"surely not challenger? cherynobl? reagan? aids? tear down this wall? cable television?"

Why not? Kurt Cobain was only the end of Gen X. And here's a key mistake. You did an INTERNET SEARCH! Most Gen Xers aren't blogging or writing pop culture stuff and the ones that are remember the 90's better than the 80's.

>i mean i basically define my own generation as "people who
>grew up with aids, sexual revolution, post-affirmative action
>politics, environmentalism, etc as realities and not
>movements, who understood people were scared of the cold war
>but don't remember any of the tension personally, and came of
>age as the internet came of age" but i don't have a precise
>definition of x other than i'd think you'd have to remember a
>good chunk of the cold war.

So say a high school movie based in 1986 comes out that had some timeless themes but took place in a time of casual sex, Reagonomics, no internet, the new technology was the microwave and Atari, homosexuals were still deep in the closet, no AIDS.

Again, even if that movie had some timeless themes of angst, love, what have you, would you think it defines your generation? Would you say "Now that is a Millenial Movie!"