8-Track Flashback (for you old farts)

[Roundabout]

I figured that since Yoda has his 1980's nostalgia thread, I'd start one for the 70's, the time I came of age in. For all you old farts (like me), what do you remember best from the 70's?

Great One-Hit Wonders like:

White Plains - My Baby Loves Lovin'
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky
Vanity Fare - Hitchin' a Ride
Love grows (where my Rosemary goes) - Edison Lighthouse
Ma Belle Amie - Tee Set (Dutch group)
Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf

...and hundreds more. I miss the diversity of music you'd hear on the radio back then. A lot of artists would have only one or two hits and then disappear forever. That made for some great memories, though. I grew up in the Tampa Bay area listening to WLCY 138 (1380 AM) and WKXY ("Mighty 93" - 930 AM) from Sarasota in the early 70's. Those were before FM took hold, at the time, FM was mostly classical music and college stations.

I remember when arcades only had pinball games and air hockey tables. No one dreamed of video games. When "PONG" came along, it was a lot of fun, but you quickly grew tired of it. I first saw it in a arcade in Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg around 1972 - 73 (memory is a little fuzzy).

I had one of these, remember them? The "TNT" 8-track from Panasonic:



Gas was cheap - 27c to 29c a gallon, so no one cared about gas mileage. Everyone wanted the biggest V-8 they could get. You could fill the tank for $5.00 or less. Honda? What's that? Oh yeah, it's some kind of Japanese motorcycle.

I remember seeing new homes under construction, with a sign out front "3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage - $9,990" New! Couldn't imagine a price like that today for a doghouse!

Sure, there was some bad stuff (The draft) but you didn't have to worry about terrorists and their ilk. Besides, by the time I turned 18, they had just eliminated the draft. Lucky me.

Any memories you'd like to share? There must be some people my age in here that still remember something - I'll probably remember some more later, right now I have to go take some Geritol

[Conquest10]

Ah, I wonder what it was like to live before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

[Rookie64]

Smog and air pollution...and that smell from the steel mills.


Your meals were usually a cheeseburger or pizza

Big Macs -
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, oinions...on a sesame seed bun.
If you could say it, you got something free like a t-shirt or an extra Bic Mac...I forget what the prize was but never forgot how to say it 8)


Wacky Packages - used to collect those all the time.

Bubblegum cards - whether it was baseball, Planet Of The Apes, Star Wars, KISS, Grease or Charlie's Angels...everyone was into trading cards.

Drive-ins - the affordable way for families to go to the movies...even though most of the movies weren't for the kids
Was funny...you'd see young kids running around and swinging on swings below the screen...and above them a completely naked guy chasing after a completely naked girl in a park or someplace in public.


People in general, weren't hung up on sex...well, maybe feminists, but they were a lot of fun in those days. Wasn't what it later turned into.


Some really far out clothes styles back then
Luckily, I was young and didn't have to go through much of that phase.
Most of my clothes were pretty normal by today's standards.

Girls all tried to copy the Farrah hairdo
Guys had the sideburns, long straight hair or big fros...or the dutchboy hairdo

Polyester and silk shirts.

Disco

45's were the thing...though I remember getting very into buying albums in the later '70s.

Record needles...either breaking or falling out and getting lost...so it was always that you needed to get a replacement.

Before Star Wars, the big movies were Billy Jack, Jaws, Planet Of The Apes movies, The Exorcist and King Kong.
Or some big disaster movie.


Lots of neat toys back then
But I remember the doll that came out in the mid '70s that was a young girl and if you twisted her arm, she devoleped breasts and became a woman 8)
The adults got a big kick out that one - had them playing around with it more than the kids did


Oh who needed a scanner back then, when ya could just use Silly Putty...that is if it didn't stay stuck to your original pic and ruin it


Fun stuff on TV back then -
HEE HAW
LAUGH-IN
THE GONG SHOW
Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning shows - H.R. Pufnstuf (remember the magical talking flute and wichypoo?), Electra Woman and Dyna Girl , Dr. Shrinker, etc.
School House Rock

And Chiller theater

Sanford and Son and All In The Family were a far cry from the previous TV family shows

The don't polute commercials with the American indian with the tear running down his face.

