Why do I hate the 1970s so much?

[LizzieMaine]

I know of one cat who started collecting fifties stuff in the mid seventies and you should see his collection. Most of what he bought was just around fifteen years old and people were just chucking everything out.He bought a 1959 Chrysler from a man that was the guys first and only car and was in mint condition

Also worth remembering is that the early seventies saw a major fad for the thirties -- there were TV shows, movies, books, and fashions all based on thirties themes, to the point of making an interest in the depression and swing eras practically mainstream. It was cultural backlash against the excesses of the whole hippie thing, and for those few years -- 1970-72 -- it was very much a second golden age for those interested in learning about the '30s.

That fad also had the effect of bringing tons of vintage stuff out of attics and garages -- you could buy stacks of '30s magazines for a quarter apiece, all the 78s you could play for 50 cents each, vintage clothes and accessories of all kinds for a few dollars. I remember saving up for weeks to buy a 1939 Sears catalog for $5!

 

[Flivver]

That fad also had the effect of bringing tons of vintage stuff out of attics and garages -- you could buy stacks of '30s magazines for a quarter apiece, all the 78s you could play for 50 cents each, vintage clothes and accessories of all kinds for a few dollars. I remember saving up for weeks to buy a 1939 Sears catalog for $5!

This is SO true!

I started going to flea markets in the early 1970s and it's amazing what you could find then and for so little money. I went to the large Brimfield Antique Show in July, 1974. I filled my car to the rafters and spent $64! I was paying no more than $5 for 1920s and 1930s radios, and I brought home stacks of great magazines that day for nearly nothing. Oh to turn back the clock thirty years!

 

[Salv]

I had a great time in the 70s - I left school and started work in 1975 so I had some spending money, which all went on records and clothes. Maybe the clothes weren't as stylish as in previous decades, but it wasn't all tie-dye and bell-bottoms, and not everyone was a hippy. I started the decade as a junior skinhead in a cheap copy of a Baracuta G-9, Levi Sta-Prest trousers, Ben Sherman shirts and wingtips. I ended the decade in 40s and 50s vintage mixed with clothes by young British fashion designers that were a world away from hippy fashion. In between I wore flares for a couple of years, but we all make mistakes.

The music, once you looked beyond what was popular, was - and still is - the best I've ever heard, and to judge a whole decade of music by pointing out a few songs you didn't like is not a very convincing argument. These were the best selling UK-released singles between 1952 and 1957 (I couldn't find any figures for other countries, nor for sales prior to 1952) -

1952 "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" Vera Lynn
1953 "I Believe" Frankie Laine
1954 "Secret Love" Doris Day
1955 "Rose Marie" Slim Whitman
1956 "I'll Be Home" Pat Boone
1957 "Diana" Paul Anka

Give me disco any day. And speaking of disco, Marc's comment

...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.

rings just as true for 18 year old Anglo-Filipino males living in the London suburbs in 1976. Myself and a couple of friends visited every club in west London we could find in '76-'77, and those Saturday and Sunday nights - and Bank Holiday all-dayers - on various cramped dance floors are some of my fondest memories of my teenage years.

I argue that punk doesn't count as the 1970s I describe because it hated the prevailing styles of the 1970s and its purpose was to DESTROY them. Joy Division directly went against the predominant 1970s aesthetic as well. Nor should New Wave (a la the great B52s) count as 1970s in the true essential 1970s sense.

'70s punk may have had its roots in the NYC underground, but I don't think you really appreciate just how much of its time it was in the UK. The prime movers behind punk weren't really seeking to destroy anything - that was just a slogan. Like everybody everywhere they had music they liked and music they didn't: Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols were Bowie and Roxy Music fans, while Glen Matlock was a Beatles fan (one reason for Johnny Rotten wanting him out of the band) Youth cults come and go and punk was the late '70s version of bored teenagers trying to be different. I was there at the time and punk, while incredibly exciting, was no different in spirit to Mod, Ted, Skinhead etc. All youth cults hate what went before, it wasn't something unique to punk.

I was going to see punk bands on those weekends when I wasn't sweating on a dance floor. I have further fond memories of having my ears assaulted at Sex Pistols, Jam and Buzzcocks gigs, and of The Clash at an open air concert in a park in east London.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I was born in '75 so I don't really remember anything pre-1979. But I'd still say the late 60s and early 70s is one of my least-liked time periods of the 20th Century. Don't get me wrong -- that time period has SOME good things about it (exploitation films, architecture, some music -- I find good in every decade!), but the overall look of this time period gives me the willies.

