A rewrite of Bob McFadden and Rod McKuen's 1959 record "The Beat Generation",[3] Richard Hell wrote the new lyrics during his time with the band Television, and performed it live with another band, The Heartbreakers.

[4] Malcolm McLaren claimed that the Sex Pistols' song "Pretty Vacant" was directly inspired by "Blank Generation".

A live March 1974 recording at CBGB with Television can be found on Spurts: The Richard Hell Story.

[8] "Blank Generation" was heavily sampled on rapper Amil's track "Get Down", from her 2000 album All Money Is Legal.

The song was featured at the end of the sixth episode of the Syfy television show Happy!.