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File:Those Fabulous 70's commercial


Cquote1

Nite Owl: But the country is disintegrating. What's happened to America? What's happened to the American Dream?

Comedian: It came true. You're lookin' at it.
Cquote2


The Seesaw Seventies: A time when love was free, peace was the sign of the times and polyester was the fiber of choice. A period in history where the men wear polyester leisure suits, flary pants, huge ties and sport highly sprayed and manicured hair, sideburns included. The women have feathered, Farrah Fawcett hair, and wear slinky dresses with no bras underneath. Black people sported huge, poofy Afros as a Take That to past straightening practices. Heck, even white people had afros if they could grow them. Most people spend at least 92 percent of their waking lives at the disco or behind the wheel of a car big enough to tow the Titanic. Disco music with a tense "waka-chu-waka" beat often plays during chase scenes, or on pornos.

Elsewhere, Western Terrorists (and the Arab ones) are trying to blow up people, the US is still losing in The Vietnam War, and the blockbuster movie is invented, twice.

Media Technology reaches a turning point, as 8-track audio cassettes and VCRs appear for the first time, however the LP and Film are both still king. Movies such as Taxi Driver and The Godfather begin to deal with subjects once considered taboo due to the loosening censorship laws, and pornographic film becomes legal. The world learns the meaning of Kung Fu thanks to a tough little guy from Hong Kong named Bruce Lee. Television is changed forever by such ground breaking shows as All in The Family, Mash, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Saturday Night Live and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Meanwhile gentle family shows like The Waltons, Little House On the Prairie and The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams found their own audience while The Fonz was ruling the kid's imagination while giving Robin Williams his big time start as the master comedian in Mork and Mindy. Meanwhile, Star Trek the Original Series is Vindicated by Cable and develops a sizable fanbase, spawning a juggernaut franchise that would not die for... well, ever. While the kids have made the best of the Dark Age of Animation with Saturday Morning Cartoons like Superfriends and Scooby Doo, they at least had PBS's breakthrough kids shows, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street in their vibrant glory of its youth before they graduated to The Electric Company, Zoom and The Big Blue Marble.

Punk Rock and Disco, two genres of music which continue to influence music to this day come out during this decade, as does the first primitive electronic music under such bands as the German Kraftwerk and Suicide (band) from New York City. Comics enter the Bronze Age, featuring death, politics, and ethnic superheroes for the first time ever. The Cold War slows down as American and Soviet relations improve for the first time since 1945. American distrust for authority reaches a high point with the Watergate scandal.

The post war economic boom that dominated The Fifties and The Sixties ends in recession, turning the American manufacturing Belt into the "rust belt". Crime and grime are on the rise and respect for law and order - from both criminals and their victims - begins to decline in favour of the good old fashioned "heads blown off" method. The energy crisis has Westerners running out of gas for the first time, showing the world just how dependent we all are on the Middle East.

Politically covers the period from the Kent State Massacre on May 2, 1970 to both the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and the end of the Iran hostage crisis on January 20, 1981, Pop-culturally covers the period from the Tate-Labianca murders on August 8-9, 1969 to Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979.

See Also: The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, The Forties, The Fifties, The Sixties, The Eighties, The Nineties, Turn of the Millennium and The New Tens.


Popular tropes from this time period are:[]

Works that are set in this time period are:[]

Film[]


Literature[]


Live-Action TV[]


Video Games[]


Works that are made in this time period:[]

See also Films of the 1970s[]

Anime and Manga[]


Comic Books[]


Eastern European Animation[]


Han-guk Manhwa Aenimeisyeon[]

Literature[]


Live-Action TV[]


Music[]