Smokey The Bear commercials - Only YOU can prevent forest fires.

Then there was all those martial arts movies (that Quentin Tarantino stole all his ideas from) - anyone remember Deep Thrust: The Hand Of Death
Extremely violent...as well as Big Zapper (a T&A martial arts flick)
and a TNT Jackson (a blaxploitation T&A martial arts flick)

Then you had the Star Trek cast branching off into exploitation flicks...William Shatner beeming up Angie Dickinson (Policewoman) doggie style in Big Bad Mama, Nichelle Nichols (Cmdr. Nyota Uhura) getting some real dialogue, such as Jive ass mutha f@#ka in the blaxploitation flick, Truck Turner...and let's not forget Leonard Nimoy (Spock) full frontal nude scene in the ever forgettable Catlow.

Most of the wholesome actors of the '60s did some really embarrassing wicked B-movies in the '70s that I'm sure they hope no one ever saw.
Oh so many of those were so very Politically Incorrect (the term political correctness most definitely was non-existent in the '70s!)

Cars were boat size
Gotta love those tacky looking tanks people drove around in back then.
convertibles were pretty common...and station wagons were in for families the size as the Brady Bunch and the Jacksons and Osmonds.

Cable TV and the video revelation came around towards the end of the decade...it would take a while longer for video cameras to catch on.

Super 8mm was more common for homes - 16mm for school films.

Oh what fun it was to run the film through a projector :P

Always loved watching those scare films in school - but was even more fun seeing the teacher struggling to get the film to run through the projector.


Forget about widescreen or HD TV...we felt lucky just to finally get a TV in color or that the screen wasn't shaped like a fish bowl
I remember what a thrill it was to be able to finally see all of the Brady kids faces during the credits of The Brady Bunch!

BTW, 8-tracks sucked as much in the '70s as they do today
We knew they sucked but they were the thing for cars.
They lasted about as long as these things we have today called DVDs :P
You just gotta hold your breath that the next time you go to play it, it'll work...and much like DVDs, you're even lucky if it works the first time


Wish I had a chance to experience some of that era at an age where I could've gotten more out of it, but even though I was a kid back then, I still have many vivid memories of the '70s.

[Dr. DOS]

Two words sums up the 70's ... Leisure Suits ... what a scary time it was.

[yoda313]

Hello,

70's????????? Oh yeah I was born in the last half of that decade. Don't remember much!!!

Two Words:

STAR WARS!

Kevin

---8 track????? Is that some primitive audio technology that lasted about the same length of time as platform shoes??????? ---

[bazooka]

Yeah,

They were cartridges that held 8 songs.

[yoda313]

Yeah,

They were cartridges that held 8 songs.

8 songs??? How primitive! I want my MP3! I want to listen to HUNDREDS of songs on one disc!!! (no harddrive portable player for me, just a nice cheap mp3cdplayer! ).

Kevin

[Rookie64]

Yeah,

They were cartridges that held 8 songs.

8 songs??? How primitive! I want my MP3! I want to listen to HUNDREDS of songs on one disc!!! (no harddrive portable player for me, just a nice cheap mp3cdplayer! ).

Kevin

nah...they were full album length

It was tape will 4 layers...that got swiched over to the next layer when it reached this silver thingy on a section of the tape - that's often where the tape would then break...if the player didn't eat it first

If a song didn't fit before the layer it started on reached the switching point, they'd have the song fade out...then fade back in on the next track/layer.

It was junk.

