Without a doubt, other than Disco and Corporate Rock at the end, everything musical about the decade was progressive, creative, experimental, and downright awesome. Punk Rock and New Wave began; Prog Rock bands like Pink Floyd, Rush, Led Zeppelin, and King Crimson were huge; black music exploded with Funk bands like Earth, Wind, and Fire and Parliament/Funkadelic on top for a while in addition to awesome songwriters like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye (and some veterans like James Brown) making some classic music. Country hadn't sold out yet (it wouldn't, though, until the early 90's). Many of the best 80's bands began in this decade (Van Halen, AC/DC, Judas Priest, etc.) and heavy metal made its debut with Black Sabbath.

Mind expanding drugs like pot and LSD were still the drugs of choice for most of the decade, which were far less dangerous and less of an incentive for violence than crack or heroin of the following decades, or even cocaine that was to take over the market at the end of the 70's. Murder was up, but other crimes were down. The only horrible thing that happened politically was the Watergate Scandal, though Ford was an idiot (at least he didn't use his stupidity to harm people...I'm looking at you, Mr. Bush), and both Reagan and the Bushes were far worse than Nixon.

TV went through some struggle with the awful variety shows, but some great sitcoms came out of the 70's, like the Jefferson's and Sanford and Son. Game Shows were at an all-time high with Family Feud and Match Game (though I don't necessarily watch them, they're FAR better than anything since). Cartoons, are another story, though, since every other one was a Scooby Doo knock off (though I'll admit that I enjoy Jabberjaw) and the terrible Pebbles and Bam-Bam came out. Saturday Night Live debuted in '75, though, with the likes of Bill Murray and John Belushi, and started off so original and satirical (it's sad to see where it is now - even Mad TV, a blatant rip-off, has surpassed it).

Movies were great in the 70's, especially of the rising Horror genre. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Exorcist, Halloween, Jaws, and Carrie all vastly diversified the genre and made its audience feel as if it could happen to them; everything was so much more realistic, and built off of 1960's classic Psycho. Sci-fi movies like Alien set the bar for all to come, I mean, who could forget the alien bursting out of that guys chest? Cheech and Chong was the most successful drug oriented series of all time. Everything was great!

So, are the 70's truly the best decade for pop culture?

It had some good and bad to it.

I wouldn't call MadTV a blatant rip-off of SNL since it's based on Mad Magazine.

If were talking strictly from a pop culture standpoint, then I would say that the '70s was one of the best decades. Sure there was crap (most disco isn't very good) but the ratio of good music to bad music was much better back then.

However, if you include the whole world view standpoint, the '70s were not a great time. Gas lines, the continuing war in Vietnam, Nixon and Watergate, crime, etc. were all huge problems throughout the '70s. I didn't experience the decade myself, but my dad was a teenager then and with some of the stories that he has told me about life in a poor area in the rural south at that time, he has assured me that is a time he does not want to go back to.

It definitely led the way for the sci-fi genre... Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, Battlestar etc.

70s tv was pretty up there too! Despite being an 80s boy, the 70s definitely had the better imagery and lifestyle.

  I was too young to enjoy, or even understand, most of the pop culture of the 70s.  Discos, sexual promiscuity, ployester leisure suits, drugs, Hugh Hefner, Andy Warhol &etc... 

  Just some TV shows and movies and other entertainment aimed at kids...

I can't say for sure about pop culture, but I do think that the 70's were the last decade of innocence. At least from my standpoint. I remember the 70's as a time when you still talked with neighbors, you smiled at people on the street, little girls (9 10 yrs) didn't dress like the BRATZ, boys were more concerned with playing sports or trying to sneak into the movie theatre than they were with who was the next rival gang banger was they were going to shoot at. There were no metal detectors in high schools. In middle school the worst thing you had to worry about was if the school bully was gonna beat you up at recess. Kids wern't having babies at 15, 16 yrd old and music still had variety.

I think the 70's had plenty of great music, movies, and television. The clothes were also interesting and colorful. I know there were many problems in the 70's (my parents used to tell me about the gas shortages and the economy at that time) but I still kind of wished I got to experience at least some of it.

I was 10 years old in 1976 and it was the best time of my life! That's why I joined this board too!
I love everything about the 70's including blue eye shadow & The Osmonds.
I think if your a kid (9-13 years old) in any decade, it was probably the best time for pop culture. Think about the TV shows, movies and toys you had when you were this age. GOOD TIMES!

I turned 7 in May of 1979, and while I was a youngster, i still remember a lot of stuff from back then. I guess a lot of the nostalgia I have for the decade comes from the fact that I was a little kid in those years and thoroughly enjoued myself. I remember the music was brilliant, yes even disco. The radio stations played ALL the great music from the 60's and 70's (Im tlaking about here in Australia in 1979), and TV was brilliant. I mean, M.A.S.H, Kojak, The Dukes of Hazard, B.J and the Bear, Dallas, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love Thy Neighbour, Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, Laverne and Shirley and many many others. The cartoons were awsome, though i think many had been from the 1960's. I loved Hong Kong Phooie (Sp?), Baggy Pants and the Knitwits and Kum Kum (unfortunate name, but great cartoon).

And the movies...My God they were brilliant...Many Id not gotten to see until I was older, but I remember sneaking into a cinema and watching Halloween as a six year old and it terrified me. Others I didnt see until later were Taxi Driver, The Godfather and The Excorsist and Dawn of the Dead...But the movies I did see...Star Wars, Superman, The Cat From Outer Space, Smokey and the Bandit, The Last Flight of Noahs Ark and others...Were all amazing.

There were definately the bad times that come with any decade, though the 70's had more than its fair share, and watching the news back then (yes even as a kid I enjoyed the news) I remember things like the fuel shortage, Three Mile Island, The New York City Blackout, and the various serial killers of the time. But for every bad thing that I remember hearing about, there were many more great things and great memories that I have. Most are personal things like the smell of my Grandmother's roast dinners cooking, listening to music late at night curled up safe in my Mum's bed...and many others.
















AN

I was born in 1971 and turned 8 years old in April of 1979 so I remember most of the decade as well - among my fondest memories are watching variety shows like Donny and Marie on Friday nights, Hee Haw on Saturdays and Sonny and Cher on Sunday nights (I mostly remember the show they did after they were divorced); if I was at home from school on weekdays sick or on summer vacation, I would often watch Family Feud and The $20,000 Pyramid back-to-back on ABC.

All in the Family was my absolute favorite sitcom in the 70s - even though I was really too young to understand the storylines back then, 704 Hauser was like my second childhood home.

Most of my 70s memories though revolve around food naturally - eating Snack Pack pudding out of little tin cans, Krazy Kow cereal for breakfast, watching the Jiffy Pop popcorn bag rising on the stove and poofing open when it was ready to eat and having a yellow plastic drinking cup with a smiley face on it.  :)

I generally prefer 70s pop culture to 80s (minus disco, of course).  Overall I think you could say that from today's standpoint, the 70s are very underrated, so-to-speak.