We made a hair metal rock god with AI 😎

Happy Saturday, fellow Gen Xers! We’ve gotten some really positive feedback since launching last week … and it goes something like this: “It’s about damn time.” We agree and are looking forward to being around for a long time … and possibly going twice-weekly in the very near future.

Speaking of why Latchkey exists, remember seeing the image above and wondering if they truly forgot about our entire generation?

Well, they did. And, truthfully, most of us just laughed it off because it’s pretty much par for the Gen X course. Well, needless to say, we were gobsmacked to discover that an actual museum has an actual exhibition all about Generation X! It’s called “Growing Up X” and you can find it at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, IL. Visitors will get to marvel at quintessentially Gen X things like wall phones with long cords, cassette tapes and parachute pants (✋ guilty). All signs point to: Road trip!

Also in today’s issue:

• 🇺🇸 The semiquincentennial cometh

• 📺 Netflix’s new documentary on Wham!

• 🚗 The car market is whack

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One Gen X Thing 🤘 

We hope you all had a wonderful and safe Independence Day this past week. The holiday got us thinking way, way back to our nation’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976. Only the more senior Gen Xers will remember that day, but the country went all out to celebrate 200 years since we sent King George III and the redcoats packing. There were parades galore, fireworks, a traveling Liberty Bell … and even the Queen of England.

For you baby Xers, here’s a snapshot of life in July of 1976: Gerald Ford was president; Nelson Rockefeller was his vice president. Paul McCartney and Wings held the number one spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 with the single, “Silly Love Songs.” At the box office, “The Omen” was packing people into movie theaters (and apologies to anyone named Damien, but we’ll never not believe you’re evil). TV was garbage during summers back then because all the network shows were on hiatus.

Interestingly, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were actually in the United States during the celebrations as part of a state visit that saw them arrive on our shores via the Royal Yacht Britannia. We found a treasure trove of information about the queen’s Bicentennial visit on the Gerald Ford Presidential Library website. Turns out, she was already headed our way to open the summer Olympic Games in Montreal, so a quick detour to the former colonies was organized at the invitation of the White House.

Pretty classy stuff from the queen.

And, if you needed an additional reason to feel old, there’s this: we are on a collision course with the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. July 4, 2026 will be our semiquincentennial, and plans are underway to throw a shindig the likes of which our country hasn’t seen since, well, 1976.

Dust off those twirling batons and get your bikes decorated — the U.S. is gearing up to party.

Stylin’ and Profilin’ 🕶️

^{ENTERTAINMENT, CULTURE & STUFF WE LIKE}

» It’s an embarrassment of riches for Gen X these days, we tell ya. First, our own museum exhibit. And, now, a documentary about Wham!? It’s true! Recently arrived on Netflix, it uses the duo’s own words to recount their rise to fame — those DayGlo days before George Michael become a solo superstar. You can watch the trailer here.

» George’s bandmate, Andrew Ridgeley (who is somehow 60 years old), was interviewed about the documentary by The New York Times. He firmly shuts down the idea that the band broke up, saying they “brought Wham! to a close in a manner of our own choosing.”

» We’re still partial to wine coolers, but it looks like the cool kids these days are drinking hard kombucha. We impart this information solely so you can be on top of this trend before millennials and Gen Z. Sounds like the Zima of White Claw to us.

*****

BONUS STORY: What Barbie’s Dream House looks like in all 50 states.

Pre-tirement 🌴

^{SAVING FOR OUR GOLDEN YEARS}

» Social Security. Gen X isn’t yet old enough to claim Social Security benefits, but it’s a good idea for us to keep an eye on things in that department. In the wake of the debt ceiling being raised, some experts are concerned that the program could be targeted for cuts of up to 20% (this is after recipients received a nice 8.7% cost of living bump last year).

Gen X has long been told that Social Security will be bankrupt by the time we reach retirement age, and the current thinking has the infamous “lockbox” being depleted as soon as 2033.

» Student Loans. The Supreme Court recently struck down Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, which could be problematic for many Gen Xers. Not only are some of us stilling paying off our own college loans, many of us are helping our adult children with their loans. This could be a serious pain point for those of us in the 43 and 58 age range, as the graph below indicates that many of us are living paycheck to paycheck.

Be aware: Interest on student loans starts accruing again in September and repayments resume in October.

» Cars. What the heck is happening to the car market? The lack of available computer chips during the COVID years led to a shortage of new cars (and a severely overpriced used car market). Now, it seems the trend has reversed (heh) and car production is now outpacing demand, meaning dealers have a lot of available inventory on their lots. Much like the housing market, though, cars are still generally overpriced, so three months of price drops haven’t really made a difference in afFORDability. We’ll stop now.

*****

BONUS STORY: Grandternity leave is now a thing.

AI for Xers 🤖

^{MASTERING THE ROBOTS}

» We did it. We dove headfirst into AI image generation, and the results are … interesting. Using Canva’s “text to image” AI image generator, we kept the prompt super simple: “A member of a hair metal band from the 1980s.” Here’s what it returned:

Yup, that’s definitely an 80s hair band guy. We’re seeing three parts Steve Stevens and one part Nikki Sixx?

» Congrats to you younger Gen Xers, who have apparently teamed up with millennials to fuel the explosive growth of ChatGPT usage in the workplace. According to a report by Insider Intelligence, “millennial users of generative AI tools will make up the biggest cohort of users in 2023, taking a 21.4% user share. Younger Gen Xers make up the next largest cohort at 19.3% of users. And Gen Z takes third place at 14% of users.”

At least we’ll know who to go after when we all lose our jobs to AI (kidding, kidding!)

*****

BONUS STORY: The Grammys are not playing around when it comes to AI in music.

… And the Rest 🥥

^{HERE ON LATCHKEY ISLE}

• If you didn’t get a chance to see Elton John in concert, your opportunities are dwindling fast. His last ever concert is tonight in Sweden.

• But you will have another chance to see the Eagles in concert as they announce their final tour dates.

• Is “tipping culture” is out of control? Yes, it is.

• Apple will be permanently deleting your photos this month; here’s what you need to do.

• Apparently, we’re not the only ones who watch TV with the subtitles on.

• The FTC rules these cannabis cookies look too much like Oreos.

• Did you know that the classic American BBQ has its roots in the Caribbean?

• Be warned: Playing pickleball can be expensive to your health.

Tasty Memes and Memories 💾

^{FROM THE GEN X MEMORY VAULT}

You Make the Call 🤔 

^{THIS OR THAT}

Weekly Ear Worm👂🪱

^{WHEN TUNES WERE STILL BITCHIN’}

It was the summer of 1984 and The Cars dominated FM radio. They were in the middle of their “Heartbeat City” tour in the US (we saw them at Merriweather Post Pavilion with opening act — wait for it! — Wang Chung) when they dropped this video. Remember how upset some people were over the images of Ric Ocasek “walking” on water?

If you enjoyed today’s issue of Latchkey, we’d love for you to click that Subscribe button below and join our community of fairly rad Gen Xers.

We see you, Generation X!