# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/121 "2017-08-10T16:50:37Z")
I remember ill health, strikes, and being bullied. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/122 "2017-08-10T17:33:56Z")
I was a kid in the 70s, so my mom’s orange & olive green kitchen as well as the hideous clothing my mom put me in would epitomize the 70s for me. My mom also painted our beautiful upright piano yellow to “match” our pumpkin orange walls in the living room in the 70s. Three generations of our family have learned to play piano on that thing (and my daughter is the 4th); I was really young when she painted it, but old enough that the color made me sad. Now I own the darn thing and can’t even tell our piano tuner what the brand is. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/123 "2017-08-10T18:32:44Z")
I think the song Fingerprint File both musically and lyrically sums up the feel of the mid 70s well. Sleazy, lazy, grungy sounding, with lyrics about Nixonian paranoia. ---
**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 10, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/124 "2017-08-10T21:17:00Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > What happened on 5/8/1977? [Presto!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_5/8/77) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/125 "2017-08-10T21:46:38Z")
[Decor and style: White, orange, yellow, brown - rounded or square-ish shapes.](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=orange+brown+70s+design&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivud3R0c3VAhUFJ8AKHXTBAmoQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=700) ---
**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 10, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/126 "2017-08-10T21:47:30Z")
^ Like, far out, man! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/127 "2017-08-11T04:49:55Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > 5/8/77 I have to say 1977 was a banner year for me personally. Drinking age in Texas was still 18, and I was between 18 and 21 then. Music was fantastic, although I never was all that big on the Grateful Dead. But Hotel California came out then, among other classic albums. CNN recently had an article about 1977 being one of the best years for film. I had a fantastic time that year. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/128 "2017-08-11T05:42:40Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I personally missed it by a few years, but I was going to say “orange,” too. My answer was going to be “ugly orange, shitty green, and brown”. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/129 "2017-08-11T16:06:23Z")
Another thing that just popped into my head was the prevalence of bologna and cheese sandwiches on white bread. I’m pretty sure that and PB&J is all I ate all summer, with subtle variations every day. Fried bologna and cheese one day. Bologna and cheese and mustard another. Then just bologna. Then I’d start up with the PB&J. Also, silver-flocked wallpaper. Beauteous. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/130 "2017-08-11T17:03:07Z")
I can’t drive FIFTY FIVE! Yeah yeah, Sammy’s song was 84 or so, but the 55 speed limit was from 73 or 74 there abouts. CB radios were popular in cars, interstate trips were full of “Breaker 19, any smokies out there?”, radar detectors like the Fuzz Buster were a big deal, Smokey and the Bandit sold me on the virtues of a T-top Trans Am, Daisy Dukes were a nice sight at Stuckey’s… . ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/131 "2017-08-11T17:06:27Z")
btw, ftr, Daisy Dukes were already a thing before Hazzard, we just called them other names before Catherine Bach. “Cut-offs” was the phrase we used in South Houston High. The more cut off, the better! . ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/132 "2017-08-11T17:30:29Z")
Gas rationing Three Mile island Musically: Boston Freebird/Southern Rock Frampton Comes Alive Yes Springsteen ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/133 "2017-08-12T15:25:50Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > I can’t drive FIFTY FIVE! > > Yeah yeah, Sammy’s song was 84 or so, but the 55 speed limit was from 73 or 74 there abouts. CB radios were popular in cars, interstate trips were full of “Breaker 19, any smokies out there?”, radar detectors like the Fuzz Buster were a big deal, Smokey and the Bandit sold me on the virtues of a T-top Trans Am, Daisy Dukes were a nice sight at Stuckey’s… > . The speed limit dropped from 70, I think it was. I had a T-shirt I bought in a Texas head shop right after they dropped the speed limit that said: “Texas – Speed Limit 70!” Stopping at Stuckey’s was a major feature of our annual trips to my grandmother’s place in Arkansas. When CB radios were big, a group of us played this game. I forget what it was called, but it was basically hide and seek with CB radios. One car would be the “rabbit,” and it would park somewhere, and you had to find it based on what the occupants of the car said they could see. You couldn’t cheat and park inside your garage say, it had to be somewhere public. I never had a CB radio, but a lot of my buddies did. ---
**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 12, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/134 "2017-08-12T16:44:57Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > I can’t drive FIFTY FIVE!. As I recall it was originally **50** mph for awhile but too many people protested. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484/135 "2017-08-13T07:39:28Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Three-piece Baby-blue Corduroy Bell-bottom Leisure Suit. > > I think I might have PTSD from that garment. You had the high-end suit. Mine was polyester and the only follow-up treatment for me was a full frontal lobotomy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-most-epitomizes-the-70s-to-you/792484.md?page=6)