The 1970s, the decade that brought us gas lines, Vietnam, Watergate, Jimmy Carter, stagflation, etc, and highly praised as the best decade in pop culture history. People who lived through it can't stop talking about it and people who came afterwards wish they had lived through it.  '70s nostalgia is everywhere.  I don't think there is any other decade that has the same amount of fanfare as the 1970s (the '80s are a distant second).  What really was so great about the '70s?  

~ Better music (obviously) - excellent rock and roll and pop-rock music. Even disco had its good songs. No Madonna (she was good at the beginning, but after that she whore-ified (what a word!) music).
Even teen pop idols like Leif Garrett and Shaun Cassidy had some talents. They had better songs than teen idols of today like Justin Bieber. As a guy I would never want Bieber to be my role model, but Garrett and Cassidy were better role models for boys. I guess boys secretly wanted to look/be like Shaun Cassidy and/or Leif Garrett, be cool and have girls all over themselves, etc. while girls wanted to be WITH them lol

~ I get the feeling that even annoying celebrities in the 70s (e.g. Donny and Marie) were less annoying than celebrities of the present like Lady GaGa, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Slena Gomez, etc. that are all over the place. Is it possible going to a gossip website without seeing their annoying faces there? I don't think so! In the 70s you had radio, TV and magazines/newspapers and the celebrity/gossip magazines were only a few, so there wasn't any celebrity saturation like there is now. Nowadays celebrities are everywhere! Ignoring famous people you don't like must have been easier back then!

~ There was 50s nostalgia and the 50s were just 20 years ago. That must've been great, considering the fact that the 50s were cool on their own, too!

~ You could wear almost anything you like, unlike now! Heck, even polka dot shirts (for males) / dresses (for females) were not out of the ordinary at one point.
Guys could wear short shorts showing their legs to the women. Now it's considered gay.
But what if your legs are one of your best features? Fashion police doesn't care! I hate the fact the nowadays shorts are actually long!
My legs look awful in long shorts of today, so I wear only long pants. My legs look better in short shorts, but I wouldn't go around town dressed in those, I don't wanna be called a fag.

~ Longer hair for guys e.g. The Bee Gees, John Travolta, Shaun Cassidy. To be honest, I hate shaved hair that is quite popular in my area now!

~ Generally girls had their hair parted in the middle and straight or wavy. Later in the 70s, the feathered look became popular.
Unlike the 80s, the perm was not ubiquitous, however some women did perm their hair and the  naturally curly girls/women didn't straighten their hair. As a whole women in the 70s looked far more natural. They used less heavy, but more colorful make up. 70s women used heavy makeup only when going to a party/disco etc. but not everyday.

~ Cool pony cars ('Cuda, Mustang, etc.) were produced in the early-to-mid 70s. In the mid-late 70s they became more econobox-like, however they were still cooler than a Prius or a Yaris, if you know what I mean! Even boring late 70s sedans like the 1977 Chevrolet Nova looked quite nice, compared to those plastic mid 80s-early 90s cars. In my opinion plastic made cars look cheaper in the 80s and the early 90s.

~ No Internet. I know I'm gonna be bashed about saying this as Internet is a great tool. Don't get me wrong, I know it's great, but I am so envious of the people that experienced a life where you only went to parties and clubs or Luna parks during your free time, instead of playing crappy computer games or staying all night long in front of the PC chatting. Nowadays if you want to take your girlfriend for a ride on a hill or mountain in order to watch the romantic city lights or/and the stars in the night sky, she will laugh at you. In the 70s that was a thing that many people did. Isn't that romantic?

I was born in the late 80s, so I might be slightly incorrect here and there, but those are the 'vibes', I get from the 70s, by watching 70s movies, listening to 70s music and hearing the stories of my parents about what they did in the 70s.

The 1970s, the decade that brought us gas lines, Vietnam, Watergate, Jimmy Carter, stagflation, etc, and highly praised as the best decade in pop culture history. People who lived through it can't stop talking about it and people who came afterwards wish they had lived through it.  '70s nostalgia is everywhere.  I don't think there is any other decade that has the same amount of fanfare as the 1970s (the '80s are a distant second).  What really was so great about the '70s?  


Probably the excessive decadence and hedonism. The sexual revolution was in full swing, no one had heard of AIDS yet, and there was kind of an "anything goes" mentality going on. (I was just a little kid back then but that's the impression I get of the 70's.)

The movie Boogie Nights captures that spirit very well.

The music was incredible, plus some pretty awesome TV shows and movies.

But in many ways it was a tough decade  :-\\    Of course like everyone else, I made it through.

This from a 70's teenager.

The music was incredible, plus some pretty awesome TV shows and movies.

But in many ways it was a tough decade   :-\\     Of course like everyone else, I made it through.

