Why were the 70s such a tacky decade?

[Stearmen]

Uh yeah, like that is better than a 48 Indian Chief---NOT!

The 48 Chief was a fine motorcycle for the 1940s, though, a Vincent was better. Neither have any thing to do with the 1970s!

 

[Stearmen]

Another thing that was rotten in the 1970's: the animated cartoons. The 30's to the 50's were the first Golden Age, and there wasn't much in the 60's of great artistic merit-- but at least we had Rocky & Bullwinkle and other Jay Ward productions. The 80's saw, arguably, a second Golden Age (Spielberg's Animaniacs and Bakshi's Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures , to name two notable examples that were loaded with cultural references and social commentary) of animated cartoons. But the 70's? I can't think of a single outstanding production on either the big screen or television.

While not my cup of tea, I do remember critics saying Lord Of The Rings was ground breaking animation.

 

[Stearmen]

Well perhaps it took a while for us to export Glam Rock or Punk. But on our sceptred isle that was the main stream, source of music, coming out of our radios. The Sex Pistols, spitting at their audience, head butting each other. I wonder if there are any fifty-year-old, pot belly punks still going around with their clothes held together with safety pins?

The Ramone's were first, and the best! [video=youtube;F-3ox-6WhBA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-3ox-6WhBA[/video]

 

[HoosierDaddy]

My ears hurt

 

[dh66]

The Ramone's were first, and the best! [video=youtube;F-3ox-6WhBA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-3ox-6WhBA[/video]

Oh Yeah!!!

 

[dh66]

My ears hurt

Oh Yeah!!!!

 

[dh66]

https://youtu.be/wHiGR0iuTUo
Oh Yeah!!!

It was around '79 or '80, about the time I was starting high school, when I first heard stuff like this. All I could think was "Hell Yeah!!!" My middle finger seized up in the outstretched position and after all these years, even though I myself have mellowed considerably, my finger hasn't loosened up a bit.

 

[dh66]

No love for the Dr. Seuss stuff...The Cat In The Hat?, Horton Hears A Who?, The Lorax? What about Bakshi's Fritz The Cat or Wizards? Rankin and Bass's The Hobbit version? Watership Down?

All good stuff. I loved the Rankin-Bass 'Hobbit' cartoon when I was a kid. I have a copy that I found in a grocery store checkout line for a buck, and my kids have just about worn that disc out. They love it too.

 

[DJH]

I liked the 70's.
Then again, I liked the 80's, 90's, 00's and the currenty's as well.

 

[jamespowers]

No love for the Dr. Seuss stuff...The Cat In The Hat?, Horton Hears A Who?, The Lorax? What about Bakshi's Fritz The Cat or Wizards? Rankin and Bass's The Hobbit version? Watership Down?

No none of it. PU!

 

[jamespowers]

My ears hurt

Because it sucks.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I liked the 70's.
Then again, I liked the 80's, 90's, 00's and the currenty's as well.

Amen to that. Life is good.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Being surrounded by a culture that isn't your own is like being served a meal made up entirely of dishes you can't digest. You could eat them figuring anything's better than going hungry, but you know you're going to be up all night with indigestion. Better you should just brown bag your own culture.

I can't stand postwar popular music, and I've managed to arrange my life so I never hear any of it. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't exist. I don't like 99.9 percent of what's on television, so I don't watch television. If we're showing a modern movie I don't like, I just pay enough attention to it that I know it's running properly, and work on something else while it's on. I don't like "online culture" so with the exception of this place I don't participate in it.

To be honest, the Lounge is pretty much the only place I hear about most of the modern stuff I don't like. Go figure.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Another thing that was rotten in the 1970's: the animated cartoons. The 30's to the 50's were the first Golden Age, and there wasn't much in the 60's of great artistic merit-- but at least we had Rocky & Bullwinkle and other Jay Ward productions. The 80's saw, arguably, a second Golden Age (Spielberg's Animaniacs and Bakshi's Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures , to name two notable examples that were loaded with cultural references and social commentary) of animated cartoons. But the 70's? I can't think of a single outstanding production on either the big screen or television.

