Gen X'ers Are Sharing The Things That Are "The Most Gen X," And They Truly Capture Our Favorite Cynical Generation

"That absolute panic when you'd hear your stereo about to eat your favorite cassette!"

Every generation has events, trends, music, fashion, etc., that squarely defines them. For example, the Beatles playing for the first time live in the US on The Ed Sullivan Show is something that is quintessential boomer.

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive

And it was with that in mind that a few months ago Redditor u/Ruffffian asked this to Gen X'ers on Reddit: "What is THE most Gen X thing?"

Universal / ©Universal/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection

Well, Gen X'ers had a lot of thoughts on this and there were thousands of replies. Here are some of the top and best comments:

1. "Whatever"

Paramount

—DickyMcGrumpy

"I’m 46 and will take my jaded apathy to the grave, thank you very much. Now everybody leave us alone 'cause everything sucks."

—GozerDGozerian

2. "Heathers"

New World Pictures / ©New World Pictures/Courtesy Everett Col / Everett Collection

—RevolutionaryGoat552

"I love my dead gay son!"

—PMMEBITCOINPLZ

"That’s a film that couldn’t get made today...But, I still love it!!!"

—cmgww

3. "Nevermind"

UMG

—MudratDetectorNC

"Hello, hello, hello, how low"

—graveybrains

4. "Reality Bites and Singles."

/ © , / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

—UnluckyChain1417

"Man, Singles is one of my all time favorites and I feel like no one I know has even heard of it!"

—velolove42

5. "We would call the local rock station to request a song then sit there with a tape at the ready to hit record as soon as they played our song. Repeat that about 10 times and you've got a nice mixtape."

Richard Newstead / Getty Images

—HoopOnPoop

"Secret was to do this really late at night because the DJ was lonely or sleeping and the advertisers wouldn’t pay for commercials so you might even get a complete version of 'Jam on It.' Or the 12-inch version of 'Rapper’s Delight.'"
—dis690640450cc

6. "Columbia House collection notices."

u/kebblerdog / Via reddit.com

—Additional-Olive-405

"How did they ever make money? No one ever paid them."

—[deleted]

7. "Video game arcades. Before Gen X, graphics weren’t good enough, and after Gen X, you’d play the games on your own home console. No other generation claimed them like we did."

Yvonne Hemsey / Getty Images

—Masonsknob

8. "Worthlessly looking at scrambled soft core porn on cable has gotta be up there."

u/paulieslim / Via reddit.com

—Fthewigg

9. "Trapper Keepers"

amazon.com

—Mostly_Overrated77

"YASS. OMG, I’d forgotten these!!!"

—ladyeclectic79

10. "Always having a pencil in the car for the cassettes."

Leventkonuk / Getty Images/iStockphoto

—SillyPuttyGizmo

"That absolute panic when you'd hear your stereo about to eat your favorite cassette!"

—kanda4955

11. "Putting baby oil on and sunbaking (cause we were literally baking ourselves, haha). Also, doing whatever I wanted for one to two hours after school by myself 'cause parents were still working."

Joe Sohm / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

—Master-Cricket9906

12. "Caboodles"

amazon.com

—wheres_the_revolt

"My mom still uses one for her makeup that I bought her about 20-plus years ago. They made those things sturdy."

—SkitzoFlamingo

13. "Building ramps to jump with your bicycle."

Sean Murphy / Getty Images

—ReaglBeagl

"With no helmet or arm and leg guards."

—Begonia1996

14. "Aqua Net hairspray."

amazon.com

—NO_Cheeto_in_Chief

"Ah yes. The unsung hero of the late '80s/early '90s pouffy feathered bangs. Those were the days. Our class went to Yosemite for a week once and they had banned aerosols so we had to bring crappy pump hairspray instead. Nobody looked right that week, LOL."

—AnnoyedDuckling

15. "Found porn in the woods while BMXing."

Albertpego / Getty Images/iStockphoto

—halflife_3

"All of my guy friends have confirmed this — each of them — creek porn, field porn, woods porn, ditch porn. The greenish areas through the city were just wonders of discovery for middle schoolers of the mid to late '80s."

—spacefaceclosetomine

16. "Watching MTV Headbangers Ball on Saturday mornings, ready to record on the VHS when my favorite bands came on."

Paramount Networks

—hyenaatemyface

17. "The Crow...movie and soundtrack."

Miramax / ©Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection

—Universe_Zen

"Amazing movie and soundtrack. RIP Brandon Lee. 'It can’t rain all the time.'"
—kenny1911

18. "Bartles & Jaymes. The original White Claw."

Jason Harder / Via youtube.com

—Tacosweaty

19. "Swatch Watches."

SwatchVintageNL / Via etsy.com

—fredfreddy4444

"With the rubber guard on the face."

—afriendincanada

20. "Grunge music: Working with a handful of Gen X'ers and the only music they can consistently agree on is the Pearl Jam station."

Michel Linssen / Redferns

—coderedmountaindewd

21. Lastly, "Being the last unreachable generation. There were hours where no one knew where we were and our parents had zero way to contact us."

Paul Taylor / Getty Images

—nakedreader_ga

"Be home before the street lights are on"

—VR6SLC

You can read the full thread of responses on Reddit.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Okay, Gen X'ers, tell us if there is something you would add to this list!