The Kids Are Not Alright 2: Electric Boogaloo| Part One |

Every generation gets a panic about its kids — and every generation’s panic looks deeply stupid in hindsight. In Part 1 of a new three-part series, Chris and Des trace how the modern “teenager” was even invented, then walk the timeline through Elvis’s hips, James Dean, the 70s nihilism of Over the Edge, Chris’s 80s coming-of-age in Ames, Iowa, and the slacker label that never quite fit. The setup for everything coming next: it’s not that the kids aren’t all right. It’s that the kids aren’t supposed to be all right — and adults keep forgetting their own teenage years.====================Subscribe, watch and listen to I'm Not Even Supposed to Be Here Podcast====================🖥️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeHerePod📱 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/im-not-even-supposed-to-be-here-today/id1867373928🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3bypMpSmcoIjt4bHk0nvzz?si=18eab826d1394fd9====================Sponsored by Bearing 287 https://www.bearing287.com/====================#BeHerePod #NotEvenSupposedToBeHere #CulturalCommentaryTimestamps:0:00 — Cold open: “the kids end up okay at the end”1:30 — Welcome + a new three-part series4:00 — The Michael Jackson biopic conversation8:00 — The teenager was invented after WWII13:00 — “Kids these days” — the cyclical hand-wringing15:00 — Elvis’s hips and rock and roll panic21:00 — “Cut your hair” as the universal theme23:00 — The 70s: latchkey kids and Iowa childhood29:00 — Over the Edge: the dark side of 70s teen life32:00 — “It’s 10 PM. Do you know where your kids are?”33:30 — The 80s: the “fake decade”36:00 — Jocks, bullies, and 80s masculinity41:00 — John Hughes brings teenagers to cinema43:00 — MTV, hairbands, grunge, and the rise of rap48:30 — Why we got called “slackers”52:00 — Where does that energy go?55:00 — Kids aren’t SUPPOSED to be all right57:00 — Belonging, generational labels, and what’s nextReferences:Project MUSEUniversity of Southern Indianahttps://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/10/the-senate-comic-book-hearings-of-1954/ https://www.archives.gov/legislative/resources/education/comic-books https://the-artifice.com/masculinity-gender-roles-tv-1950s/ AAIHSSpringerhttps://www.history.com/articles/the-stonewall-riotshttps://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/stonewall-eraLatchkey kidsOver the Edge (1979)Info on Stonewall https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0044118X211001096 Produced by Julia Bevolo