THE WAY WE WERE
A Nostalgic Look Back at Everyday Life in the 1970s-80s Before Digital Technology Took Over
― by RALPH WILLIAMS
Illustrated by GRACE McEVOY
It was the best of times, it was the absurdest of times – that heavily hair-sprayed and status-conscious era of the 1970s and 80s. I grew up in that period, and I survived the silly instant “space food”, the toxic spray of the mosquito trucks, and the cigarette smoke circulating on airplanes. So yes, I speak from personal experience when I say, it was very different back then.
Yessiree, we have traveled so far into this strange new world of cell phones and online everything that it’s hard to even recall that former way of life. It seems so far away now that, when I reflect back or reminisce with friends, it’s like I’m recalling a dream from a past life in a distant galaxy. If you were born in the 1990s and think you have a good idea of what that bygone world was like because you were born close to it, I can assure you, you really don’t. Sure, it’s been depicted in movies with a high degree of accuracy – the cars, the music, tv shows, people sitting on porches, children playing in the streets. But still, to really get it, you kinda had to be there. The internet arrived on the scene in the mid-90s and started changing things so quickly that by the late 90s and the early aughts, that whole other way of doing things was long gone by the time you were coming of age. But this is part of the point of this article–to reconjure the past, not only for folks in their 50s and above, but also to show you younger folks what you missed out on and what you might be able to recreate in some new form as we head into the future. So get ready people! Get out your 3-D glasses and your white bell-bottoms because we’re taking a joy ride in a magical disco time machine and the dial is set for the 70s-80s. Ready, set…LET’S GO THERE!!!
[Portable TV by Grace McEvoy]
Kids & Bikes & Cars
Oh wait, did I say something about seatbelts? What was I thinking, nobody wore seatbelts back then. Life was more risky in the 70s-80s, that’s for sure, and the risk was combined with some cavalier obliviousness. Parents, for instance, would turn their middle-school children out to play in the neighborhood with their friends would basically rely on God’s goodwill and the parent network to guide them back home in the evening for supper. Most moms were still at home raising kids and keeping the domestic side of life together, but there was also a neighborhood phone network with other parents to keep track of the kids.
As librarian, Donna Woods, recalls, “We lived outside, untethered. We were feral. Back then, we would ride bikes and play outside and make up games with other kids in the neighborhood. Parents didn’t have this fear of letting the kids out to play, and they would never really know where you were. And since there weren’t any smart phones, our parents didn’t have a way of checking on us. They gave us a long leash, but really, it was hardly a leash at all. They just assumed that we were in the neighborhood, so we had all this freedom to run around and do whatever with our friends.” Everyone had a bike and we would use it to travel around town or meet up in cul-de-sacs with other kids. If you were young, you might have a Schwinn bike with a banana seat, and for a period time, girls would attach pom-pom streamers to the handlebars. Eventually, 10-speeds with curled handlebars and ridiculously-hard leather seats became the rage for older kids, and you might have a Schwinn or a Raleigh or a Fuji. Your bike was your freedom and your means for getting around the neighborhood, meeting up with your friends, or tp-ing (toilet papering houses) in the middle of the night. You might be barefoot, you might be in cut-off shorts. And helmets? What helmets?
