55 Gen X Songs of Empathy and Care

Jan 11, 2025

Those of us born in the 1960s and 1970s are not generally associated with empathy and care and often associated with apathy and not caring at all. But it is there in our music. Across four decades from 1983 to 2024, Gen X musicians have produced a wide array of songs that deepen our empathy and expand our circle of care. And they are far from finished.

There are songs of shared memories from childhood. (OneRepublic, R.E.M.)

There are songs of family love. OneRepublic sings of a grandfather, Boyz II Men and 2Pac of their mothers, Nas and Pearl Jam of their fathers, Alanis Morisette of the pain of parents demanding perfection, Kirk Franklin of a fatherless and struggling son, and Coldplay of reaching out for guidance to a brother.

There are songs of young adults bonding — in life’s disappointments (Coldplay) or while escaping to something better (Tracy Chapman, OneRepublic).

There are songs of our tendency toward conflict (Depeche Mode) and universal hurting (R.E.M.). There is a profound song by the band Live that carries into the hospital rooms where a baby is being born while an adult is dying.

There are songs that make us more aware (if we’ve grown up more comfortably) to life in our poorest neighborhoods (Queen Latifah, Nas, Lauryn Hill) and to victims of torture (U2) and war (U2 again) and to victims of human trafficking (Matt Redman), and there’s a fine new song (2024) that opens our hearts to the plight of refugees (K’Naan). There’s a potent song by Xavier Rudd that moves us into complete connection with tribal peoples throughout our planet and their half-millennium of suffering.

The Black Eyed Peas ask, “where is the love?” OneRepublic speaks for all of us as they look for human connection in the age of social media.

Ziggy Marley nudges us to just show a little love. Tim McGraw reminds us to be humble and kind, and Jewel beautifully teaches us that in the end, kindness is the only thing that matters. Coldplay celebrates empathetic bonds in their new 2024 song — which they say will be their final single — “All My Love”. Jack Johson reminds us that there are good people in this world. OneRepublic urges us to lift each other up. And Coldplay, R.E.M., and Sarah McLachlan give us songs of healing. (R.E.M.’s song “This One Goes Out to the One I Love” could be a love song but could be about anyone we deeply care about.)

John Legend sings with Common about the movements for a more inclusive, empathetic, and loving society. U2 does the same. And Ziggy Marley, Lenny Kravitz, U2, Coldplay, Brother Ali, John Legend, and Jack Johnson all sing about universal love, about expanding our circle care to its ultimate extension — all the way out to our love for humanity.

Last but not least, there are songs about our children and about the next generation. Here I find ten great songs by Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael Buble, Nas, Eminem, Kirk Franklin, Des’ree, John Legend (twice) and the Roots, Nas (a second time), and finally the call for the next generation to be the love generation by Bob Sinclair with Gary Pine.