This from a 70's teenager.


I think everyone who SURVIVED the 60s and 70s was changed or tainted in some way.
By survived, I don't just mean lived; I mean survived also in terms of not being psychologically damaged or ending up a basket case from the traumas of the decade and drug use.
The '70s took a lot of people in my family alone. My grandpa had a minor stroke in 1973 and died of a second one in late 1975; and his brother Frank died earlier in 1975; His brother John died in 1979. Another uncle on the other side died in 1979, right around Christmas; One of my aunts died. My mother got together with her first husband in 1971 and broke up with him in 1974; He went on to become a Heroin addict and his life spiraled out of control. My mother's life after 1975 began to take a dramatic turn for the positive. My aunt got married to her first husband in 1972 and got divorced around 1979.  My step-grandpa came into the family in 1971 and ended up staying with my grandmother and us until his death in 1998.

My father spent the '70s an alcoholic often in trouble with the law, other crooked types, with his family, living on the streets, hanging with street people, doing drugs, etc, and came out of it in a flux. His life didn't turn around until about 1982 or 1983, and from '83 to '89 his life took a dramatic turn for the positive.

Probably the excessive decadence and hedonism. The sexual revolution was in full swing, no one had heard of AIDS yet


Crabs and the clap were a nuisance, but you could get rid of those.

Herpes...well, you couldn't get rid of it, but it wouldn't kill you, just make you a social pariah!
8)

What was so great about the '70s?

There were awesome groups like Pink Lady and great movies like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

I'd argue the '60s are the most glorified decade, and then the '70s.  Anyway, I probably speak for no one else but I love the '70s because culturally as a nation I feel like we just nearly got our sheesh together: arrows were slowly pointing to more general acceptance of homosexuality, racial minority, and sexual frankness in general, the Cold War politics of old were beginning to feel like just that, and the environmental movement had finally begun.  In a word, it seemed like Woodstock had managed a delayed victory, not the total loss everyone felt for a few years afterward.



And then we lost the whole fudgein' thing to the '80s and Reagan's Cold War politics.

Awesome music, cool cars, lots of emphasis on art and being creative, cool interior decorating (although your milage may vary on that), more jobs

~ Better music (obviously) - excellent rock and roll and pop-rock music. Even disco had its good songs. No Madonna (she was good at the beginning, but after that she whore-ified (what a word!) music).
Even teen pop idols like Leif Garrett and Shaun Cassidy had some talents. They had better songs than teen idols of today like Justin Bieber. As a guy I would never want Bieber to be my role model, but Garrett and Cassidy were better role models for boys. I guess boys secretly wanted to look/be like Shaun Cassidy and/or Leif Garrett, be cool and have girls all over themselves, etc. while girls wanted to be WITH them lol

~ I get the feeling that even annoying celebrities in the 70s (e.g. Donny and Marie) were less annoying than celebrities of the present like Lady GaGa, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Slena Gomez, etc. that are all over the place. Is it possible going to a gossip website without seeing their annoying faces there? I don't think so! In the 70s you had radio, TV and magazines/newspapers and the celebrity/gossip magazines were only a few, so there wasn't any celebrity saturation like there is now. Nowadays celebrities are everywhere! Ignoring famous people you don't like must have been easier back then!

~ There was 50s nostalgia and the 50s were just 20 years ago. That must've been great, considering the fact that the 50s were cool on their own, too!

~ You could wear almost anything you like, unlike now! Heck, even polka dot shirts (for males) / dresses (for females) were not out of the ordinary at one point.
Guys could wear short shorts showing their legs to the women. Now it's considered gay.
But what if your legs are one of your best features? Fashion police doesn't care! I hate the fact the nowadays shorts are actually long!
My legs look awful in long shorts of today, so I wear only long pants. My legs look better in short shorts, but I wouldn't go around town dressed in those, I don't wanna be called a fag.

~ Longer hair for guys e.g. The Bee Gees, John Travolta, Shaun Cassidy. To be honest, I hate shaved hair that is quite popular in my area now!

~ Generally girls had their hair parted in the middle and straight or wavy. Later in the 70s, the feathered look became popular.
Unlike the 80s, the perm was not ubiquitous, however some women did perm their hair and the  naturally curly girls/women didn't straighten their hair. As a whole women in the 70s looked far more natural. They used less heavy, but more colorful make up. 70s women used heavy makeup only when going to a party/disco etc. but not everyday.

~ Cool pony cars ('Cuda, Mustang, etc.) were produced in the early-to-mid 70s. In the mid-late 70s they became more econobox-like, however they were still cooler than a Prius or a Yaris, if you know what I mean! Even boring late 70s sedans like the 1977 Chevrolet Nova looked quite nice, compared to those plastic mid 80s-early 90s cars. In my opinion plastic made cars look cheaper in the 80s and the early 90s.

