the beat generation was a movement of writers, poets, and artists during the 1950s and 1960s, who liked the beat of jazz and bebop music, which became a kind of soundtrack to much of their lives and work. people associated with the movement were called "beats", or sometimes "beatniks", a reference to communism. (a few beats supported communism, but most did not.) the term came from novelist jack kerouac, who was sometimes called "the king of the beats". other beat writers were william s. burroughs and allen ginsberg.