# Which era rocks your boat? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816 "2004-10-12T13:21:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/41 "2004-10-13T07:25:05Z")
Born in 1971. I’m a fan of the eras 1927-1937 and 1958-1963. Some 1970s and early 1980s, too. I don’t agree with the assessment, either. The 1990s are going to go down as the blandest era in the 20th century. Nothing distinctive. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/42 "2004-10-13T07:45:16Z")
I turned 20 in 1981. I’m not particularly nostalgic for the music or clothes of that era. Actually, I much prefer the clothes and music of the 40s, when America was newly dominant as a world power and its culture peaked accordingly. Clothes have never been as glamorous, music has never been quite as good (Think Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Louie Prima, Louis Jordan and Charlie Parker all at the top of their game; the current crop of popular musicians should be ashamed). Sentimental movies were making way for grittier fare by Billy Wilder and William Wyler. Cars had huge tail fins and hood ornaments. Men wore hats. It just seemed like a more exciting time. Yeah, I know, the Civil Rights movement was in its infancy and it sucked not to be white, male, straight, etc. Glamour and justice are independent considerations. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/43 "2004-10-13T10:49:53Z")
I graduated from high school in 1986 and yet, almost everything that I’d give an arm and a leg to venture back to happened in the 70s. The fashions, movies and music are still, by far, my hand’s down favorites. I can get my art and books from another era, but if I landed on Fantasy Island (hehehehe) with only one desire, turning around to age 10 and instead making it 17, would be heaven. Oh, and television only ranks so-so. Some good, some bad. Overall though, I’d be _right there_ with a Hyde of my very own. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/44 "2004-10-13T11:09:06Z")
I’m in my early 20s now. I don’t think I’m really tied to any particular era. I like Shakespeare, I like the Marx Brothers, I like older blues music and some of the best stuff from the 60s and 70s, and some current TV and music. My general opinion is that most of anything from any era sucks, so just pick the good stuff. If people a few decades from now look back fondly on reality TV, Britney and Dr. Phil, I’m going on a mass-murder spree. As it is, nostalgia for the 80s makes me ill. I don’t even really remember the decade, but it was loud and ugly enough the first time. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/45 "2004-10-13T12:32:05Z")
> [@Dolores Reborn](#): > > I turned 20 in 1978. I will always love the music from that era, even the disco! I still wear t-shirts and jeans, and flip-flops. I can’t wear the “new” bell bottoms, I prefer tapered. The new ones feel funny to me. I love long hair on a guy. > > As a matter fo fact, I just went to see Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers this past Saturday. Incredible concert. I last saw Skynyrd in 1975, when I was 17. > > I guess you can call me a throwback. I love the 70’s! I still plan to marry Greg Allman (in keeping with the “I wanna be Cher” thing)! I love the Allmans, I too love skinny, dirty-looking boys with long hair, and the outfit you mentioned is my couture of choice! Of course, in 1978, I was only 8. So if you’re a throw **back** , does that make me a throw UP? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/46 "2004-10-13T12:34:43Z")
> [@Jomo Mojo](#): > > **auntie em** , did you mean to mix metaphors in your OP? > “Rocks your world” — Makes you delighted, makes you thrilled, makes you ecstatic. > “Floats your boat” — Works for you, gets you off, satisfies you. > “Rocks the boat” — Disturbs the balance or routine of a situation. Oops! Well, my decade of choice IS the 70s, so can I blame excessive drug use? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/47 "2004-10-13T12:56:17Z")
Interesting responses! It seems that among Dopers, _Psychology Today_ is full of hooey! I actually thought **Rysler’s** assessment was spot-on, at least for me; when I was a kid, the epitome of glamour and adulthood was getting to wear pantyhose, platform shoes, blue eyeshadow and excessive lipgloss, and having a job as a stewardess or a waitress (the most glamourous professions I could fathom). **tremorviolet** makes a good point as well, though maybe it depends on how much you liked high school (for the record, it was pretty good for me, but my friends and I made a point of bucking popular trends back then . . . . Thanks for all of the responses, and sorry it took me so long to respond back–went home sick yesterday, took some cold medicine, passed out and had dreams about Pam Grier . . . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816/48 "2004-10-13T13:25:17Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Josephine Marcus, who was a free-spirited (and Jewish!) traveling actress–if the movies Tombstone and Wyatt Earp were the least bit accurate. She’s the one. That story is corroborated in actual biographies of Earp. That she was Jewish should not be surprising. Johnny Ringo (actually Ringgold) was Jewish too. Probably the ethnicity of the old west was more like that of New York City or L.A. today than it was the all-lily-white population seen in old movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-era-rocks-your-boat/268816.md?page=2)