Although most people think ""Generation X"" is a coined label for the post-Baby Boom generation, since the early 1950s the phrase has signified a seemingly identity-less group of young people trying to define themselves within an uncertain, even hostile world. Resituating the term in its neglected (sub)cultural context, this work offers a critical assessment of the ""Generation X"" phenomenon and its relation to the fashioning of different identities within and against the mainstream. Topics include punk subculture, the Internet, reality television, postmodernism, and alternative music.