Boom Icons passing on. Cronkite, Shriver, MJ :yoiks: Teddy... who will be the Future Icons, Gen XYZ?

[omega minimo]

:think:

Who is defining the times for you? Jon Stewart comes to mind. Slightly younger then MJ, maybe a tail end Boomer, sorting through all the Total BS as only someone awake before Reagan took office can, for comedic purposes and as a public service to those who come after. Ya can't make this shit up. A comedian/actor ends up being the news zeitgeist go-to guy pointing out the absurdity of absurdities spawned by policies of the comedian/actor who played Governor of California and then President.

When HIstory Repeats, when Ahnolt is the Fuhrer someday, who will sort it all out? Will Jon Stewart be the grizzled old grandpa of journalism that Cronkite was?

It doesn't need to be a "Who's the Next ________" thing. Who is inspiring, guiding, chronicling, leading, expressing this young generation now?

[Patsy Stone]

1. Heidi and Spencer?

I hope not.

[omega minimo]

2. Who is that?

[Patsy Stone]

4. The most horrible, shallow, talentless people in the world -- ever.

Famous for being famous, and horrible, shallow and talentless.

[omega minimo]

7. Poor things. They have Aaron Spelling Disease.

[omega minimo]

15. I still have no idea who that is. Did they have Octuplets? Are they twins?

[Patsy Stone]

16. They were on a show called The Hills

Then they were on "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" where they left three times because of things like somebody stole their hair conditioner or shampoo, then Heidi just embarrassed herself on the Miss Universe Pageant trying to sing, and she congratulated herself on Twitter. http://www.hollyscoop.com/heidi-montag/anderson-cooper-slams-heidis-miss-universe-performance_21330.aspx

Spencer, her husband, says things like, "Heidi looked bangin' in Playboy!"

They are not worth knowing. If you've never heard of them, consider yourself lucky.

[omega minimo]

17. Aaron Fucking Spelling has a lot to answer for. These hair clone airheads are his legacy.

:thumbsdown:

[Patsy Stone]

18. Yep

Oh, one of the times they left was because they decided they were the most famous people there.

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/06/im-a-celebrity-meltdown-spencer-and-heidi-flip-the-fk-out/

[omega minimo]

19. No, thank you

my virginity intact. "One look was all it took." Honestly, these poor people have sold thmselves out for 15 seconds of fame? They look as conscious and relevant as old episodes of "Saved By The Bell." Snap judgement? Yes. Intrigued? HELL NO.

:hi:

[Systematic Chaos]

3. The Gen Jones-ers are going to be next, then us X'ers.

There are a lot of brilliant musicians which were born in the 60s and were influenced by the British Invasion and Progressive rock icons of the late 60s and on. Plenty of the "dinosaurs" from the Boomer/early Jones era are still going strong. Hell, even Yes is due to make a new album this year!

Jon Stewart has lots of time left in him, barring an unforseen tragedy. Us X'ers are barely hitting our 40s right now, and there's no reason why many of us can't be productive for another 30 - 40 years. Hopefully, the masses won't become too dumbed down to appreciate us in the meantime. :P

[omega minimo]

8. The real attitudinal shift is around Stewart's age. I wouldn't put "Jones" much beyond that.

Xer's "barely hitting our 40's"? Did the bar shift again when I wasn't looking? (they moved the Boom bar from '60 to '64 at some point)

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Bill Maher , Keith Olbermann ,Rachel Maddow, Marilyn Manson

Anyone who hates Murdock.

[omega minimo]

9. A fine group, MM at the end balances out BM at the front.

:toast: Murdock Haters Unite!!!!!

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Barack Obama

He stood tough and defended the middle class.

[omega minimo]

11. Interesting

Very good choice. Rather enigmatic generationally, still to be defined, definitely a major historic figure.

Great post, MG! :toast:

And my imagination gets sparked by the next generation, those Obama girls, even the young daughter of Crazy Sarah, Piper Palin. With a name like that...

[Withywindle]

10. Barack Obama, of course.

Gens X and Y came out in droves for him. Look at the election night photos again. Lots of old people weeping with joy - and lots of young ones too.

On the news or punditry front, I agree about Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow. (Rachel actually is a Gen Xer, born 1973--wow, she's 4 years younger than me!) Stephen Colbert, too. (When does Gen X start - he was born in 1964).

Future politicians? Well, that's pretty mad speculation. Who had heard of Barack Obama 10 years ago? Maybe the first woman President will be Chelsea Clinton. Or Malia Obama. Or someone currently obscure who won't stay that way for much longer.

[omega minimo]

12. Well duh!

I missed that one and two in row say "O"! I agree about the First Daughters!

Rachel was born in '73? OMG :wow:

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. there won't be, not to the same degree.

The media are more fractured now; there's cable television, and the Internet, and more consumer-driven choices in news/entertainment. Smaller and more self-selected audiences. The media was a lot more concentrated a generation, two generations, ago. No-one is going to be the next Walter Cronkite in terms of TV news. No-one is going to be the next Elvis, or Beatles, or Michael Jackson. The media structures that in part created those past icons? Largely supplanted by the rise of new forms of media. Radio? Album sales? Audience and market share declined thanks to pay-per-song music downloads and CDs. TV news? The big three networks were the only game in town, upon a time. That hasn't been the case for years now. How many people watched Walter Cronkite every night circa 1968? Many, many more than watch John Stewart NOW. That level of cultural penetration and relevance probably won't happen today or in the future.

[omega minimo]

14. Very good points.

Somehow the larger figures will stand out somehow, I reckon. Are you in the UK? I was about to post that I see Craig Ferguson as being one of the potentially iconic figures of the future -- by virtue of his wit and intelligence, comedic talent, RELEVANCE and ability to straddle the insane non-reality based culture that most of the U.S. is still embedded in. He breaks the Fourth Wall. Maybe that's the trick. Not "we watch you" but "You connect us."

"That level of cultural penetration and relevance probably won't happen today or in the future."

Interesting to consider.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. Craig Ferguson is much better-known in the States...

he was recently on something on TV, I think, about Brit entertainers who're better-known and more successful abroad than in the UK. (And I'm an American, just recently moved to the UK...my fiancée is British.)