Being a kid in the 70s :^)

[Kuato]

Wow what a flashback. '62 vintage here.

I recall that NBC had the peacock on screen prior to some shows and the narrator saying, "The following program is presented in living color."

That was the day I learned from Mom that. we had a black and white TV.


Oh and Boston, Aerosmith, David Bowie's funky stage, Saturday Night Live's debut, Animal House.

Anyone else skip their swim in the ocean the summer that "Jaws" came out?

 

[Pop_Rivit]

The 70's?

I was born in 1944, so I well remember the 70's. It was a time of paradoxes-on one hand we were reaching out and making landing on the moon rather boring. On the other hand, as a country we were still hung over from the 1960's.

Computer floppy disks were introduced, pocket calculators were new, novel and expensive-around $80 for one with less capability than a $4 today. Microsoft was founded, the Sears Tower was built, Nixon resigned and Hoffa disappeared. Vice President Agnew resigned, two assassination attempts were made against President Ford, and the US pulled out of Vietnam. The cold war was beginning to really ramp up, the dot matrix printer was invented, Pong was invented, and the Jarvik 7 artificial heart was invented.

A music branch called disco was created, my wife and I purchased our first home for $3,600, and we both were really starting our careers. I had a 1974 Maverick and my wife drove a 1969 Olds convertible. She graduated to a 1976 Monte Carlo.

The country's bicentennial was celebrated, New York had a 24 hour blackout, Pope John Paul I died after just a month after his election, and Pope John Paul II was elected.

All in all quite an amazing time in history.

 

[bvance554]

I was born in 74 and growing up in the 70's is a paltry comparison to having grown up in 80's. Cut my teeth on vinyl records, then made the swith to cassettes. Its easy to remember my first cassette because it was Van Halen 1984. Yet I still managed to have an 8 track in my first car - 1974 El Camino. Started building it when I was 14. Luckily my parents had some decent 8 track tapes hidden away for me to dig through. OH! And i had the 8 track cassette converter where you put the cassette into this big 8 track... Thing and it played cassettes. I remember vhf-uhf and having to change channels, but our first remote control tv could be turned on and off by jingling keys in front of it. It was magic. First microwave, vcr, dad brought home pong one day. It wasn't in a box and I'm sure he won it in a poker game. Then came bootleg cable tv, skinomax friday after dark. My friend had a satelite - the real kind. We'd wait for his parents to go to sleep so they wouldn't hear the dish turning as it searched for the bird in the sky carrying the Playboy channel. I had a calculator on my wristwatch. And a walkman. How did I forget the dual cassette player? I could even record the radio from the same machine - i didn't need a separate recorder. The arcade that actually took quarters and you never saw a dollar bill slot. The 70's were great i'm sure, but I think the 80's were such a sweet spot to experience so many different things because technology was evolving so quickly. And how can I forget... The US beat the USSR in hockey and Ronald Reagan was President. He would come on the tv all the time speaking from his desk and start every speech with 'Hello my fellow Americans.' Those were the days. So come on, how can the 70's really compete with that?

 

[Silk]

I was born in '53 - I left school as a 16 year old and started work in 1970. The innocence of childhood was gone, time to go out into the scary world of grownups and make mistakes. Best time of the century to be a teenager.

 

[Rick in PA]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
Wow what a flashback. '62 vintage here.

I recall that NBC had the peacock on screen prior to some shows and the narrator saying, "The following program is presented in living color."...


Ah yes, and in my mind I can still hear the little snippet of music thy played as the peacock feathers unfolded.Then there'd be the pum-dida-pum-dida-pum drum roll and the announcement of an NBC Special Presentation.

On music, I always liked the theme to National Geographic Specials. It was a siren call to the TV, "something good's on!".

To anybody interested, you can find these things on YouTube.

 

[aquariuscsm]

And I always remember this picture every time the local TV channel would go off the air at night:

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Lolvoguy
Amen brothers!

born Dec 28th of 1979. Best 3 days of my life!

another after-Christmas child.
28 Dec 1974.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Being a kid in the 70s was awesome! I was born in 1969. Anyone else here?

http://www.answers.com/article/1240007/1...festyle#slide=1


Born in 67 so grew up in the 70's. Lots of good things then but lots of [censored] too.

