# Old timers, remind me of some early 70's stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726 "2009-11-07T17:55:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/1 "2009-11-07T17:55:03Z")
I’m doing [NaNoWriMo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=537264&highlight=nanowrimo) this month and my book takes place in 1975. I like to drop bobbles and bits of (day-to-day, not-necessarily-so-pop) culture in from time to time…what do you remember from back then? So far I’ve only got a few, though it’s early yet: - anticipating the Bicentennial coins (they started coming out in July '75) - seat belts being mandatory, their usage not - the transition to the touch-tone phone - the push-through tab on sodas (I think) I’ll take gadgets and gizmos, toys and catchphrases…history I can look up myself. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/2 "2009-11-07T18:01:41Z")
Whip Inflation Now Disco Swine Flu Kiss with makeup (at this point I lost track of popular music) cassettes being used to produce party tapes, a sort of primitive playlist. music on AM radio ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/3 "2009-11-07T18:05:15Z")
Earth shoes Paul Simon’s first solo album came out in 1972; Elton John’s first few albums were very folky Contact lenses just started to come into popular use Macrame was a popular hobby And who the fuck are you calling an old-timer, you young whippersnapper! ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/4 "2009-11-07T18:06:29Z")
Apple II computer Those blue Adidas ‘Starsky and Hutch’ shoes Calf high athletic socks Trans Am cocaine smiley buttons ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/5 "2009-11-07T18:34:34Z")
flip-flops Jordache Jeans ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/6 "2009-11-07T18:43:10Z")
_The Bob Newhart Show_ disaster movies Holly Hobbie dolls cat’s cradle beanbag furniture shag carpeting shiny wallpaper [god’s eye](http://www.caron-net.com/kidfiles/kidsapr.html) [ankh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh) pendants [Desiderata](http://www.inkmonkey.com/artgallery/desiderata/images/poster/desiderata.jpg) posters (_without_ credit to Max Ehrmann) ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/7 "2009-11-07T18:44:35Z")
I think the push-through tabs on beverage cans was an 80s thing?? How about… jogging suits tennis “sweat” bands roller skates jump-suits FUNK! Charles Mingus was still alive’n playin’ also other jazz greats like Rahsaan Roland Kirk… FUSION! PUNK! You sank my battleship! Twister Jarts still on the market, not enough kids had had their brain pierced by Jarts yet… Trouble! The Game of Life Paper dolls and other cut-out “crafty” type toys were faddish… The “Back to the Land” movement… Mother Earth News Communes ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/8 "2009-11-07T18:45:14Z")
Dolphin shorts 50’s nostalgia paraquat conversion to the metric system ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/9 "2009-11-07T18:56:11Z")
CB radios Girls in halter tops Transition from 8 track to cassette tapes Henry Blake KIA on M_A_S\*H Coke snuff Roach clips Muscle cars still roam the earth Zeppelin rules / Queen rising / Robin Trower for those in the know Narcs! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/10 "2009-11-07T18:58:27Z")
the final, gaudy flowering of TV comedy-variety: [Carol Burnett](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKfBCitChcg), [Sonny & Cher](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3YS3iLO7w), [Flip Wilson](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCruefYl3FI) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/11 "2009-11-07T19:46:41Z")
Sheesh, when I saw “old timers”, I thought the thread would be about the 40’s or 50’s. 70’s: Harvest gold and avocado green home appliances – green, gold and brown were popular colors for home decor Mood rings Ouija boards (again) Bell bottom pants – not just jeans. I had a pair that were red/white/blue plaid, with cuffs Edgar Cayce books, especially the one on earth changes, prophesying a California earthquake (tie up your boats in Idaho) Console stereos – turntable, radio, and tape deck in a wooden cabinet Jaws, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Shampoo ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/12 "2009-11-07T19:56:30Z")
**rock block!** ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/13 "2009-11-07T20:06:52Z")
The “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons, to teach history and civics to kids during saturday morning TV shows… ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/14 "2009-11-07T20:12:44Z")
Draft number Frye boots Mexican peasant blouses Earth Day desegregation in public schools Transcendental Meditation “lids” “windowpane” “marching powder” bongs…removeable mirrors in restaurant bathrooms Watergate Are You Experienced, After the Gold Rush, Aqualung, Let It Bleed, Live at Fillmore East, American Beauty,Tommy, Blood on the Tracks ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/15 "2009-11-07T20:44:55Z")
Cans were still pull-top in the 70s ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/16 "2009-11-07T20:45:49Z")
Twist lemon menthol cigarettes. Tacky over-the-top commercials exploiting the bicentennial already disco (ugh!) and leisure suits; rock was retreating to FM radio (AM radio still prevailed, btw) Gerald Ford jokes mostly about his clumsiness ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/17 "2009-11-07T20:49:12Z")
People smoked & drank around kids, & nobody had a seizure about it. Or because of it. Architecture was still fun, & optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/18 "2009-11-07T21:00:47Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > And who the fuck are you calling an old-timer, you young whippersnapper! Mods lock this, we have a winner! No, wait…what I meant to say is that I should have called this thread “Fellow old timers”, or perhaps dropped it all together and prefaced it with “My fellow Americans”. I was a teenager already in 1975, so I figured people my age and older were becoming old timers. Crap, I’m just digging a deeper hole, aren’t I? Anyway, a lot of great stuff here; lots of things I’d forgotten about, including Tacky over-the-top commercials exploiting the bicentennial already Leisure suits Draft number Desegregation in public schools Transcendental Meditation (don’t forget EST!) Harvest gold and avocado green home appliances – green, gold and brown were popular colors for home decor (EARTH TONES! Oh I miss that orange lineoleum) Mood rings (had one!) Ouija boards Bell bottom pants – not just jeans. I had a pair that were red/white/blue plaid, with cuffs (dear god - I had 'em, but not multi-color) Narcs! (did that word go away?) Dolphin shorts 50’s nostalgia paraquat (took me a second, then I remembered what that was…somehow it never stopped us) conversion to the metric system Jarts (I had Jarts! WTF were my parents thinking??) Paper dolls and other cut-out “crafty” type toys were faddish… Holly Hobbie dolls cat’s cradle (played it!) beanbag furniture (had it!) shag carpeting (had it!) shiny wallpaper (had it!) god’s eye ankh pendants (friend had one! - was that you?) Those blue Adidas ‘Starsky and Hutch’ shoes (I had those!) Calf high athletic socks (with stripes!) Earth shoes Macrame (ugh…learned this and rug hooking). You guys are great, keep 'em coming! ETA: > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > People smoked & drank around kids, & nobody had a seizure about it. Or because of it. Exactly the kind of stuff I’ve forgotten since then, and you’re right. It was perfectly normal to go into a restaurant full of smoke, and you didn’t think a thing about it. That also reminds me of another: Riding in the backs of pickup trucks! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/19 "2009-11-07T21:04:10Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Cans were still pull-top in the 70s According to teh internets, they started converting in 1975…probably too late for what I’m writing, unless my 9-year-old-heroine is guzzling beer. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726/20 "2009-11-07T21:08:25Z")
Digital watches being the bomb- $40 and you had to hold the button for it to tell the time in a red glow for 3 seconds. _Kansas_ on the radio ALL THE TIME. (That may just be here.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-timers-remind-me-of-some-early-70s-stuff/516726.md?page=2)