SNL was actually funny in the 70s.
I remember the 70s. Watergate, Jimmuh Cahtah, stagflation, hideous fashions. Gas lines, turn down your thermostat and wear a sweater like Jimmuh. The SLA and Patty Hearst. Airline hijackings. Terrorist attacks (Palestians, IRA, Weather Underground, Black September, list goes on.).
Avocado Green, Harvest Gold and Coppertone appliances. The androgynous look for women made a comeback after 50 years (first appeared in the Roaring Twenties as our military returned home from WWI on troop ships ... hmm), and they keep on keeping on bringing it back. Young girls who had dreamed of pretty prom dresses and beautiful wedding gowns like their mothers wore got “granny gowns” instead (which looked rather like the flannel nightgowns they wore as children).
The abominable disco music. Leisure suits! Disco ushered in an Age of Narcissism, men watching themselves dance in the mirrored disco halls, women, too. The Sexual Revolution came into its own. You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby (if you ask me, a long way from sanity).
The dumbing down of our schools “graduated” to the dumbing down of our colleges.
We briefly became more optimistic and patriotic during the Bicentennial, but then the country turned dismal during the Carter years. As their parting gifts, Jimmuh and Zbig gave us the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Mullahs in Iran. We finally came to our senses and elected Reagan in 1980. But so much damage had already been done ...
Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll never went away. It metastasized into Weird Sex, More Drugs and Rap. And here we are :(
1970’s NFL was peak NFL.
Tube tops and women who were built to wear them, not like today where too many women lurch around showing their obesity skin.
Sitting on a train between Hamburg and Frankfort Germany reading Time magazine open to the riots in the US and an image of a burning school bus - looking up to see the look of sheer horror on the face of the little old German lady sitting opposite
The 70’s spawned the Vietnam War? The mirror could not even get that right?
Musically, the best thing that happened in the 70s was the counter-disco revolution that started in the late 70s. Groups like The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Clash, and hundreds of others led the way.
Disco sucks. It has always sucked. It will always suck.
LPs and the amazing art work on the covers and inside (anyone else remember first opening up Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and seeing the additional artwork included with the album?)
AND AFFORDABLE CONCERT TICKETS!!!!
Mark
I remember having a CD that returned somewhere around 20%. LOL!
They left out the most important thing: my band, “Rampage.”
We opened for Steppenwolf, James Gang, Savoy Brown, recorded two limited release singles, were reviewed by Billboard, Cashbox, Record World very favorably, played a set at the Troubadour with the Who sitting in attendance, and were the Allman Bros. back stage guests at their Cincinnati Concert!
Pet Rock
So the henchmen grab the woman in mid-rant and she starts going off "Never marry a wop! They treat you like shit! (and to the henchmen) Are you here to kill me!?!"
I wondered "Was this acting or did they just fill her with 90 proof and turn her loose with the cameras rolling?" It was a great performance, a forerunner of Karens to come.
Very UK centric.
1) Long Hair
2) Experimentation with fabrics other than cotton or wool, complete disaster. (I think we finally got it right lately)
3) explosive age of rock and roll and later, yep, disco.
4) Roe v. Wade, mass use of birth control
5) Car Stereos, aftermarket speakers, the 8 track tape
6) Cable TV and the box
7) Sports free agency
8) 55mph national speed limit
9) microwave ovens sales skyrocketed - amana radarange
10) Portable cassette, floppy disk
11) The energy crisis
FFS. This reads like somebody put a query through Wikipedia to get the results, by someone that wasn’t even there. No thanks.
I might’ve been there
Let’s see…I can remember from my childhood…
1. Sesame street
2. Yo-go’s
3. The encroachment of communists with the “Up With People” movement when I was in second grade.
4. Skinny plastic skateboards
5. Color television for middle class families
6. The Honda CVCC
7. 60s dune buggies made over with cool new speckled fiberglass
8. Shag carpet in the neighbor’s house, including the rake
9. Pong on the TV, soon to be followed by Tanks
10. Push lawnmowers we’re awesome
11. I got a .22 for Christmas
12. Fruit JELLO at every holiday
13. Tennis balls, flags, tassels on the “big kids’” ten speeds while we had baseball cards in the spokes of our kids’ bikes.
14. Babysitters
15. Neighbor with the hot tub
16. Neighbor with the in-ground swimming pool
17. Ladder over the fence to play with the friend that live on the other side of the block
18. Friends’ mom with the TV Guide and the remote control that said, “ping”.
19. We thought KISS was awesome and watched the special on TV
20. Grateful that Gilligan’s Island, Green Acres, I Dream Of Jeannie, and The Brady Bunch were in syndication between 3:00pm and 5:00pm after school
21. My new shoes made me run faster
22. Schwin bicycle with a banana seat
23. The “big kids” had firecrackers, cherry bombs and bottle rockets
24. Going on an night adventure at the creek and mom and dad knowing we’d get home eventually when we got tired enough, yet we’re only less than a mile from home, but thought we’d walked to the next stage
25. Finding Playboy magazines dumped in the woods
26. Had to go home because my friend got a whooping from his pa.
27. Carrying sleeping bags to the best friends’ house as the sun was setting on a Friday night
28. Etc…
Looking back, the music was awful.
Hot pants, mini, midi, and maxi skirts. Yes, I hit the discos in the seventies.