You have to love The BBC, their “news” is typically less mired in sensationalized melodrama than we have come accustomed to. We are talking about the Walkman here so emotions are rite given the upcoming 30th birthday. Let’s face it, this birthday represents a lost generation. We aren’t baby-boomers yet we sure as hell aren’t Gen-Y’s. Chronologically, we are considered Generation X. We are lumped into an identity where procreation began to dwindle, Ronald Reagan was president, MTV, AIDS, Grunge music and the birth of Hip Hop Culture.
Granted, those things are pretty cool. I mean, who could forget about those exceptionally creepy Reagan masks? But for my sister Leakie and myself our lives officially started when we ditched the Night Ranger 45 and starting queing our tapes with a pencil eraser.
But I digress, back to BBC Magazine (link here). They did a fantastic review with a 13 year old boy where they gave him an “old” Walkman to review and compare to his iPod. He certainly puts our generational gaps into perspective. Over the last 30 years, with the technological advancements there truly are larger gaps than we understand. It will only get more dire for those of us that are getting a bit longer in the tooth. I will say that (Think; teaching your folks how to email for the first time… x 10) Did I mention that I walked to school up hill both ways?
Here is a photo of the real birthday boy – Sony TPS-L2 (pre Walkman branding) – released July 1, 1979