~ No Internet. I know I'm gonna be bashed about saying this as Internet is a great tool. Don't get me wrong, I know it's great, but I am so envious of the people that experienced a life where you only went to parties and clubs or Luna parks during your free time, instead of playing crappy computer games or staying all night long in front of the PC chatting. Nowadays if you want to take your girlfriend for a ride on a hill or mountain in order to watch the romantic city lights or/and the stars in the night sky, she will laugh at you. In the 70s that was a thing that many people did. Isn't that romantic?

I was born in the late 80s, so I might be slightly incorrect here and there, but those are the 'vibes', I get from the 70s, by watching 70s movies, listening to 70s music and hearing the stories of my parents about what they did in the 70s.
This. Besides that, cars were better than cars of today.

CLASH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYK7bEo1Z4M

~ Better music (obviously) - excellent rock and roll and pop-rock music. Even disco had its good songs. No Madonna (she was good at the beginning, but after that she whore-ified (what a word!) music).
Even teen pop idols like Leif Garrett and Shaun Cassidy had some talents. They had better songs than teen idols of today like Justin Bieber. As a guy I would never want Bieber to be my role model, but Garrett and Cassidy were better role models for boys. I guess boys secretly wanted to look/be like Shaun Cassidy and/or Leif Garrett, be cool and have girls all over themselves, etc. while girls wanted to be WITH them lol

~ I get the feeling that even annoying celebrities in the 70s (e.g. Donny and Marie) were less annoying than celebrities of the present like Lady GaGa, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Slena Gomez, etc. that are all over the place. Is it possible going to a gossip website without seeing their annoying faces there? I don't think so! In the 70s you had radio, TV and magazines/newspapers and the celebrity/gossip magazines were only a few, so there wasn't any celebrity saturation like there is now. Nowadays celebrities are everywhere! Ignoring famous people you don't like must have been easier back then!

~ There was 50s nostalgia and the 50s were just 20 years ago. That must've been great, considering the fact that the 50s were cool on their own, too!

~ You could wear almost anything you like, unlike now! Heck, even polka dot shirts (for males) / dresses (for females) were not out of the ordinary at one point.
Guys could wear short shorts showing their legs to the women. Now it's considered gay.
But what if your legs are one of your best features? Fashion police doesn't care! I hate the fact the nowadays shorts are actually long!
My legs look awful in long shorts of today, so I wear only long pants. My legs look better in short shorts, but I wouldn't go around town dressed in those, I don't wanna be called a fag.

~ Longer hair for guys e.g. The Bee Gees, John Travolta, Shaun Cassidy. To be honest, I hate shaved hair that is quite popular in my area now!

~ Generally girls had their hair parted in the middle and straight or wavy. Later in the 70s, the feathered look became popular.
Unlike the 80s, the perm was not ubiquitous, however some women did perm their hair and the  naturally curly girls/women didn't straighten their hair. As a whole women in the 70s looked far more natural. They used less heavy, but more colorful make up. 70s women used heavy makeup only when going to a party/disco etc. but not everyday.

~ Cool pony cars ('Cuda, Mustang, etc.) were produced in the early-to-mid 70s. In the mid-late 70s they became more econobox-like, however they were still cooler than a Prius or a Yaris, if you know what I mean! Even boring late 70s sedans like the 1977 Chevrolet Nova looked quite nice, compared to those plastic mid 80s-early 90s cars. In my opinion plastic made cars look cheaper in the 80s and the early 90s.

~ No Internet. I know I'm gonna be bashed about saying this as Internet is a great tool. Don't get me wrong, I know it's great, but I am so envious of the people that experienced a life where you only went to parties and clubs or Luna parks during your free time, instead of playing crappy computer games or staying all night long in front of the PC chatting. Nowadays if you want to take your girlfriend for a ride on a hill or mountain in order to watch the romantic city lights or/and the stars in the night sky, she will laugh at you. In the 70s that was a thing that many people did. Isn't that romantic?

I was born in the late 80s, so I might be slightly incorrect here and there, but those are the 'vibes', I get from the 70s, by watching 70s movies, listening to 70s music and hearing the stories of my parents about what they did in the 70s.


This.  As I've said in another thread, I wish I'd been born much earlier in the pre-computer days so I could've experienced what it was really like to live in the real world and not have it divided between that and the computer.

Since there was no internet and t.v. consisted of usually 4 channels (MAYBE an independent station or two), kids played outside and you KNEW your neighbors.



Cat

PANTS!

https://wahg3.wikispaces.com/file/view/mens-fashion-70s.jpg/34325801/mens-fashion-70s.jpg