  • ABBA. Debut album in 1973.
  • Aerosmith. They formed in 1970 and rose to become among the most popular hard rock bands of this decade.
  • Alice Cooper. First major hit for the band in 1971. First solo album for the singer in 1975.
  • Beastie Boys. They formed in 1979.
  • The Beatles. Released their last hit album in 1970, prior to disbanding.
  • The Bee Gees. They formed in the 1960s, but reinvented themselves in this decade. Releasing some of their greatest hits.
  • Black Sabbath. Formed in 1968-1969, debut album in 1970.
  • Blondie. Formed in 1974-1975. They gained mainstream success by 1978.
  • Blue Oyster Cult. Formed in 1967, debut album in 1972.
  • Carpenters. They debuted in 1969, but all their commercial hits were released in this decade.
  • The Cars. Debut album in 1978.
  • Chic. Debut album in 1977.
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival. Formed in the 1960s. Released a number of hits before disbanding in 1972.
  • David Bowie rose to stardom in this decade (he'd been recording since 1964), and became iconic and influential enough, especially in his native England, that two of the above-mentioned works set in it — Life on Mars and Velvet Goldmine — are titled after songs of his. The latter is a No Celebrities Were Harmed take on his Glam Rock period.
  • Deep Purple. Debuted in 1968. Released some of their greatest hits in this decade.
  • Bob Dylan. Career started in the 1960s. Released a number of hits within this decade.
  • Eagles, Formed in 1971, debut album in 1972.
  • Electric Light Orchestra. Formed in 1970, debut album in 1971.
  • Emerson Lake and Palmer. Debut album in 1970.
  • Faces. Debut album in 1970.
  • Fleetwood Mac. Formed in 1967, released some of their greatest hits in this decade.
  • George Harrison. Career started in the 1960s. Released a major hit album in 1970.
  • Hawkwind. Formed in 1969. Debut album in 1970.
  • Michael Jackson. Debut album in 1972. Released a string of hit songs in 1979.
  • Billy Joel. Career started in 1964, but his solo career took off in 1972--1973.
  • Elton John. Career started in the 1960s, but John first enjoyed mainstream popularity in this decade.
  • Joy Division. Formed in 1976-1977, first recordings in 1978.
  • Judas Priest. Formed in 1969, debut album in 1974.
  • The Kinks (A British Invasion band from The Sixties that was still going strong).
  • KISS. Formed in 1973, debut album in 1974.
  • Led Zeppelin. The group formed in the 1960s, but reached the height of their popularity in this decade.
  • Leif Garrett. Had a steady acting career throughout the decade before releasing his debut single in 1976.
  • John Lennon. Debut solo album in 1970. Released a major hit album in 1971.
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd. Formed in 1964, debut album in 1973.
  • Paul McCartney. Released his first solo album in 1970.
  • Ronnie Milsap. Debut album in 1971, first major hit in 1974.
  • The Moody Blues. Formed in 1964. Released a number of hit albums within this decade.
  • Mike Oldfield. Debut solo album in 1973. Oldfield had previously performed and recorded both in a duo (with his sister Sally Oldfield) and in collaborations with various bands.
  • Dolly Parton. Her recording career started in the 1960s, but she gained mainstream success in this decade.
  • Pink Floyd. While formed in the 1960s, they released their most notable works within this decade:
  • The Police. Formed in 1977, debut album in 1978.
  • Queen. Formed in 1970, debut album in 1973.
  • The Rolling Stones. Formed in 1962, the group released a series of hit albums within this decade.
  • Rush. Formed in 1968, debut album in 1974.
  • Scorpions. Formed in 1965, debut album in 1972.
  • Sex Pistols. Formed in 1975, debut single in 1976.
  • Simon and Garfunkel. Career started in the 1950s. Released their last hit album in 1970, before ending their partnership.
    • Paul Simon. Career started in the 1960s. Released a number of hit albums within this decade.
  • Simple Minds. Formed in 1978, from the remnants of previous band Johnny & The Self-Abusers. Debut album in 1979.
  • Patti Smith. Debut album in 1975.
  • Ringo Starr. Debut solo album in 1970.
  • Status Quo. Formed in 1960s, but released notable commercial hits in this decade.
  • Steely Dan. Debut album in 1972. The duo had previously recorded a number of demos and an unsuccessful single.
  • Barbra Streisand. Her singing career started in the 1960s, but Streisand released several major hits in this decade.
  • Styx. Debuted under this name in 1972. Previously known as Tradewinds and TW4. They had their first major hit in 1977.
  • Donna Summer. First single in 1971, first album in 1974.
  • Thin Lizzy. Formed in 1969. First single in 1970, first album in 1971.
  • Uriah Heep. Formed in 1969. Debut album in 1970.
  • Village People. Debut album in 1977.
  • The Who. They formed in the 1960s. But released notable works within this decade:
  • Wings. Formed in 1971.
  • Yes. Formed in 1960s, but released several hit albums in this decade.
  • Neil Young. Debuted in 1968. Released his greatest chart hits in this decade.


Newspaper Comics[]


Professional Wrestling[]


Radio[]


Video Games[]


Western Animation[]

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