What was daily life like in the mid-70s and early 80s? (European, Japan)
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This may be a subjective observation but I think the 80's were last years of good network TV shows. I think the networks still thought they could compete with the new ways in which we were accessing home entertainment.
Hmmmmm life in the mid 70s. I was born in 1953, so I was 22 in 1975. I had left the army the year before, warned by friends there was a lot of unemployment out there. I had married my first wife in 1973. I got a job no problem, working for a massive business called ICI.
Our rent was low, one sixth of my take home pay. We had bought all brand new furniture with money I saved in the army, so we had no debts. There was plenty of money for a good time. We were full of hope, unlike now.
Margaret Thatcher won her first election in 1979. Things got worse almost immediately. Unemployment doubled within two years. The woman set about attacking the ordinary working man. She is despised by many to this day.
I fortunately, had gone to work for Royal Mail in 1980. We did just fine. Good wages, plenty of overtime.
We socialised a lot. I remember we went out to pubs and discos. Most everybody thought things would get better eventually. We wore flared pants, bright shirts and platform shoes. We danced to ABBA and Donna Summer.
I raised a deposit, and we bought our first home in 1978. My first son was a baby. My wife stayed home, we managed just fine.
Today, everybody is scared to death. Young people don't know any different. I'm glad I'm not starting out now. I visit America, and talk to Americans. There is a lot of resentment, and anger, both here and the US.
Life is harder now than back then.
This may be a subjective observation but I think the 80's were last years of good network TV shows. I think the networks still thought they could compete with the new ways in which we were accessing home entertainment.
I thought the TV of the nineties was pretty good still.
I missed out on most of the 70 stuff...I do remember some of the 80's stuff, so I’ll share with you what I remember....
Our house was a cinder block home and was painted an olive green color, like the color of lava soap. Inside the walls were yellow and the carpet was tan. We had brown curtains with reddish-orange drapes. We had well water without any kind of water treatment and we had no problem drinking the water from a garden hose. We didn’t have central a/c....instead our home was cooled by a 220 volt Montgomery Ward window a/c unit. It did a fantastic job for what it was. Out hose was maybe 1000 sq ft. Oh...and we had an oil burning furnace in those days. We always had to buy fuel just before the fall and every few years we had to repaint the oil stained walls.
In the kitchen, all of our appliances were yellow. We had real wood paneling in the kitchen in kind of a cherry color. There was also wall paper in the kitchen, it was a shamrock green faux tile. The kitchen floor was no kidding, a red tile floor. Someone later put down a light green-white colored linoleum. We didn’t get our first microwave until Christmas of 1985. Heck before then we used to cook popcorn in a covered skillet.
My bedroom was painted a light baby blue color with a hard wood floor that was later converted to carpet. My room had 1 light that was activated by a pull chain in the ceiling. Mom and dad’s room had dark brown wood paneling and I think their carpet was a thick green shag style.
We had one TV in the house, a Sears color TV, built in 1977 and it was a knob style tuner...meaning you had to get up to change the channels. We lived inside the Indianapolis city limits, so we managed to get 5 channels as I recall. And that was thru a pair of rabbit ears on the back of the TV. We did not get cable until 1986, and when we did, we went from 5 channels, to only 36. We had to use a converter box to make the cable work with our Sears TV. Back then they used to use the terms “cable ready” when it came to describing TV’s not requiring a converter box to work on cable. 1986 was also the same year we got our first VCR.
We had one phone, and it was in the kitchen on the wall. It too was yellow like the appliances, and it was a rotary dial. I remember for the longest time I never could figure out how to get my finger in the last few holes and be able to spin the dial enough to complete the call....and was wondering “why don’t they just make all phones push button style?” I also recall we had my grandparents on speed dial (all I had to do was dial 2 for grandpa, or 3 for grandma), and I was advised not to call because it was expensive to call long distance. Later we got our first cordless phone (I don’t remember the date) and it had that huge telescopic antenna that you had to pull out to make a phone call. Everyone knew when I was on the phone with it as it would crackle over the air. We also didn’t have an answering machine until the late 80's so we had to put up with those dang telemarketers.
We had one stereo in the house. It was a Capehart (I’ll bet most of you don’t even remember this brand) table top stereo with an 8 track deck and 4 speakers (2 of them were Pioneer cubes)....and that was it. The stereo didn’t have very good sound quality and the speakers were small, but it did have a cool bright blue backlit analog dial. Later we finally got a Pioneer SX780 stereo with JVC 4 ways, a Sony turntable and a TEAC cassette deck. That stereo was a MAJOR step up from the Capehart.
Cartoons were usually Saturday mornings, but by 1985 they had already started coming on in the mornings before school and also in the afternoons after school. Weekday cartoons consisted of Heathcliff, Voltron, He-Man, GI-Joe, Transformers, Tom and Jerry, Inspector Gadget....maybe Dennis the Menace (the animated version), and I can’t remember what else. Saturday mornings were Wildfire, Muppet Babies, Bugs Bunny and Tweety show, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, Hello Kitty, Teen Wolf (animated TV series)....a few others that elude my memory at this time.
Dad drove a 71 Chevy Nova 2 door, dark green on green in color, and mom drove a 67 Chevelle 4 door, white on gold in color. Neither car had power brakes or a/c. We rolled down the windows on a hot day. The Nova had power steering. It also had an 8 track player. We would listen to either the first Boston album or George Harrison’s 33 1/3 on 8 track. Later we purchased a 75 Ford F100 brown on brown in color, and it too didn’t have a/c....also this truck was manually shifted on the steering column.
I think I vaguely remember soda coming in glass bottles, but I remember plastic being more common. I remember when there was a such thing called “Pepsi Free”. I remember all 2 liter bottles had a plastic bottom that was glued on.
Yes we played outside when we were kids. We also rode our bikes all over the place. We didn’t have cell phones in those days....we had phone booths and as I recall they costed a quarter a call. Only the rich had cell phones and they were nothing like they are now...they were bigger than a brick and weighed a lot. They also had big rubber duck style antennas and from what I recall, sucked up a lot of electricity to operate.
Video games like Ataris were already out by 1984 and Ninentos came a few years later. I never had one but some friends of mine had one. Sometimes I’d come over and play a few games with them, but usually if you wanted to play video games back then, you went to your local video arcade.
I remember when Mc Donalds was considered a “treat”. I even recall my mother telling me “Dairy Queen is for when you’re good”. I still think of those words when I roll up to a DQ.
I remember most eateries, folks smoked. I remember in Greenwood Indiana there used to be a restaurant called “Saps”...where my dad and I used to go have breakfast with my dad’s dad....back then they no kidding still had a cigarette machine in the lobby!!! I don’t know if it worked or not. I don’t recall anyone ever smoking in grocery stores. I do recall both of my parents smoked and didn’t seemed moved that I was seriously bothered by the second hand smoke.
In school I don’t recall there ever being a time for prayer time. There were no such things as “
school shootings” when I went to school - what happened yesterday in Connecticut was unheard of! Yes we did have fights, and we were dealt with in manners that didn’t involve getting hauled off to jail. Yes they even paddled your ass when I went to school, and no they didn’t notify the parents for consent. I speak from experience on this one. When I went to school, you could either buy the school’s lunches, or you could bring your own lunch...those of us that brought our lunches usually had those tin metal or plastic lunch boxes with our favorite cartoon character or super hero, that now go for big bucks on eBay.
I remember in the 80's watching TV was a little cleaner than it is today. You didn’t have all the cussing, sex scenes and junk that goes on. (Dallas might have been an exemption) Dukes Of Hazzard, Fall Guy, A-Team, Magnum PI, ChiPs, TJ Hooker, Knight Rider....are a few that come to mind.
I'm curious as to what daily life was like during this time period (roughly 1975-1984). Reading through various threads on this forum and hearing stories from relatives, I have this general image in my head, i.e., clunkier cars, lots of smoking, children always playing outside, going out to dinner was a rare treat, colorful appliances and interior decorating, etc. I knew smoking was allowed in restaurants (heck, the ban is relatively recent), but I was surprised to read that people also smoked in the grocery store. Overall it seems like it was a less sterile, dirtier, grittier time compared to the present. I mean that literally and metaphorically. How did the food taste? Was it better, worse, or on par with today? Did a cup of coffee or a cheeseburger in 1980 taste the same as it does in 2012? I'm especially interested in what was life was like in the early 80s since it doesn't seem to be discussed much for some reason. When did the 80s become distinct from the 70s? Was 1982 really that different from 1978? Was the disco era confined to the mid-to-late 70s or was there any spill over into the early 80s? I understand this was a rough time economically with high unemployment, inflation, etc. What was it like when the economy came roaring back (I ask that considering we're still in a malaise from the most recession)? Economically, politically, and culturally, how would you compare this time period in the US to the present?
I know this is a hodge-podge of both specific and broad questions, but I've been thinking about this for a while and would like to hear your thoughts.
I was too young in the 80s to remember but I wouldn't be surprised if food tasted a bit different.. considering:
- Trans Fats and High Fructose Corn Syrup were not as regulated.
- Less genetically modified foods.
- Less imitation foods (i.e. Tofu burgers.)
I had forgotten about CB radios. They became so popular that the FCC added 17 channels to the existing 23. Long popular with truckers, everyday drivers became interested when they used it to find gas. Disco mostly died in 1979. Chicago White Sox hosted disco demolition night between games of a doubleheader and ended up forfeiting a game.
Except for a brief recession in 1975 jobs were easier to get especially for college graduates. There was a severe period of hard times in 1982-83, until 2008 the most severe since WWII. In the 1970's inflation was high. Seemed you couldn't lose buying a house or other real estate. Some complain the air traffic controllers were "fired". When in fact they were participated in an illegal activity.
Regarding smoking, that was legal just about anywhere. Pot was still illegal but laws seldom enforced. Drinking ages in many states were lowered. Fads: How about the Pet Rock, Mood rings, and LED digital watches?
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I find the kitschiness of the 70s kind of attractive, I mean everything was so far out and 'groovy' lol. The bold colours, loud fashions (check out some of the hairstyles, lol), and the music was just fun. I would've LOVED to have gone to a disco or something back in the 70s. Indeed, though i was born in 1986, the first decade I 'fell in love with' was the 70s...love ABBA, Bee Gees, Carpenters, ELO as well as the rock groups like Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Aerosmith, Van Halen etc. Also lots of great singer-songwriters.
I envisage it as pretty modern, but a simpler time. Just before personal computers hit the market, or video games etc entered every household in America. Kids played outside because there was a lot less to do at home - when you did stay home you watched TV with your family or played board games or something. A lot fewer people were wealthy enough to go on vacation, you'd be considered a real traveller if you went to Europe. Very few people went to exotic places like India.
Disco seemed to persist into the early 80s and sort of fused with New Wave. Remember the 'Disco Sucks' graffiti from Fast Times at Ridgemont high? That seemed a common saying back then. The slang was different, people seemed to talk slower and more intelligently, not as 'ditzy' as teens and young adults today. Society was less fragmented, pop music was still somewhat respectable (although there was a lot of cheesy tosh from the 70s).
Just as an example some people mentioned fast food in the 1970s. Well in Brooklyn there WERE NO fast food chain restaurants then (okay, now somebody is going find evidence of one on Coney Island avenue or something) They first came into Manhattan in the mid 1970s I think, and only a couple in touristy areas. Mcd's, burgher king, were suburban things.
Oh, and most TV was crap. Hollywood, OTOH, was making some seriously good films.
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