Ah! The culture of the 1970’s! What a decade to study! There were several things I studied that I can connect with. But the fashion? NO. A lot of the fashion pieces were wrong on so many levels! (Hint: Platform shoes and punk hairstyles – ICK!) Let me tell you a little bit about it…
The 1970’s was sometimes called the “pivot of change” by some historians. The 1970’s continued the continuation of the progressiveness that started in the 1960’s with feminism and political awareness.
There was an oil crisis happening worldwide, where the production of oil went down and the prices went up. There was a lie going on that the oil was low. This, in fact, was not true. The oil producers purposely produced less oil in order to raise the prices to ridiculous amounts. This started in 1973.
Novelist Tom Wolfe coined the name of the decade: “The Me Decade”, reflecting the decade’s shift from the responsibility-free view of society into the self-centeredness that it progressed into. People had left the idea of communitarianism (responsibility of the individual to the community). They focused instead on their own personal wants and needs.
In Britain, a new Prime Minister marked a radical change of times. Her name was Margaret Thatcher, who was elected in 1979.
Margaret Thatcher served until 1990. She was known as the “Iron Lady” due to her uncompromising politics and leadership. Thatcher and US President Reagan often worked together to help improve both of their countries.
Thatcher’s policies emphasized deregulation, flexible labor market and the reduction of the power of the trade unions, all decidedly conservative policies.
Thatcher was re-elected twice, but she resigned from office in 1990 due to the unpopularity of the new poll tax, which she supported. She died at the age of 87 from a stroke, in the year 2013.
Music was very influential during the 1970’s. Rock music matured and blossomed into the genre I know and love today! Many rock bands became popular during this time, including Aerosmith (I love “Dream On”),
Lynard Skynard (“Sweet Home Alabama” was one of their biggest hits),
the Australian band AC/DC (yes, the one with the terrible singing), Led Zeppelin (think: “Stairway to Heaven” or “Kashmir”), and many more.
Country music became increasingly popular as well. Country legends such as Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton increased Country’s popularity ludicrously at this time.
There were two deaths in the music world during this decade: Elvis Presley in 1977 (from a drug overdose), and then Bing Crosby a short eight weeks later.
The World Trade Center (Twin Towers) was completed and gained the title of tallest buildings in the world. The Sears Tower in Chicago was completed shortly afterward and was even taller than the Twin Towers!
Bell-bottomed pants, giant, frizzy hair and crazy bright colors all were a part of the fashion norm in the 70’s (and later, too). As for me? Unlike my mother (who apparently would like to res=visit the past), I would like to avoid some of the – bold – fashion statements. The furthest I would go would be getting a wave perm or bell-bottom BLUE jeans. Not red. Not ugly, vomit-yellow. And CERTAINLY not any form of polka-dots or easter-egg stripes. EW!
Star Wars and Star Trek were very, VERY popular in the 1970’s, (and still to this day!). I don’t know much about Star Wars (ok, fine, say all the hurtful words you want, Star Wars fans. I don’t care), but Star Trek, I can get pretty- no – extremely geeky about.
The Original Series of Star Trek (ST: TOS) starred William Shatner as Captain James “Jim” T. Kirk of the Federation Starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701. This series ran for three short seasons in the 1960’s, being cut off prematurely due to backlash from some of the public, the reason being that Uhura was a Black woman and Sulu was of Asian descent (I despise the actor of Sulu – he is a homosexual). Some people did not like that. However, it was still a very popular show!
Later series of the Star Trek franchise were created, and look how many there are now! I can count six right off of the top of my head. Yes, I will subject you to the whole list of them. Bear with me, now!
Star Trek: The Original Series (ST: TOS), Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST: TNG), Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (ST: DS9), Star Trek: Voyager (ST: VOY), Star Trek: Enterprise (ST: ENT), and finally, the newest series, Star Trek: Discovery (ST: DIS). Guess which one is my favorite series? Star Trek: Voyager! (Go, Janeway!) Below is a 4-K recreation of the Voyager opening credits (spoiler: it is AMAZING!!!)
In conclusion, the 1970’s is a decade in which I can picture myself living in. Sure, there would be no Lindsey Stirling or any of my favorite T.V. series (ST: TNG and ST: VOY to name a couple), but I am sure that I would thrive in that decade. Fewer crimes, less danger. The only downside is that homeschooling was not very popular back then, unlike now.
I hope you enjoyed my observations of historical reflections!
~ Brianna
Inquisitive Brianna 