Episodes

  • Ep. 31: Health Goth [TEASER]
    Jul 3 2024

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

    Originally started as a Facebook page by three Portland natives, health goth was an online internet aesthetic that proliferated from 2013 to 2015. Health goth imagery and fashion incorporated monochrome color schemes, performance wear brands (particularly Nike, Adidas, and Y-3), chav culture, light weaponry, face masks, and fitness culture. Where did it go, and why has it been erased from public memory to a greater degree than other early Tumblr aesthetics? On this week's episode the boys explore how the aesthetic was later commandeered and mishandled by the controversial former Chicago club kid Johnny Love. Amongst other things they discuss how the aesthetic side of Tumblr often made them feel “Tumblr fatigue,” how local DIY scenes are a recipe for drama and GoFundMe disasters, how goth clean girl looks eerily reminiscent to health goth, and how phonk seems to be health goth music incarnate.

    Links:

    Health Goth Pinterest Board

    Health Goth Facebook Page

    healthgoth.com

    Cottweiler: 2014 S/S Collection

    What Health Goth Actually Means by Adam Harper

    Health Goth Fitness Manifesto

    #HealthGoth - Hashtags Season II by Red Bull Music Academy

    execussion.tumblr.com 2012 by Celestial Youth

    Is the Health Goth Movement Selling Out to the Mainstream?

    meme about scene rants

    famous 2012 basement group photo w/ Johnny Love

    Johny Love’s recent health goth facebook post

    The DigiFairy’s goth clean girl Instagram reel

    Phonk Aesthetics

    Artwork:

    Jazzelle Zaughnatti wearing a Dead Worldwide shirt

    Recorded on 6/30/2024

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    5 mins
  • Ep. 30: Movie Theaters
    Jun 28 2024

    While many recent episodes of Silent Generation have focused on decline, this episode explores how movie theaters have had multiple golden eras. Vaudeville theaters, nickelodeons, movie theaters, drive-ins, and multiplexes have each offered unique ways for moviegoers to enjoy films. Joseph and Nathan begin by discussing the history of movie theaters before examining four iconic movie palaces in Chicago: The Garrick Theater, The Chicago Theater, The Music Box, and the Ramova Theater. Amongst other things they discuss how movie studios used to bundle blockbusters and B-movies together in a now illegal practice called “block booking,” how the stars in the ceiling of The Music Box theater remind them of Grand Central Station, how modern movie theaters have an Art Deco-esque aesthetic that is called Decoplex, and how Alamo Drafthouse Cinema workers are unionizing.

    Links:

    Downtown Chicago’s Historic Movie Theaters by Schiecke, Konrad

    Avondale Time Machine posts about movie theaters in Avondale

    All Extant Louis Sullivan Buildings in Chicago

    The Last American Possession screening at the Music Box on July 24th

    CTA Bus Hit, Damaged Ramova Theatre Days After Building Earned Initial Landmark Status

    Alamo Drafthouse Made Millions. Exhausted Workers Said Enough

    Artwork:

    The Music Box

    Recorded on 6/23/2023

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    1 hr and 32 mins
  • Ep. 29: Preppers w/ Anna Savina
    Jun 22 2024

    In response to the Berlin Crisis of 1961, President John F. Kennedy chose to encourage everyday Americans to construct homemade bunkers. Civilians could suddenly mitigate their fears of a nuclear holocaust through consumption, and thus prepper culture was born. This week the boys are joined by the writer and community builder Anna Savina to discuss preppers, survivalists, and other groups that have doomsday inspired “exit strategies.” They begin by examining the zine she created on bunkers, Bunker Mentality, to explain how bunkers fit into the story of how Americans shifted from being citizens to being consumers. Amongst other things they discuss how the towers that existed in medieval Italian cities were an early form of bunkers, how prepper culture seems to thrive in the interior of the United States rather than the coasts, and how the prepper aesthetics depicted in Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding were beautiful but ultimately not representative of prepper culture.

    Links:

    Prepper Aesthetics Pinterest Board

    Anya is Typing…

    Anna Savina's Zine on bunkers: Bunker Mentality

    Anna Savina’s Twitter

    Prepper Lingo: Terms, Slang, and Acronyms from A-Z

    Towers of Bologna, Italy in the 12th Century

    San Gimignano

    Preppers in Death Stranding

    New Survivalism by Parsons & Charlesworth, The Object Guardian

    Conservative guy afraid of cities meme

    Why We Love the Apocalypse - EP183 by The Casual Preppers Podcast

    Wikipedia Database download

    Graph of the Population of Rome Through History

    Artwork:

    How to build a fallout shelter, 1957

    Creative Commons CC0 License

    Recorded on 6/19/2024

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    1 hr and 33 mins
  • Ep. 28: Fast Food Culture w/ Mathieu [TEASER]
    Jun 12 2024

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

    Many themes thus far discussed on Silent Generation are present in fast food culture: car-centrism, postwar decline, Americanism, and uniforms. This week the boys are joined by Mathieu (who goes by Sleepy on Discord) to talk about McDonald’s, CosMc’s, Taco Bell, In-N-Out Burger, Wendy’s, and Culver’s in detail. Chicago has four (in)famous McDonald’s locations that they pay particular attention to: Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's, CrackDonald’s, Jungle McDonald’s, and the McDonald's Global Menu Restaurant. Amongst other things they discuss the decline of fast food architecture from its Googie architecture highs, chains that are holding on for dear life like KewPee Hamburgers and Quizno’s, and their favorite discontinued menu items.

