The Punk Rock Spirit Never Died — It Just Got a Mortgage
We were the kids who swore we’d never sell out — and maybe we didn’t. We just grew up, bought houses, raised kids, and still crank the same anthems that once blew the paint off garage walls. The world got louder, messier, and more expensive, but the spark that made us kick down doors in our teens? It’s still there, hiding behind deadlines and yardwork, waiting for one good riff to wake it up again.
From Mosh Pits to Mortgages
We may not dive off stages anymore, but that same pulse — that refuse-to-comply energy — still drives us. We just funnel it into family, work, and whatever it takes to keep a little piece of freedom alive.
DIY Never Died
The same hands that made zines now run podcasts, welders, or Etsy stores. Gen-X never waited for permission — we built things ourselves. CommonX is the digital version of a garage band that refused to quit.
CommonX Take: The revolution didn’t fade. It just went wireless.
What “Selling Out” Means Now
Back then it meant to try signing to a label. Now it means trading authenticity for algorithm. At CommonX, we’ll take real talk over viral fluff any day.
The Soundtrack Still Matters
Cue up The Clash, Green Day, Nirvana, or whatever kept you honest — and you’ll feel it again. The world might have changed, but the attitude never did.
🎧 Stay Loud with Us
👉 Listen on Spotify
👉 Watch on YouTube
“Behind the Mic: How a Garage Podcast Became the Voice of Gen-X”
It started with two friends, a cracked mic, and a question: “Where did all the real conversations go?” Jared and Ian didn’t plan a movement. They just wanted to talk about life — music, purpose, the weird crossroads of middle age, and the kind of stories that make you laugh at your own scars.
From Garage Echoes to Global Streams
The first few episodes? Chaotic. Over-caffeinated. Raw. But something was there — that Gen-X honesty that doesn’t chase trends, it just is. The sound improved, the guests got bigger, and before long CommonX wasn’t just a podcast — it was a space for people who still believe in straight talk and good tunes.
CommonX Take: You don’t need a million-dollar studio — you just need the guts to hit “record.”
The People Who Said “Yes”
From Ivan Doroschuk to Rudy Sarzo, Richard Karn to Sid Griffin, and a ton more! Every guest brought proof that good stories outlive algorithms. They came not for clicks, but connection.
Why Gen-X Needed Its Own Mic
We’re the middle kids of history — raised analog, surviving digital. CommonX became the soundboard for that generation: the music lovers, the makers, the ones who never quite fit in the feed.
🎧 Listen to Where It All Began
👉 CommonX on Spotify
👉 Watch on YouTube
“What Gen-X Knows That Millennials and Gen-Z Forgot”
We grew up before Wi-Fi and after Watergate — somewhere between mixtapes and memes. Here’s what Gen-X figured out about life that the rest of the world is still trying to remember.
Once upon a time, if someone called and you weren’t home… they just didn’t reach you. That was it. And you know what? The world kept spinning.
We learned to enjoy silence, to walk without earbuds, and to give our minds space to wander. That downtime built creativity and calm — two things you can’t buy on an app store.
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2. We knew how to fix things instead of replace them.
If something broke — a bike, a stereo, a friendship — we didn’t instantly swipe left.
We tinkered. We patched it. We showed up.
It wasn’t about nostalgia; it was about responsibility. That mindset built grit, and grit is what keeps you grounded when life goes sideways.
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3. We understood privacy as power.
We didn’t share every moment online because we couldn’t.
Our worst days lived in our memories, not in comment sections.
That doesn’t mean we’re better — it just means we learned early that not everything is for everyone, and that little truth still matters more than most realize.
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4. We worked hard — and played harder.
Gen-X built the work-life balance myth because we were the first ones to realize it didn’t exist.
We showed up, put in the hours, and still made time for backyard barbecues, loud guitars, and Friday nights that ended with stories we still tell today.
Maybe that’s what the younger generations are missing — not just the fun, but the freedom to have it.
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5. We knew connection before it was quantified.
Friendship wasn’t measured in likes.
Love didn’t need receipts.
We built community in diners, garages, and late-night drives — not in DMs. And maybe that’s why the CommonX Podcast even exists: because conversation, laughter, and curiosity still beat algorithms every time.
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Final Thought
This isn’t about who’s right or wrong. It’s about remembering what mattered before everything got noisy.
Gen-X isn’t stuck in the past — we’re just holding onto the parts worth keeping.
🎧 Want to hear more? Check out the CommonX Podcast with Jared & Ian — real conversations, real music, and a reminder that being human never goes out of style.
The X-Files
When the episode ends, the real talk begins. The X-Files is CommonX unfiltered — deeper dives, untold stories, and a little bit of chaos from the minds of Jared and Ian.
Welcome to The X-Files! The X-Files is where the mics cool off and the thoughts spill out. Stories, reflections, and unfiltered takes from the CommonX crew — because sometimes, the conversation doesn’t stop when the recording does.
