The 70s - new series on BBC2 Monday at 9pm

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

The 70s - new series on BBC2 Monday at 9pm

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Good things about the seventies. 1 Football was better 2 Music was better

3 The weather was better (Are you sure?) 4 Life not dominated by technology and gadgets 5 School was cool (well sortof, looking back) 6 Politics was more interesting

Not so good things 1 The 'Troubles' In Northern Ireland 2 Strikes- One out all out! 3 Some awful haircuts! 4 Casual racism/homophobia 5 Unfunny sitcoms 7 No Internet/computers so people had to read books for information (on reflection not necessarily a bad thing, finding things out required work)

In general I don't feel nostalgic but one can't help feeling life was simpler. Stars existed on merit, rather than the cult of useless celebrity which is the norm today.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

noelindublin wrote:
Good things about the seventies. 1 Football was better 2 Music was better
3 The weather was better (Are you sure?) 4 Life not dominated by technology and gadgets 5 School was cool (well sortof, looking back) 6 Politics was more interesting
Not so good things 1 The 'Troubles' In Northern Ireland 2 Strikes- One out all out! 3 Some awful haircuts! 4 Casual racism/homophobia 5 Unfunny sitcoms 7 No Internet/computers so people had to read books for information (on reflection not necessarily a bad thing, finding things out required work)
In general I don't feel nostalgic but one can't help feeling life was simpler. Stars existed on merit, rather than the cult of useless celebrity which is the norm today.

And we were all younger biggrin with life stretched before us and all those mistakes and bad decisions yet to be made Mind you, too young to drink alcohol or go out on the town (just had to stay in and watch those sitcoms!) so maybe getting older has some compensations .......

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

1 Football was better - More interesting, but players today are far better
2 Music was better - Had its highs and low, but overall probably shades most decades except the 90s
3 The weather was better (Are you sure?) - Always seemed sunny in the seventies. People thought I was Italian!
4 Life not dominated by technology and gadgets - I disagree. I had a cassette/7" record player, and even had a Binatone bat and ball video game. Not to mention all the Ronco products.
5 School was cool (well sortof, looking back) - Primary school was, secondary school wasn't
6 Politics was more interesting - Agree, In UK, you never knew which bunch of incompetents would win!
Not so good things
1 The 'Troubles' In Northern Ireland - And arguably in the rest of the UK as well
2 Strikes- One out all out! - Essentially how the UK was destroyed by the workers.
3 Some awful haircuts! - I disagree, at least they were interesting.
4 Casual racism/homophobia - Yes, absolutely incredible when you look back.
5 Unfunny sitcoms - Except Fawlty Towers which had plenty of casual racism as well.
6 No Internet/computers so people had to read books for information (on reflection not necessarily a bad thing, finding things out required work) - I read comics, which were far superior in the seventies, and even my kids agree with that!
In general I don't feel nostalgic but one can't help feeling life was simpler. - Yes, but I was a child, so it was bound to be.

Stars existed on merit, rather than the cult of useless celebrity which is the norm today - mmm, like rock star's daughters...

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Fantastic thread and totally agree with everything that has been said. 70s clothes (apart from Glamrock) were pretty good.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
...but I think it's probably better to be living in this current decade than at any other time.

I thought the 1990s were the best of times. Plenty of work, great music, cheap houses, superb football, marvellous movies (Good Fellas, Shallow Grave, Last Seduction, Reservoir Dogs...), fabulous TV (Seinfeld, Frasier, This Life, The Simpsons, Sopranos...), end of the Cold war....

The world hasn't been as good since the attack on the twin towers in New York.

-- Edited by ArrGee on Tuesday 17th of April 2012 05:36:57 PM

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Have set the series to record - it's on for the next few weeks, I think. Caught the tail-end of the documentary with miners strike and power cuts etc, plus Asian exodus from Uganda. Obviously remember some things from the news at the time, but strange how you just accept stuff when you're younger and it's only when you watch news items later that you realise impact and significance of everything. Certainly remember it being fun sitting around with candles and a huge lamp/torch with red beacon on top and white side beam. But I guess if you were a parent trying to cope with it all, not so much fun! The one thing I remember seeing in the early seventies was a poster warning about rabies and being absolutely terrified! Recently I've been to various war museums (oh the joy of being in a mainly male household!) and watching the information videos warning about what to do in a nuclear emergency, but never remember seeing this on tv as a child - maybe I was shielded from it. Of course those were the days when the tv frequently went off air so probably didn't spend all day glued in front of it! Also watched the Iron Lady film recently (my Mum wanted to watch it!) and again watching the Brighton bomb scene really shook me even though I must have watched/read about it at the time. I guess when you're younger, things don't affect you so much as you think stuff just happens to other people and you're protected in some way .... Or is that just me??

Saw the first 15 mins of music show after - Kinks, Roxy Music and Bowie - and look forward to watching the rest. Certainly some very strange looking people in audience on TOTP but makes a refreshing change from the trend nowadays to just feature the young, thin and beautiful people. Caption on Roxy Music number said they had gone down a storm supporting Bowie, but not had such a good reception supporting Jethro Tull in the US. LOL!!

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Like any decade there were good and bad things going on. Most of us were too young to comprehend the importance of events so we accepted what was going on, basically, as children.

As someone with a strong interest in history I always find myself 'time travelling' - reading, or watching documentaries or films, about medieval times, or the Seventeenth century, or the 1960's or whenever, but I think it's probably better to be living in this current decade than at any other time.

Anybody who has seen the Old Grey Whistle Test on dvd can get a good idea of how weird and wonderful the music scene was in the seventies. Lots of wigged out groups doing their own thing and finding cult audiences.