What I mean is...

You go from the '60s where everything is sleek, stylish and Space Age looking, and women are elegant and men dress cool either in the early more Conservative '60s, or the Hippie '60s...But you get to the 70s and everything is grimy, tacky, sleazy--sort of degraded looking. The cheeiest fashions and most over the top music come out in this period, and everything has lost that sleek futuristic look and looks boxy. Then you have the '80s, where by the mid 80s everything is all shiny once again and new looking.

It's like we went off track in the '70s.

Fashion changes every year - you could probably only take the 'futuristic' look so far. With the hippie movement growing, I think people wanted to get back to basics more and so earthier styles were in. The 60s liked to portray everything as picture perfect and I think people got sick of that - thus tv shows and movies were more innercity based in the 70s... Saturday Night Fever, Good Times etc.

I think every decade has a backlash of their predecessor's style - kinda like how the 80s were loud and colourful and the 90s were dark, subdued and grungy. It's swings and roundabouts in the fashion world.

People started thinking for themselves and the world lost all control.....plus the drugs were really, really good.

It all went wrong when The Beatles split up in April 1970

  Sleek, stylized and chrome-laden - from automobiles to those newfangled home appliances - comes from the 1950s, IMO.  But then again, I've only seen pictures...

  BTW, George Harrison dying ten-or-so years ago ruined a really good Beatles joke...ah well...

The sad news is in five years the shiny returns........ 8-P

I was born in the 70's!  That's what happened

The Sexual Revolution happened in the 1960s and its ripple effects lasted until the end of the '70s. Reagan was President for most of the '80s and the conservative politics of the era influenced the fashion industry, so hence the flashiness of the previous decades went out of style.

That's just my take on it, though.

The Sexual Revolution happened in the 1960s and its ripple effects lasted until the end of the '70s. Reagan was President for most of the '80s and the conservative politics of the era influenced the fashion industry, so hence the flashiness of the previous decades went out of style.

That's just my take on it, though.


What Mat1991 said, except I don't believe who's in charge carries a heavy weight of cultural influence necessarily. I think some things just get tired and foolish.
I was 6-16 thru the '70's and agree that what, in my mind, was pushing the envelope from Elvis to the Beatles and harder rock, long hair, facial hair mistakenly equated with manliness, big bells, idealistic protesting hippies, more drugs, and the labelled sexual "revolution" (promiscuity coming out of the closet proudly and in the laxer media, plus that pill thing), led to things that seemed like a carefree blast at the time. The '70's were Hugh and his monolithic Playboy clubs at their zenith, disco, skin tight clothes, Burt Reynolds, Farrah, Hi Karate and I hope I win something for being the one millionth poster to mention polyester, but I won't.  :\'(
Jon Voight's character in Coming Home had an impact on me where he is lecturing a class of high schoolers. The gist of it being "I was in great shape, captain of the football team, gung ho all-American ready to oblige 'my duty'", etc. He concludes "All I'm saying is that there is a choice to be made here", regarding Vietnam. I thought it was well written and am thankful I was not of age during Vietnam because that described me and I likely would have jumped right in and "seen/done a lot of s*** that I find effing hard to live with", as his character stated.
Anyway, I'm glad I wasn't old enough yet to get swept up in that adult culture, though I loved the '70's from my perspective.

The Sexual Revolution happened in the 1960s and its ripple effects lasted until the end of the '70s. Reagan was President for most of the '80s and the conservative politics of the era influenced the fashion industry, so hence the flashiness of the previous decades went out of style.

That's just my take on it, though.
Sex has been around from the year dot.

Sex has been around from the year dot.


And so has prudery, which pretty much dominated our culture until the '60s.

As a 70's teen, I thought of the times as hip, modern, and forward thinking.  That's probably normal - but I distinctly remember thinking my parents and grandparents were old fashioned, and I frequently told them in so many words to "get with it".

Fashion-wise, I remember wanting to be colorful and edgy - within the then-parameters of "normal".  The early 70's pushed the envelope, and there was still a lot of hippie infleunce.  For women, skin was in.  Think mini skirts, hip huggers, "hot pants", midriff baring tops, and halter tops, among others.  Bikinis got teeny.  Although clothes went skimpy, accessories went huge - clunky shoes (pre-platform), big (comparatively) purses, jumbo jewelry.  Hats were popular, too.

Mid-decade, fashion trends changed again (IMO they changed a whole lot in the 70's).  I remember the trend toward stuff like peasant skirts was tied to the desire for "natural" and "organic" living.  Think Euell Gibbons eating Grape Nuts and the explosive popularity of yogurt (very few ate yogurt before the 70's), honey, bran, and other natural (healthy) stuff.  That's the time cotton, clogs and earth shoes became all the rage.

One fashion trend that started in the 70's and continues til today - the 70's was the first decade that we went so casual, beyond even the explosion of denim, the 70's was the first decade that people started to wear workout clothes and gym shoes in public rather than just the gym.  But this phenomenon took place later in the 70's.

There's a lot more to write about, but that's my two cents.

People had long hair.  :(

I was born in the 70's!  That's what happened



Hey, me too!  What a coincidence!!! :D

What happened?


A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.



Cat

What happened in the 70s?

The 60s rebels broke the rules and raised a generation without any instructions except "be happy."  You've seen the result  :D

One infrequently mentioned change - but it was significant:

Selective service ended and the military went all-volunteer

No longer did young men worry about being drafted into the military against their will.  My brother was among the first beneficiaries. 

I think the color of the 70's expressed the collective's mood. We had so much change during the 60's and early 70's that by the mid 70's we felt jaded and worn out from all the 'change'.

There was a tired feeling during the 70's, like someone who had ran out of steam. We were jaded because we lost trust in the government and 'the man'.  8)

What happened?


A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.



Cat
great song that helped usher in the decade

One infrequently mentioned change - but it was significant:

Selective service ended and the military went all-volunteer

No longer did young men worry about being drafted into the military against their will.  My brother was among the first beneficiaries. 



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Selective Service System is a means by which the United States maintains information on those potentially subject to military conscription. Most male U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 to 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of their 18th birthday"


Failure to register

In 1980, men who knew they were required to register and did not do so could face up to five years in jail or a fine up to $50,000 if convicted. The potential fine was later increased to $250,000. Despite these possible penalties, government records indicate that from 1980 through 1986 there were only 20 indictments, of which 19 were instigated in part by self-publicized and self-reported non-registration. As one of the elements of the offense, the government must prove that a violation of the Military Selective Service Act was knowing and willful. This is almost impossible unless the prospective defendant has publicly stated that he knew he was required to register or report for induction, or unless he has been visited by the FBI, personally served with notice to register or report for induction, and given another chance to comply. The last prosecution for non-registration was in January 1986, after which many believed the government declined to continue enforcing that law when it became apparent that the trials were themselves causing a decline in registration. Unlike the situation at the time when the draft was in effect, routine checks for identification virtually never include a request for draft card.



Dan