For those of you who were teenagers during the '70s.... (1 Viewer)

[Rex Bachmann]

Joseph de Martino wrote:

The worry about it may have been absent, but, given its often long gestation period, that's exactly when HIV-derived AIDS would probably have been first disseminated through the U.S. populace, whether sexually or through blood donation.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I'm not so sure that kids today have a better quality of life than what I had in 1960's to early 1970's. At least in my youth, kids played outside without parents worrying about harms way coming to their children from whatever direction.

Same here in the mid-late '70's. We used to stay out well after dark in the summer as kids and our parents never had to worry about our safety. I rode my bicycle everywhere I needed to go before I could afford a cheap car -- no being toted all over town in a minivan/SUV by Mom or Dad back then.
Real freedom was when either you or one of your friends finally did get a car. It opened up all kinds of places to go and things to do. We didn't seem to have much money to spend, but we always had fun.
One bad thing about music in the '70's -- 8 track tapes.

 

[Greg Z]

I feel that "quality of life" also relates to the freedom we had as kids to be able to stay out late way past dark (9:00pm)and feel safe alone in my neighborhood. I have FOND memories as a kid walking home at night from my friends house, walking through the empty lots, looking at the stars and making believe I was on a spy mission. When a car would come down my street I would hide in the woods, or behind a bush or a car, so as not to be seen. My neighborhood usually had no signs of life after dark. I loved the quiet and the solitude. My love for Astronomy began then on those quiet, dark nights alone walking home from a friends house. I also expanded my world when I began to ride my bike on day-long excusions. Riding to a nearby town, or the mall(yes, just built ) and to the train station. Damn, I loved hanging out at the train station. Another childhood love I had. I would spend a whole afternoon hanging out in the summer heat watching the trains go by. Try letting your kids do these things nowadays.:frowning:

 

[Janna S]

I graduated from high school in '72, but I can still speak to the decade. Drugs, sex, rock'n'roll pretty much says it all as far as the social aspects of the time.

Much of the music was great, and we had album covers (something the CD generation is really missing out on).

The drugs were more low-key (e.g., THC content was low) but just as much fun. We did, however, have some mistaken notions (for example, the general thought was that cocaine was non-addictive).

Something no one has mentioned here (no surprise, given gender representation) is that by the 70's extremely reliable birth control (the pill) became readily available even for young women (if you could find a sympathetic doctor). This made sex more fun and less risky. And the common STDs were curable, for the most part.

Caveat: of course some of the behaviors of the sixties and seventies were precursors to much sorrow. Recreational drug use begets addiction. Music becomes misogynistic and hate-filled. Casual sex becomes promiscuity, and love children become fatherless, homeless, and family-less. Common STDs beget incurable and terminal illnesses. Too much of a good thing always becomes a bad thing.

But nevertheless, there we were - and here we are. It's been a hell of a ride, for those of us who made it out healthy and alive.

 

[Bob Graz]

The facts behind the oil shortages of the 70's has finally been disclosed. The oil shortage was caused by the large amounts of petroleum products that went into making polyester leisure suits.

 

[Ken Wagner]

Graduated in '69, got drafted shortly after. Disco sucked, but the Rock, oh man. How many of the so called hot groups of today will be around in 30 years?
Times were different like they were different in our parents day. Drinking was more tolerated, drugs were used but mostly pot. Things seem to be moving so fast today. I'm not sure that is a good thing. Slow down and smell the roses as the saying goes. Anyway, I liked the time I grew up in. Didn't like the military so much. Link Removed

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Much of the music was great, and we had album covers (something the CD generation is really missing out on).

Yeah. Double-albums were especially good. I initially had my doubts about CDs ever catching on, because you cannot clean dope on a jewel case. (I don't do that sort of thing any more, but I do remember...)
Regards,
Joe

 

[Kevin Farley]

What I remember is there weren't any guns or knives in school. (well, knives to show off, and shuriken, but we weren't insane enough to use them.) Fights were like this: push, push.... push, push.... shove, punch, throw, wrestle, get broken up by teachers/adults. Now, it's Blaow! Sad. Side topic; Maybe start new thread on this. When I have kids (possible in a few years) I really want them to learn martial arts (at least Aikido if not Kung Fu or Karate) I got bullied a lot and I don't want my kids to go through the same thing. But these days, it's getting so dangerous, what do you guys think?

 

[ThomasC]

self defense classes, at the very least. i guess that would mean kung fu/karate for kids. you'll have to make sure that it's only used in defense and not for attack.

 

[andrew markworthy]

I was a fat not very attractive teenager who was good at school work, so my 'enjoyment' level is probably not very representative. To be honest, not being a representative part of the social mores of an era has never bothered me - who wants to be a sheep?

Boy, am I 'Mr the glass is half empty' tonight!Okay, let's try to be more positive.

