A generation finds itself?

Cretin he may be, but serial muppet Calvin Harris tapped into something with that awful first single.

There was, it seems, an emerging trend in which the children of the 1980s finally found something with which to identify: the decade of their birth. It's bizarre, but it's kind of cool in a way. Being a child of the 80s myself, it occurs to me that we drew the short straw by having to grow up throughout the 1990s - certainly when it comes to age-related identity. Think about it. Think of the first thing that comes to mind when you consider the 60s,70s and 80s. It's fashion. It's music. It's identity. Now think of the 90s...nothing. And yet the kids born in the 90s are now part of an e-generation well on the way to establishing an identity as kids of the 00s, albeit probably not a particularly positive one currently.

My generation has long been scrabbling around for something to cling to, to pin their identity on. We're too young for rave culture, too old for whatever it is they listen to and wherever it is they go now. As a generation, we've rejected Britpop and indie as an identifier, and thank god we have.

But something strange has happened in the last couple of years. As we've emerged into adulthood as a generation, we've stumbled (ie been told by commerce) across an identity with which we're comfortable. Oddly, we have begun identifying with a decade most of us can't remember and none of us were able to play a cultural part in. We are no longer children of the 80s in name alone. The fashion cycle has returned leg-warmers to the fore at the very same time we were ready to accept our membership of a generation, and we've engaged.

Harris, the irritating git, was clever/lucky enough to spot this, and has made a mint off it. His number one (s)hit 'Acceptable In The 80s' tipped this phenomenon over the edge, although it didn't start it. Droplets of 80s fashion are returning, but they are not as popular as items which explicitly identify oneself as a child of the 1980s. Take a look around at the 18-27 year olds in the street and I guarantee you'll see either one of these items, or a Frankie Goes To Hollywood type slogan in big fat letters.

Children of the 80s, we have identified ourselves at last. What a shame the culture of the 80s was utterly, entirely and all-embracingly shit.