Were the 70's better than today?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
My memories of the 70's are the advent of Disco Music, Hot Wheels Die Cast Cars, Platform Shoes, Body Shirts, Mini Skirts, Shag Pile Carpet.
It was a time when other parents could discipline you. If underage in the pub the cops would kick you out with a boot up the backside. Getting the Cane for not doing homework.
 

Bretrick said:
My memories of the 70's are the advent of Disco Music, Hot Wheels Die Cast Cars, Platform Shoes, Body Shirts, Mini Skirts, Shag Pile Carpet.
It was a time when other parents could discipline you. If underage in the pub the cops would kick you out with a boot up the backside. Getting the Cane for not doing homework.
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well for me it was... it was my teen era... but I'm sure in reality, the UK was in a terrible Political state during the 70's... all of which went over my head.
 
I like Disco, and gong to disco clubs. But beside platform shoes, we had Nixon & Watergate, Vietnam. It was ordinary life, like today, but dated. I don't know how you gage "better", but the 70s made us different. Like the 1960s shaped the 70s, the1970s helped shaped the 2020s. We wouldn't be what we are in 2021, without what we did in 1970. And it's trite to say, but today is someone's happy childhood.
 
i graduated from HS, 1973. I worked hard to be popular and it paid off. I saw Pink Floyd Live “Dark Side of the Moon” tour in a small venue with festival seating. I attended several live concerts in the 1970s, got heavy into drugs and in 1975 I was diagnosed with a seriousNonetheless mental illness. Nonetheless I made the most of time and continued to experience the wild and crazy thing called life.
 
Were the 70's better than today?
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I am not a nostalgia buff, I love the here&now for all it has to offer. That said, the 70s had good points and bad points. For one thing my favorite movie stars all looked alot younger then....I looked a lot younger too! 😅
Hmmm, let's see, in the 1970s:
1.Got back from Vietnam and out of the Army
2.Started college on the G.I. Bill
3.Got married
4.Bought first home
5.Got divorced
6.Got married a 2nd time
7.Got my first decent paying job
8.Bought 2nd home
9.Beautiful daughter born
10.Beautiful son born
Whew, I was busy in the 70s. :unsure:
 
The 70's were great for me. The first half I was a kid, carefree, roaming the neighborhood with the other kids. I grew up, came of age in the latter half. I graduated HS in 1977, started college, ended college after 2 years. Got a really good job with the phone company and married in 1979.

I remember the weather of 1975 of all things. That spring we had the worst tornado we had ever seen. Tore right through the middle of town and left a swath of destruction. Then in the winter of that year we had the worst snow storm and heaviest accumulation on record. I really didn't mind too much though, it got us out of several days of highschool while they were digging the streets out. :)❄️
 
At the age I was then and where I was then the seventies fit me like a glove. Great wide open times. At the age I am now and where I am at now the twenty twenties fit me like a glove. Great easy going times. A lot of ups and downs in between but few regrets.
 
I lived in a small town during most of the '70s and have lived in big cities ever since so it's kind of tough to compare from a personal perspective since the differences between small towns and big cities haven't changed that much, other than what resulted from technological advances. Most of what I remember about life in the '70s was me and my friends getting stoned and listening to music, or drinking beer and cruising up and down Main Street.

Cars were a lot cooler looking back then and if you had a luxury car, it was like driving around in your living room. Today's cars are far more reliable and fuel efficient, and cleaner running, which is better for the environment. You were lucky to get 80 or 90k miles on a car back then. Today's cars will go 200k miles and still run just fine.

Music was undeniably better during the '70s. There was so much creativity back then compared to what's going on today. Music in the '70s combined elements of all different genres from country, to rockabilly, to jazz, to bluegrass, to folk, all of which still existed in their original form with a lot of the original artists still making music. The originators of those genres would often play with their younger contemporaries who worshiped them and incorporated those styles into their own original music. So the music was more authentic back then.

