The 1970s in Color - Life in America 

'66 here, and I agree 100%.

62 also, 8 to 18 some of the best years of my life. Ahhhh yeah... the 70s

Well then, don't forget how awesome the 80's were too, hitting the teens midway through the 70's, so you know we were prime time ready for the 80's!!!!! LOL :)

@@SoapinTrucker I gotta give ya that one. So tell me... what happened in 1988, 89 and 1990, 'cuuuuuuuuz I can't remember shit. LOL

@@SoapinTrucker Oh Yeah The 70s is where I learned how to get away with everything we did in the 80s. Ha ha 😉

They were my best years as well as the early 80's I was 18 in '76

Damn, if i could take my wages of today back to the 70s i would have 2 cars: a 1970 Impala for the weekdays and a Thunderbird for the weekend. But my 2006 Impala is still pretty cool lol.

Fluffed Wheat (Puffed Wheat)....if you were the first to open the bag...you'd get the Viking Warrior Action Figure. lol

That’s it. And that’s the entire post. Oh how I miss that simplicity.

Good times.

Watching cartoons

Bugs Bunny....Lucky Charms...School house 🏡 Rock😀

I am also about your age, but I remember a lot of times in the 70s that were downright boring with nothing going on, like watching paint dry. With all the crap that goes on today on a daily basis, i'd gladly trade it for a boring 70s day.

66 here, and yes, yes & yes

Time does pass more slowly when we're younger. Our brains measure it compared to how long we have lived. For example, when we're 8, a year is 1/8 of our life; when we're 16, a year is 1/16 of our life, so it seems to take half the time, to pass twice as fast as a year did when we were 8.

"The days seem long, but the years are short."

As we get older each year is a smaller and smaller fraction of our lives. At 5, 1 year is 20% or your life, but at 50, 1 year is only 2% of your life. But that's not the only thing that determines perception of the flow of time. The saying 'time flies when you are having fun' is also (sorta) true. When you are 'having fun' or absorbed in something like work, you are not observing what time it is. After decades of experience, I have found that every time I look at the clock, time gets slower. Jobs where I am busy, the day flies by, but jobs that just require sitting there (with opportunities to look at the clock), are painfully slow. Back in school, sitting there in class, looking up at that clock all day, no wonder life was so slow back then. School had us continuously pre-occupied on what time it is. So, it's not really "time flies when you are having fun", it's "time flies when you are not paying attention to the clock"

Life was exiting.Now its awful

And there were a lot of bizarre religious movements

Even then all that was government propaganda

@@sockydotson9580 Compared to now? Only when Carter was in office.

Isn't that funny? We struggled with inflation and wage stagnation, yet people were in fact happier. The nostalgia craze was weird though.

I agree Bill. I'm the same age. The 70s were mind-blowing. I miss all of those older folks with larger than life personalities and big hearts. Basically most people born before the Boomers (before 1945). The Boomers absolutely sucked and eventually gave us the 80s to 2000s world of garbage. But back in the 70s, all of those people born between 1900 and 1945 were just incredible. People had differences, but they also still had love and empathy and amazing charisma. And most of all, they had authority, so that when they spoke, it had an effect unlike today's weak people who have to scream at people to make a simple point. I think the perfect example of this is the movie "Escape to Witch Mountain" with older actor Eddie Albert as "Jason" who drove the kids in the RV. There were so many people like him back then that have completely disappeared now. Just kindly, charismatic people with a strong belief system who held the world together like glue.

Mine was Andy Gibb. Silly shit

Yeh..them OP shorts. Good pockets comfortable material but cut so high on legs. Always had that frikn problem of fallin out when goin commando on them hot summer days. Or providing to much view when sitting down. 😳😬

Yep _boarding EVERY Day in summer. And pogo sticking contests. Problematic tho wearing OP's. 😳 👈😆

Me too!!

Nerf football was the sh*t. Played every recess at school.

Yeah, I never understood that. I liked disco for real dancing with a partner, but I grew up on rock 'n roll and rock. I never understood those people who limited themselves,why they made such a big deal out of it. What were they afraid of?

Seems pretty silly now, but back then it was a thing.

Well, some stuff from the 70s extended into the 80s. So maybe you experienced some of these.

My mother made me wear toughskins, all I wanted were some Levi’s! 😭😭

Some claimed that if you rub the corduroy fast enough, your pants would catch fire...only to discover that the corduroy would peel off...lol

the parachute pants in the 80s were real loud the miami vice look lol

Wore them throughout middle and high school

I still have corduroy pants. What does that make me?

