# What most epitomizes the '70s to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 31, 2017, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484 "2017-07-31T07:00:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/41 "2017-08-01T01:43:44Z")
Ziggy. Smiley Faces. Captains. Captain Kangaroo, Captain Bob, Captain and Tenielle, Captain Caveman… ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/42 "2017-08-01T06:06:05Z")
Disaster movies with all-star casts. Meat Loaf’s _Bat out of Hell_. Fleetwood Mac’s _Rumours_. And a lot of one-hit wonders on Top-40 radio. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/43 "2017-08-01T06:15:22Z")
Burnt orange and lime green. Ugh. It was everywhere, and I couldn’t escape it. I didn’t know any different when I was living in it, but as soon as I was out of it I actively rejected it. There are lots of things about the 70s I can look back at fondly with some nostalgia, and a fair amount of it is objectively good and timeless, but not those godawful colour schemes and fashion choices involving orange and green. ---
**Author:** ![owlfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@owlfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlfan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/44 "2017-08-01T08:01:06Z")
I graduated from high school in 1978. I was not into drugs or sex really, so it’s the music and the movies I remember most. Elton John and Fleetwood Mac , I listen to them all the time now. It’s amazing how music can take you back. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/45 "2017-08-01T08:06:17Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > And Orange, it was a very orange decade. . . I personally missed it by a few years, but I was going to say “orange,” too. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/46 "2017-08-01T08:48:47Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > When you look back at the 1970s, at the 1970s, what most epitomizes the decade? If you add an “F” to the front of his/her poster name, the answer is the OP. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/47 "2017-08-01T11:48:39Z")
Custom Vans were everywhere. The more bling the better. The decor is memorable, Shag carpeting, Bright wall colors, Sunken living rooms. Bell bottoms, zip up boots, and tie dye shirts. Blow dried hair styles. I loved the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/48 "2017-08-01T12:00:31Z")
Polyester. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/49 "2017-08-01T12:04:41Z")
Pretty much everything \*\*kiz \*\*said. I was born in 1969. (BTW, the Sundance network plays marathons of M_A_S\*H and Barney Miller in the mornings. I’ve got Barney Miller on instead of the news today.) > [@Nava](#): > > Apparently, bellbottom trousers. With leather-strapped wedge sandals and a tight scoop-neck t-shirt. Wasted on me since I was 10 at the end of the decade. Would’ve looked great five years later, though. And another vote for oh-god-orange-and-mud-brown-and-yellow-and-avocado EVERYTHING. I’m _still_ allergic to those colors. Ditto the tweed sofa that everyone seemed to have – damned itchy when you wore shorts. I lived in Florida; we wore shorts all the time. > [@owlfan](#): > > Elton John and Fleetwood Mac , I listen to them all the time now. It’s amazing how music can take you back. I’ve started to listen to a lot of Classic Rock because, by god, those people knew how to play instruments and sing without effing auto-tune and didn’t use “UNNNH, UNNNHHH” as a lyric. (And get off my lawn!) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/50 "2017-08-01T12:33:21Z")
\*\*70s: Pros: \*\* Music: Classic Rock was absolutely great. Zep, Pink Floyd & Yes just to name a few. TV: the best decade for Sitcoms. All in the Family, M_A_S\*H, Barney Miller, Taxi, WKRP, Mary Tyler Moore, Soap, The Odd Couple, Fawlty Towers and evan Bob Newhart and the early seasons of Happy Days. Movies: Pretty great decade that includes both Godfathers, The Sting, Star Wars and Jaws. Young Frankenstein, Animal House, Holy Grail & Blazing Saddles and so many more. Album covers of the 70s were pretty awesome as a minor side note. Politics: Nixon going to China was pretty awesome \*\*Cons: \*\*Music: Disco was about the worst music has been. Politics: Almost all bad, Nixon, Carter, Ted Kennedy just to name a few. TV: Pretty crappy time for drams The Economy: terrible, terrible & terrible. Oil crisis & Gas Lines, Inflation & wildcat strikes. The morale of the US & UK: Dreadful, both countries felt like we going down the drain. NYC burning and nearly going bankrupt. Rioting in the inner cities. Crime out of control. Military probably at its all time low. Vietnam, Watergate & Iranian Hostages. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/51 "2017-08-01T13:04:38Z")
> [@owlfan](#): > > I graduated from high school in 1978. I was not into drugs or sex really, so it’s the music and the movies I remember most. Elton John and Fleetwood Mac , I listen to them all the time now. It’s amazing how music can take you back. I annoy my coworkers whenever the PA system satellite radio does its 70s track, LOL. Or, as one of them says, “Oh god, that’s _Dad_ music…” with an eyeroll. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/52 "2017-08-01T13:32:36Z")
Disco/ Funk Inflation Oil Embargo/ gasoline shortages Ineffectual presidents Blaxploitation movies New York City as urban dystopia Science-Fiction movies all had lots of white plastic Poofy hair ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/53 "2017-08-01T13:36:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I was a kid, but avocado green and harvest gold appliances are what stood out for me. Underpowered and poorly built large american cars kind of jumps out as well. I was born in '66 and the colors are some of what I remember as well. I don’t recall green so much as a lot of yellow and orange in everything. furniture covers, table cloths, wallpaper, clothes etc. It was like people suddenly had an aversion to natural tones and wanted the world to know it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/54 "2017-08-01T13:45:53Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > I was born in '66 and the colors are some of what I remember as well. I don’t recall green so much as a lot of yellow and orange in everything. furniture covers, table cloths, wallpaper, clothes etc. It was like people suddenly had an aversion to natural tones and wanted the world to know it. There was a popular green, I don’t recall its name but my parents had both fridge & stove in the color. Harvest gold, Red and pumpkin orange were big time 70s colors. Actually the fondue pots of the 70s represented the dominate colors of the 70s pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/55 "2017-08-01T14:24:00Z")
Sky high interest rates. A 6 month CD was paying 15% and mortgage rates were at or near 20%. Ugly. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/56 "2017-08-01T14:34:17Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Sky high interest rates. A 6 month CD was paying 15% and mortgage rates were at or near 20%. Ugly. I swear the CD rates didn’t hit 15% until the 80s. How sure are you of that number? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/57 "2017-08-01T14:41:47Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > There was a popular green, I don’t recall its name… Avocado Green was the colour used in appliances. But there were many shades, from blindingly vivid to a muddy swamp green too. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/58 "2017-08-01T14:43:17Z")
The Brady Bunch. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/59 "2017-08-01T15:22:45Z")
Perms for men. Porno-type mustaches. Halter tops. Bell-bottom/hip hugger jeans. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/60 "2017-08-01T16:45:26Z")
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