[babyboo]

Actually 8 track wasn't 4 layers, it was a single layer 1/4 inch tape where the stereo record heads would shift across the tape 1/4 of the tape width at a time when it came to the metallic/foil splice. 4 (2-track stereo) shifts across the 1/4inch tape and you'be got the name "8 Track"...

[babyboo]

I even had an 8 Track recorder that my folks gave me for my birthday. It was a panasonic with an 8 track recorder, belt driven turntable and analog tuning receiver. I was only able to find 90 minute memorex blanks at the time but seeing as my first cassette deck was still a few years away and I was getting tired of my portable (yes portable) reel to reel deck, I thought the ease of recording was superb...no more threading the tape through the capstan and pinch rollers...WOW!

[Rookie64]

Actually 8 track wasn't 4 layers, it was a single layer 1/4 inch tape where the stereo record heads would shift across the tape 1/4 of the tape width at a time when it came to the metallic/foil splice. 4 (2-track stereo) shifts across the 1/4inch tape and you'be got the name "8 Track"...

Yea...you're right

There were times it would play the two tracks at the same time (one would be faint though) - I think at that point I stopped buying 'em 8)

[babyboo]

The 70's brings back tons of memories...

From watching the Bowery Boys and Abbott & Costello after a Sunday morning of Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner cartoons. Throw in some Magilla Gorilla, Josie and the Pussycats and Scooby Doo and I was in heaven. Mix in some weekend Pro Bowlers tour with Chris Shenkel (sp) and Nelson Burton Junior and sprinkle in some American Bandstand and you were ready to go the movies and watch Saturday Night Fever, or The Exorcist, or The French Connection or whatever else was playing at the Lowes Orpheum (I grew up in NYC)...stop off at the Papaya King for luch...you've got it made...Oh...have to stop at the Lafayette store or the nearest Crazy Eddie to see what was on sale.

In 1979 I bought my first VCR...a portable Zenith beta deck for $1100 (saved for 3 years to get that one). Got the portable one because I always thought I would save up enough money to by the $1000 cam to go with it but never did.

Growing up listing to WABC and dreaming of being a DJ...brings back all good memories.

[Rookie64]

(I grew up in NYC)

That's cool - did you ever go to CBGB's?

So many bands got their starts there.


Even in the eary '80s, would've been great to have seen Ellen Foley or Blue Angel (Cyndi Lauper's Rockabilly band)

[smearbrick1]

My parents had a whole box of eight tracks. I introduced myself to AC/DC through one of those eight tracks. Of course, I was only about 6 or 7 at the time, so I didn't quite grasp that is was AC/DC.

[BobV]

The seventies.. Began with me being drafted, ended with a house in the burbs for $30K.

started with me living at home - ended with me in my first home
drove a Plymouth Valent - drove a Datun B210
Listening to the Stones - listening to the Stones
bought albums - bought albums and recorded them to casset tape
in love with a highschool sweetheart - wanting a devorce from that highschool sweetheart
footloose and fancy free - married with children
red hair - no hair
130 lbs - 150 lbs

[Guest]

(I grew up in NYC)

That's cool - did you ever go to CBGB's?

So many bands got their starts there.


Even in the eary '80s, would've been great to have seen Ellen Foley or Blue Angel (Cyndi Lauper's Rockabilly band)

I managed a band that played there.We had a good time.

[Dr. DOS]

have to stop at the Lafayette store or the nearest Crazy Eddie to see what was on sale.

We used to get channel 11 out of NYC.... "He was insane" and wasn't he arrested for imbezzlement or something equally as bad ?

[babyboo]

(I grew up in NYC)

That's cool - did you ever go to CBGB's?

Sadly...No...but I had always wanted to

drove a Plymouth Valent -

The first car I ever remember my parents having was a turquoise 1965 (could have been 1964...hard to remember) Plymouth Valient with pushbutton shifting. I was always intrigued by those pushbuttons on the dashboard.

[babyboo]

have to stop at the Lafayette store or the nearest Crazy Eddie to see what was on sale.

