Silent Generation

Americans generally travel domestically in four ways: road trips, air travel, train travel, and boat travel. The boys start by sharing anecdotes about their experiences with each type of domestic travel; Joseph says that he traveled for free on military aircraft as a child and Nathan shares how he grew up in a house with a boat in the backyard along the Chicago river. They then question if Americans prioritize cost, convenience, or culture when making decisions on how to travel both domestically and abroad. Amongst other things they discuss Joseph’s recent bachelor party road trip, national parks attendance, the Indiana Dunes, the South Shore Line, the Catskills, and RVs.
 
Links:
Top 10 Places to Build High Speed Rail In the U.S. by CityNerd
Run Lola Run
why would i fly it's only a 14 hour drive
Notorious Gridlock of Colorado's I-70 (Upzoned Episode)
Colorado’s I-70 Has America’s Most Notorious Ski Traffic. Is There a Solution? by Gloria Liu
This Town Was Paradise, Then Everyone Started Working From Home (VICE documentary)
 
Artwork:
Meeting the train, 1954 by Ross Orr
 
Recorded on 4/24/2024

Trailers for Alex Garland’s Civil War have tantalized the general public (and the hosts of Silent Generation) for months with scenes of explosions and themes of political polarization. This weekend the movie debuted as the #1 film in the nation, being the first A24 film to do so. On this week’s episode of Silent Generation the boys are joined by their friend Patrick to discuss the film and share personal theories of what a second civil war in America would look like. Amongst other things they discuss journalism, horseshoe theory, the role of sanctions in a second civil, Texit/ Calexit, and finally whether or not they personally support the idea of a national divorce. 
 
Links:
Civil War trailer
The Sound of Silence by Alfredo Jaar
Richard Mosse’s photography
Introducing the Idea of Hyperobjects
Is CIVIL WAR Looming? ft. Kim Iversen
Anthropology and Counterinsurgency by Montgomery McFate
 
Recorded on 4/14/2024

This week Joseph and Nathan discuss an American cultural figure that can be found at the cross section of many themes thus far covered in Silent Generation: the early 1900s, train travel, ethical codes, and situational homosexuality. Hobos are perceived as yesteryear’s equivalent of the modern homeless person but they were vastly different, hobos were migrant workers with a complex system of rules and cultural values. During the episode the boys pay particular attention to hobo landmarks in Chicago such as West Madison Street, Bughouse Square, and Ben Reitman’s hobo college. Amongst other things they discuss Kitt Kittredge, the umwelt, how the word “gay” originated from hobo slang, The Dawn of Everything, and crust punks. 
 
Links:
Hobos, Wandering in America, 1870-1940 by Richard Wormser
On Hobos and Homelessness by Nels Anderson
The Damndest Radical by Roger A. Bruns
The Hobo Ethical Code
The Case Against Travel by Agnes Collard
Alex Kaschuta’s tweet about stigmatization
Death of the American Hobo - VICE
Welcome to Oogleville by Gordon Lamb
 
Artwork:
This photograph (from 1870 - 1930)  is from the George Grantham Bain collection at the Library of Congress. There are no known copyright restrictions on the use of this work.
 
Recorded on 4/8/2024

Electroclash is a musical genre that was most popular from 1999 to 2005 and is described as being a 50/50 mixture of electronic and rock music with an ‘80s bent. Unlike prior electronic genres, live singing, dancing, and stage performance were deployed by electroclash musicians who wanted to channel the theatricality and sex appeal of 1980s rock stars. To help explore the genre Joseph and Nathan are joined by Maya, also known as Mayalabae, a Chicago native who is now a DJ in Montreal. They begin by playing four of the biggest hits to come out of Electroclash and then identify common characteristics across the genre. Amongst other things they discuss Nathan’s favorite song as a child, Fischerspooner’s lecture at SAIC, the normie lows of the mid-2000s, the documentary Clash of Cultures: The Rise of the New Electro Scene, Liquid Sky (1982), and Lady Gaga’s accidental actualization of the electroclash agenda. 
 
Links:
Maya’s Electroclash Playlist
Nathan’s Electroclash Playlist
Clash of Cultures: The Rise of the New Electro Scene (2002)
Liquid Sky (1982)
Party Monster (2003)
Get Happy by Happy Thought Hall
Electroclash: A Brief Cultural History
 
Artwork:
Hong Kong Counterfeit Discography: Vinyl, CDs, & More | Discogs
 
All song clips used in this episode are claimed as fair use
 
Recorded on 3/30/2024

Vaporwave is a 1980’s inspired musical genre and aesthetic that thrived on Tumblr from 2012-2020. Broadly, vaporwave musicians slow down and remix samples of 1980’s songs in order to evoke nostalgic memories of the Reagan era, Yuppies, and globalization. On this week’s vaporwave episode of Silent Generation, Joseph and Nathan are joined by Peter (a trance musician known as David James Drume), who previously made vaporwave music under the name Eleven Eastern. They begin by briefly discussing the genre’s musical origins before delineating the aesthetic elements of vaporwave art: early 3D graphics, Greek New Media Sh*t, Japanese text, Japanese fine art, and cityscapes. Amongst other things they discuss Joseph’s high school 3D animation class, New Classical architecture, fears of Japanese ascendency during the 1980s, vaporwave’s appeal to suburban men, and the perennial popularity of vaporwave music on Chinese urbanist Tiktok accounts.
 
