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The Shadowrun Generations

by Keith Ammann

How many of you are sick of hearing about “Generation X”? (forest of hands goes up) Okay, the interesting thing about this is, a few years ago two guys named William Strauss and Neil Howe wrote a book called “Generations: The History of America’s Future,” which was all about the generational cycles the nation has gone, is going and will go through. Their research is exhaustive, and their accuracy record astonishingly high.

So I got it into my head to pair up their theories with the Shadowrun chronology, producing a sociological micro-treatise on generational conflict and leadership from 1994 to “the present.” Here’s what I came up with:

Thirteenth Generation (b. 1961-1981)

That’s us. We know all about us. Except now we’re our grandparents and great-grandparents.

Millennial Generation (b. 1981-2011)

This is a very schizophrenic generation. The reason is that the Awakening and other assorted social upheavals caused the generational cycle to “skip a beat,” much as it did around the time of the civil war. As a result, the identity of this generation is divided. People born before the turning-point year of 1995 are gung-ho, enthusiastic and leaderlike. After 1995, the kids got quiet, moody, insecure and self-consciously unself-conscious. It’s mainly a difference in ambition: The older ones dream of taking rockets to the moon; the younger ones of taking the station wagon to the baseball game. The one common thread is an almost obsessive desire to be a “team player.”

Awakening Generation (b. 2011-2030)

These are your modern-day Baby Boomers: self-absorbed, extremist, out to change the world to their liking, wanting to try everything once and then wanting to ban it if they don’t like it. In the early 2050s, they are just beginning to acquire political strength. Doesn’t that make you feel so optimistic? Even worse, they’re often referred to as “Awakeners,” as if they brought the Sixth World into existence all by themselves.

Beat(en) Generation (b. 2031-present)

Call ‘em “Generation X-prime.” Risk-taking, incorrigible rugrats without anyone to look after them or anything to look forward to. 2048 saw the first decline in college applications in over a century – and it wasn’t just a decline, it was a plunge. Those who are entering college now are thought by many to be the most mercenary, avaricious and unscrupulous cadre of corporate recruiting stock this century. Lord only knows why folks are panicking – these are the types who INVENTED the corps in the first place. They will play the game better than any of their elders. Those who don’t go to college can choose among four futures: poverty, insane heroic death, entrepreneurship – or crime.

No wonder there are so many Shadowrunners popping up these past few years.

The 1980s are often thought of as a definitively inner-driven era. But the psychological trend of the 1980s continued well through the ’90s and even past the millenium. Not only did people “party like it’s 1999,” they kept ON partying ‘til ‘02. [For a historical comparison, picture the Roaring ’20s.]

Then reality began sinking in. The kids growing up began to see just how dangerous a place the world really was (thus the 1995 schism in the Millennial Generation). And right up through about 2024, the continent was in full-fledged crisis, clumsily fighting to stay alive in at least some form or another. After that year, the mood changed to one of determined optimism. The late ’20s were years of blood-and-guts problem-solving, and while not all the problems got solved (and many got worse), look at what did come about: simsense technology, harnessing of magic and fusion power, the first cyberterminals and the official formation of the NAN. Without the optimism of this outer-driven era, we’d never have been able to clean up after the Crash of ‘29. And although said Crash did tremendous damage to the economy, the late ’20s were quite prosperous years, relatively speaking. [For a historical comparison, imagine the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War.]

Then came the ’30s. Ahhh, the ’30s. Either you were there or you don’t want to hear another fragging word about them. Nostalgists tout the fruition of magic, the births of nations and righting of historical wrongs, the protests of the wars in Aztlan and Europe, the expansion of “consciousness” groups and the wave of high-tech designer drugs. Rational people remember policlubs, the Night of Rage, Japanese Imperial Marines in San Francisco, scams perpetrated by the expansion of “consciousness” groups and the effects on people’s brains of the wave of high-tech designer drugs. [For a historical comparison, need you even ask? The Sixties, of course.]

But anyone old enough to be taken seriously knows that no matter how bad things might have been, you can’t get any worse than things are now. So says the conventional wisdom. It’s probably no worse than it was in the 1980s, the 1910s, the 1840s or the 1750s, though they were all pretty crummy for the have-nots and not so hot for most of the haves. If we hear one more word about “moral crisis,” though, we’re gonna be sick. We don’t have time for those.