Today's popular bands don't look to the original pioneers of music. At least the most popular contemporary bands don't. They copy the styles of the bands of the '70s, and they don't do it as well, so why not just go back to the music of the '70s? The band that comes to mind is Greta Van Fleet. They sound a lot like Led Zeppelin, but they don't have good songs. All they have is the sound, but they're enormously popular and making a lot of money copying Led Zeppelin's style, so you can't really blame them. I don't think anyone's going to look back in fifty years and talk about how great they were, though. I don't think any contemporary band will be highly revered or copied in 50 years.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for the age of the Internet and the ease in which we can access information. Plus, we can interact with people from all over the world in these online forums, so that's something. Politically, we weren't nearly as polarized back then, but things were beginning to move in that direction.
 
For me, the 70's were my "growing up" years.....married only 5 years, two small children, mortgage and car payments, etc., etc. I quickly transitioned to adulthood during that time frame. I didn't have a lot of time to spend on much other than working, and taking care of business. I do remember some of the events back then....the Vietnam war winding down, Richard Nixon and his goof ups, etc., but I didn't pay much attention to the news unless I was directly impacted.

Today, it's hard to avoid all the craziness going on in the world, and consuming the news. I sometimes wish I could go back to those earlier years when I was so busy all the time.
 
The 70's were great for me. Graduated high school in '76, went to college for 4 years and was completely oblivious to everything that was going on politically or in the world. I got paid a pittance, but as long as it was enough for me to go to the clubs on the weekends I didn't care.

But... with the exception of being totally aware and somewhat stressed about what is now going on politically and in the world, I love my life now. I know who I am, rather than wondering where I'm going, and I have the means to enjoy the more meaningful things in life.

As others have said, not sure it was better but it was different. I feel gratitude for being able to enjoy each decade in a different way.
 
In the 1970’s, I was fresh out of grad school, and establishing myself as a young professional. I was supported and appreciated, and people at work were like an extended family. In later years to come, the powers that be decided that it was better to be feared than loved, treated people as things and replaceable commodities, and decided if you appeared happy at work, you weren’t working hard enough…
 
industrial unrest,frequent strikes,three day weeks,power cuts,drought,water rationing,corporal punishment,EU referendum,two general elections in one year,IRA bombs...Britain in the seventies.
Wonderful time.
Music was brilliant though.....and Pirate radio from boats was good.
 
oldiebutgoody said:
Ironically, we had a military draft in the 50s/60s/early70s. That was slavery especially for poor men from the ghettos and reservations. Wasn't any good in any of that.
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When you look at life you should see that improvements have been made. However, not everything is coming up roses today. We still have a lot of problems. Try Global Warming on for size! Right now inflation at 6.8% in the US is not making anyone with a low income laugh. As for those "good ole' days", hey, they were good in many ways but yes, there were also a lot of negative factors. I guess our remembrance of the old days can get pretty selective. I had a crazy, wild childhood full of freedom and fun. You can say that I really enjoyed my young years. Of course, if you grew up in some home with alcoholic parents and daily fights with little on the table to eat your memories sure are not like mine. Roger Miller put this into one of his songs, "It Takes All Kinds to Make a World."

"Well it takes all kinds to make a world
Big and little man and women boys and girls
And I'm the kinda guy hard luck sure gives a whirl
But I guess it takes all kinds to make a world"
 
Packerjohn said:
When you look at life you should see that improvements have been made. However, not everything is coming up roses today. We still have a lot of problems. Try Global Warming on for size! Right now inflation at 6.8% in the US is not making anyone with a low income laugh. As for those "good ole' days", hey, they were good in many ways but yes, there were also a lot of negative factors. I guess our remembrance of the old days can get pretty selective. I had a crazy, wild childhood full of freedom and fun. You can say that I really enjoyed my young years. Of course, if you grew up in some home with alcoholic parents and daily fights with little on the table to eat your memories sure are not like mine. Roger Miller put this into one of his songs, "It Takes All Kinds to Make a World."

"Well it takes all kinds to make a world
Big and little man and women boys and girls
And I'm the kinda guy hard luck sure gives a whirl
But I guess it takes all kinds to make a world"
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But there was also a lot more talk about "Goodbye freedom; hello discipline and dictatorship!" in those days, especially in the inner cities.
 
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