What were The 70's really like?

[Ed Driscoll]

- all kids rode bicycles and skateboard, like every day

I guess my memories of that life reflect my age at the time. I have fond memories of it. The 80s were better though, as we could do more once a little older.

I thought the skateboard craze really took off in the mid-'70s. The guys at Cadillac Wheels invented urethane skateboard wheels in 1972, went full-time manufacturing them in '74, and then Skateboarder magazine, which had a brief run during the clay wheels skateboard fad in the mid-'60s was relaunched in 1975 and lasted until about 1982. I think by '77 (or maybe it was '78), I started seeing Tony Alva posters in the local Woolco department store in south Jersey the following year, next to Farrah, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and other poster superstars.

I loved the magazine and read it every month, but I was merely a so-so-skateboarder back then, and eventually gave it up when my four wheels became much larger and had an engine attached to them.

 

[blowtorch]

Dukes of Hazard

Dukes of Hazzard series didn't start until 1979
and 1979 was the 80s, as we all know

The 80s started in late 77. Right around the time Elvis died

Just like the 70s started around 68, with the Comeback Special

 

[BFcaster]

Yeah I agree the 80's kinda started after Elvis died. But the Iran Hostage Crisis kinda woke up Americans didn't it? Hair got shorter, clothes got less bell-bottomy and tshirts less tight.

 

[Ed Driscoll]

Everyone smoked. Everywhere.

Cheers,
Geoff

Cigarette prices were so cheap in the 1970s. I worked in a liquor store in the late '70s. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Well, when it gets to $.75 a pack, I'm quitting." "When it gets to a dollar a pack, I'm quitting." "When it gets to $1.25 a pack, I'm quitting."

 

[ChicknPickn]

the 70s were the $25,000 pyramid and celebrity password and charles nelson reilly that stupid "madame" puppet and klinger from mash all over your tv

the 70s were coming in from the playground at recess, and the ice that had formed around the bottom of your bellbottoms slowly melting into a puddle on the classroom floor

also getting on the bus and hearing "summer breeze" and "you can feel it all over" and "fernando" on the bus radio


the 70s sucked.

and hard.

The wife and I are having a ball with this thread.

 

[RobRiggs]

I was 13 when the decade came to a close. I remember stingray bikes, BB guns, M.A.S.H. & Eddie’s Father on TV, Skating rinks were HUGE. Some of the best music of my life…Any Bay Area people remember Bob Wilkins Creature Features?

 

[blowtorch]

Yeah I agree the 80's kinda started after Elvis died. But the Iran Hostage Crisis kinda woke up Americans didn't it? Hair got shorter, clothes got less bell-bottomy and tshirts less tight.

also punk got going. late 70s and early 80s rocking music tended to have a punk rock edge, even if it was way smoothed out for radio sensibilities

yeah the 70s sucked and was stupid, disco-ey, and poofey-mixed with earth tones prog rock and folk music - until around 77, 78

 

[ChicknPickn]

I thought the skateboard craze really took off in the mid-'70s. The guys at Cadillac Wheels invented urethane skateboard wheels in 1972, went full-time manufacturing them in '74, and then Skateboarder magazine, which had a brief run during the clay wheels skateboard fad in the mid-'60s was relaunched in 1975 and lasted until about 1982. I think by '77 (or maybe it was '78), I started seeing Tony Alva posters in the local Woolco department store in south Jersey the following year, next to Farrah, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and other poster superstars.

I loved the magazine and read it every month, but I was merely a so-so-skateboarder back then, and eventually gave it up when my four wheels became much larger and motorized.

I saved up my money and put blue Kryptonics on my Logan Earth Ski. They were much faster than I bargained for. The first time I went up our big plywood ramp, I sailed over the top instead of hangin’ a one-wheeler. When I landed on the concrete slab, I broke my right arm in five places. Sold the Kryptonics. Never rode ramps again.

 

[Knows3Chords]

Cigarette prices were so cheap in the 1970s. I worked in a liquor store in the late '70s. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Well, when it gets to $.75 a pack, I'm quitting." "When it gets to a dollar a pack, I'm quitting." "When it gets to $1.25 a pack, I'm quitting."

My kids cannot believe there were actual ciggerette machines back then.

 

[BFcaster]

Well, if nothing else, the 70s started music being categorized. The lines became defined- less folk- and country- and rock- musicians hanging out together and maybe collaborating on an album/single. In the 70's, it started that Disco became one thing, Country became more clearly-defined, rockers with Les Pauls through overdriven Marshall stacks became Rock Stars..

 

[Engine Swap]

Lots of “crazes”

CB radios
Denim
Skateboards
Evel Knievel
Farrah haircuts
Disco
Custom vans

 

[trev333]

I backpacked through Turkey/Iran/Afghanistan in the summer of '78... I never had any problems with people along the way. I spent nearly 2 weeks in Tehran looking around... there were no anti western sentiments as I moved through the places.

 

[lowatter]

For me it was EXACTLY like the movie "Dazed and Confused".

 

[blowtorch]

horrible music




and that's not even the disco

 

[Skydog1010]

Boring

 

[Knows3Chords]

It was the rise of the "singer-songwriter" star.

 

[Skydog1010]

Motorcycles came into their own. Super bikes And they were awesome.

That and the fact there were still plenty of 1960's cars and blackface amps still running/working.

 

[staxman]

also punk got going. late 70s and early 80s rocking music tended to have a punk rock edge, even if it was way smoothed out for radio sensibilities

yeah the 70s sucked and was stupid, disco-ey, and poofey-mixed with earth tones prog rock and folk music - until

the 70s were the $25,000 pyramid and celebrity password and charles nelson reilly that stupid "madame" puppet and klinger from mash all over your tv

the 70s were coming in from the playground at recess, and the ice that had formed around the bottom of your bellbottoms slowly melting into a puddle on the classroom floor

also getting on the bus and hearing "summer breeze" and "you can feel it all over" and "fernando" on the bus radio


the 70s sucked.

and hard.

I feel ya. If my 70s memories included my bellbottoms dribbling on the floor after recess, I’d probably think think the 70s sucked too.

 

[old wrench]

The 1970's?

It was the best of times, but in some ways, it was also the worst

The history of the '60's was still fresh in our minds - both the good and the bad of it

Sometimes I feel like I'm still in the 1970's, and other times I'm glad that they were over 45 years ago

Lots and lots of memories . . . .

.

 

[blowtorch]

I feel ya. If my 70s memories included my bellbottoms dribbling on the floor after recess, I probably think think the 70s sucked too.

there's a part of me that wants to say it was all Stingray Schwinns and muscle cars and Evel Kneivel and KISS and "In Search Of" and it was AWESOME...but that's just not true

it was probably the most sucky decade ever