I often wonder what the 1970s really were. In England, we had the original "I Love 70s/80s" series c. 2000 and the 1970s series promised to show us what we were "into" year-by-year, the pop culture. It stole wholesale from the 1960s and 1980s! Things unheard of in the 70s that would be released and become 80s pop culture were featured as major fads of 70s years, and other things that were already popular by the end of the 60s were also featured as major 70s trends. The media of the 70s, newspapers and TV, tells a very different story to the BBC's "I Love 1970s".
Here, we wore flared trousers because they were "fashion". Fashion did not move on. We working class folk did not regard ourselves as hippies - they were a 1960s scene, and any claim that we were hippies would have been hotly refuted. Platforms came back from the 1930s (oh joy!) and grandad pullovers we called "tank tops". Deep Purple seemed to be ploughing a boring 1960s furrow. We also had a huge 1950s revival, from the early 70s onwards. The Brady Bunch which came over here from America, seemed far more 60s than 70s, because we were becoming very cynical in the early 70s.
The 70s became the 70s about midway through when disco and punk blasted in here. The Sex Pistols reflected our sense of hopelessness as unemployment leapt, and disco was a nice, sleazy, soul/R&B derived way of having a night out. C. 1978, the three-year- 70s ended and we entered a "nowhere land" in England. The 70s, whatever they were, seemed to have ended. The 80s hadn't arrived. Disco was continuing, one or two synth bands were tuning up and we had a big 60s ska/Mods & Rockers revival. Grease and Happy Days kept the 1950s pot boiling.
1980 was firmly in the "nowhere land", just a little more frantic, but 1981, with its synth classics, was the first year which really seemed to be moving us forward. 1982, with Fame, legwarmers and those deeleyboppers, was another landmark, but 1983, with news of the release of the first mobile phone and the emergence of the blossoming Hip Hop scene really saw "nowhere land" disappearing.
We were so miserable and poor in the 70s, with the recession biting deep and inflation out of control, I just shudder at the memories. I didn't really approve of the yuppie thing in the 80s, but after the long recession, was it really surprising that people went a bit money mad? I hated the way the priggish, and incredibly materialistic, 90s stood in judgement over the 80s, much as this decade does.
To remember the 70s happily, a lot of tweaking and rewriting is required. Here in England, a lot of today's kids have bought the 70s hype, and would rather live in a fantasy rewrite than the real world. It's a shame, issues need addressing, I would like to see a more politically motivated "now" generation of youngsters.
:\'(

Cool thread. :)

I think the 70's had two basic sections.

The "main" 60s died a pretty quick death in 1970 and '71 at the latest. By then, from all I know the hippies and the counterculture rock that was so huge a mere 2-3 years earlier was pretty much gone (probably in part due to icons like Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplins' deaths). :(

The 1971-75 era seemed to be a watered-down late 60s but advanced. Vietnam War was dwindling (as far as American soldiers going over there -- it officially ended in '75 but the "dangerous" part of it was more like 68-70 IMO). Classic rock was on the rise and in general it seemed to be a big "party time" - like the era reflected in Dazed and Confused.

(I know that took place in '76 but it struck me as being WAY more like 1973 than like 1978.)

1976-1979 was the main disco era and pointed more towards the carefree time of the 80's. The 80's transitional period was around 1978-81 - video games started around then, as did VCRs and synthesizers in music. 1982 was the last year IMO with any trace of the 70s. It was mostly 80s, but with some late 70s afterglow in there.

1983 was full-on 80s and the official end of the 70s.