Why do I hate the 1970s so much?

[Howard Hughes]

STATIC

Being under 11 years old during the 70's, running around all day, then sparks coming from my hair when taking off my nylon (URGH!!), purple, polo-neck jumper at night.

HH

 

[Brinybay]

Hated it!

Born in 53, and I hated the 70s. Disco, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Captain and Tennille (if I ever hear "Muskrat Love" again, it'll be way too soon!), tail end of Vietnam War (older brother was there, not me), rediculous and laughable fashions (although I wasn't as astute about them then as I am now), Nixon, Ford, Carter, double-digit inflation, the rise of Islamo-fascism in Iran, terrible recession. Baby boomers started entering the work force, so there was FIERCE and down right cut-throat competition for good jobs that were scarce to begin with. Bad memories of being unemployed and living in my car or working crummy jobs with crummy pay for crummy bosses. Do not want to revisit, no thank you!

 

[jamespowers]

Born in 53, and I hated the 70s. Disco, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Captain and Tennille (if I ever hear "Muskrat Love" again, it'll be way too soon!), tail end of Vietnam War (older brother was there, not me), rediculous and laughable fashions (although I wasn't as astute about them then as I am now), Nixon, Ford, Carter, double-digit inflation, the rise of Islamo-fascism in Iran, terrible recession. Baby boomers started entering the work force, so there was FIERCE and down right cut-throat competition for good jobs that were scarce to begin with. Bad memories of being unemployed and living in my car or working crummy jobs with crummy pay for crummy bosses. Do not want to revisit, no thank you!

I am a bit younger than you but I remember. You forgot gas lines, wage and price controls and YMCA (The Village People). :rage:

 

[jamespowers]

Films of the time tend to have emasculated men versus real men and self examination to the point of some sort of non-emotive crippled life. So many films have somebody in working into a state of a mental breakdown it's hilarious, every film tends to have someone freaking out or unable to contend with "life" as it were. It is in a way the antithesis of the greatest generation, self reliance and self resposibility. We start seeing it in Bullett in 1968 where people try to balance hip with living life and move on to Death Wish with Charles Bronson. DW has a great many of the elements of a 70's film and is one of the best at expressing the turblence of the two aspects of the time. Order versus doing my thing, man!

It is similar to the 80's apocoliptic movies too but those always had some sort of nuclear concept about the end of civilization.

I'm as mad as Hell and I am not going to take the 70s anymore.

 

[reetpleat]

I liked the music, the movies, the cars of the '70's.
I remember some of the big moments of the '70's like Watergate, the '72 Olympics in Munich, seeing Ali fight several times on free network television(!).
The '76 Olympics that had Howard Davis, Sugar Ray Leonard and the Spinks brothers on the boxing team.(All future world champions).
The hostages in Iran.
The leisure suits were annoying but there was so much going on, we needed some comic relief!

That and, bottom line is you can list all the bad things about any era. I doubt the 70s would be considered worse than any other decade. In fact, ask a person who lived through the great depression if they would have prefered a little resecssion and long gas lines and I think you know what the answer to be.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

"Why do I hate the 70s so much?"

I think it's probably because of what happened to men. Jeez. Look at 'em. It became acceptable, nay fashionable, for men to look like drag queens. Tight, clingy clothes, belled trousers, stacked shoes with high heels, long hair, lots of jewelry. I think of all the offenses to the senses offered from that era, this is the single most tragic aspect.

 

[Paisley]

"Why do I hate the 70s so much?"

I think it's probably because of what happened to men. Jeez. Look at 'em. It became acceptable, nay fashionable, for men to look like drag queens. Tight, clingy clothes, belled trousers, stacked shoes with high heels, long hair, lots of jewelry. I think of all the offenses to the senses offered from that era, this is the single most tragic aspect.

Take away the belled trousers and add make-up and you have the 1700s.

 

[Sefton]

Take away the belled trousers and add make-up and you have the 1700s.

O.K., here goes: Why I Hate The 1700s

1.Wooden teeth
2.Tea tax
3.Men not nearly as manly as in the 1600s
3.Witches still hexing the crops.
4.Young men wearing their big buckled hats backwards
5.Indians
6.The British
7.The French
8.Ben "Mr.Smarty-knickers" Franklin

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ten Things From The Seventies That Didn't Stink

In no particular order...