 

[demarpaint]

Wow I'm old........................

 

[rjundi]

Born in 1972 born in USA but went to school in middle east 1974-1980. I did spend summers in White Mountains of NH and grew up with one channel(ABC) off Mt Washington so I did not watch much TV.

I did spend majority of days outside and on bike to friends houses. Yes we showed up at door to play. When I came to US I remember my mom dropping me off at ski area in second grade with 3 other second grades to ski for the day no parents. The mountain staff knew us and "took care of us".

My wife balks at me when I let my 9 year old bike 1 mile across neighborhood to friends. At least we get a text from other parent when arrived.

No such things as minivans or parent enforcing seat belts. We used to go into cargo back of the standard car there (early 1980's Subaru 4x4 wagon) when you had more then 4 kids across back seat. The horrors! I remember riding about 30 minutes in little league to another town in back of pickup with entire team.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: rjundi

No such things as minivans or parent enforcing seat belts. We used to go into cargo back of the standard car there (early 1980's Subaru 4x4 wagon) when you had more then 4 kids across back seat. The horrors!


My brother and I used to ride standing upright in the front seat. It was a great view and was probably comfortable too since we were sort of leaning back against the upright part of the seat. My dad used to hold out his arm to catch us if he had to brake quickly.

It was a sad day when I became too tall to ride standing up!

I think after that I rode standing upright behind the center of the front seat; probably standing on the driveshaft hump. At least until I became too tall.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog

I remember mom taking me to Sears for school clothes. Toughskins. So named because of the 60 grit sandpaper lining the knees. They would destroy any skin that wasn't extremely tough. Rust colored, avocado colored....any color but blue.


I remember those colors well! Cringeworthy, now. And invariably they'd soon become too short and we'd get made fun of for wearing "floods".

I remember getting my first actual pair of blue jeans, about 1978 or 1979. Such a revelation! I was 14. They were actually comfortable, and, you know, stylish!! I suddenly felt like less of a dork for the first time.

 

[grampi]

I soloed in my Dad's Cessna 140 on my 16th birthday in 1974. Legally I flew an airplane by myself before I drove a car by myself. Yep, those were the good ol' days!

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
as a country we were still hung over from the 1960's.


That's funny you say that, sometimes when I reflect on the decades I joke about the 70's being the hangover from the 60's. I then joke about the 90's being heroin chic while the 80's were "hey look--drunk chick!"

While I was born in '76 I have no memories of the 70's. Some of the 80's growing up, but my decade was the 90's. At least that is when I started paying attention to music, movies and girls. I prefer the music and movies of the 80's, at least the upbeat stuff (hence the drunk chick joke).

Wife and I will sometimes try to watch older shows and movies but she doesn't like the slower pacing. MASH was good but that's about it for older stuff. I attempted to watch Magnum PI but during the first episode I kept wondering why they didn't just whip out a cellphone and call someone instead of waiting and wondering in the scene.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: css9450
Originally Posted By: rjundi

No such things as minivans or parent enforcing seat belts. We used to go into cargo back of the standard car there (early 1980's Subaru 4x4 wagon) when you had more then 4 kids across back seat. The horrors!


My brother and I used to ride standing upright in the front seat. It was a great view and was probably comfortable too since we were sort of leaning back against the upright part of the seat. My dad used to hold out his arm to catch us if he had to brake quickly.

It was a sad day when I became too tall to ride standing up!

I think after that I rode standing upright behind the center of the front seat; probably standing on the driveshaft hump. At least until I became too tall.


I can remember laying on the "back dash" underneath the rear window while our family was out driving around (my parents had those huge Olds and Chevy sedans when we were little kids and my grandparents drove Cadillac and Mercury sedans).

