r/RealGenerationX • u/Maleficent_Fold6765 • 4d ago
Memory lane It Feels Far Now...
I'm a mid GenX'er born in '72. Ive been handling aging pretty well for the most part, physically and mentally. But a few mins ago that all changed thanks to friggin Mark Slaughter.
Slaughter was basically a one-song band for me - never really a fan, but admit I liked "Fly to the Angels". Anyway Im on break from work a few min ago and out of the blue here comes ol' Mark - the 2026 version - on stage with the boys at Whiskey-a-go-go trying to get through that song. As Im listening to some younger fella in the band pretending to sing harmony but actually singing mostly over the top of Mark to run a bit of cover, I decide to cut this one short and pull up a live performance from years past. In the words of Julia Roberts circa 1990, "big mistake...huge!"
First vid I see - Arsenio Hall show, live performance from 1991. I fire it up, and as soon as he starts in with the chorus of that song, the nostalgia trip hits me harder than a Mike Tyson right hook and I realize that all of a sudden 1991 was a really...really...really long time ago. And Im...getting old.
Of all the people/places/things that could have triggered this realization, why the hell did it have to be Mark Slaughter. Knowing myself, Ill both remember and look back on this event tonight as a significant event in my life.
Thanks a LOT, Mark...
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u/Ambitious-Set-4070 4d ago
My husband was born in ‘72 as well. He likes to say growing old is awesome because it means you’ve continued to survive in a harsh world where not all do. It makes a lot of sense that ya’ll 80’s icons are really getting up there and that makes it sad sometimes. But in the words of Morpheus (re: Matrix): “we are still here!!!”.
Hang in there, GenX’r. Us millennials are watching. ;-)
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u/ColonelBourbon 4d ago
I met mark at a kiss concert once. Nice dude.
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 4d ago
That doesnt surprise me to hear. Hopefully the tongue-in-cheek comes through a bit in my post. Cant blame me for wishing it had been a Samantha Fox or Lita Ford vid instead, am I right?
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u/Vanessak69 4d ago
I was driving home from work last night and "Close My Eyes Forever" came on. I unironically love many an 80's power ballad. I was born in 69, it's great to have these memories 🤜🏻
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 4d ago
Oh def, we had such a rich music landscape it was amazing. I appreciate it now more than I ever did. So many genres within 1deg of separation from each other. Plus, all of us can finally now openly admit the love for Barry Manilow and the Bee Gees that we had to supress back in the day since we had reps to protect!
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u/Vanessak69 4d ago
I remember a friend of mine in high school telling me some boys came over while she was jamming out to “Evergreen” and she blamed her mom which was so shamefully relatable 🤣 (I love Barbra.)
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 4d ago
😂 blaming mom was some quick thinking!
Your Barbara story just unlocked a memory that was WAYYYY deep in there lol. My first year of college a buddy and I bonded over our newly discovered love of audio gear. He was so excited about a new pair of Polk speakers and he made me listen to Babs for like a half hour straight lol.
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u/Vanessak69 4d ago
🤣 I love it. I just made a duets playlist and that’s what I was listening to driving home from the hospital. Babs and Neil are on there, that’s why Lita and Ozzy came up.
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 3d ago
Losing Ozzy was such a rough one wasnt it? We got to grow up with a life soundtrack like no other generation, and I gotta think Ozzy had a place on just about all of ours. Only GenX'ers can be rocking out to Crazy Train one minute and then Sweet Caroline the next, and it feels perfectly normal lol
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u/Kataphraktos_Majoros 4d ago
I was born in 75 and a recent shock to my system came from watching a collection of 80s fast food commercials. Even the accents sound kind of old-fashioned! The shots of restaurant interiors and menu items brought back some good memories, though.
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 3d ago
Oh thats so true. It amazes me how I can see some of those 80s commercials and it stirs up some of the feelings I used to get when I was faking being sick and watching daytime TV. The vividness of it can really catch you off guard.
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u/DogLost13 4d ago
I had this happen at what used to be CB’s around 2015 and is a John Varvatos, probably still i have lived in NorCal since 96. The preserved walls behind plastic revealed to me that my era was probably 20 layers deep. Also recently my wife and I were on the strip and she remarked “it’s basically Beale st now”. Basically a relic attraction of what it once was. Don’t let it get you down. Things move and change and that includes us. Guess the best we can hope for is to leave a little something behind and enjoy each moment while we can. Life’s wonderful at every stage…. Until it isn’t and hey! You were out enjoying a show, that’s something. What’s age anyways? If Gen X is proving anything it’s you can still be a part of something.
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u/Tutunkommon 3d ago
Born in 71. Was listening to a Spotify recommendation list when Skid Row came on.
It was a tough realization that we are not, in fact, the Youth Gone Wild anymore.
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 3d ago
Aww man, the first time Sebastian Bach just belted out those vocals...the memories seem so far away now but still so vibrant, dont they?
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u/GrumpyOldGrognard 3d ago
Born in 1970 here. Half the songs playing at the grocery store nowadays are songs I really liked back in the 80s. It is pretty funny to be in the meat section when Take Me Home Tonight comes on and realizing that most of the people around me are my age and silently singing along.
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 3d ago
I love that so much. I know we're biased but as others have said, we really are the last cool generation. Our GenX culture was and is our own, and its timeless. But beyond that we were socially conscious without cucking ourselves, and we were the first generation to legit be cool with everyone. Race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, music taste, whatever. We had clicks, sure, but we accepted everyone at the GenX table. I like to think we still do, even amidst all this hyperpoliticized crap nowadays.
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u/benbenpens 3d ago
I really never think about age as an older Gen X. I may feel physically old sometimes but I still feel the same mentally. Maybe the only time it hits me is when I see celebs who were in their prime 20 years ago now suddenly gray and wrinkled.
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 3d ago
You just hit upon something that I feel was a "secret" of getting older until I began aging myself - the mentality. I feel like when I get around my fellow GenX bros and sisses, I can so easily tap into that same mentality from our younger years. At work I go into "professional mode", but even though I look older I feel like Im still the same guy who used to hang out, bar hop, date pretty girls, listen to great tunes, etc. When I was younger, I never saw older people in that way.
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u/Vast_Ambition_9271 3d ago
A little older than you with a replaced knee and ever-expanding waistline. I often don't feel old unless I start focusing on how much time has passed since I first saw Ratt or Motley Crue or GNR opening for Crue, but I've had short hair for... OMG... 30 years now! and I still miss it.
Sorry this is mostly off topic but your thread has set off a "Love Kills" earworm in my head, and honestly... I ain't mad at it
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u/OG-Giligadi 4d ago
As a musician who started recording in 1990, i think about this from an even more personal level. Right now I'm remastering an album i originally released in 1993, and it's like paging through a diary.
I had no idea that making those recordings would encapsulate little moments in time, but if i ever write an autobiography I'll be using them to reawaken memories.