@John Bold Well put. 👍

Agreed. It was a nice 8 minutes while it lasted.

Well put...

NCC-1701-F here

ditto!!

eemu pitts Very funny 😆

Liked that smell, Magic Markers & Leaded Gas. I sound like a huffer smh 😆

I remember those mostly from the sixties.

I remember the ditto machine still being used up until 1987 @ my elementary school. I was there from K-6. We didnt even have a Xerox machine yet.

Yes I believe that we were truly blessed to have experienced those days 🤔

I was born in 54! Which puts me right in the middle of the 70’s, I feel very fortunate to have experienced this amazing decade first hand!! Everything has SUCKED since 2000....

@@jiaconis I agree. I had so much of my fun times in the ‘7O’s. Sure there was the economic rough patches, but, every decade has some upheaval. But, it was just a great time....still had pretty good TV , movies, music, and the cars! (Except for the Vega and the Pinto, UGH!). You could go to bars, dance and nobody effing with you so much! I loved it!

I'm right there with ya Tiffany.

Same here. Id go back in a heartbeat! 🤎

Yeah, it's interesting because as a Gen Xer who went to elementary school in the 70s, even though my generation was younger, we shared that wild 70s experience with younger Boomers like yourself. The 70s were just insane (in a good way) from an elementary school kid's perspective. I remember riding with my teen aged Boomer uncle in his brand new 77' Camaro listening to Heart, Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, and Steely Dan. Man what a mind blowing experience. Then Fantasy Island and CHIPs would come on while visiting my grandparents house - wow! I also got to watch the news report of Elvis dying- so sad. Most of my same aged friends had the same experience. We all lived through one of the most significant decades in American history - a time where everything we know and enjoy today was perfected - fashion, music, film, TV, space technology, medical technology, airline technology, you name it. Women still wear a lot of the fashion that was invented then. News reporters still report in the same style today as was invented in the 70s. People still love the style of Jeeps and Pickups that were invented in the 70s. All the TV shows, music makers, films (Star Wars anyone?), magazine writers and actors still use the same techniques that were perfected in the 70s. Satellites still use technology that was invented in the 70s. I can go on and on. Sadly, technology improved after the 70s but American culture declined and never recovered. I'm just happy and blessed that I witnessed it all. Wow

How did you miss Vietnam?

yep good times in the 70s if u lived near a river crab traps shrimp cast nets would allways put money in your pocket oysters pick up a quick 50 whith crab traps

@@oldcountryman2795 He was too young. By the time he was draft age the draft had ended.

that’s so cool. i wish nowadays were like back then. no social media, no media and fake news, no crazy inflation, no corrupt politicians, no easily offended snowflake liberals. everyone just getting along living in the moment, i truly wish i were raised in that generation

Yes, I too had great memories of the 70's..My girlfriend and her parents moved to Daytona in 74'. They allowed me to stay with them for a while. Left Hartford Ct. when they got a snow storm the next day. And The Next day, I was swimming in Daytona beach April 74'. What a time I had I was 18 years old! we finally married in 76'

Then you must have heard the oldies songs in my channel! Can you still remember them? Come and see: ru-vid.com/show-UCLzO_wAREGTLriVwoA0EDFw

"pure family values"??? What a load of crap.

What are “pure” family values? Same crap happened then as it does now. My dad had affairs, my parents got divorced…it wasn’t any different.

Even the Disco Era...? 😣

​@@luisreyes1963 80s

I totally agree!

​@@barbaraness4507 I miss more the 70s because of the hippies

I was born at the end of '60. I would trade my smartphone for life for just the summer of '69 again. My Pop retired from the marines and all 5 of us went to Texas and Louisiana for the summer in a VW to visit family. I'll! tell you it was magic. the best time of my life and it seemed to last forever. 70s were cool 80s were stupid, 90s were cool, and everything after that pretty much sucked for me anyways. lol The 60s no doubt were the best.

OHHHHH, how could I forget about Dif'rent Strokes?!?!? "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" Did you ever watch "Ark II" on Saturday mornings? LOL Pretty sure it was CBS, it only lasted 1 season if that. Hot Hero Sandwich, Kids Are People Too, Zoom... Good times!

@@BuzzcutGtr Ark II was a favorite along with Planet of the Apes. Very weird shows about the future.

@@BuzzcutGtr after school, it was Sesame St, Electric Company, and Zoom.

