I did another one of those Google News searches for nostagia "X0s, X0's, and xxxxxties nostalgia" results were all summed, and the '70s got no results. For instance, we don't call that doo-wop decade the "fifties" anymore. We now mainly use 1950s in a more historic sense. Also, the '50s/'60s board only receives about a post or two a day. The teens of the '70s are now well into middle age and we don't quite see the historical appreciation like we once did. The political things will probably be more of the focuse from the seventies such as the first Green Movement and cynical problems. To today's 4-year old preschooler (and practically most of Generation Z), the '70s are almost their GRANDPARENT'S generation given that most of those parents were Generation X and were too young to go into the disco and had to rely on children's events. In my city the '70s are actually the oldest decade that now gets regular play on the radio weekdays in my town (only a little late '60s classic rock gets played, and that's a small tip of what the '60s really were). Of course most actors/actress in their prime then are now living in their twilight and get little press nowadays (when was the last time you saw anything notable about Faye Dunaway? Or heard anything about Diana Ross?)

To answer the question I posted, I'd say not quite yet, but over the course of the new decade, you will definately notice that shift, just what happened to the '50s in the '90s as oldies stations gradually eliminated songs from that decade on the radio and late that decade, those shows got removed from Nick At Night and TV Land. Really, the "historic phase" is only for the die-hards who often go with a passion; and books as opposed to magazines/TV/newspaper articles are the way to reminice about that era.

Anything that hits the 40-year market is considered a historical phase.  So that means that the 60s is ancient as hell!!! :o

It's all relative tho.
Most of my teen years were in the 70s, and I don't consider them ancient.
I do consider the 50s quite ancient though.
But I can understand how a teen or someone in their early 20s now would consider the 70s as ancient.

As long as their are people alive who have sentimental memories of an era, it can be nostalgic.  My grandfather was so old (b. 1905) that he was waxing nostalgic about the 1920s before he died in 2006.  In his nineties, he remembered the 1920s better than the 1980s. 

There are different kinds of nostalgia too.  I have only childhood nostalgia for the seventies.  I can remember things from a kid's perspective:  My favorite toys, my favorite junk foods, my favorite sneakers, etc.  I can remember the kind of clothes and hairstyles people wore.  I can remember decorative styles.  I can certainly remember seventies music quite vividly.  Most of this nostalgia is sense memory.  I had only foggy notions of the significance of pop culture icons, political figures, and world events.  I knew people thought Farrah Fawcett was beautiful and people thought Richard Nixon was a sonofabitch, but not much more.  I understood grownups disagreed on current events sometimes.  My parents were against building the Seabrook nuclear power plant while my friend Jon's parents were in favor of it.  I barely understood what a nuclear power plant was, even after my dad explained it to me.  I knew Ford was a Republican and Carter was a Democrat, but I didn't really know what either political party was about. 

The kind of sentiments people usually call "nostalgic" didn't happen for me until the eighties.  Things such as first crush, first romance, popular music you felt spoke to your time, early political passions, fashion you thought was cool, etc. 

My sister is six years older than I (born 1963 versus 1969), so she has true nostalgia for the seventies and early childhood memories of the sixties. 

One of the phrases you hear time and again is "It was a more innocent time."  That's why one of the most successful TV shows of the seventies was about the fifties, and it was called "Happy Days."  My sister and her friends liked "Happy Days," but my parents chided: "Happy Days?  The fifties?  You gotta be sh*tting me!"  They associated the 1950s with coerced cultural conformity, Joe McCarthy, nine o'clock curfews, no sex for nice girls, and Howdy Doody!  Fifties nostalgia was on in 1975, but my parents weren't buying into it.  Unlike earlier generations, they understood their youth could only seem more happy or innocent because they weren't allowed to see what was really going on.  That's how I feel about the eighties. 
::)

I think people are nostalgic of whatever decade they came of age in. I was 14 to 25 in the 70's. Those are some pretty important years in a person's life. Lot's of "firsts" whether it's beer, serious girlfriend (sex), job, car, living in your own place, paying your own bills, etc. If I was 10 years older I would undoubtably be a 60's fanatic. 10 years younger, it would have been all eighties. I'm glad I grew up when and where I did. It was a strange and goofy time that is almost impossible to describe to someone who wasn't there...pet rocks???, polyester???, platform shoes??? What the $@#% were we thinking. But of course we were too busy having fun to think. And we were young enough that we could do it. By the time the 80's rolled in, it was time to get serious about life.

To answer the question I posted, I'd say not quite yet, but over the course of the new decade, you will definately notice that shift, just what happened to the '50s in the '90s as oldies stations gradually eliminated songs from that decade on the radio and late that decade, those shows got removed from Nick At Night and TV Land. Really, the "historic phase" is only for the die-hards who often go with a passion; and books as opposed to magazines/TV/newspaper articles are the way to reminice about that era.



In the area I live in '50s and early '60s music was still being heard in oldies stations until 2005. Since then they only play music from the 70s and 80s.

It certainly is all relative.  I was 5-15 in the 70's but I am much more nostalgic about that decade than I am of the 80's. 
I do a biweekly 70's radio show that is still very popular, but we are just coming back after an 8 year layoff.  Originally we were on from 95-2001.  When we started in 95, the 70's were just starting to bloom in terms of nostalgia.  As was mentioned in the Happy Days example, my theory is that there exists a 20 year nostalgia cycle.  In the 70's you had Sha Na Na, American Grafitti, Grease, Happy Days, etc...After our show started VH1 started doing I Love The 70's and That 70's Show came on Fox. People started going to 70's theme parties and you started hearing that music in the clubs again, being danced to by college kids. Kiss, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac reunions....
I saw the same thing in the previous decade with 80's nostalgia. Van Halen, Duran Duran, Culture Club, The Police all reunited and toured.  Bon Jovi and Poison were resurgent.

So now, on our radion show, our audience feels a little smaller again, but dedicated.  We include the entire spectrum of pop culture as part of our show, not just spinning 70's tunes.  That has really been what keeps us differentiated from the those cable music channels and XM that focus on one decade.

It's all relative tho.
Most of my teen years were in the 70s, and I don't consider them ancient.
I do consider the 50s quite ancient though.
But I can understand how a teen or someone in their early 20s now would consider the 70s as ancient.


Considering the 70s are now 50 years ago, and considered Historical since icons of the time are dead now or elderly and the youth of the decade are grandparents now.

For me, the 1970s are not historical, especially when I lived through that era.

I consider 'historical' beyond the time of living memory, i.e. like now World War One and before.

For me, the 1970s are not historical, especially when I lived through that era.

I consider 'historical' beyond the time of living memory, i.e. like now World War One and before.


I guess what people consider historical varies from person to person, if they’re as old as you then things from before you time will see historical but not things you lived through.

For me as a 23 year old, I consider the 80s and 90s historical since I have no memory of them and the people who lived the decades are much older then me.