Links: 
Drume’s Soundcloud 
Resuscitation Hymn by Drume
Eleven Eastern on Tumblr
Greek New Media Sh*t
Flossing by Six Dogs
レッドYOLO
Cityviews888 
TradCath E-Girl Summit
 
Artwork:
AI
 
Recorded on 3/17/2024

Yuppies get a bad rap. In his seminal work The Culture of Narcissism (1979), Christopher Lasch described how the coming generation of baby boomers would broadly exhibit symptoms of pathological narcissism such as hedonism, envy, greed, and an aversion to aging. Yuppies (young urban professionals) migrated en masse in cities during the1980s and were the apotheosis of their generation’s narcissistic pathology; they had wildly successful careers but each promotion and salary increase was never enough. On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Joseph and Nathan begin by acknowledging these traits but then approach Yuppies from a warmer angle, examining the beauty of their clothing and expressing gratitude for the ways in which they helped revitalize cities during the 1980s. Amongst other things they discuss sweater vests, slicked back hair, shoulder pads, and if Trump was a Yuppie. They then conclude by discussing Yuppies in a modern context, addressing if they still exist and contemplating where you can find them in Chicago. 
 
Links:
Yuppies Pinterest Board
The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch
The Yuppie Turns 35 by Luke Seemann
The Political Distinctiveness of Young Professionals: "Yuppies" or "New Class"?
Eric and Donald Trump jr.’s slicked back hair
How the biggest yuppie of the 1980s became the white working class’s president
Whatever Happened to the Yuppie by JPCrocks 
The Yuppie Rap
Pajama Crawl
The New Yorker’s politically polarized duplex cover
 
Artwork:
Lisa Diserio and Richard Ryan dressed for success on Fifth Avenue in New York City
 
Recorded on 3/10/2024

Sky Cubacub is a local artist who designs custom clothing for the full spectrum of gender and ability through their clothing line Rebirth Garments. While the majority of the garments Sky now makes are made out of stretchy spandex material, much of their early work was made out of chainmail and they remain one of the World’s foremost chainmail artisans. On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan (former Rebirth Garments intern) gets to interview Sky and explore the symbolic meaning of chainmail in Sky’s work and in broader culture.Together they discuss buscars, Radical Visibility, Princess Irulan’s chainmail look in Dune pt. 2, and how listeners can get started making chainmail. 
 
Links: 
Sky’s Instagram
Rebirth Garment’s Instagram
Rebirth Garment’s Shop
Sky’s YOUmedia chainmaille videos
Chained by Rebecca Mojica
The Ring Lord
 
Artwork:
Pansarskjorta - Livrustkammaren - 19247
Creative common liscense provided by Livrustkammaren (The Royal Armoury)
 
Recorded on 3/3/2024

In anticipation of the impending Summer 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Joseph and Nathan question why the games seem to appeal to people who are otherwise uninterested in sports outside of the Olympics on this week’s episode. They point to the opening ceremony, “hometown” athletes, and (comparative) lack of corporate advertising. They then address the highlights and lowlights of the 5 most recent Summer Olympic Games: Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012), Rio de Janeiro (2016), and Tokyo (2020). Amongst other things they discuss host city public transit expansion projects, the velodrome in the Chicago suburbs, the dark side of the Olympics, their favorite Olympians, rugby,  and how cute the 2024 game’s mascots are.
 
Links: 
London 2012: Indian Gatecrasher at Opening Ceremony Identified
The Tokyo Olympic’s Gymnasium 
Poland by Lil Yachty
The Good, the Bad, & the Snowy of Salt Lake City Transit
IOC Salaries 
 
Artwork: 
Flickr: Rome Olympics 1960 - Opening Day
 
Recorded on 3/3/2024

Shifting to fresh water, why does America undervalue one of its greatest natural resources? The Great Lakes are in many ways culturally invisible; many Americans underestimate their size and economic importance. On this week’s episode of Silent Generation the boys are joined by their friend David (a recent transplant and Great Lakes enthusiast) to discuss how the Midwest needs to be divided into the Great Lakes and the Great Plains in order to boost the region.  The former should be rebranded as America’s third coast, the “Fresh Coast,” in order to start making the region more attractive to incoming climate refugees from the Sun Belt. They also discuss the “Dirty Coast,” the idea of the logo map, Michigan’s Pure Michigan ad campaign, their predictions for A24’s upcoming Civil War film, and the “Jell-O Belt.”
 
Links: 
The Great Lakes shipping routes graphic
The Death and Life of The Great Lakes by Dan EaganHow to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr
Immewahr’s Logo Map tweet
Pure Michigan’s Steam Locomotive Ad
Great Lakes’ ice cover doing almost the unthinkable
 
Artwork:
Great Lakes including Canals and Tributary Navigable Streams, 1948
David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries
 
Recorded on 2/18/2024

Seapunk was a subculture and musical genre that emerged in 2011 after people started sharing ‘90s aquatic imagery on Tumblr, and Nathan (Silent Generation host and ex-Seapunk) gravitated toward it while he was a diver in high school and adopted the aesthetic. While Seapunk, Nathan created an extensive 120 slide slideshow that documented the Seapunk subculture as it was actively happening that he shares with Joseph on week’s episode of Silent Generation. They walk through Seapunk’s origins, founders (Lill Internet, Ultrademon, Zombelle, Unicorn Kid), fashion, music, fame, lull period, resurgence, and permanent decline. Amongst other things they detail Grimes’s involvement with Seapunk, the week when both Rinhanna performed Diamonds on SNL & Azealia Banks dropped her Atlantis music video, Slimepunk, Icepunk, and Nathan's many close calls with meeting other Seapunks. 
 
Links: Nathan’s Seapunk Slidedeck 
 
Artwork:Kevin Heckart 
 
Recorded on 2/11/2024
 
All song clips used in this episode are claimed as fair use