The cars on the street back then were colorful and stylish death machines. As I mentioned earlier, cars were equipped with seatbelts, but only as a suggestion, it was not a legal requirement so strapping it on was not expected. And of course, airbags hadn’t been invented yet, so driving was super dangerous. More than we realized. Plus the dashboards were usually made of metal, which could make a collision even worse, but at least the speeding limit in most areas was 55 mph, so it reduced the carnage to some degree. I have to say, though, safety issues aside, the styling in that era was totally amazing. Car makers back then were always chasing some kind of rainbow and trying to capture the fantasy of the American public with all kinds of unique body designs, colors, and convenience features. Earth-tones were popular like avocado, burnt-orange, yellow, or even brown. Muscle cars, on the other hand, were often in bright colors like purple, lemon, or mango. Cadillac was a mainstay in the luxury sedan market, while muscle cars like the Corvette, the Pontiac Thunderbird, Chevy Camaro, and the Ford Mustang captured the hearts of men who fashioned themselves as sexy racecar drivers. There were also cool roadsters like the GMC Midget, MGB, Triumph TR6, Porche 914, Mazda 280Z, and little British spitfires like the Austin-Healey Sprite and 3000. Deathtraps but man were they beautiful. And of course, who could forget the classic Volkswagon Beatle with it’s round bug-like shape, the VW Thing which was basically a dune buggy passing as a car, and all those groovy VW vans which were really hip but we didn’t know it at the time. Muscle cars like the Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, and Dodge Charger became symbols of speed and rebellion. The open road represented freedom, and cross-country road trips became a rite of passage many. The 70s witnessed the oil crisis that led to a shift towards smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Hatchbacks and ccompact cars gained popularity as people sought alternatives to the showy gas-guzzlers of the past. The iconic Volkswagen Beetle became a symbol of the era, representing a quirky and economical option for daily transportation. Carving out a different niche was the GMC Pacer was super wide econ-box, the Ford Pinto (which was everywhere for years, until was later revealed that a rear-end impact could cause an explosion…details!). And finishing off this list of peculiar cars, there was the El Camino which was a low-rider car with a truck-like bed – which was kinda ugly in a cool way.
And of course every car was equipped with an ash tray because the jury was still out on cigarettes and well, if you’re going to drive without a seat-belt you might as well smoke too! And last but not least, there were dorky family station wagons everywhere, and some even came in brown or with wood paneling. Those wagons sometimes featured back seats that faced backward so that smaller passengers could sit back there and look out the back window! And up front, the dash board was pretty mechanical and basic – just a speedometer with a needle and a gas gauge and an odometer. And there was always AM/FM radio in the center of the dash, which might include a cassette tape player or an 8-track tape player if you were lucky. It’s hard to believe, but we didn’t always have GPS to show us or Siri to tell us where to go. We had actual paper maps!
The Music
If you’ve never listened to music on an 8-track player, you’re not missing a thing. Those 8-track tapes were bulky and weird, and the players would often advance in the middle of a song. They were quickly replaced by cassette tapes, offering continuous play, in the late 70s. We had real vinyl album back then too, and we would play them on turntables that had an arm with a needle that would swing over and lower onto the album to play the music. And if it was a good album, it would get scratch over time and the record might start skipping in certain days. Awwww those were the days!
I know I’m a bit bias because that music was the soundtrack to my childhood – but even so, that era of music was so good. And there was such of range, from folk to pop to disco to harder stuff. The early 70s included wholesome family bands like The Jacksons (led by little Michael Jackson) and the Osmonds, led by little Donny Osmond. There was also The Monkeys and The Carpenters, and The Partidge Family (who had their own tv show), and Bread. It wasn’t called “wholesome pop” but that’s what it was and it was good. But alongside that was the more political and folk singers and poets like Joan Baez, James Taylor, Carol King, Simon & Garfunkle, Seals & Crofts, and 0f course, Bob Dylan. Bigger rock bands included The Doors, Pink Floyd, Chicago, Three Dog Night, and of course, The Beatles were huge all the way through the 70s. There there was the OJs and the Temptations and Earth, Wind, & Fire…and then Heart, Kansas, and Styx, and Van Halen in the later 70s. Omg, the list goes on and on. But perhaps my all-time favorite album from that era was “Rumors” by Fleetwood Mac. When that album first came out, I couldn’t get enough. I must have played it a couple hundred times until the scratches and skips became so bad I had to throw it away. I remember reading all the lyrics on the album cover and seeing names like Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie and thinking, “Who are these people? The sure look cool.”
