Why do I hate the 1970s so much?

[jamespowers]

I wouldn't say I hated the '70s -- but I didn't *understand* them. I felt like I'd been dropped down into a culture that didn't reflect anything that made sense to me, and I couldn't understand why everyone else seemed to like it so much. And keep in mind that where I lived it was basically the '50s until about 1975 or so, so we didn't even have to bear the decade's full brunt. I think if I'd had to spend the '70s in Berkeley or some place like that, my brain would have ruptured and I'd have spent the rest of my life staring catatonically into the darkness and muttering "not the polyester, please, no..."

Boy you really missed it then. Living around here then meant it STUNK all in capitals. The polyester, the hippies, the bums, the drugs, the hippies, did I mention the hippies?

Regards,

J

 

[jamespowers]

To go out on the town, they definitely did. I remember older kids spending way too much time 'feathering' their hair in front of the mirror.

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Yeah great. They got dressed up in Angel Flight suits. Wheee! Real dressy there Travolta. :eusa_doh:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Boy you really missed it then. Living around here then meant it STUNK all in capitals. The polyester, the hippies, the bums, the drugs, the hippies, did I mention the hippies?

I feel for you. I attended UC Berserkely for a year ('85-'86): it was still (and very self-consciously) the land of tie dye and Birkenstocks. Two semesters of inanity.


The problem is that you grew up in a '70s 'ground zero.' The decade was more moderate in Maine.


If I'd grown up in Mississippi in the '50s, I would have hated the '50s just as passionately as you hate the '70s.

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[jamespowers]

I feel for you. I attended UC Berserkely for a year ('85-'86): it was still (and very self-consciously) the land of tie dye and Birkenstocks. Two semesters of inanity.


The problem is that you grew up in a '70s 'ground zero.' The decade was more moderate in Maine.


If I'd grown up in Mississippi in the '50s, I would have hated the '50s just as passionately as you hate the '70s.

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There is no way that someone could hate a decade more than I hate the 70s---no matter where you were.
Nothing has changed at Berkeley by the way. :eusa_doh:

 

[Lincsong]

Did the '70s ever really end in the San Francisco Bay Area???? I don't think so; same nutcases running rampant, same "sophisticated" slobs who remind me of Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. they haven't realized that their time in the spotlight is long gone. All of the countries nutjobs gravitated here and they never left and continue to attract the rest.:rage: Tye-dyed shirts, bell bottomed jeans, sloppy, hanging guts and lice infested long hair.

 

[Kimberly]

My favorite memories of the 70's was the blizzard of 78! I was 10 at the time and we were out of school for two weeks! I lived in an apartment complex and everyone banded together and it was one big party with food, sledding with the other kids and other fun things.

I also like the CB radio craze that was going due to Smokie and the Bandit and even had my own CB radio which I never talked on but just listened to the truckers. Yes I was an odd child. lol

 

[Lincsong]

Speaking of blizzard, I remember when it snowed at sea level in San Francisco Bay in 1976. All the yards and cars were covered in snow. That was cool.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Ah, but SF's "Black and White Ball" is pretty cool ... or at least it was in the mid '80s.

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[Senator Jack]

Oh, to be a reformed 70s hater. Confession, I am. Born in '64, I grew up in the 70s, in Brooklyn, so my in my youth I was an outsider as I was one of exactly three punks in a school of three-thousand disco dancing fatuous teens packed into tight jeans. I never thought I'd look back on it with anything but disdain.

Perhaps there's some good to be found in every era though - one just has to keep his mind open - and, of course, there's bad in every era, too (Check Marc C's 1930s Esquire and Apparel Arts scans). I think we thought the 70s awful because we lived it. People who lived the 30s might believe that that decade was just as bad, even style-wise (Who could associate anything good with the depression?). I had even believed the 80s to be the absolute pits as far as style, but two weeks ago, the (unjustly) much-maligned Mr. Bern and I were in a bar when a young girl of 23 came in wearing a mohawk, pink tutu, and striped socks. You know what? It was a style, and she nailed it. Again, it opened my eyes.

My suggestion is to look back with new eyes. You may like what you see.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[jamespowers]

My favorite memories of the 70's was the blizzard of 78! I was 10 at the time and we were out of school for two weeks! I lived in an apartment complex and everyone banded together and it was one big party with food, sledding with the other kids and other fun things.

I also like the CB radio craze that was going due to Smokie and the Bandit and even had my own CB radio which I never talked on but just listened to the truckers. Yes I was an odd child. lol

For me the real cap of the 1970s is when it snowed here in 1976. It reminded me of the old phrase about snowing in Hades. Did I mention how much I hate snow?


Regards,

J

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

My favorite memories of the 70's was the blizzard of 78!

Oh yeah, The Blizzard. One of the only good things that happened during the seventies. I love snow!

 

[jamespowers]

My suggestion is to look back with new eyes. You may like what you see.

Regards,

Senator Jack

I am looking back on the 1970s and I see:

and

and

Uh, no thanks. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J

 

[Marc Chevalier]

- and, of course, there's bad in every era, too (Check Marc C's 1930s Esquire and Apparel Arts scans).

Yes indeed. At times very bad lol

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[Marc Chevalier]

Yet I have this feeling that, if we'd all been an 18 year-old Italian-American male living in Brooklyn in 1978, Saturday nights would have been an absolute blast.

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[jamespowers]

Yet I have this feeling that, if we'd all been an 18 year-old Italian-American male living in Brooklyn in 1978, Saturday nights would have been an absolute blast.

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Yeah sure and I would be making deliveries for Tony Soprano. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J

 

[Lincsong]

Yet I have this feeling that, if we'd all been an 18 year-old Italian-American male living in Brooklyn in 1978, Saturday nights would have been an absolute blast.

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Gotta have that black Trans Am with the screaming chicken on the hood.

 

[jamespowers]

Gotta have that black Trans Am with the screaming chicken on the hood.

Chicken?! I thought it was a jackass with wings. [huh]

Regards,

J

 

[Senator Jack]

Not to toot here, but,

70s suit

70s suit

You may hate it, but so far here in NY, nothing but compliments.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Wasn't the '70s the last time that young white people actually learned a *new* dance with real steps to it?

Seriously, has anyone noticed how incredibly dull the bar/lounge/club scene is these days? Not even worth it anymore. Most places don't even have dance floors. Nothing to do but shout, get bumped around and wait forever for drinks.

.

 

[Lincsong]

But it works for you Jack. Now let's see the white suit with the black shirt.