Silent Generation

Beginning in the mid-1990s, developers began building new low-density housing developments on the edge of major metropolitan areas: exurbs. These communities were even further from the city center, had even lower population densities, and were even more car dependent than typical American suburbs. Perplexingly, they leaned into their semi-rural character and became hotbeds of rightwing extremism as detailed by David Masciotra in Ex...

Prior to the rise of the automobile, streetcars were the dominant form of transportation in American cities from roughly 1900 to 1930. Realizing their economic potential, developers began building new master-planned communities along streetcar lines now known as “streetcar suburbs.” Featuring grid plans, mixed use development, and multimodal transportation, streetcar suburbs remain some of the most desirable places to l...

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration 

Although country music is often viewed as a conservative genre today, many of its early stars held progressive political views, raising the question of when and why the genre underwent a political shift. Numerous think pieces have attributed the change to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, blaming them for causing country to become “a music genre sole...

On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan is joined by Alex, an industrial engineer, to explore the enduring resonance of American manufacturing in the nation’s political and cultural landscape. The two begin with a discussion about whether they buy American-made and how different generation cohorts “vote with their dollar” through ethical consumption. They then survey the history of American manuf...

Freak Folk was a subgenre of folk music popular from the early to late 2000s that emerged after younger indie musicians took inspiration from 1960s psychedelic folk. Initially defying characterization, people started to label their music “Freak Folk” beginning in 2004 after Devendra Banhart curated a compilation CD titled The Golden Apples of the Sun that unintentionally anthologized the subgenre. Most Freak Folk artist...

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration

Frutiger Aero is a consumer aesthetic prevalent from the mid-2000s to early 2010s that can trace its roots back to operating systems like Windows Longhorn, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X. Many of the aesthetic’s motifs can be seen in the Windows Aero design language: humanist sans-serif fonts, glassy window borders, nature-inspired desktop wallpapers, a...

“Algorave” is a portmanteau of “algorithm” and “rave” that describes an electronic music event where people watch live coding performances. The term was originally coined by Alex McLean, a musician and software developer who created the live coding environment TidalCycles and its offshoot Strudel, the most popular tools used by live coders. Despite spreading internationally in the early 2010s, Al...

The Information Age is a historical period, beginning in the mid-20th century, that is characterized by an accelerated shift from analog technologies to digital ones. On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, the boys are joined by Juniper, a friend of the pod who designed an app called Atopia that coordinates hangouts between like-minded individuals. Together, the three begin by detailing the contributions of two figures ...

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration

The “Clear Craze” was a marketing fad from the late 1980s to early 2000s that led to an influx of transparent and translucent products. Consumers could suddenly purchase clear versions of electronics, beverages, mouthwash, mascara, deodorant, laundry detergent, and even gasoline. Many clear products were purported to have benefits over their op...

Those Characters From Cleveland, which first launched in 1981, was the character development division at American Greetings. Tasked with licensing existing greeting card characters like Holly Hobbie and Strawberry Shortcake into toys and cartoons, they quickly found success by launching new IPs like the Care Bears. But how did a company based in Cleveland, OH make such a large impact on children’s media during the 1980s? On t...

Soft Countriana is a consumer aesthetic that flourished from the 1970s to early 1990s that is composed of pastels, country geese, storybook creatures, and homages to the Victorian era. It describes the aesthetic that was most popular amongst “conservative grandmas in the 1980s,” though it broadly appealed to suburban women of all ages. The aesthetic was popularized by brands such as Laura Ashley, Hallmark, Paula Vaughan...

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration

For roughly seven decades from 1790 to 1855, water transportation was the dominant form of transportation in the United States. This week’s episode of Silent Generation begins with an examination of one of the most important pieces of infrastructure that enabled it to be so prosperous, the Erie Canal. Nathan and Sebastien then detail waterways that e...

In the summer of 2023, Joseph and I were having a conversation in Podlasie Club about different generational attitudes toward ultraprocessed food. We shared anecdotes about how boomers in our personal lives had little to no reservations about consuming them, while the generation above the boomers had a healthy degree of skepticism and preferred home-cooked food. Joseph uttered the phrase “reject your parents, embrace your gra...

Pictureplane, real name Travis Egedy, is a musician, artist, and fashion designer who popularized the term “witch house” in a 2009 interview with Pitchfork Magazine. In this follow up episode to Ep. 89: Witch House, Nathan and Breanna interview Pictureplane about his contributions to witch house and his involvement with early internet aesthetics as a whole. They ask him about what his Myspace page looked like, how he go...

“Rockabilly” is a portmanteau of the words “rock” and “hillbilly” that originally described a subgenre of rock and roll music in the 1950s. This week’s episode of Silent Generation focuses on the rockabilly subculture: a modern interpretation of rockabilly that combines 1950s nostalgia with alternative staples like hair dye, piercings, and tattoos. Nathan and Sebastien start out by discussi...

Art Deco is an art and design style relevant from the 1920s to 1930s that is best characterized by its use of metallic colors, geometric patterns, futuristic forms, and references to ancient civilizations. It is the most celebrated of all of the design styles that can be grouped under Interwar Modernism, but what makes it so popular? On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan and Sebastien begin by charting Art Deco&...

On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan and Sebastien explore the early development of skyscrapers in Chicago, beginning with the construction of the Home Insurance Building in 1885. They note that nine early Chicago skyscrapers have been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Site status and examine two in depth: the Monadnock Building and the Auditorium Building. The episode also traces the life of Louis Sullivan, ...

In this special announcement, Nathan welcomes Sebastien as the newest cohost of Silent Generation! Nathan begins by noting that Sebastien will be the main cohost until Breanna officially moves to Chicago. Nathan then interviews Sebastien about his background (his life in Buffalo, his passion for photography, and his interest in urbanism) before outlining the future of Silent Generation. 

Links:

Sebastien’s Instagram

seb...

On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan and Breanna begin by discussing how fine dining transitioned from an activity enjoyed at home to an activity enjoyed at restaurants. They then survey primary figures in the world of fine dining (A. Boulanger, Marie-Antoine Careme, Eugénie Brazier, Ferran Adria, Rene Redzepi, Joel Robuchon, and Gordon Ramsey) before discussing the pillars of fine dining. The two then detail t...