In today’s era, individualism flourishes (outside the corporate sector, anyway), confidence in institutions is declining, society’s problems are being deferred, and new ideals are being cultivated in largely separate camps. Pessimism about the future reigns; many people are “living for today,” seeking pleasure in the fast lane. Wars are ubiquitous and not very popular. There are few sex-role distinctions, despite the return to traditional roles during the crisis era. The Awakeners won their generational war with the Millennials and are now picking a fight with the Beats.

Right now, many Awakeners are backing away from their recent lifestyles and taking a more judgmental stance against what they see as a “moral vacuum” among the Beats. They are already beginning to experience angry splits between traditionalists and progressives, with the gap likely only to widen further. They tend toward absolutism and extremism in their public expressions. In their personal lives, they tend almost instinctively to seek a perfected “inner life.”

The Beat(en) Generation has little self-esteem but tremendous survival instincts. They are often accused of being amoral and devoid of inner life; they view their accusers as pompous and judgmental. They are perceived as social and economic entrepreneurs with a tendency toward high-risk behavior. They don’t care much about the world but have a lot of personal ambition.

The Millennials, now society’s elders, are mostly trusting, liberal sorts, believing in second chances. They are among the few preservers of social conscience, though they tend to be willing to accept almost any party line as long as they remain involved, and right now they’re toeing the party line of the Awakeners. Older Millennials – the pre-1995 crowd – are largely resentful of the Awakeners’ co-opting of their institutions and seek to maintain hold on what institutional power they still have. Of all the generations, this one is the most concerned with power and economic reward, though the Awakeners are catching up.

There are just a few wise old 13ers left around. Mostly they just keep to themselves, emerging periodically to say, “I told you so.” They make few demands.

Want to hear great music? Wait until 18 years after the first year of a new generation and go to a dingy basement club – or wait 20 years and turn on your trid. The wave of good stuff will last about four or five years before giving one final hiccup and petering out. From there you’re doomed to seven or eight years of industry-processed drek, and then things start getting interesting again, though not revolutionary.

The GIs created the Big Band Sound. The so-called Silent Generation brought us Sinatra and Torme. The Boomers gave us the Beatles. The 13ers gave us the one-two punch of New Wave and house. For most of us, those are ancient history.

The Millennials may be a little too nicey-nice for us hardened and cynical types, but there’s nothing like their music to put a drek-eating grin on your face. The party sound around the year 2000, called “turn,” was unbelievable – fast dance beats, punchy horns, vocal arrangements straight out of Afro gospel, synthesized hooks that make you want to dance naked in the streets and not a heartbreak lyric in the bunch. The resurgence of 2014 was better than most. In past generations, resurgences in music were mostly half-assed experimentation with some impressive surprises here and there (Chuck Berry, Pink Floyd, Barenaked Ladies). In 2014 a new sound all its own came forth, even more innocent-sounding than turn, if you can believe that. It’s fallen by the wayside as being too mellow, though, as the music of adaptive generations tends to do. (Who listened to Torme in the ’90s?) Today, if people think of it, they just think of it as “pop.”

Then the Awakeners came of age, and in 2030, things went BOOM. Cf. “Shadowbeat,” Concrete Dreams. Need I say more? [Neat thing is, the year they picked corresponds perfectly with Strauss & Howe’s theories. Works for me.] Wild experimentation and erratic genius was the rule. The new tech of synthlinking was comparable to Dylan “going electric.” “Social consciousness” music came back into vogue after the cheery denial of the early 21st century. The decade spawned too many new musical styles to count; though most have fallen out of fashion, many are still wildly popular, particularly among subcultures. The term “rock,” which had fallen slightly out of fashion during the Age of Turn, came forcefully back into common usage.

And today? Pastiche. Anything goes. We’re still smack in the middle of our own musical revolution. And the big influences are the same as they’ve always been for reactive generations: world beat, stripped-down simplicity, punkish attitude, social neglect and, of course, - - - - V O L U M E ! ! - - - - Goblin rock was unheard-of until 2049. Even if they had been old enough to play instruments, the sound would just have been too raw.

Well, that’s it for history … if you want prophecy, I recommend checking out a copy of “Generations” by Strauss and Howe. Tell me what you think, especially if you’d like to expand on it or if you’d like me to.