused and who can be a predator? Neil Gaiman is the author of many works. Gen X Comic fans most likely discovered him in the…
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January 16, 2025
Faith and the Last Christmas of George Michael

On December 12th of 1987 George Michael topped the US Charts with the # 1 hit, “Faith”. Sadly, the world would lose this talent on Christmas of 2016 to heart and liver disease. He died on Christmas. But as we run headlong into this Christmas, maybe we need to explore the wonder that is the…
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December 12, 2024
Cyndi Lauper And the Art of Appreciation

Cyndi Lauper just finished her North American portion of the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour”. In her first arena tour since 1986’s True Colors World Tour and first world tour since 2016, she masterfully combined art, storytelling, fashion, and music into a harmonious and perfectly curated end of an era. She also gave…
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December 9, 2024