The Big Wheel was the greatest toy vehicle ever. I wish they made an adult version. I'd buy one in a second, race to the end of the street, pop the hand brake, and slide around the corner.

@@susanbender2953 Yes those were fun. There was a short-lived Bermuda Triangle show with Roddy McDowell, don't remember the name.

@Seventh Anubis maybe that's why I prefer the late 40s, 50s and 60s.

Nah! America started its decline just a few years ago. Nuff said!

Exactly!

@@platterjockey When were you born?...in 1990?

Nixon illegally and unconstitutionally took the country the rest of the way off the gold standard in August 1971. 1972 was the high point of the average earner's buying power. The constant inflation began in 1973.

I remember 8-tracks popular until at least pretty close to 1980.

That format wasn't very good. Either the players or the tapes themselves. Seems I never came across a good 8 Trax system.

In 1985 my mom bought a 1972 Buick Electra 225 with an 8-track player and we went to the local rescue mission to buy used 8-tracks to play in it. Sucked at gas mileage but man that thing drove like a dream!

In 77 I got a home stereo from Jefferson Ward. It had turn table, AM FM stereo, 8-track and cassette. By then 8-tracks were in the marked down displays. By 80 8-tracks were all one could find were used.

All I remember is I had to drive 30 minutes each way in my 1975 Mazda station wagon to finish my senior year in 78 and I torched the four cassettes I had...lol

Well, Saturday morning cartoons were very important 😁

@@jenniferhansen3622 Oh yes watching and having your favorite cereal.

I would get up so early on Saturday morning the test pattern would still be on just waiting for supper friends speed buggy Scooby Doo Bugs Bunny and the road runner.

This and for us having to go to 9am Mass on Sunday was pure hell. My siblings and I did our best to make going to church as difficult as possible. We were usually slithering in through the side door at the last second 🤣

@@nickhill8612 and getting the free toy surprise in the box ?

Stifle!

Wrong! There is a world out there! Not television!

Disco

Can't even imagine Archie Bunker on in prime time today. PC doomed comedy.

@@klausr8700 As soon as Archie blurted out; "England is a fag country"... it's over. The left would lose their shit. Wait until they find out The Andy Griffith Show never once had one black person on the show in it's entire run from 1960-67.

Oh that’s tough. I’m the same age & have my mom still with us but all my aunts & uncles have passed along with family friends we grew up with. It’s hard 🙏🏻

One of my greatest achievements then,was i came up with our class slogan."Sin and sex,man alive,we're the class of '75".The common theme of sex,drugs and rock and roll was the mainstream saying.It didn't roll off the tongue as well.Ha,the 1970's was the greatest decade ever.

Oh yes, I remember those seats. Usually you could ride two on them.

Yup, my seat was yellow with gold flakes. I road that bike everywhere 👍🏼

Lol, yes!

Yah

We are in the same age bracket. My older brother and I just had the same discussion last weekend. Mom, would chase us kids out of the house after breakfast and that included the dog. We would run the neighborhood. Lunch was eaten at different houses everyday and all of the moms would call each other to let everyone know where "the gang" was that day. Moms were the network before cell phones. Mom would leave the door unlocked for the milkman. Dad always insisted that we were home for dinner and we could go outside to play until the street lights came on. The whole family would sit in front of the TV to watch The Carol Burnett Show and the Friday or Saturday night movie; Dad would make his infamous root beer floats. Simpler times.

Yep, riding my bike around the neighborhood by myself at about 8 or 9. Parents didn't worry, nor did I, about weirdos lurking about. Just seemed more slower and innocent. Childhood.

@@lindasue4237 Same here. Born in 62 and I remember the solitude and freedom of riding my bike around the neighborhood before the street lights came on, during the summer. Those memories are etched in my mind.

Saddest thing these days is to drive thru a neighborhood on a Saturday and see NO children out playing 😥 big yards, small yards, city, country. No kids.

What flavor?

I enjoyed the last few years of resurgence of some of the 1970s styles, especially decorative owls. Those did not last nearly long enough the first time.

@@elliottpeabody1287 flavor as in style, be it clothing or come decor not to mention all that amazing music that came out of that decade just to name a few

@@elliottpeabody1287 purple shag! so kinda like a hairy grape.

@@elliottpeabody1287 Plaid.

At least I agree with you on the affordable gas & a strong dollar.

Yes I remember people would smoke inside supermarket's also I used to see a guy with a long broom sweeping the cigarette butt's off the floor 🤔

I remember seeing people smoking in the hospital.

