Label this, baby! The Rise of Gen X and Hipster Parenting

Remember the days when MTV showed music videos, had no commercials, and we used to sit around for hours waiting for the next showing of the Duran Duran video? Bob Geldof organized Live Aid, and We Are the World, a mediocre pop song at best, was a big hit. It seemed that rock ‘n’ roll’s rebelliousness was being harnessed to save the world – or at least give everyone their MTV.

Back then, Steve Van Zandt – know today as Silvio Dante on The Sopranos – organized another group of musicians, this time in protest against apartheid in South Africa. Called Artists United Against Apartheid, Van Zandt gathered such diverse talents as Miles Davis, Ron Wood, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Boblan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Joey Ramone, Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, and Grandmaster Melle Mel to record the Sun City LP.

If anything, the group showed where my generation came from musically (Davis, Dylan, the Who, and the Stones) where it was at the moment (The Ramones, U2 and Springsteen), and where it was going (rap music).

My generation? At 42, it's still something that I am trying to figure out. I have always had a pet peeve about how marketers label the age groups, probably because I was born at the tail end of 1964. By some definitions, I am a Boomer (those born between 1940 and 1964). Canadian author Douglas Coupland in his book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture called those born at between 1960 and 1964 Generation X because were disenfranchised from the older baby boomers with whom they felt they had nothing in common.

Yet the term Generation X has grown to represent those Americans born between 1965 and 1977. So am I a Young Boomer, a Cusper, or an Old Gen Xer? I like Coupland’s definition the best, but would expand it to about 1969 or so. People born in those years were defined by the music they listened to like ska, punk and new wave. We listened to music that was political and rebellious. Back then we got beat up if we dyed our hair pink or orange and cut it into a mohawk.

Today, I see moms taking their four-year-olds to get their punk do’s at SuperCuts. So much for teenage defiance when there is anarchy in the pre-K.

But now there’s another label I have to contend with – hipster parent – thanks to Neil Pollack and his blog and book, Alternadad. It does not quite fit, because except for my love of ‘80s alternative music, I’m not into bands like Moby or the Magnetic Fields. Instead, I still listen to much of the music I did as a teen, but have expanded my interests into jazz, western swing, folk, bluegrass, and rockabilly.

Plus I live in small town suburbia, not the big city. But hey, I do not drive a mini-van. I wear funky glasses, and my hair is multi-colored. When I’m not wearing my vintage cowboy boots, I am running around in black Doc Marten boots. I also dress the kids in brightly colored Chuck Taylors, vintage Hawaiian shirts, and Johnny Cash baseball jerseys. Heck, I am cool enough to join the club, right?

Still, hipster parenting may be more about passion than fashion. As James Poniewozik writes in Too Cool for Preschool in the February 8 issue of Time magazine,

"Moms and dads can be unique, creative individuals after they have kids. It's being a unique, creative individual through your kids that's disturbing. Pierce whatever body part you want, having a kid is not alternative: it's been the norm since we stopped reproducing by division. And while toddlers may love punk rock, they crave routine and predictability."

This mom is hip to what parents really want, and kids really need. School uniforms so you don’t fight over what to wear every morning. Affordable after school programs and passionate teachers. Family dinners and turning the TV off to read and talk with each other. Kids in bed by 8:30 p.m. so mom and dad can have peace, quiet and a little adult time.

Hipster parenting? Generation X? You can have your labels. I’m too pooped to party.

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