We used to get channel 11 out of NYC.... "He was insane" and wasn't he arrested for imbezzlement or something equally as bad ?

I believe Crazy Eddie himself (not the actor in the commercial) was "cooking the books" making it look like the stock was more valuable than it really was...sounds a little ahead of his time! I think his name was Eddie Antar. He skipped the country and had to be extradited. Hmmm...me thinks I will google this.

[Capmaster]

Mmmmmm ...the '70s. Here are my memories good and bad. I personally think the best rock and roll ever made comes from a time period from 1964 to 1975. Lots of stuff from that time has been copied over and over. Like they say, the sincerest form of flattery .....
This list is greatly shortened because I could write pages and pages on this subject

Long Hair (yeahhh!!!) Not as skanky hair as the '60s ...more styled and clean-looking

Minnie Ripperton's annoying voice (Looo-ooo-ving youuuuuu )

Grand Funk Railroad - Foot Stompin Music. One of the best party cuts

Pink Floyd (can I ...can I ...can I get a HALLELUJAH!!!)

Jethro Tull in their prime

Three Dog Night

The Doobie Brothers (the original lead singer, not that fruity replacement Michael Mc-Whatever)

Platform shoes that gave me blisters

elephant bell jeans

all pants were flared. All pants

Midnight At The Oasis - played so much people actually vomited from it

Graduating high school

going to college and graduating that too

getting married

My oldest kid born (a boy)

John Gacy and his clown outfits ( ) He lured his victims about 5 miles from where I grew up in the NW Chicago-Park Ridge-Des Plaines area.

Many cop shows on TV

Good Times (one of the best TV shows ...ever)

All In The Family (another good one)

MASH (ditto)

Cassette players in cars

8-tracks in cars were big, but the players kept eating my tapes

4-channel stereo

Radio Shack computers

Commodore - the first calculator I bought was for my dad - LED display, 4 functions only and a single-key memory - $65

Disco (actually liked some of it - Sisters Sledge, Blondie ...not too bad)

Blow driers

Wide ties ...wide shirt and jacket lapels

Wide belts (carryover from the '60s)

Easy sex ..it was everywhere. Everywhere. And I was like a rabbit on a mission in those days. And it was safe. No mutant diseases like AIDS, chlamydia or herpes. Just your basic clap and siph - easily curable with penicillin

Horrible plane crash at O'Hare airport. A DC-10 lost one wing engine on takeoff and the thrust from the other made it nose-over and plow into the ground. All died. At the time it was the worst civilian air disaster in the US. I saw the smoke clouds from that one

Dated an ex-Chicago Bears cheerleader named Michelle. In fact, she was the last woman I dated before "the sissification of Cap". Then I met my future wife and she insisted I stop seeing Michelle

That's all for now. I have more, and reserve the right to add to this later in the thread

[Rookie64]

Mmmmmm ...the '70s. Here are my memories good and bad

Midnight At The Oasis - played so much people actually vomited from it

Graduating high school

going to college and graduating that too

getting married

My oldest kid born (a boy)

Damn!!
Cap, you either work really fast or you're much older than we thought

Considering I had just started 9th grade when the decade ended...there's no way we could be the same age


Yea...I remember that Maria Muldaur song being played to death

If you thought that one was bad, be thankful they didn't play her other songs on the radio much

(I grew up in NYC)

That's cool - did you ever go to CBGB's?

Sadly...No...but I had always wanted to

Same here...but there's so much to do in NY that it's impossible to do it all.

I managed a band that played there.We had a good time.

Wow...that's cool - did they get a record deal?

