Seventies America, exhausted by the intensity of the 60s and burnt out from the impact of the Boomers, just wasn't ready for yet another generation. By decade's end, with the 1-2 punch (in late '80) of Ronald Reagan's election and John Lennon's assasination, authentic youth culture was driven deep underground. In fact, with the exception of hip-hop, there were no significant youth movements in 80s America. By the time the 90s rolled around, the nation was finally open again to the idea of a new generation and attention was paid to the teens and twenties (Generation X) who were proclaiming their collective identity.   We were ludicrously lumped in with the Boomers because their parents and ours happened to have a lot of children. This created a mindset that anchored and blurred thinking. Once we were defined as Boomers, our differentness wasn't looked at.   It's difficult to overestimate the impact of the Boomers. They basked in the spotlight of the world stage while we watched unnoticed from the sidelines.   As the Boomers aged, "Don't trust anyone over 30" became "Don't trust anyone under 30". Like Boomer Michael Kinsley acknowledged in The New Republic: "No one was ever supposed to be younger than us". Numerous examples exist of this Boomer behavior. Take, for example, Joneser Bryan Adams' hit coming-of-age song "Summer of '69". Allegedly, it was originally titled "Summer of '75", but the Boomer run record company forced him to change the title even though Adams was actually only 8 yrs. old in '69.   Our duality of idealism and cynicism tended to blend into the mainstream culture more, making us more difficult to define, leaving us lost in the shuffle.   Many of the major battles were fought in the 60s. Carter's "MEOW" (Moral Equivalent Of War), Ford's "WIN" (Whip Inflation Now), and Reagan's "El Salvador is Spanish for Vietnam" were hardly catalyists to galvanize a generation.   Chaos reigned, and we kids(with decreasing parental and societal guidance) were too challenged in finding our individual identities to be very concerned with finding our collective one. Jonesers, like others, focused on "me", not "we" in the Me Decade of the 70s.   They raised us in the 60s with promises, commitments, about the great future they were building for us. In the 70s, their focus shifted away from the future and the kids, to the present, themselves, and money. It was difficult for them to admit to themselves, let alone to us, that they had given up and sold out. We were painful reminders of their failures.   For many, the 70s are a joke, and the kitsche of the decade (eg. polyester, shag, disco, etc.) is the focus of remembering the decade. The truth, however, is that most of the major fundamental changes(eg. sexual revolution, women's movement, etc.) happened in the 70s. The battles were fought in the 60s, accompanied with lots of bells and whistles, but the the actual broad societal shifts occured (albeit more quietly) primarily in the 70s.