Generation Jones may have been cynical because they came of age during the 70's economic downturn and after the failure of the Hippies to produce a revolution, but they weren't reactionaries. Their most enduring musical productions, Glam Rock, Punk, Disco, and Hip Hop were testaments to openness, inclusivity, and exuberance. It was the reactionary Boomers of the Love Generation who tried to squelch their high spirits by proclaiming, "Disco Sucks!" The "Disco Demolition" at Comiskey park in Chicago witnessed the destruction of records that had little to do with Disco per se, and more to do with a barely disguised hatred of Black and Latin music, and of the Queer Culture that these bigots associated with Disco. Unfortunately, the 80's also saw a growth in the reactionary punks of the "hardcore" scene who just like the reactionary bigots of the Right sought a return to some sort of lost purity. However, the Disco and Funk party of the 70's couldn't be stopped. Dance music went underground and became house music, and Funk and Jazz got sampled and became Hip Hop and Electro. And Punk fractured into a million difference "Post-Punk" subgenres that you were only allow to like with something like detached irony rather than direct enjoyment.

Trying Too Hard