Toward the end of the 70s, the disco era came onto the scene, especially after the breath-through movie, “Saturday Night Fever” with John Travolta. And yes, alot of that disco music was bubble-gum pop with certain beat and quirky cheesy sounds, but a lot of it was reeeeally good. I remember the first time I heard, “Love to Love You, Baby” by Donna Summer….I was completely taken with that song. And “Funky Town” by an unknown one-hit wonder band called Lipps, Inc….and “Let Love Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tenille, or “You Should Be Dancing” by the BeeGees. It’s hard to believe, but there were discoteques popping up everywhere during this time, and many of them had light-up dance floors like the one John Travolta showcase his crazy-disc moves in Saturday Night Fever. Disco was it’s own thing, and though it could get a little repetitive and cheesy, a lot of that music was surprisingly good. To get a look at some of those disco moves, not to mention the clothes!) you should take a look at some of the old Soul Train shows during that time. And if you don’t know what Soul Train is, all the more reason to check it out. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
One last thing, the 70s had a whole genre of story-telling music like The Edmond Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot or “Brandy” by Looking Glass. There were also comedic songs with campy lyrics by Weird Al Yankovic, and the 70s included some cool rock opera albums like “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Tommy” by The Who. and both were made into major motion pictures.
Moving on to the 80s…this is when MTV debuted, followed by VH-1, ushering in a new set of performers and a new era of music and music videos. I remember watching Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 on MTV in the early 80s and it was a whole new experience for me. Other groups like The Police, The Cars, and punk groups like The Clash or pop groups like Devo, Wang Chung, Wham! (with George Michael), A Flock of Seagulls, and The Eurythmics (with Annie Lennox), not to mention solo performers like Madonna, Cindy Lauper, and Michael Jackson (who gave us “Thriller” in the late 70s). Okay, okay here I go again with my lists. Honestly, I’m not sure how music critics describe the 80s and compare it to the 70s, but to me, this is when the music became more theatrical, partly because of the advent of music videos. In turn, there was less folk and soft guitar, and more anthems, bigger hair, more Glam-Rock. And maybe at times, an edgier, harder sound. It was, after all, the era that introduced punk music, as well as New Wave sound, which was kinda goofy and had a tech quality to it. All in all, it was a good era, with a wide range of new sounds that ranged from orchestral rock to punk to New Wave pop to epic anthems that bordered on (let’s admit it)…lame and cheesy.
Products & Fashions
[Illustration: G. McEvoy]
Everyday products and activites shaped the collective memory of a generation of Baby Boomers – from the Beatles “White Album” to the clunky racket of the first personal computers, this era remains embedded in the fabrick of Amercian cvultural history. It was the last of a somewhat natural and innocent time compared to the one we live in today. We were just coming out of the heavily-strarched and repressed 50s with its souped-up cars and and traditional family roles, which was followed by the boundary-breaking psychadellic 60s. So by the time we stepped into the 70s, there was this sense that we had finally settled down arrived and a nice mid-point between stifling conservatism and hostile radicalism. Most of us were sitting down to family dinners, or eating on a tv tray while watching corny tv shows in the evening. It was still wholesome in a way, and of course we thought we had arrived at a very hip and modern way of living. Boy, did we have a lot to learn
In the 60s, the counter-culture youth used fashion to rebell against the established conservative norms by wearing frings vests, tie-dye shirts, maxi dresses, psychedellic prints, and peace sign accessories. The 70s took that earthy rebellious “hippie wear” and added some fun and frivolity. Platform shows, wide collars for men, and polyester suits were the rage. As disco culture emerged, some glamnmy and often outrageous outfits with bold patterns and metallic fabric added fivolity and life to city streets and the disco dance floor. Brands like Levi[‘s and Wrangler gained prominence as well, symbolizing a casual and free-spirited lifestyle.
I remember collecting S&H Green Stamps in the late 60s. The stamps were issued in grocery stores and other places as a reward for shopping there, and you would fill these small booklets with the stamps and the you would cash the books in for different S&H gifts which were featured in catalogs. I wanted a pair of ice skates and my mother let me collect the stamps, and I eventually filled enough books to get my ice skate. I don’t think mother ever thought I would actually get enough books to get those skates because then she had to drive me to an skating rink for lessons…in Florida!” ―Jan in Chicago, age 73
A lot of it was processed and there was a movement toward engineered foods in an attempt to modernize nutrition and adapt a faster-paced world.