The music was good in the 70s. After a couple of indifferent years at he start of the decade you had prog rock in all its awesome majesty, which in spite of all the retrospective judgements these days was *loved* at the time. Pink Floyd got out of the kindergarten after Syd Barrett left and started producing the greatest stereo test records the world has ever seen. Genesis produced albums with great frequency, Elton John was a cutting edge figure in music, etc, etc.

When disco arrived in the mid 70s it was a minority (admittedly a large minority) interest. The huge myth about 70s music was that punk was a reaction to the 'dinosaur' acts of prog rock. It wasn't - we bought punk and new wave because they were the only good singles around - there's only so long some of us can take disco music (about 5 seconds in most cases) before we want to run out of the room screaming. So we bought punk and new wave singles and carried on buying the albums by the dinosaurs.

Having said that, punk/new wave took off a lot sooner in the UK than it did in the USA. Not the best of guides, I know, but I recall going round some Toronto record stores in the summer of 78 and getting completely blank looks when I asked if they had anything by Devo. I don't think you guys really woke up to new wave (Police, etc) until the early 80s. By that time Britain was into the new romantics, and IMHO that is the point where pop music started its long slide into mediocrity.

It's also true that we were far more relaxed about sex and drugs in the 70s. However, it should be noted that it was 'sexual freedom' for the man rather than necessarily for the woman. It was still a very sexist world. It was also, if you lived in Britain, a fairly drab one in many respects. We had a lot of strikes, power cuts, rampant inflations. On top of that, terrorism first became a really prominent thing.

So if you spent the 70s in a drug-filled sexual active haze, then it was probably a great time. For the remaining 99.99 per cent of us, it was a period of mixed blessings. I'd personally rather have been a teenager these days.

 

[Kevin Farley]

Disco does not suck.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Kevin, if you like it, fine - just accept that a lot of people hate it! Liking (or disliking) disco is not a character flaw, and if you thought I implied that, then I apologise.

A large part of it has to do with the chord progressions, which sound 'jangly' to a lot of people. On top of that, you've got to admit that a lot of dance beats are *very* simple! Some people just find this unappealing. This is probably why dance acts like Kraftwerk or the Pet Shop Boys (traditional pop chord changes, generally more varied rhythms) are bought by a cross-section of the public and more 'traditional' disco acts tend only to be bought by disco fans.

Getting back to the thread topic, one of the things which really put me off disco were all the squeaky male vocalists talking about how sexy they were.

 

[Greg Kolinski]

Very different,I graduated HS in 1980,so remember all of the 70's.Much less complicated,and so much less to worry about.Did way too mmany drugs and drinking,probobly why im now in AA .It was just different......didnt have to worry about getting shot, worst sex peoblem was the clap,embarrassing,but not fatal.Cheap muscle cars ,no one wanted gas guzzling pigs .Even stranger was the 60's when I was very young.When I was 5-6 there was a ice cream truck ,came every day in the summer.Real nice guy ran the route,mid 30's?, even took my on his route one day .Can you EVEN imagine letting a 5 year old do that now?? This guy is one of my fondest memories as a young kid,summer ,gang of kids out playing from 9 am till dark and no one was worried,and then the popsickle man every afternoon.and now this type of simple thing is completly impossible.

 

[Kevin M]

Well I'm not offering any apologies because disco does suck!
That's just my opinion though.

 

[Michael Caicedo]

Well I'm going to come out of the music closet and speak my mind about disco and the 70's

Having said that, punk/new wave took off a lot sooner in the UK than it did in the USA.

No. We started it you guys ran with it Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, DKs etc... anyone? But perhaps it is true that in the rest of the US it was slower to spread, but I lived in the center of where it was all happening. Bleecker Bob's anyone? NYC in da house!!

 

[andrew markworthy]

Not in my opinion - at least not in the NYC area where I grew up. Punk was just a different crowd altogether and was loathed by rock and disco fans alike.

Michael, I'm sure you're right for what went on in NYC. I can only tell it like it was in the UK. I guess we can agree that it's a cultural thing.

Certainly in the UK, punk and new wave (which followed hot on its heels) were loved by the rock fans. The disco crowd hated it, but then everybody else hated the disco crowd, so tit for tat I suppose. Incidentally, I'm talking here about 'average fans' who bought the records but didn't feel the need to dress up in order to listen to them. The full-blown punks (ripped clothes with safety pins everywhere, etc) were just another bunch of fashion victims.

Come to think of it, there were quite a few bands which were big in the USA at the time that new wave was dominant in the UK who never really made it in the UK - bands like Boston, Foreigner, etc.

One of the things I could never work out at the time (when I used to go to maybe 2 concerts a week) was why the 'simple' music acts like the new wave bands were often awful in concert, but the prog rock dinosaurs, who supposedly were totally reliant on studio production, were often superb.

 

[Greg Z]

Here's a quick fact about how new wave caught on here in the NY area. I live in NJ and back in 1979 I had tickets to see a new group called The Police. It was at the Capitol Theater in Passaic,NJ. It was a crappy rainy night and the theater was only half full. I remember during "Roxanne" people were accually walking out of the theater! 1 year later they sold out Madison Square Garden! Crazy world