A Rural Perspective on Gen X and MTV

STORY BY: Derek Thille
YEAR: 1982
LOCATION: Saskatchewan

Derek grew up in Rosthern, Saskatchewan, where he remembers that "everything came late, if ever at all". He's speaking about things like fashion, and cable TV. "MTV... we heard about it, but we didn't get it!" Derek remembers music videos only from watching an after-school half-hour music show on CBC in the mid-to-late 1980s (Derek later remebered it was MuchMusic). He also "never had an understanding of the generations, per se", as his parents were pre-war babies. "I think the perspective coming from the big city, like from Montreal or Toronto, is so much different than from a rural location".
Derek later submitted these additonal thoughts: "I really enjoyed seeing BOOM X last night and chatting with Rick a bit after the show. It was very thought provoking, as well as a fun return to the music of my youth. I’m a bit older than Rick, and come from a rural experience. One thing that really bothered me in my youth and young adulthood was how newscasters and other programs would like to state how “everyone remembers where they were when JFK was shot” or similar. I wouldn’t really call it ageism, but that’s effectively what it was. Those of us in Generation X weren’t even born when JFK was assassinated, so we were effectively nobody, since we weren’t part of everyone. To a degree, I was offended by such remarks. When I look back, I always felt the Challenger explosion in 1986 provided us with a similar defining moment. Later on, the September 11 attacks provided another defining moment. That always made me think that each generation has their own defining moment(s), whether or not it is a unifying moment. I guess for me, this experience, drawn out as it has been over years, has led me to work on using more inclusive language." Thanks for sharing, Derek.