Talk Elections

If you could come of age during any other (1900s-) decade then the one you did so, which would it be? I'll allow two votes, because people can be indecisive. I'll define "coming-of-age" to be turning eighteen.

For me, I'll choose two very different times, but with the same sort of feeling. First, I'll choose the 1990s, for obvious reasons. Second, I say the 1920s, for subjective reasons.

Don't choose the decade that you turned eighteen in...

60's and 70's.

20s or 60s, though 90s puts up a good fight

1910s, 1930s.

I don't get why people would choose the 20s. I mean, they were great while they lasted, but then the 30s happened.

I'd choose the 90s.

Late 1940s?

That's also true, but we'd have no way of knowing at the time. But yeah, in retrospect it makes it a poor choice. Now, if retrospect is given, I'd probably choose 1970s/1990s.

90s had by far the best pop culture and the most optimism, so probably then.  70s or 80s would be awful choices for obvious reasons, anything before that would be unbearably dull to anyone living in the modern day.

90s were pretty sweet. I can certainly do without any decade that preceded widespread indoor plumbing, air conditioning, and vaccines. That test remains the gold standard for international travel as well.

All decades are terrible in their own special ways, but the 90s nostalgia is the dumbest thing ever.

The 1990s for me, though I am completely content with having come to age in the 2000s. If I needed to choose another decade it would most certainly be one in the future, not in the past.

The 1960s, of course. The peak of Pax Americana.

Lolwut?
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1960s for the win.


Stop being such a Naso.

Depends if I was rich or poor. If rich, the 1920s. Fascinating era. Would love to have travelled the world back then. If poor the 60s.

Definitely the mid-late 1960s.  

I'd rather live in interesting times, where there were things worth fighting for and arguing about. All of those things helped foster incredible creativity and ingenuity. I'm not saying I'm glad everything went down the way it did, of course... but experiencing the magnitude of an era like the 60s firsthand would be enlightening.

Plus, the music was absolutely incredible!

The 90s.

The 1960s look like the peak of western civilization to me.

The 90's. Duh.

Not really.

90s: technology, optimism, fun etc.
60s: counter-culture

That is a sad way to look at things, I would say the 90's before third-wayism and extreme right wingers destroyed it. (I'm being an optimist here).

As a gayer? Now.

Neoliberalism had already startead breaking apart the welfare State in the 1980s.

2050s.

1970s or 1980s. Then I could be an dry, cynical, ironic Gen X'er. :P

we had no idea

The 90s, particularly if the condition is that the current immediate world (friends, family, hometown, school, etc.) I live in is brought to back then. Maybe the 80s too.

70s is the Baby Boomers.

What's wrong with '90s nostalgia? I don't care about Dawson's Creek that much, but it was late enough in history that coming out as gay wasn't that awful and early enough that I could get a good job when I left college.

I voted the 2000's. I was tempted to go for the 1990's but chickened out and stayed with what I know. :P

1970s or 1980s, although the 1950s and 1990s did come close too...

Very close decision between the fifties, sixties, and eighties. I officially chose the eighties, but I'm already starting to regret it. The diner culture of the fifties seems pretty neat. "The Atmoic Age"...

Late 60s/early 70s

Duh.

You meant 80s and 90s then.  We were just wee kids in the 70s...just trying to figure out what will be cool to be retro in 30 years.

Probably the mid-late 50s or early 60s.  That was probably the best time to be a teenager. :)  The 80s would probably be my next choice.  I would have probably enjoyed the late 60s/70s too.  The music of all those times was awesome!

Nothing like making your way through a race riot to get to your all-white school!

This. Good god this.

For me, any of the first three post-war decades assuming that I'm growing up in America. Obviously I would choose now if I were black or gay.

Probably the mid 50s to early 60s

Not my concern.  I just love the music. :)  Most early rock & roll at that time was influenced heavily by blacks.  I have a feeling that most people who came of age at that time probably rejected the racial views of much of society at that time.

Glad at least somebody agrees with me!

You really don't know anything about history, do you?

What do you mean?  The Crests, who sang "Sixteen Candles", were one of the first multi-racial rock bands back in the 50s.  And don't forget a lot of other black rock musicians from the 50s and early 60s, like the Drifters, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Carla Thomas, the Shirelles, etc. 
Of course, almost all of the major Motown musicians in the 60s were blacks.