Mozart, Sinatra, Elvis, Beatles, MJ and Bruuuuuce

June 26th, 2009 at 09:25am Linda Grist Cunningham

I was in the newsroom when Elvis died. When Lennon was murdered. And, I remember two things: One’s response to the news was a generational thing; and, if it were the icon of YOUR generation, you knew you’d finally become your mother.

Elvis was not my generation. It took an “elder” editor to remind me we really ought to put Elvis’ passing on the front page. I mean, afterall, Elvis was so not on the charts and minds back then. Who knew the fat, sweating, greasy-haired guy with a shot voice and satin shorts could cause such weeping and wailing.

Lennon was my generation, so we baby boomer folks of the copy desk knew to lead the newspaper that day with the death of an icon (well, at least the death of one of the three-icons-plus-Ringo that were known collectively as The Beatles…) These were our music men. Not Sinatra. Not Elvis. MJ wasn’t a spark yet. And, Bruce? Well, Bruce was just starting that swing through the Asbury Park, N.J. scene.

The deaths of generational icons help shift power structures in a nation. Those deaths and our responses to them tell us it’s time for a changing of the guard, time for the “elders” to move ahead and open the spaces behind them for the younguns.

Generation X, that generation born roughly between 1964 and 1980, probably never thought they’d become their mothers. Indeed, the oldest of them is 45 today; the youngest 29. They are smack in the middle of middle-age, when the aches and pains that signal old age begin to demand attention.

MJ and Farrah were the early collective consiousness of Generation X. It’s irrelevant whether one “liked” them, listened to Michael’s music or watched “Charlie’s Angels.”

And, so this baby boomer says to her younger generation: With the deaths of these two generational icons — Farrah Fawcett at 62 and Michael Jackson at 50 — welcome to real life.

Join in the discussion at rockfordwoman.com. If you want to read more about this generational shifting, here’s a terrific article at rrstar.com.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized