Do you remember 1971 and 1972? (WWII, war, 60's, biggest)

[SunnyKayak]

I was born in January 1972 and curious what was life was like for my parents of that year. If you remember it well feel free to share.
The good things, the bad things what was popular, what did you enjoy and what did you hate.

[Six Foot Three]

Well i was around 8 or 9 back then. I remember we watched Charlies Angels and Starsky and Hutch on Prime Time TV back then. I also watched The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch as after school favorates on TV also.

I remember the long gas lines at the Gas Stations back then whenever my parents pulled our Station Wagon in to fill up as the oil embargo against the U.S. made it tough to get fuel.

I remember when my dad managed a Dennys resturaunt and there was a Juke Box in there as i loved to put in quarters in it to hear my favorate songs and also going to watch my dad Bowl in his Bowling league i as would play the Pinball Machines for hours.

One thing i realised since those years is that back then is that people were always more active as our family and friends always went to the parks on the weekends and had cookouts and played basketball, softball and Frisbee Football etc as i would be the most excited when my dad took me to K-Mart and bought me a new Basketball...as there wasn't computers, electronic games, videos or cell phones and we did not sit in front of a TV with 400 cable channels as we have in todays world.

I could go on but that's some of the things i recall back in the years you mentioned when i was in the 3rd and 4th grades......

[ontheroad]

I lived in the Netherlands when you were born, attending graduate school, and watching very litte television. Amsterdam was always springtime, and I was young and eager to change the world. Now, it seems it is winter, more often than not, and I only changed myself.

[sad delta]

Life was pretty great for me back in the early 70's......I don't know if it was just my youth or if things were actually much more safe back then! In 1972 I was a sophomore in High School. Being female, I didn't give it a second thought about going anywhere by myself or even picking up a hitchhiker...I did that quite often! Vietnam protests were going on, women burning their bras, and it seemed everybody had a cause to fight for! The best thing about the 70's was the best music in the history of time was right at your fingertips ( pushing in that 8 track tape )!!! Ahhh, those were the days....seemed like $1 would fill up my yellow vw bug and I could, and did, ride all over the state with my 8 track tape player as loud as I could get it! Funny; I complain about that now! It was a different world back then! FABULOUS......

[hapaleeretired]

It was the end of good rock and roll music! There have been very few songs made since then that will ever be heard again.
Viet Nam was winding down. The politicians realized that we could not win there. About this time people got a lot more cynical. We began to question our government. We went to Viet Nam to stop the spread of Communism. 60,000 American lives were lost for nothing (unless you owned a steel mill or a munitions factory). It is forty years later and we still have yet to figure out what the heck we were doing there. Many people my age worry that the youth of today will look upon Iraq with the same questions.

[njkate]

Originally Posted by hapaleeretired

It was the end of good rock and roll music! There have been very few songs made since then that will ever be heard again.
Viet Nam was winding down. The politicians realized that we could not win there. About this time people got a lot more cynical. We began to question our government. We went to Viet Nam to stop the spread of Communism. 60,000 American lives were lost for nothing (unless you owned a steel mill or a munitions factory). It is forty years later and we still have yet to figure out what the heck we were doing there. Many people my age worry that the youth of today will look upon Iraq with the same questions.

Have to agree with you on that one..now the mid to late 60's were pretty good..GREAT music...to me the 70's were like BLAH

[Dd714]

People making it sound like the movie "Hair". LOL The late 60's and early 70's were not like that at all, at least to the average american. Not at all. The war and war protests were something seen on TV and to most of America it was something foreign and a million miles away. Guys had crew cuts, went to work, spent time with there family, watched football, went to school. Pretty much what they do today.

Jefferston Airplane and Joan Biaz were not blaring from the radio, it was more like The Osmond's, Roberta Flack, Neil Diamond...bubble gum and pop.

The War in Vietnam at this time had been going on for awhile, but was somewhat winding down. You saw it on the news, Dan Rather in all these places that were hard to prounounce, after 6 years people didn't think about it much sad to say. I think I remember the big thing about Vietnam was "the paris peace talks". But, at this point in time it just not was a big topic in day to day conversation. Watergate was not yet exposed yet (that was 1973) so that was not in the news yet.

The biggest differences when I compare it to today is in TV (home entertainment) and certain conveniences that we take for granted today - no cable, only about 3 or 4 TV stations. No VCR or DVD. No Cell phone, just those dial phones, No microwave - we had those tin foil TV dinners for "quick" meals (took 40 minutes to cook in the oven and they tasted really bad). No laptop or computers at all of course. I think the result of all this is that life was much slower then, people had more leasure time not being tied down to work, more family time.

[BlueWillowPlate]

In 1971 and 1972, I was 17 and 18 at East High School in Denver, Colorado.
I was a self-absorbed teenager, but still interested in the world around me.
There was a war going on, and the Draft. I and most of my friends did not believe this war should be fought. Older friends and siblings of friends had died. I did not want my brothers to have to go.
I went to my first Earth Day in April 1970.
There was a lot of tension and conflict going on, guys having long hair was still a big deal. The high school I had transferred from did not allow girls to wear pants.
Conservatives were not fond of hippies and/or protesters.
"Love It Or Leave It" bumperstickers abounded.
Other cultural clashes occurred as schools were being desegregated.
I went to my first Sit-In--to protest some rule or regulation. I occasionally engaged in questionable activities, but managed to stay alive, unhurt and in good health.

A lot of the time, all I was doing was looking forward to the next great concert.
Just this past weekend I was just looking at old concert stubs from that time.
Rolling Stones--$5.
Santana and Country Joe and the Fish--$5.
The Grateful Dead up in Boulder, 1972, (broken link) had bags of pot flying from the stage.
I got tear-gassed at the Jethro Tull show up in Red Rocks.

In a way, those years remind me of right now.
A lot of people think the world is going to hell in a handbasket these days.
And they have a point.
A lot of people thought the same thing back then. And they too had a point.

[Moth]

I remember both years, but I was in 1st and 2nd grade so I saw it through the prism of childhood and now look back on it through the generous editor that is history. That is why my preference for time travel would actually be my own lifetime as I could then see it differently.

I remember glimpses of the big issues of the day, but I could not really understand them. I do remember American Pie being a huge hit and hearing it on the radio all the time. I remember more afros and bell bottoms, but I had not yet grasped the concept of style (actually I would not grap that until my late 20s. ha ha). I vividly remember that famous Coca-Cola commercial.

Its weird to think about that time from different perspectives. Besides the obvious rock and roll, many long gone stars were still huge- Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, etc. WWII vets were at the apex of their lives and there were still lots of WWI vets around. MLK had only been gone for a few years.

Ah those were the days...

[MotleyCrew]

I lived in one half of the upper part of an old victorian home. It was 2 years after I graduated from H.S and I was working and enjoying my feedom. I fell in love with a gorgeous young man and he broke my heart. I will never forget 72.