When Do You Wish You Were Born?

[cals]

I guess I’m asking what generation do you wish you lived your life in.  For example, I am watching an old video on from the 70’s on YouTube and people are so horny, it looks great.  To me being born now would be terrible.

I think the older boomers had it best.  Experienced the birth of rock, the 1960’s, the horny 70’s and they’ll mostly be dead before we either blow the planet up or ban fun.

Obviously the later you’re born you get the benefit of modern medicine but doesn’t seemed like they’ve accomplished much over the past couple decades.

Anyway, thoughts?

[Stradling]

8 minutes ago, cals said:

I guess I’m asking what generation do you wish you lived your life in.  For example, I am watching an old video on from the 70’s on YouTube and people are so horny, it looks great.  To me being born now would be terrible.

I think the older boomers had it best.  Experienced the birth of rock, the 1960’s, the horny 70’s and they’ll mostly be dead before we either blow the planet up or ban fun.

Obviously the later you’re born you get the benefit of modern medicine but doesn’t seemed like they’ve accomplished much over the past couple decades.

Anyway, thoughts?

I guess late 50’s so I could see the Beatles rise to fame, Elvis in his prime and then grow up in the 70’s, as opposed to growing up in the 80’s.  So maybe like 12-15 years older than I am.

[Stradling]

You’d also get to see Williams, Mantle, Koufax, Mays, Aaron. Nolan in his prime. 

[cals]

17 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I guess late 50’s so I could see the Beatles rise to fame, Elvis in his prime and then grow up in the 70’s, as opposed to growing up in the 80’s.  So maybe like 12-15 years older than I am.

Coming of age in the 80’s had to be pretty cool, too.  I graduated HS in 1993 so I was in elementary school in the 80’s.  Early 90’s we’re OK, but being in high school in the 70’s ala Dazed and Confused looks sweet.

[Jason]

I’ve never given this a thought but being born shortly after WWII would be pretty cool for reasons you stated. Living through the Great Depression had to be terrible and you died from simple medical issues so that era is a hell no. I think growing up before social media was a huge blessing. That shit is ruining our younger generations. I look back at the late 70’s and early 80’s and my childhood was a lot of fun. 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Jason

[cals]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

I’ve never given this a thought

Mmhmm.  Go on…

[Blarg]

California was open land and affordable everywhere in the late 50's and early 60's. It was no wonder people flocked to SoCal back then. Beach life could be done on a fry cook salary instead of needing a law office partnership to afford renting a house for a week in Balboa Island during the summer. 

But @cals, you would freak out at how Christian California was back then. Nearly everybody was sitting in church on Sunday morning for early services if you wanted to watch football or hit the park or beach afterwards. The guys were all Madmen in suits, the women in dresses below the knee and no white shoes after Labor Day. Looked like something out of a Disneyland brochure from back in the day.

Very Republican in Orange County and even more stripped of any culture than it is now. So much so Jackson Browne fled Fullerton in his high school days to hang out in the rundown joints in east LA and Hollywood to work on his craft. Dude hated Orange County then and still does. 

But if I could shift time and live my 20's in California in the 60's with a decent salary it's almost a no brainier. Instead I got the big 80's and that was pretty awkward. Still California but starting to erode and show the aging infrastructure from the 50's trying to keep up with the population over growth to the point now, there are no orange groves or strawberry fields, just shitty glass corporate buildings lining the freeway every direction. 

Of course porn back then was Playboy that never showed bush and the Pussycat Theater, both you had to pay for. No internet, no email, no cell phones, no being on call 24/7. Ok, pay for porn for weekends off, that works. 

 

[cals]

It’s so weird you mentioned Jackson Browne.  It was his Running on Empty video I was watching and thinking about him and his distaste for OC but still seeing how much fun it looked just being on the road in the 70’s was that got me thinking about it.

[Blarg]

Jackson Browne is a Sunny Hills alum and lived not far from us. I didn't meet him until at The Post Group when I was an edit assistant. I wore out a couple of Running on Empty cassettes along with The Pretender and Saturate Before Using during and after high school. He is still part of my Pandora mix and finally got to see him live at The Pond with James Taylor a year ago. Can't believe he's in his mid 70's now. 

[ColonsSecretSon]

Ok, grandpa. Time for meds and no more posting on the internet today.

[Taylor]

Idealizing the past is funny.

[cals]

39 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Idealizing the past is funny.

Of course you wouldn't want to live in a time when people fucked more.