Communication
“We spent so much time talking on the phone, but the phones were all land lines and we’d have to use these rotary dials to call people to talk and we’d listen through these big clunky handhelp plastic things with curly cords. And the phones were shared by the whole family so you couldn’t talk whenever you wanted. Your mom would say, Honey, I need to use the phone, and you’d have to hang up. I remember talking for long periods at night in the hallway outside my bedroom. Such good memories!” ―Donna W.
“We didn’t have answering machines back then, and I remember sitting at the dinner table one night and someone called while we were eating and my grandfather said, ‘Leave it, if it’s important, they’ll call back.’ We prioritized different in the old days. We didn’t have to respond to most things right away. ―Magic John
[Illustrated by G. McEvoy]
[Illustrated by G. McEvoy]
“Prior to the internet, we had encyclopedias to do research or look up something. I had the Encyclopedia Britannica, and one of the benefits, besides the fact that they were well-researched and written and looked great on a shelf, is that when you looked up something, you would run into something else that was interesting to read and study. We don’t have that anymore with the internet because a topical search will yield set of results pertaining to that topic, and that’s it.” ― John
[Illustrated by G. McEvoy]
[Illustration by G. McEvoy]
“We had to load our cameras with film and then send the exposed film off to a lab to be processed and turned into prints.
[Illustrated by G. McEvoy]
TV Shows
Families in the 60s would gather around the telly (often with a bowl of popcorn or a TV dinner) to watch shows like “The Ed Sullivan Show”, “The Twilight Zone”, “Star Trek”, and “The Andy Griffith Show” showcased the diversity and wide-ranging tastes in tv viewing. The 70s brought about a new wave of sitcomes and dramas that reflected the changing dynamics in American society. Shows like “All in the Family”, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and “MASH” addressed timely social issues, while “Happy Days” and “The Brady Bunch” provided a nostaligic escape in the idyllic past.
“Back then, there were three major networks–ABC, NBC, and CBS–and the news was reported in a factual, respectful, matter-of-fact manner. They didnt embellish or sensationalize the news. It was straightforward and professional.” Jan in Chicago, age 73
[Illustration: G. McEvoy]
Board games like Monopoly and Clue brought families and friends together for friendly competition. Frisbees and Hula Hoops became popular outdoor activities that embodied the carefree spirit of the times. The 70s witnessed the rise of video arcades with games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders, captivating the younger generation. Roller disco became a popular patime, combining the joy of roller skating with the pulsating beats of disco music. Additionally, the emergence of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 marked the beginning of the role-playing game (RPG) culture.
The video game Pong was released in 1972, captivating a new generation and marking the beginning of the gaming industry.
Now vs. Then
“The biggest change that has happened in recent years is the expectation of instant gratification and immediate response. People expect to hear back from you right away, and I don’t like that. It adds stress and takes away some psychologyical breathing room. I make a point to only answer emails once a day.” ―Magic John
“When we were kids, we used to go the public library and check out books, or we’d go to the reading room for a high school research project,” recalls Austin librarian, Donna Woods, now in her 60s. “Things have changed dramatically within libraries in the last 20 years. I can remember when I started at Austin Public Library back in 2003, students would still come up to me with reference questions or general assistance research projects. Now, I don’t ever get asked a reference question because they have the internet. I might be asked, What’s a good book to read?–but that’s about it.
“It was a very different time, politically and socially. I remember spending lots of time during 5th grade under my desk. Growing up in South Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis, we spent time every day practicing our ‘duck & cover’ safety practices in case the Russians bega n shooting nuclear missles at Florida!” ―Jan in Chicago, age 73
“Now parents expect their kids to carry cell phones. Kids today can’t write in cursive and a lot of them can’t read cursive or read a clock or use a paper road map or calculate change in their head at a register.” ―Magic John
“Ours was an era of minimal expectations and neglect. Back then, there wasn’t this big expectation about getting a perfect SAT score. I don’t even remember AP classes in high school. There seems to be all this pressure these days to be an academic superstar.” ―Donna W.
Email, GPS, contacts list at your fingertips, parents have instant access to kids, remote work, computer cafes, internet for research.