What Life Was Really Like In The 70's

From a historical perspective, the 70's were a period of huge change in America. The Vietnam War was winding down, women were beginning to be treated as equals, and the civil rights movement continued its momentum. Our biggest military threat came from the Soviets (Russians) and we came to the aid of Afghanistan when the Soviets invaded. We were not immune to terrorist attacks and were shocked when a Palestinian militant group murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. There was an oil crisis, a crisis of consciousness, and President Nixon resigned before he could be impeached. Hippies were slowly on their way out and polyester was on its way in. We learned the cold, hard facts about cigarettes when we lost our quintessential hero, John Wayne, to cancer. Having landed on the moon, America developed a space shuttle. Race riots struck the inner cities. But for most teenagers, life was good. Here are the 70's as I remember them.

Someone who was very good looking in the 70's was called "a fox". Girls everywhere had posters of David Cassidy, star of the Partridge Family, on their bedroom wall. Not only was he a fox, he had a beautiful singing voice. Runners-up in the Most Foxy category were Leif Garrett and Peter Frampton. What did they all have in common, besides being singers? The Hair! You simply could not be a fox in the 70's without long, feathered (layered) hair. My teenage daughter thinks David Cassidy's hair makes him look like a girl (horrors) - that's what her grandfather said to me in the 70's! To be fair, there were female foxes too, but teenage girls don't really appreciate the fact that teenage boys had so many beautiful women to oogle. However, I must acknowledge the force that was Farrah Fawcett - the hair, the smile, the eyes, the teeth, the bod! No teenage girl could possibly compete. Worst of all, she had a reputation for being really kind, so there was no way we could hate her. Long before her stint as a Jenny Craig spokesperson, Valerie Bertinelli broke hearts as the star of One Day At A Time. Boys I knew actually thought they might have a chance with her since she seemed like the "girl next door". My husband insists there were many more female foxes (Jacqueline Bisset, Jaclyn Smith) but I'm done now.

One of the rationales that teenagers have today for needing a cell phone is the "fact" that crime is so much worse than it was before they were invented. Hmmm...is it really? Quick, name a serial killer who is currently terrorizing the nation - you can't, can you? When I was growing up in the 70's we had the Hillside Strangler, the Zodiac Killer, Ted Bundy, and the Son of Sam. Girls in their teens and twenties were terrified that they'd be the next victim, I remember that the Hillside Stranger (who was actually two people) preferred girls with long, straight hair and my mother would not allow my sister, whose hair was waist length, to go out without a group of friends or a male escort. Girls were warned that if their car broke down, they should raise the hood and then remain inside with the door locked and wait for help. According to the FBI (they tend to know these things) crime is actually no worse now than it was in the 70's, about 500 crimes per 100,000 people.

Before cable tv, the Dish network, and the internet, people were forced to watch whatever was on CBS, ABC, or NBC in the evening. Televisions were like huge pieces of furniture and they lasted for years. When you turned them on you actually had to wait for them to warm up, and then you would have to adjust the antenna (wiry metal things) to improve the reception. Families would gather together after dinner to watch shows like M*A*S*H*, Hawaii 5-0, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Our family never missed an episode of Kojak, The Rockford Files, or All in the Family. My father thought Archie Bunker was the funniest person on television and he would laugh at his politically incorrect comments until tears came to his eyes. If it was Sunday night and Columbo was on, nobody was allowed to make a sound until a commercial came on the tv. If there was no Columbo, we watched Masterpiece Theater classics like Upstairs, Downstairs and I, Claudius. Of course Charlie's Angels was on too, but my father thought it was silly and contrived and we only had the one tv. Hard to believe, but most families only had one tv. In 1975, I stayed up late to watch the the premiere of Saturday Night Live, secretly feeling guilty because I knew my mom would think it was a little too risque, 1977 saw the premiere of Man from Atlantis, about a man (Patrick Duffy of Dallas fame) who was the only surviving citizen of Atlantis. I dreamed of being Mrs. Man from Atlantis, and I spent hours practicing swimming like a dolphin in the pool. Sadly, the show was cancelled after only thirteen episodes. Patrick Duffy was a fox.

Back in the 70's we had something called AM radio - it still exists, but it's not the same. All the latest hits were played on the radio, and if you really liked a song you would have to wait until it came on "The Top 40" on Saturday mornings and then put your portable cassette tape player up to it and try to record it. If you wanted a copy of the song, you could buy the cassette or a strange little box called an 8-track tape. On Saturday mornings we also watched American Bandstand which showcased teenagers dancing to the latest hits. Airing right after American Bandstand was Soul Train, which showcased African-American teenagers who really knew how to dance to those hits. If no one was around, I'd try to dance along with the Soul Train line dancers, a man and a woman who were picked from the audience to dance down a gauntlet of other dancers. Soul Train was the place to listen to bands like Earth, Wind and Fire (my favorite) and the funky beat of Parliament.

In the 70's, teenagers basically fell into two music categories, those who liked disco and those who liked rock. Rockers hated disco with a passion, preferring to listen to up and coming bands like Aerosmith, The Eagles, and Boston. The Rockers were foxes. However, the guys who liked disco were much better dancers. I loved to dance to disco hits like Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees (Barry Gibb is a fox) and Last Dance by Donna Summer. So, I learned to appreciate rock with the rockers, but I loved to dance with the guys who loved disco.

Fashion in the 70's was just strange. There were platform shoes with plexiglass heels that contained live goldfish. Men wore polyester suits (often blue), polyester shirts unbuttoned down to their waists, and enough gold chains to support a small African nation. Ladies wore feathered hair, platform shoes (often with rainbow toe-socks), and bell-bottom jeans. My bell bottoms once got caught in the gears of my bike and I ended up walking two miles home. Blue eye shadow was in, and girls sprayed gallons of Heaven's Scent perfume. Lip gloss appeared, and women had the new problem of looking hot while they peeled their feathered hair off their lips. As much as teenagers think it would be cool to revive the "threads" of the 70's, some things are best left in the vault.

The 70's was the age of movies that were huge blockbusters. Who can forget Star Wars, Jaws, Saturday Night Fever, and The Godfather (1 and 2)? It was also the age of gritty crime dramas, like The French Connection, Serpico, and Dirty Harrry (Clint Eastwood is a fox!). What about musical masterpieces like Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret? Movies were shown in big theaters, not the subdivided megaplexes that we have now. If you loved a movie that you saw in the theater, you would have to wait months, if not years, for it to show up on your television. Drive-in movies were still around, and what's more romantic than sitting in a car watching a love story on a huge screen - without adding details, it's a lot more fun than a theater!

For me, the 70's meant change. I had my first kiss and my first boyfriend, got my driver's license, had my first car accident (totally not my fault), and traveled outside the U.S. for the first time. Tragically, my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1977 and she would pass away in 1980, which made me grow up really fast. Today, David Cassidy is still a stone cold fox, John Travolta can still hustle, and Hawaii 5-0 has been reincarnated. As in the 70's, people all over the world need to join hands and start a love train, Peace out!