There was an article in the New York Times yesterday by long time music writer John Pareles. He was writing about the new Netflix Martin Scorsese  documentary about Bob Dylan's 1975  "Rolling Thunder Review" tour (a tour which I saw live, by the way), and the opening paragraph sets the scene of the time period. As someone who was there, I can attest that this brief summation is spot on.

"How distant the mid-1970s seem now. They were unkempt, hairy, hedonistic, improvisational, analog, inefficient — anything but neatly calculated and Instagram-ready. Post-psychedelic and pre-AIDS, they were a continuation of the idealistic, natural 1960s, yet they were also an immediate precursor to the polymorphous, synthetic, role-playing disco era. The bitterness of Vietnam and Watergate lingered; hippie utopianism was giving way to a more selfish search for individual satisfaction. Things were still scruffy, but not quite so communal."

...the mid-1970s ... were unkempt, hairy, hedonistic, improvisational, analog, inefficient — anything but neatly calculated and Instagram-ready. Post-psychedelic and pre-AIDS, they were a continuation of the idealistic, natural 1960s, yet they were also an immediate precursor to the polymorphous, synthetic, role-playing disco era. The bitterness of Vietnam and Watergate lingered; hippie utopianism was giving way to a more selfish search for individual satisfaction. Things were still scruffy, but not quite so communal...


O0 so true!  Being one who spent my mid-teens in this era, I can definitely concur.

Some personal observations (not scientific, rather from my viewpoint).  It seemed there was measurable improvement during that period in both women's opportunities and also in race relations.  Unfortunately it continued to be a very druggy time - but it was also a time when urban street gangs were not causing a lot of havoc (despite a high urban crime rate).  Popular music was fantastic!  Disco was seeping into our consciousness then, but it hadn't "taken over" at that time.  And I recall many of us looked forward to the U.S. Bicentennial, as it had the promise of a big party (I'm not sure it quite lived up to its billing).

I was born in the mid 70s, my first memory of it are the Osmonds, the Banana Splits show, etc. My sister was born in 71 so she had more exposure to that decade. Grease and Star Wars were my favorite movies. We lived in Pittsburgh then. The Steelers were awesome. My uncle and a lot of my friend’s had dads who had gone to Vietnam. And they never talked it. Looking back there was great music and film that I try to discover more of now. ELO, Hall and Oates, Earth Wind and Fire.  I was old enough to still do the duck and cover safety drills at school. I’ll have to check this out.