William Strauss and Neil Howe proposed the Generation Theory. It applies to various countries but was primarily made for USA.
In the 20th century, there were several generations
GI Generation, those who fought in World War II - Born 1901 - 1924
Silent Generation, those who grew up during the Great Depression - Born 1925-1942
Baby Boom Generation - those who grew up during the prosperity following WW2 - Born 1943-1963 (exact year different among scholars but generally the assassination of John F. Kennedy marks the end of the idealism and beginning of a confused reality)
Generation X - those who grew up confused during the Vietnam War and other stuff - Born 1963 - 1981
Millennials - Born 1981 - around 2001 , when 9/11/01 marked end of an era.
Out of these, not counting the later two, only Silent Generation had not produced a US President until 2020.
When John McCain lost to Barack Obama in 2008 the last hope of the Silent Gen appeared to have died, and it would go down as the only Generation which did not produce a US President in the entire history. (Generation X is a different story but let's not talk about it here.)
It jumped from the GI Gen to Boomer Gen , skipping and ignoring the Silent Generation.
The Silent Generation finally had its day on 2021, although Biden will be the one and only President from that generation.
=====
(IN Japanese - the list of the artists which had a concert at Tokyo Dome)
Only 2nd Gen Kpop artists are included. Year is the first time they had a concert there; subsequent concerts are not noted.
TVXQ, 2009.
(JYJ, 2010
DBSK, 2012)
Super Junior, 2012
Big Bang, 2012 (G Dragon, 2017)
Kara, 2013
2PM, 2013
SNSD, 2014
Shinee, 2015
TVXQ , Super Junior, Big Bang, Kara, 2PM , SNSD and Shinee
And none of them would have a concert in the Chamshil Olympic Stadium, its biggest venue.
(3rd Gen artists at Tokyo Dome -
EXO 2016
BTS 2018
Twice 2019
BlackPink 2019
NCT127 May 2022
Seventeen Nov 2022.
)
The 2nd Generation was the Generation when KPop began to explode around the world.
Although it was more dominant in Korea than the 3rd Gen, for reasons unknown it did NOT have a concert in the Olympic Stadium, Korea's biggest venue.
Big Bang held a one day concert in the Sang'am soccer stadium.
JYJ is the only 2nd Gen act which held concerts at the Olympic Stadium, but because of the antics of the members (no need to talk about Yuchun; Junsu had the hotel issue, and Jaejoong had a drunk driving record.), and the fact that the concerts were not sold out and managed quite badly, led to their concerts being kind of shoved into the back burner. They also did not leave a legacy to the current KPop.
The 1st Gen was only popular in Korea with limited successes outside of it, while the 3rd Gen had successes both in Korea and the overseas.
So they could have big concerts in Korea, and in 3rd Gen while balancing it with their foreign schedules.
However the 2nd Gen did a lot of work in the overseas, with increasingly little to show for in K-O-R-E-A, and were gradually replaced by the 3rd Generation by the companies who wanted newer faces to make more money for the owners.
When EXO had its first concert at the Olympic Stadium in 2018, it was very likely that the 2nd Generation, other than the disgraced JYJ, would not have a concert there at all.
2nd Generation, after all these work, would be just remembered as an 'in between' Generation , between the 1st Gen's emergence and 3rd Gen's explosion, as a bridge.
So the sudden turn of events in Jun-Sep 2022 , from Jun 15, is nothing short of amazing.
At last, in Sep, the 2nd Generation would have a chance to be recognized by the people of Korea, although the only 2nd Generation singer who will have a concert at the Olympic Stadium will not be someone who had a concert at Tokyo Dome, or indeed any place outside of Korea with more than 10,000 people allowed.
All the 2nd Generation acts which were popular outside of Korea would probably have some bittersweet feeling, since while they spent their best years going from one country to another, the one who stayed home gets to have the greatest honor among the K-O-R-E-A-N fans.
Still, it looks like there will be a 2nd Generation singer who gets to perform in Korea's greatest venue, after being passed by the 3rd Generation.