Community pools, bring your towel and a quarter for a coke from the machine. It's funny you hring this up. I just moved to a neighborhood with a community pool. Took my kids there the other day, and was reflecting that I hadn't been to a community pool in 45 years. Maybe they're making a comeback. Cokes are a dollar now, though, and I had to bum one off my 10 year old.

I remember the bi-centennial minutes on tv. And the schoolhouse rock commercials.

@@hyacinthbucket3803 The bicentennial minutes started me on my love of American history. I was 14 in ‘76. I went on to get my Bachelor’s in History.

I remember the Bicentennial really well. I saved every magazine and newspaper from that time, and still have them. I remember watching "Op-Sail `76" on TV, which was when all the sailing ships came to New York Harbor from all over.

yep_ we had a "saved" piece of the bicentennial Birthday 🎂 from Big City celebration_ ate it several yrs later 🤭😄 _ community pools 🤭😆_yep ~peekin the girls showers😆🥵

Big yes to Fat Albert.

I loved Dark Shadows. It came on right after school. We rushed home to watch it.

I remember where I was when Kennedy died but not when Elvis died.

Also All in the Family and the Jeffersons. And yeah you weren't constantly bombarded with news and politics like today. Better times indeed...

@@matrox get your priorities straight then

Everything you listed was for me too.

I believe that was referred to as Harvest Gold. We had the full package of appliances along with the matching wall phone. Push button of course.

@@samanthab1923 PUSH-BUTTON!?!?! Wow, my parents had to be dragged away from their rotary-dial phones! LOL

BuzzcutGtr I have to tell you a funny story. We moved to that house from a Levitt house. Only the next town over but light years in what people thought of as moving up. A friend came over & all our light switches were push button & dimmer switches. She thought that was the height of richness! 😆

@@samanthab1923 LOL!!! That's awesome!!

Bro we have the same first n middle name

Not only was it history books, it was all texts books. The Spelling book was always dark and smelled as if they came out of a trash can, I was always spraying it down.

I enjoyed licking them ! Made me hungry.

@@stephentaylor280 lol

And the paper bag book covers, which you made at home, and could write on or color at will.

Oh yea, all the books had a smell to them.

Awesome!!!

That's really great.

That is the one down side to the 70's, the cars were REALLY lame. We had an AMC Gremlin.

Now that you mention it, I don't remember people being fat either!!!!!! :O

Glad you mentioned tats. Man I hate those ugly marks all over people's bodies. Now even women are COVERED in them. It's like waking up into Mad Max or something

We were always outside. A garage full of bikes, athletic equipment of all kinds & just freedom.

@@samanthab1923 The best

Born in 71, I agree. Though I probably had a little more fun in the 80’s as I was old enough to enjoy more “things” 😉

@@samanthab1923 Exactly, outside was the magic word. Outside biking, play with the kids from the same block, in the park. I was always riding my bike. Getting a ton of natural vitamin "D" and yes, exercising and getting healthy. Kids today will never enjoy that as they sit behind their gaming consoles..

@@tonycollazorappo Thank goodness I had moved to PA by the time I had my son. Although there weren’t any neighbor kids he grew up with woods & a creek w/dogs around. Can’t tell you how many bike wheels I’ve replaced. I didn’t want him inside on a commuter. He probably had too much freedom but so did we. 👋

By the 1980s ....music was on a slipperly slope to the crap we have today.

I was from New Jersey so the drinking age dropped to 18 in 1973. Man, the club scene! City Gardens in Trenton came in around 1979. New York was the real scene. Go in around 11pm and get home around 6am. Don’t forget “odd-even” days for gas. That problem was solved with two sets of license plates. I’m surprised I’m still kicking. Kids today, screwed!

Me too, I graduated 77, the music was incredible, going to concerts and keg parties, blasting our 70’s rock. I’m From Pittsburgh. Cheers!

@@mylesross5712 Yup, drinking age was 18 in NJ. Went to visit my BF at college in PA & had to load up on booze for the trip to Lancaster 😆

When you went outside to play and come home when the streetlights went on

Adulthood sucks ass.

Agree. (Though I am a little older, born in 71). The 80’s were certainly fun though. Still listen to my 80’s music to this day.

You missed nothing...we are talkin 1970s...not 1960s.

'73 here; but still a proud 80's child!