Chuck Jones was still working thruout the 70s, but his stuff had become increasingly derivative of his own earlier work by that time, and he was hobbled by an obsessiveness about "design" that managed to leach a lot of the humor of what he was doing. Friz Freleng was also still active, and some of his Pink Panther cartoons of the '70s had the old sense of wit about them, but the rest of the DePatie-Freleng studio product was schlock.

The problem wasn't the people doing the work, it was the intended audience. With the exception of the DePatie-Freleng stuff for United Artists, there were no new theatrical cartoon shorts being produced after 1972, and that meant the vast majority of animation was being done for the Saturday morning kiddie audience, an audience that was entirely undiscriminating -- hence the mystifying popularity of "Scooby Doo". These programs for the most part existed only as a framework on which to hang the real purpose of Saturday morning -- turning the kiddies into good, obedient little consumers. That was a purpose entirely different from that of the animated shorts of the Era, and they can't really be compared because they existed for different reasons.

There was one exception that, I think, does stand out. The animated version of "Star Trek," produced in 1973-74, was produced with a good deal of sophistication in its scripts, which for the most part were not dumbed down for a kiddie audience. The animation wasn't any kind of art, but it was workmanlike and served the purpose of illustrating the stories reasonably well. It wasn't on a par with the first two seasons of the live-action show, but it was, in general, a step *up* from the live-action show's third season, and it holds up reasonably well when viewed today.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

It wasn't much of an era, but doggone it, it was my era.

I have a love-hate relationship with the '70s only because that's the era I grew up in. The funny part is that when I was young I actually envied the Depression/World War II Generation and even people who grew up in the '50s because they had, in my mind back then, "cooler" things to reminisce about. I mean what am I supposed to be nostalgic about??? A question I still ask myself today. :doh:

Another thing that was rotten in the 1970's: the animated cartoons. The 30's to the 50's were the first Golden Age, and there wasn't much in the 60's of great artistic merit-- but at least we had Rocky & Bullwinkle and other Jay Ward productions. The 80's saw, arguably, a second Golden Age (Spielberg's Animaniacs and Bakshi's Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures , to name two notable examples that were loaded with cultural references and social commentary) of animated cartoons. But the 70's? I can't think of a single outstanding production on either the big screen or television.

In the '70s animation was largely dominated by the Hanna-Barbarians.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I, for one, never get tired of reminiscing about the 1975 Red Sox. Loo-ee! Loo-ee! Loo-ee!

 

[HudsonHawk]

The 70s also saw the Bill Cosby produced Fat Albert, which at least purportedly attempted social commentary and civil education.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I, for one, never get tired of reminiscing about the 1975 Red Sox. Loo-ee! Loo-ee! Loo-ee!

My favorite player growing up was Johnny Bench, and I remember those 70s Reds teams well. I remember just the talk that Mickey Rivers was going to try steal second base in the 76 World Series was a personal affront to my delicate sensibilities. Bench gunned him down the first time he reached base in Game 1. Ha! Take that, you cretin.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Mickey Rivers was a pud, as we used to say. He sucker-punched Bill Lee to start the big Sox-Yankees brawl of 1976, which led to Lee being thrown on the ground by that cheap goon Nettles, and that wrecked his shoulder for the rest of the season. Everybody in New England still spits on the ground at the mention of Mickey Rivers' name.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Mickey Rivers was a pud

That may be the funniest thing ever posted here. That might have to become my new signature.

He sucker-punched Bill Lee to start the big Sox-Yankees brawl of 1976, which led to Lee being thrown on the ground by that cheap goon Nettles, and that wrecked his shoulder for the rest of the season. Everybody in New England still spits on the ground at the mention of Mickey Rivers' name.

Nettles was another notorious douchebag (as the kids say today). I remember him getting into it with George Brett in the 77 ALCS after he kicked Brett on a play at 3B. Those Yankees had no shortage of puds, come to think of it.