[Capmaster]

Mmmmmm ...the '70s. Here are my memories good and bad

Midnight At The Oasis - played so much people actually vomited from it

Graduating high school

going to college and graduating that too

getting married

My oldest kid born (a boy)

Damn!!
Cap, you either work really fast or you're much older than we thought

Considering I had just started 9th grade when the decade ended...there's no way we could be the same age

Yea...I remember that Maria Muldaur song being played to death

If you thought that one was bad, be thankful they didn't play her other songs on the radio much

I finished high school at 18 months age, college at 3 ..married at 4. I was a precocious child

Seriously, I'm much older than you thought. I'm much older than anyone thought. I'm much older than anyone

1968 - 1972 were my high school years. When I started, there was a dress code. No hair over the ears or the collar. No shirts untucked. No patent leather shoes or culottes for the girls. Slacks and semi-dress shirts for the boys/dresses for the girls. No slacks for the girls (I secretly thanked whoever made up that rule )

Startling facts about just how fecking old I really am:

I was born when Eisenhower was in his first term as president
I was 5 when the '60s started
I still remember above-ground nuclear testing in Nevada and the South Pacific, and seeing the mushroom clouds on the evening news ...dreaming that some day when I grew up, I would work at a nuclear weapons lab and design the real ones
I was about to turn 9 when JFK was assassinated
I actually remember watching Flash Gordon and Howdy Doody
My youngest son turned 20 this past June
My oldest son just turned 25 6 days ago.
My wife and I celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary this coming December.

And ...now ...I'm depressed

[babyboo]

So how old were you in the picture you use as Class President?

[Conquest10]

Damn Cap, you're my parents' age.

[Capmaster]

So how old were you in the picture you use as Class President?

25

What ...you think I'd use a recent one ...with the warts and growths ...and scare everyone out of OT? I was hoping to keep it a secret and was biding my time until a possible OT picnic. At one time I thought there was a real possibility we'd all get together some day and make a bunch of hot dogs and beer disappear I wanted to see everyone's face when I got my nametag and started circulating ...using my powered duffer chair ...of course. I could have left the nametag off and become "stealth codger". Nobody would guess that the real Capmaster is 3 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 400 pounds ...built like a sewer cover Or that the unusual growth on the back of my head could have actually gotten watermelon-sized

I'll post a recent one here today. And if everyone insists, I'll update the class photo too. It's just ...that one I posted (sunglasses) is the best pic I ever took ....oh well, time for reality, huh?

Sorry babyboo. Guess our date's off, huh? J/K

[Roundabout]

Wacky Packages - used to collect those all the time.

You mean those "Wacky Ads"? I used to have them stuck all over my notebook and on the outside of my locker (someone removed them, probably a principal with no sense of humor). Picture of lots of them HERE

Here's a couple:

[Rookie64]

At one time I thought there was a real possibility we'd all get together some day and make a bunch of hot dogs and beer disappear

That's not a too far off idea...I've met up with a local bunch that used to chat online a few years ago.

Surprisingly, it was a good turnout and they kept getting together once a month.

Most people were exactly how I thought they'd be in person - but found it interesting that I related best with some of the ones I rarely talked with online.

That this site is all around the world, it would be a little harder to pull off

I'll post a recent one here today. And if everyone insists,

Age is just a number and a frame of mind...as long as you don't spring on us that you're really Jack Valenti working undercover, and we're busted for making backups, all should be ok

Though I think that would be the funniest thing ever 8)

[Roundabout]

Cap, you're only a couple of years older than me. I was born in '57 (the best year for a Chevy!). I guess you were born in '54 or '55. Looks like we are among the oldest on this board. Rookie64 is up there with us too, anyone else care to divulge their age?

I had just turned six when Kennedy was killed, I remember it well, they even let us go home from school early. Something like that doesn't happen often. Of course, that was the sixties - this thread is supposed to be the 70's (geez, did anything memorable happen in the 70's? Now I'm starting to wonder...)

[tgpo]

I was born in '83, but I've seen a lot of 70's movies

[Capmaster]

I was born in '83, but I've seen a lot of 70's movies

Shut up!

Damn kids ..........