What were The 70's really like?

[ChicknPickn]

Dont forget the macrame and avocado kitchen decor!

Also, Harvest Gold! Not talking about the funny stuff.

 

[tubedude]

In Germany:
Mopeds, Bad hash and Bader Meinhof Gang.
I played in a band and we where constantly out of Tune but loud!

South Germany same,
Moped gangs, Badder Meinhof, but better hash. Our band was in tune but not that good.

 

[Loaded Goat]

I was born in 1952. Joined the Marines on April 1st 1971. They didn't do drug testing at that time and alot of us were doing drugs after coming back from Vietnam. And when I got out in '73 it was sex, drugs and rock n' roll. Along with an excess of alcohol And I didn't get my act together for another 25 years. lol

 

[staxman]

I was born in 1952. Joined the Marines on April 1st 1971. They didn't do drug testing at that time and alot of us were doing drugs after coming back from Vietnam. And when I got out in '73 it was sex, drugs and rock n' roll. Along with an excess of alcohol And I didn't get my act together for another 25 years. lol

Pleasure to meet ya, brother!

 

[danielreid27]

 

[StratDal]

Good time to be in high school; kegger parties were the norm.

 

[Ed Driscoll]

It regularly played those movies that have now become known as Grindhouse movies (or maybe they were always called that, I don’t know)—lots of Roger Corman-type stuff.

Gritty, low-budget movies with a lot of language, nudity and violence in their theatrical releases, but poorly edited for TV Broadcast—as in the cussing wasn’t bleeped, just “blanked” like the soundtrack wasn’t working in that portion. The scenes with drugs, nudity or graphic violence were just excised, without any thought to what was happening to the dialog or continuity of the film. Two people would be in a room and suddenly the scene would change and you didn’t know somebody had gotten killed, you just never saw them again.

Occasionally there would be a semi-“big” film with a “bigger” star like Peter Fonda or Joe Don Baker or a bigger director like Sam Peckinpah, but with the same crappy editing.

I remember seeing a few of these films on KTVT and then seeing them again on VHS or DVD or Cable later, thinking, “Hey! Let me watch that again!” but turning it off almost immediately because (with the excised portions restored) I realized that it was just smut on celluloid (besides being poorly made).

I never heard the phrase "grindhouse" until the Rodriguez/Tarantino movie. I think there mostly thought of as B-movies or drive-in fare. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, starring the aforementioned Peter Fonda got loads of plays on the late show in the 1970s.

On the other hand, I remember watching THX-1138 on the Saturday afternoon monster/sci-fi movie series in '77 or '78 after Star Wars made George Lucas a superstar, and the local station must not have pre-screened the film, given that the nude scene aired on TV.

 

[staxman]

One last thought, I was born in 1955 and it’s now 2022. I’m not writing off ANY particular decade of my life. It’s been a good ride!

 

[charlie chitlin]

Lot of changes.
I went from 8 years old to college in the 70's.

 

[staxman]

Lot of changes.
I went from 8 years old to college in the 70's.

My head just exploded dude!

 

[Chester P Squier]

Like any decade, it had its idiosyncrasies, its pros and cons, its own quirks.

I graduated from college and left the nest in 1970, got married in 1972 (still married to the same girl) and had sons born in 1975 and 1979. Certainly not an all-bad decade for me.

I probably shouldn't post this, but my wife had two halter tops, one with a deep V and the other that looked somewhat like a bib. There are no photos of her wearing either one of them. She might have just worn them around the apartment.

I could compare and contrast the absurdities of the '70s with the absurdities of today, but I don't want to get kicked off the TDPRI. I like it here.

 

[Beachbum]

Inflation, strikes, power cuts and a 3 day week.

Recession, fuel price crisis.

Nowt much has changed.

Add to that Disco and the death of live bands until until Chicken Fried Rock, Neil Young and Paul Simon saved the world of six string music in the 80's.

 

[57joonya]

Everyone smoked. Everywhere.

Cheers,
Geoff

Haha, this reminds me of my dad taking me to soccer practice . It’s 40 degrees out , I roll down the window cause I can’t breathe with all the cigarette smoke . Dad makes me roll the window up

 

[gkterry]

Got engaged
broke up
graduated HS in 1974
one person in my HS class had a very rudimentary Texas Instruments calculator
the rest of us used pencil & paper or slide rules
just missed the draft–it was stopped the year before I would have been eligible
went to technical college for 2 years to learn a trade in electronics
studied vacuum tube circuits in college (what is a transistor?)
graduated in 1976 and went to work in my trade at a TV station earning the princely sum of $3.75/ hr
my most expensive quarter at college was less than $200 all in–books, materials, tuition, etc.
borrowed the HUGE sum of $1000 to help pay for college
computers where available (mostly colleges) were the size of a room and primarily took punch cards as input
the pace was not nearly as fast
cost was WAY less than now
it was a simpler time
there was more outdoor activity, especially among the young
NO CELL PHONES
NO personal computers
NO Walmart
NO Internet (at least in my neck of the woods)
most of the shopping was done downtown around the square
Index and Woolworth were the big stores in our downtown area
it wasn't perfect but everyone seemed less frantic and less commercially consumed
I wish we could reset everything back to that time

 

[Chester P Squier]

I didn't mention in my above post that when I graduated from college, my college draft deferment expired. But they had a draft lottery based on your birthday, and I had a high number.

 

[Fiesta Red]

I never heard the phrase "grindhouse" until the Rodriguez/Tarantino movie. I think there mostly thought of as B-movies or drive-in fare. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, starring the aforementioned Peter Fonda got loads of plays on the late show in the 1970s.

On the other hand, I remember watching THX-1138 on the Saturday afternoon monster/sci-fi movie series in '77 or '78 after Star Wars made George Lucas a superstar, and the local station must not have pre-screened the film, given that the nude scene aired on TV.

DM, CL was exactly the kind of movie they’d show.

I’d never heard the term “grindhouse” before those Rodriguez/Tarantino films either. I’ve never seen any of those films (I try to avoid R-rated films as much as I can).

Speaking of which, it was shocking what they’d get away with in PG or even G-rated films back then.

The original “True Grit” with John Wayne was rated G…with a hand amputation, snake bites, shoot outs and “fill yer hand you…”!

The original “Getaway” with Steve McQueen was rated PG, with murder, suicide, kidnapping, nudity…

Things were weird back then.

 

[Guitarzan]

I came from the South, specifically the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. No-one hated us in the South out of principle at that point. I spent the first half of the '70s going through high school, learning and playing all the cool music that was on the radio, hiking in the hills of the Smokies, swimming in the Tennessee River, and living in the shadow of the Vietnam War. I didn't get drafted but many guys from the area did, and went and did what they considered their duty.

I sent the second half of the '70s either at the state university, which was an amazing metropolitan experience, or living at a remote mountaintop college in Georgia studying Theology, Philosophy, and History, for a Liberal Arts Bachelor of Arts degree.

Covenant College?

 

[SuprHtr]

I forgot to say in my last post that we had a concert at my high school in the winter of my junior year. It was a band that was popular in the New England region in 1974 and they were introducing their second album, "Get Your Wings". It was the first time I ever saw flash pots in a concert.

 

[SuprHtr]

Good summer job money in 1976:

And what I spent my money on a year or two earlier:

Manuel's tavern in Atlanta, probably 1978:

 

[Engine Swap]

@SuprHtr - is that a Greeves you’re riding?