I think it's because in my past life, I was sick and dying during this time!! lol

The mid-70s was the pinnacle of horrible, in my opinion. Punk and new wave came along and saved the decade in the later years. I can tolerate 77-79, but just the punk and new wave subcultures. I like punk and new wave.

The worst time period (to me) of the 20th Century - 1996-1999. BLEEEEEH. Both personally and pop-culturally!! And it was this time I turned to a vintage lifestyle....

 

[Chanfan]

Wow. I'm in the camp of hating much of the clothes, but every decade does have it's good points. I hated Disco at the time, but I think a large part of that was overexposure. I like hearing some of it now.

There was some good mainstream music in the 70's. I find I can happily listen to it. I do agree with placing the punk/wave music as "80's", despite it starting in the later 70's.

My senior year photo (1983) has me with very 70's feathered hair. I had it for about a two days, before going totally punk (in a late suburban psudo-punk kind of way).

I do recall, in 3rd or 4th grade, making a little Major Tom out of clay for class, after being exposed to my brothers listening to Bowie's Space Oddity.

And even though I hate the 70's clothes, and hated the revival of them, I can understand those who feel otherwise. After all, I love 80's punk/wave/ska looks and clothes, and I know plenty of folk view that as being just as bad. I used to joke with friends that my ideal girl would have an asymmetrical two-tone pixie haircut, and I still like the look of bright, non-natural hair colors done well.

I do like Mr. Deckard's comment - the 70's were cool in the 70's. True enough. Does make me wonder how many folks shake their head at the sight of a hat or outfit from this group, and think "the 30's (or 40's, or 50's) were cool in the 30's".

 

[BeBopBaby]

As much as I disliked the 70s, I must give it credit in a few areas:

1. People still got dressed up to go out (even though I may not have liked the fashions).

2. A lot of 70s womens fashions were re-interpretations of clothing from the 1930s (even if they were made of polyester yuckness).

3. A lot of really good movies came out in the 70s.

 

[Quigley Brown]

Did I tell you that I own 25 lava lamps? I have four turned on right now in my office...

 

[jake_fink]

70s = The BEST period of American film ever, period, bar none. Only the teens come close to being as varied and innovative.

1977 = punk

Schoolhouse Rock: smart show. Sesame Street, Electric Company.


Koogle. (What was that stuff made of anyway?)

The hair was awful, the clothes were mostly worse (Sen Jack's wardorbe notwithstanding), but the 70s were a much smarter decade than the 2000s; the papers were better, the news programming was better, the literature was better... and celebrity culture hadn't yet lobotomized everyone.

Now the eighties, THAT was a bad decade.

 

[Senator Jack]

At the age of 17, in 1982, I was already nostalgic for the punk heydey. Punk will always be the 70s for me and hardcore, the 80s. 'New Wave', as a description, was of course corporately coined to make punk palatable. Remember when Elvis Costello broke into 'Radio, Radio' on Saturday Night Live? About as punk as you can get, but CBS labeled him New Wave. (Though EC himself claims he was neither.)


I'd have to disagree with some of the era labels listed here though. The way I see it:

1920s = 1919 (Volstead Act) to Stock Market Crash 1929

1930s = Market Crash to 1940 (I see the invasion of Poland as a definitively 30s agression, and the few months that followed a period of change as the public sorted it all out)

1940s = 1940 to VJ Day.

The Atomic Era = VJ Day to Elvis on Sullvan.

1950s = Elvis on Sullivan to Sputnik (Really, about two, three years when you think about it)

The Space Age = Sputnik to Rubber Soul

The Swinging 60s = Rubber Soul to Sgt. Pepper.

The 60s = Sgt Pepper to Watergate.

The 70s = Watergate to Iranian Hostage release.

The 80s = Reagan years

The Nobody Can Recall if Anything Actually Happened, There Might Have Been a War on but We Were All Watching Twin Peaks Era = George Bush Sr.

The 90s = Nirvana to the Dotcom Bust

The 00s = The Dotcom Bust to Nobody Recalls if Anything Actually Happened, There Might Have Been War but We Were All Watching American Idol Day.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[SpitfireXIV]

the 70's were awful, period. politics and gas shortages aside, it was a dark time for fashion and culture in general. when i see young ladies wearing 70's re-treaded fashions i just shudder. thank heavens the "Farrah Flip" hasn't made a comeback!!!

but, i'm surprised nobody mentioned "avacado, yellow, and copper coloured appliances" in their list of 1970's atrocities. i still have nightmares about my Mom's kitchen colour scheme from growing up!

the only thing from the 1970's i can appreciate was Peanuts; more importantly, the merchandising of Snoopy for my adolescent enjoyment

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Miniskirts, maxi skirts and Afro hair-dos

In the seventies there were few tattoos, fewer piercings, and rarely a muffin top. I like hip-huggers and I liked the 70s better than whatever this decade is called.