 

[OneEyeJack]

I was in college the day someone walked in and declared that the President has just been shot and they think he's dead. The classrooms emptied out and everyone went out into the parking lots to listen to the radios in their cars for the latest news. There was no moving traffic anywhere to be seen. I remember waiting for the radio to warm up and start working. A police car parked next to us so the officers could listen to the news. About 10 students piled into the back of a pickup as the police officer closed his door so they could get by. A sign on the gas station at the end of the street read, "Regular- 29 9/10". Minimum wage was $0.99. My rent for a completely furnished 2 bedroom apartment with a sun deck was $54.50 a month. I had just eaten lunch at the college cafeteria and it cost $0.65 for a complete meal on a tray. Pay for jobs was good enough that I always had something left over at the end of the month. I paid my bills with pieces of paper called checks. I had a phone in my apartment but it was tethered to the wall and you had to spin the dial to make a call. I actually had to travel from place to place with no phone contact possible along the way. Can you imagine that?

 

[dailydriver]

I'm too ancient for this thread.

I was born the same year (even the same time of year) the very FIRST Chevy small block hit the dealers!

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
I'm too ancient for this thread.

I was born the same year (even the same time of year) the very FIRST Chevy small block hit the dealers!

LOL Born in Oct 1943.

Remember our 1st TV, 1949, 1 channel available.

First car 1950 Studebaker, in 1959, I was 15 when I bought it. It had the "T" handle to pull for overdrive.

Stationed in Washington DC while in the Army, better than Viet Nam, but it was the only time in my life I've been spit on, and never realized I was a baby killer.

First "New" car I owned was a 1970 Camaro, worst car I ever owned.

Third "New" car I ever owned a 1972 Corvette, one of the best cars I ever owned, should have never sold it.

Music in the 50's & 60's some of the best, and the groups were dressed as to what they were, Pros.

No flip flops in public either, they were reserved for showering.

YUP, I'm too old for this thread!

 

[javacontour]

Many here were open because of the Missouri Blue Laws. The mall would be full of cars with MO tags.

Originally Posted By: John_K
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts


They should be wondering why it is sometimes called 'dialing the phone'

NEWSFLASH; you need your money from the bank BEFORE the weekend!


And the stores were closed on Sundays!

 

[javacontour]

1973, big floods on the Mississippi river. (I was 8 years old, you do the math.)

In pop culture there was Charlies Angels, 6 Million Dollar Man/Bionic woman, Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, Blazing Saddles, and more.

Robin Williams was just starting out on a show named Mork and Mindy. You could get LP albums of comedians like Richard Pryor, Steve Martin and Bill Cosby. Richard Pryor managed to set himself on fire in 1980 and then eventually his career burned out before the 1980s were over.

Automotively speaking, we had the AMC Pacer, the Ford Pinto, the Chevy Vega and VW brought over this car they called the Rabbit here in the US. They actually started building them in PA, IIRC.

You had the Olds Diesel debacle. In 1975 the introduction of unleaded gas for cars. I remember you could get a nozzle adapter for emergencies where unleaded wasn't available so the leaded nozzle would fit in your tank. I don't recall any warnings about damaging your catalytic converter.

As others mentioned, Pong was coming out, followed by other video games consoles by Atari, Coleco and others.

You started seeing home VCRs. They were huge affairs, with a cable attached remote. The question was which format would win, VHS or Betamax. All the porn came out on VHS, so VHS won!

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
The 70's?

I was born in 1944, so I well remember the 70's. It was a time of paradoxes-on one hand we were reaching out and making landing on the moon rather boring. On the other hand, as a country we were still hung over from the 1960's.

Computer floppy disks were introduced, pocket calculators were new, novel and expensive-around $80 for one with less capability than a $4 today. Microsoft was founded, the Sears Tower was built, Nixon resigned and Hoffa disappeared. Vice President Agnew resigned, two assassination attempts were made against President Ford, and the US pulled out of Vietnam. The cold war was beginning to really ramp up, the dot matrix printer was invented, Pong was invented, and the Jarvik 7 artificial heart was invented.

A music branch called disco was created, my wife and I purchased our first home for $3,600, and we both were really starting our careers. I had a 1974 Maverick and my wife drove a 1969 Olds convertible. She graduated to a 1976 Monte Carlo.

The country's bicentennial was celebrated, New York had a 24 hour blackout, Pope John Paul I died after just a month after his election, and Pope John Paul II was elected.

All in all quite an amazing time in history.