* "The Movie Loft" on Channel 38, Boston. Great movies, great host, a great way to pick up a love for the real classics.

* Classic cartoons on local television every day -- Warners, MGM, Lantz, even Terrytoons. And very seldom edited.

* Pat Whitley's "Golden Days of Radio," weekends on WMEX, Boston.

* "Jazz Revisited", hosted by Hazen Schumacher, on NPR. 78s from 1917-1947 presented with plenty of historical context and no bogus hype.

* Marathon candy bars. If you ever had one, you remember.

* Ned Martin and Jim Woods. The finest baseball play-by-play team radio ever produced.

* Flea markets that weren't overrun with cheap junk.

* There was still a pretty good chance that the shoes and clothes you were wearing, the furniture in your house, and the TV you watched were all made in the USA.

* The sixties were over.

* The eighties hadn't happened.

 

[jamespowers]

"Why do I hate the 70s so much?"

I think it's probably because of what happened to men. Jeez. Look at 'em. It became acceptable, nay fashionable, for men to look like drag queens. Tight, clingy clothes, belled trousers, stacked shoes with high heels, long hair, lots of jewelry. I think of all the offenses to the senses offered from that era, this is the single most tragic aspect.

Nothing helps like visual aids. :eusa_doh:

 

[Diamondback]

Nothing helps like visual aids. :eusa_doh:

Or a little Geneva Convention violation! Don't make me go get the neuralyzer...

 

[reetpleat]

"Why do I hate the 70s so much?"

I think it's probably because of what happened to men. Jeez. Look at 'em. It became acceptable, nay fashionable, for men to look like drag queens. Tight, clingy clothes, belled trousers, stacked shoes with high heels, long hair, lots of jewelry. I think of all the offenses to the senses offered from that era, this is the single most tragic aspect.

A lot of that was late sixties. Low waist, tight pants, long hair. Look at Mic jagger, the beatles etc.

 

[Paisley]

O.K., here goes: Why I Hate The 1700s

1.Wooden teeth
2.Tea tax
3.Men not nearly as manly as in the 1600s
3.Witches still hexing the crops.
4.Young men wearing their big buckled hats backwards
5.Indians
6.The British
7.The French
8.Ben "Mr.Smarty-knickers" Franklin

lol

 

[Rachael]

two words: DOUBLE KNIT

oh, and those horrid "show us your underoos" and "be a Pepper" commercials.

 

[Lincsong]

Maroon corduroy pants

 

[Lincsong]

There were real radio stations in the 70s. Local DJs and programming directors knew their markets and played music and talk accordingly. In San Francisco you could tune into KSAN and listen to a wide variety of Rock, Jazz, Blues, and just about anything and everything else might be heard depending on what the DJ felt like playing. Now it's all programmed back at corporate headquarters (which might be a couple of thousand miles away or even overseas).

That's when KMEL was "rockin" the Bay and was listenable. lol

 

[ortega76]

What, you don't like grunge and Celine Dion?

There was Seinfeld, and that was about it.

What about Star Trek: The Next Generation? The Ska Revival? The Cigar Boom?

 

[Diamondback]

And what about the members here whose misfortune it was to be born in that decade?

I can find things to praise or curse about any decade you care to mention--IMO, about the only good things I know of about the '70s are some of the people I've known who were born then and certain technologies (like, say, the F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle jet fighters).

----------------
Now playing: John Williams - The Imperial Probe - Aboard the Executor
via FoxyTunes

 

[Anachronism]

ok, I feel I must say this, even if it gets me kicked off the forum.
I've read a few pages of this thread and noticed a few posts about how the 70s were bad because men started looking more "effeminate".

I find that VERY offensive. gay or straight, I don't care what gender you dress like, do what feels right when it comes to gender and clothing! I might be the only one on here who is concerned with gay rights and culture. It's something very close to me because some of the people I love are gay.

Honestly the thing that was great about the 70s in comparison with the 50s is that gays were STARTING to be tolerated. But the posts on this thread make me think that maybe this nation is totally backwards and ignorant.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

...the F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle jet fighters).

I will give you that! Fiercely functional works of art. Yeah.