 

[GeniusInTheLamp]

Personally, I spent a good part of the 70s waiting for the 80s to happen. Even back then, I hated the polyester leisure suits, bell bottoms, and bad hair. I was part of the whole anti-disco backlash (which was huge in Chicago; remember Disco Demolition Night?), and even in grade school, I remember Vietnam and Watergate dominating the headlines. In retrospect, I tend to be drawn more to the dark underbelly of the decade (punk, early New Wave, the original SNL, seedy exploitation flicks) than the Brady Bunch/Bee Gees pablum that people confuse for 70s nostalgia today.

 

[jake_fink]

Personally, I spent a good part of the 70s waiting for the 80s to happen. Even back then, I hated the polyester leisure suits, bell bottoms, and bad hair. I was part of the whole anti-disco backlash (which was huge in Chicago; remember Disco Demolition Night?), and even in grade school, I remember Vietnam and Watergate dominating the headlines. In retrospect, I tend to be drawn more to the dark underbelly of the decade (punk, early New Wave, the original SNL, seedy exploitation flicks) than the Brady Bunch/Bee Gees pablum that people confuse for 70s nostalgia today.

Not a high point in Western culture. A mass record burning led by sport-fanatic Kerrang subscribers. Disco or Dio... not a real good choice.

The decade did have an attractive underbelly though.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

My dad never had a leisure suit. He was a graduate school professor so he leaned more toward turtlenecks. Well, it was chilly what with the blizzards and energy crises. None of the neighborhood blue-collar dads owned leisure suits either, although I knew and saw plenty of other men who did including my stepfather. I still don't dislike them, though. There were only a few appliances on my block that were harvest gold or avocado; the rest were from the 50s and 60s. Only by visiting acquaintances in the suburbs could I see these earth-toned wonders in person. Several race riots and bullying at school were no fun, though, being targeted by some Black children for being White and having Black friends. Not the worst things that have ever happened to me, though. I've decided I like all decades except parts of the 90s, some of the teens and this one. Worst decade ever, the zeroes.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

The Jazz rerevolution. Miles Davis. Weather Report.

Everyone who dislikes the 70s seems to be basing this off of all the ephemeral pop fads that didn't even last the whole seventies. Every decade has the dark times of fashion. That's the nature of fashion.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Great minds think alike. If I could literally delete two decades of human history these two [including the 1960s]would be the casualties.

Well, I'll tell you what. If you can show that the Civil Rights Act was signed in another decade, then I'll accept your assertion about the '60s.


Except for the Civil Rights Act of 1965, there isn't much else that I like about the '60s. Sure, the Peace Corps was handy -- mostly for the CIA. And Vietnam was handy -- for certain thinktankers and arms merchants. And LSD seemed handy -- for CIA-sponsored psychotropic interrogation testing.

.

 

[Feraud]

Demonize one decade, revere another. Standard stuff.

 

[52Styleline]

The early 70's are memorable to me for one reason, I got home from Viet Nam alive

Gas lines really were a short lived issue although it wasn't fun dealing with them that year. Yeah there were some funky clothes, but most people wore fairly reasonable garb unless they were trying to call attention to themselves. Ties got wider and wider, shoe soles got thicker, and men started wearing colored shirts to work. I remember the first time I saw an office worker (male) wearing a pink shirt with a red tie...

Mutton chop sideburns became the thing for a couple of years...I look at pictures of myself with them and laugh. Nixon put in wage and price controls that were a hassle for businesses to deal with-lots of paperwork accomplishing very little. Carter and double digit inflation...not fun for the wage slave. Three Mile Island. Anyone on this Board remember Gerald Ford and the Mayag?ºez incident?

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned...the cars. Some of the worst vehicles in the history of Detroit were produced in the 70's. Big ugly barges with huge engines...choked down with smog control devices to the extent that you couldn't keep them running reliably. Remember, this was before computer engine controls.

The 70's were a lot more than funny clothes and music. Living through them while raising a young family was trying - but certainly not all that much more so than any other decade. In many ways, the 70's were a commercialized echo of the 60's.

 

[Spitfire]

I never hated the 70s. Had the best time of my life back then.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Not a high point in Western culture. A mass record burning led by sport-fanatic Kerrang subscribers. Disco or Dio... not a real good choice.

In my school in '79, seniors wore t-shirts that said "Death Before Disco" and "Disco Sucks." Then again, they also wore shirts that said "Go to H*ll, World! I'm a Senior!" Whatever.

.