K boomer !! You must be a trump-Tard

@@fredymendez855 No, we just hate your genocidal Maoist bullsh*t that's all scumbag. And most of us loved JFK who hated your Communist bullsh^t too. So go back to spanking off over your Red Bourgeoisie Marx books kid.

@@JohnB-dr8sk who hurt you ?

@@fredymendez855 Whatever you say future mass murderer

Good call

Or the dial tone when you took the phone off the hook so you’d not be disturbed.

I'll get it is still used when getting the door.

Thanks for reminding me about "I'll get it!!"

And turn the channel...

Did the Texaco near you become Shell eventually?

@@trentpettit6336 no, it was independently owned. It was eventually torn down.

@@Dave-hc6pp Thanks for letting me know!

Almost 80s

Medicine and technology is better in 2022.

@@ERTChimpanzee eh...but WaaAaaY more inefficient! 😌

Gas shortages, Disco, Any group demanding liberation...good times. 😒

​@@luisreyes1963 Disco is from the 80s more likely

Say what do you think of the m9vie Dazed and Confused, since you graduated in 76?

Enjoyed it greatly. We didn't have the hazing thing but the rest was spot on.

Yes I totally agree with you we definitely were blessed to have experienced those days I miss them now more than ever before 🤔

I, too, was born in 58. Experienced my teen years in St. Paul, MN. I remember going to Phalen Park, it was an open air drug market. Cruising on 7th street just like the movie American Graffiti. There was a head shop/record store in practically every neighborhood. Police would not arrest kids, just take away our beer and send us home.

And the only moribidly obese people you saw back then were in the circus.

Jaws came out in the summer. "Who releases a big movie in the summer?!" Now they all do. When we went to see the biggest movie of the year, Network ("I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it any more!"), when my friends and I came out of the theater the ONLY thing we could talk about was that preview they ran before the movie for something called "Star Wars." And they said "Coming this summer"??!! That's still eight months away!! Who does that??

Everything went to hell in 1990.

@@firstnamelastname6171: The nineties were the beginning of a very slow recovery from the pure Hell of the '80s.

Bologna Cheese sandwiches or cold fried chicken and mom, would make up a gallon of homemade lemonade.

Yeh we would pack samiches and sodas in a cooler with ice in the late 50s and 60s when taking a road trip to our grandparents house in rural va. No fast food restuarants back then. Sometime you would see a country gas station with a cafe. By the early 70s they were starting to pop up though in some places.

Oh, yeah. Those baloney sandwiches in the back seat of the car tasted way better than the ones coming out of a lunchbox at school.

I remember when it was safe to play outside and ride bikes all over the neighborhood. Didn't come inside til supper time.

Now it sucks!

Blizzard 78 was amazing in Massachusetts but at one point I remember fearing is this going to actually stop ...then having no power and then the snow drifts were something I got worried my baby sister would get lost in the snow .

I was in college in 78 & went home to a friends house. They had both those arcade games in their redone basement. I never saw anything like it. Juke Box too.

early 60's Late 50's

@@eemupitts9962 perhaps so but you didn't have the Pet Rock...lol

I don’t know about that…. The 80’s were a pretty good time to be a teen as well. 😎

@@davidpearson3304 Right there with you. The best.

vid?

Hi Lucian, having went to elementary school in the mid to late 70s, I think you answered the question of why people my age miss the 70s in the last part of your comment. Yeah, my parents struggled with the inflation, but what I miss are all the Silent Generation and older (people born between 1900 to 1945) back then. They weren't perfect, but they were a glue that held society together. They were kinder, more patient, more empathetic and had stronger belief systems than Boomers and later generations. Boomers minds were destroyed by 60s pop culture that told them God didn't exist and nothing really matters, so just "do it cause it feels good." Yes, there were also tough turds among the older generations that said ignorant things sometimes, but the world they created was still a much better place from this kid's perspective. All of my friends that are my age agree with me. The Boomer's world of sex, drugs, narcissism, horrible diet foods (that turned out to be more dangerous than eating natural sugars, etc), "LIfestyles of the Rich and Famous," "zero tolerance" and horrible child rearing just destroyed American culture and society and gave us the dystopic world we live in today. Despite some of the negatives of the 70s, I would jump at the chance to go back again if I could and hang out with all the olds folks that were still fairly young back then. After about 1983-85, America just turned uglier and less kind and has never recovered. At least that's my perspective form a 1970s Gen X'er

You should have got a pet Rock.

"didn't know how to feel about that" = 😄😆😆😆😆😆