In an article at Salon.com, author and former SPY magazine writer Joe Queenan
had this to say:
In spite of the boomers' early promise, Queenan believes they simply quit. He
says they're taking early retirements and selling out their values to become
a venal, self-obsessed group whose legacies will be "quality time," the male
ponytail and a belief that Iron Butterfly was indeed a great rock band. The
beginning of this downfall, Queenan contends, can be pinpointed to April 21,
1971, the date Carole King's "Tapestry" album was released. On that
cataclysmic day, he writes, boomers succumbed to three themes that would
define their mind-set: genteel lameness ("You've Got a Friend"), communal
nostalgia for the extremely recent past ("So Far Away") and incessant and
incorrigible self-repackaging ("Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow").
You can read the entire article, which is pretty funny, at:
http://www.salon.com/people/conv/2001/07/13/queenan/index.html
--Bob
