Gen X Junk Food: What’s Your Favorite Throwback Munchie?
The best Gen X junk food is on the menu for this week’s 12-Inch Poll. Hope you brought your appetite for junk food. I got thinking about this after putting…

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The best Gen X junk food is on the menu for this week's 12-Inch Poll. Hope you brought your appetite for junk food.
I got thinking about this after putting together a recent 12-Inch Poll about Gen X drinks. That one featured 21 different beverages that, if you grew up as a kid in the late '70s through the early '90s, you were probably chugging down on the regular. When I last looked, Clearly Canadian--the "classy" seltzer water--was in first place, capturing a quarter of the votes so far. They were trailed by OK Soda, a product that was marketed at Gen X with laser focus. That poll is still open; you can vote here.
Speaking of "marketing with laser focus," that's a big reason why the products that make up this week's poll make up this week's poll. In the '80s, Madison Avenue made millions off of upwardly-mobile Boomers in the upper middle class by, among other things, buying the rights to every '50s and '60s song available and turning them into commercial jingles. It didn't take long for those ad execs to figure out they could market like hell to the children of Boomers, too. So they did. And they loved pushing snack food.
Gen X Junk Food: What's Your Favorite Throwback Munchie?
This is by no means a comprehensive list. I built this list primarily off of the memories of what me and my friends would spend our paper route tip money on back in the day at the Greenwood Pharmacy or Pump'n Pantry. As always, I encourage you to reach out to me on the ROCK 92.9 Facebook or Twitter and let me know if your fave back-in-the-day munchie didn't make this week's poll. In the meantime, take a scroll through some Gen X junk food and vote for your favorite snack.
Airheads
Perfect for when you had like one or two tickets left from playing Skee-Ball and needed to blow them on something small.
Big League Chew
Debuted in 1980. I can still sing the commercial!
Bubble Tape
Why just chew bubble gum when you can chew Bubble Tape, with unnecessary plastic waste!
Cool Ranch Doritos
The snack world changed in 1986 when Doritos debuted their greatest flavor ever.
Combos
My favorite flavor? A tossup between pizza and cheddar pretzel.
Dunkaroos
"You don't just eat, you Dunkaroo!"
Fruit Roll-Ups
No fruit was harmed in the making of this awful food product.
Mentos
"The freshmaker!"
Nerds
I'll still mess with a box of these.
Pizza Rolls
Just a step above their Gen X cousin, the pizza bagel.
Pringles
Can't call them a potato chip, because they're not. These debuted in the processed food craze of the late '60s.
Push Pops
Again, we can't just have a lollipop. We have to have a lollipop that creates plastic waste. Whee!
Skor
Hershey rolled this one out in '81 and it was my go-to at the Wakefield Bowladrome vending machine.
Sour Patch Kids
Gummy AND sour? These were a game-changer.
Whatchamacallit
Big Candy pushed out a few new candy bars in the '70s and '80s. This might have been the best of the bunch.