Every generation in Britain produces something truly classic in the realms of music, film and television. Except, it seems, my generation. I was born in 1980, so I’d class myself as Generation X; I believe that the creative peak of myself and my peers should be the mid-to-late 1990s to the mid-to-late 2000s.
So. Let’s take a look at our achievements!
British films produced in the last 15 years which are timeless classics: Um…. Well, Hugh Grant played a lot of floppy-haired posh guys…. And… Um…. Yeah….
Come to think of it… We’ve not actually made anything decent that wasn’t a bond movie, and Generation X can hardly lay claim to the creative credit for that. Where’s Get Carter? Zulu? The Italian Job? Bugsy Malone? A Bridge Too Far? The Great Escape? It seems that we can’t make decent films anymore. I should clarify: Sliding Doors, Four Weddings and A Funeral, Bridget Jones’ Diary and all other such “Brit Rom Coms” are NOT good films, they are the testicle sucking rectal warts of the film world. If you think that they ARE good, then you are wrong. There is not debate here.
British music produced in the last fifteen years which is timeless and classic: Errrrrrr…. Jees, that’s a tough one… Except it’s not, really. We don’t make good music anymore, not since Indy died. Oasis were and are mediocre at best (it’s a measure of just how poor British music has become that they receive such plaudits), The Streets are utterly talentless dog-wank (“Shakespeare for the new generation” my fucking arse!) and should actually die, the ENDLESS stream of saccharin plastic wannabe r-n-b churned out by the likes of Simon Cowell actually makes me want to cry… and that’s about it. I suppose there was Joss Stone, but she did one respectable album, went to the States and become shit… Robbie Williams likewise. Blur and Gorillaz? Well, okay, both very good, but hardly timeless classics. We’re nil for two so far.
Television produced by Brit Gen X which is timeless and classic: I can name two. Just two shows. “This Life” and “The League of Gentlemen”. And I bet hardly anybody else has even heard of “This Life”. Conversely, we’ve had almost a decade of Big-Horrible-Freakshow-Brother, so much home-makeover porn that it beggars belief, ten thousand “celebrity” chefs (Ainsley Harriot: Die. Just fucking die) and a million zero-budget quiz shows. And soaps. Endless, interminable hours of misery pumped out of our screens along with a LOT of American shite and a LITTLE bit of American genius. Then there’s Ricky FUCKING Gervaise, who (let’s be honest) also needs to fuck off and die. “The Office” was okay, but would have been FAR better without him. So, since “This Life” and “The League of Gentlemen” are so horribly outnumbered, I’m calling this nil for three.
Britain’s Generation X (me included): You are a talentless non-creative bunch of washouts! DO BETTER!