    Links:

    White Castle #16

    Googie 101: A Space-Age Pop-Architecture Primer

    Tokyo Toni 80 Pieces of Chicken

    McDonald’s Broke My Heart from Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History Podcast

    Rock N Roll McDonalds by Wesley Willis

    Why McDonald’s looks sleek and boring now

    Nonstandard McDonalds

    The site of the former “jungle Mcdonald’s” on Google Maps

    The rise and fall of Wendy’s sun rooms

    Breaking Points: We Were TRICKED By Red Lobster Endless Shrimp Excuse!

    What Happened To Chipotle?

    Artwork:

    Art Deco McDonald’s from Nonstandard McDonald’s

    Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Australia

    Recorded on 6/9/2024

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    5 mins
  • Ep. 27: Sportswear
    Jun 4 2024

    On this week’s episode Joseph and Nathan examine sportswear worn by both athletes and their fans. Episode 14 of Silent Generation already covered Olympic sports, so this week’s episode focuses on major league sports. They cover each of the following: baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, and soccer (plus rugby, road cycling, and tennis for good measure). Amongst other things they discuss how White Sox players briefly wore shorts in the 1970s, how rappers popularized hockey jerseys in the 1990s, how cyclists were depicted in The Triplets of Belleville, and how coaches (like Tom Landry and Pat Riley) dressed better prior to league-wide contracts.

    Links:

    Sportswear Pinterest Board

    American Apparel’s Poly Mesh Football Jersey

    Gay baseball raglan meme 1, Gay baseball raglan meme 2

    How Hockey Jerseys Became Standard Wear for Fans

    When a Sweater Defined One of the Best Rivalries

    The Rise Of Athleisure In The Fashion Industry And What It Means For Brands

    Artwork:

    John Stockton

    Recorded on 6/2/2024

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    1 hr and 39 mins
  • Ep. 26: Nuclear Energy Discourse w/ Madison Hilly
    May 29 2024

    Why has the general public been skeptical of nuclear energy, seemingly even before the technology existed? Joining the boys on this week’s episode of Silent Generation is Madison Hilly, founder and director of the Campaign for a Green Nuclear Deal, to discuss how the discourse around nuclear energy has been heavily influenced by its depictions in popular culture. They examine The China Syndrome, The Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Chernobyl (2019) to examine how erroneous depictions of nuclear waste and nuclear meltdowns have fomented fear. Amongst other things they talk about when Madi went viral for taking a picture next to nuclear waste while pregnant, how the baby boomer strain of environmentalism leans more “conservationist,” why nuclear waste and slime in childrens’ media is always depicted as being green, and how left wing opposition to nuclear energy seems to come from subconscious fears that radioactive material isn’t “natural.”

    Links:

    The Campaign for a Green Nuclear Deal

    Madison Hilly’s Twitter

    Pregnant Woman Poses With 'Nuclear Waste' To Prove Point About Radiation (Newsweek)

    By the Waters of Babylon by Stephen Vincent Benét

    Cornelia Hesse-Honegger’s Mutations

    Science Behind Science Fiction: How do Teenage Turtles become Mutant Ninjas?

    Studies Show That, As We Age, Our Ability To See Vivid Colors Decline

    Holtec reports “remarkable progress” towards restart of Palisades

    Artwork:

    Nuclear power plant LCCN, Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division

    digital ID highsm.13019, CC0

    Recorded on 5/26/2024

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    2 hrs and 6 mins
  • Ep. 25: Moral Codes [TEASER]
    May 21 2024

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

    Many parents today tell their children to simply “be a good person” and do not offer them moral guidelines beyond that. “Being a good person” isn’t a robust enough moral framework to deal with the complexities of everyday life, so many people resort to creating their own moral codes (either completely independently, or through the help of internet gurus like Jordan Peterson). On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan and Joseph reflect on their own moral codes and talk about the origins and justifications of the rules they’ve made for themselves. Amongst other things they discuss how gay culture doesn’t offer gay men a moral framework, how you should aim to be contrarian only 50% of the time, how the public has become tired of plotlines that deal with moral gray areas, and how modern Hollywood has only offered the public antiheroes in place of actual heroes.

    Links:

    Jordan Peterson - Are You a Good Person?

    The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness

    Artwork:

    The School of Athens by Raphael

    Recorded on 5/19/2024

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    5 mins
  • Ep. 24: Bike Skepticism
    May 13 2024

    As previously noted, Nathan has a general aversion to bikes and bike infrastructure. But where does his “bike skepticism” come from, and why do many other Americans feel the same way? On this week’s episode of Silent Generation Joseph gets to the root of Nathan’s bias (the temperament of cyclists, tacky bike lane infrastructure, and the “aesthetics of control”) and makes the case for bike-oriented cities. Amongst other things they discuss how most Americans approach biking from a sports angle, the way streets were shared by multiple transit modes in the early 20th century, how biking becomes less viable in the Winter, and how Los Angeles has the potential to become America’s foremost biking city.

    Links:

    The new Silent Generation Patreon!

    San Francisco streetcar footage from a hundred years ago

    Years and Years by Russell T Davies

    On Adam Levine's tattoos

    Why Many Cities Suck (and Los Angeles Doesn't Have to)

    Strong Town’s idea of “complex vs. complicated”

    Artwork:

    AI generated

    Recorded on 5/12/2024

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    1 hr and 4 mins