Anyone who knows the 7o's an upwards

[blurred]

I'm trying to write a fiction piece based on a guy who gets sent back into the Seventies, but one of the problems i'm suffering is my general lack of knowledge of the Seventies, eighties and fer crying out loud even the nineties.

Where was i, living in a box somewhere.

Preferably, from the British point of veiw, as i'm british and so will be my character.

Any American or international overview will help as well.

 

[ElizabethWest]

Are you sure you're old enough to be here?

 

[blurred]

LMAO

26 going on 27, *puts his hands on his hips* thankyou very much...

*Snorts*

Yeah i think i lived in a shoe all my life, my sense of history never was very good, to much time looking at porn probably (like any male)

 

[ElizabethWest]

LMAO

26 going on 27, *puts his hands on his hips* thankyou very much...

*Snorts*

Yeah i think i lived in a shoe all my life, my sense of history never was very good, to much time looking at porn probably (like any male)

I can barely remember the '70s so I'm no help to you there.

Good to know you're legal though.

 

[blurred]

LMAO

Mentally i ain't legal, physically i'm legal fer anything

 

[ElizabethWest]

LMAO

Mentally i ain't legal, physically i'm legal fer anything

You're British and you say "ain't". Well that's different.

 

[TxRad]

There's an old say.... If ya remember the 70's, you weren't there......

In my case they are blurring in quite a few places......

 

[blurred]

There's an old say.... If ya remember the 70's, you weren't there......

In my case they are blurring in quite a few places......

LOL

Oi, us Brits use the word 'ain't a lot, its kinda like 'innit'

 

[zeb1094]

Go buy the "That 70's Show" on dvd. That pretty much sums it up here in the states.

 

[Weird Harold]

I'm trying to write a fiction piece based on a guy who gets sent back into the Seventies, ...
Preferably, from the British point of veiw, as i'm british and so will be my character.

I was stationed in East Anglia in the mid -70's.

While I was there, the first independent radio station went on the air but Radio Caroline and other offshore pirates were the source of most of the really good music.

The Wurzles had a top ten hit with "Combine Harvester."

There were no cell phones and no personal computers, but there were Betamax vcrs still competing with VHS format.

Check on the history of top movies, top songs, and Sports champions.

 

[CharleyH]

There's an old say.... If ya remember the 70's, you weren't there......

In my case they are blurring in quite a few places......

How could one forget camel toes and disco? :|

 

[kendo1]

Eight tracks!

Seriously. If you need a hand, PM me with what you require.
I was only stoned some of the time.

Ken

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

The '70's: a huge generalization

Disco

Drugs

Pre-Aides Sex

Polyester

Bad hair

Crappy cars

Pre-Thatcher UK

Pre-Reagan US

In the states, the dominate news was Vietnam, Watergate, gas shortage, Iran holding embassy personnel as hostages.

==

What you'll need to do is the same thing I did before starting a novel set in 1968. Although I vividly remembered that year, details, which are the key to verisimilitude, have a way of getting fuzzy or forgotten. Check lists of best selling books, top grossing movies, hit records and TV shows, news chronicals of the decade, and decade specific web sites.

Then consider creating a timeline of events in the period you're concerned with (maybe one year before, as well) and/or lists of the above items including when they occured. DON'T RELY ON YOU MEMORY.

Good luck.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[RogueLurker]

You can google some reference sites for 70s slang, fashions, culture, etc.

These are probably more geared to the US, but they might give you a hand. Try googling terms like "70s, slang, british" ... you may find some more specific sites.

http://www.inthe70s.com/index.shtml

http://bloxword.ca/slang.htm

I just took a closer look at the second link's list of slang sites ... they have a Dictionary of Old Hobo Slang. Is there nothing that people don't collect and post on the internet.

 

[gauchecritic]

And it would be a good idea to be specific about the region where your character is situated. The North was only just becoming recognised as a source of cultural influence in the seventies.

My recollections in no particular order include:

Student protests. Hot pants. platform shoes. Porn on betamax. A loosening of family discipline. hot summers. Blokes with earings. Good football. high employment. Sweet, T.Rex, Slade, Gary Glitter, Stones, Faces and Bay City Rollers.

My main memory of political worth. The three day week. Winter of discontent (which the tories and press hijacked and redated to the late seventies during a socialist govt.)

Edited to add: Robin Trower.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

You can google some reference sites for 70s slang, fashions, culture, etc.

These are probably more geared to the US, but they might give you a hand. Try googling terms like "70s, slang, british" ... you may find some more specific sites.

http://www.inthe70s.com/index.shtml

http://bloxword.ca/slang.htm

I just took a closer look at the second link's list of slang sites ... they have a Dictionary of Old Hobo Slang. Is there nothing that people don't collect and post on the internet.

That second link is keeper, Rogue. Many thanks.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[RogueLurker]

That second link is keeper, Rogue. Many thanks.

Rumple Foreskin

It was the hobos, wasn't it?

Every time I look at all that's listed on the link, I find something else fascinating to get distracted by.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

It was the hobos, wasn't it?

Every time I look at all that's listed on the link, I find something else fascinating to get distracted by.

That plus the Vaudeville Slang and the EE home page having categories dedicated to Shel Silverstein and Ogden Nash.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[CharleyH]

And it would be a good idea to be specific about the region where your character is situated. The North was only just becoming recognised as a source of cultural influence in the seventies.

My recollections in no particular order include:

Student protests. Hot pants. platform shoes. Porn on betamax. A loosening of family discipline. hot summers. Blokes with earings. Good football. high employment. Sweet, T.Rex, Slade, Gary Glitter, Stones, Faces and Bay City Rollers.

My main memory of political worth. The three day week. Winter of discontent (which the tories and press hijacked and redated to the late seventies during a socialist govt.)

Edited to add: Robin Trower.

I am so too YOUNG for this convo (LOL), as I was a child in those years - but Patti Hearst was big name, as was Patti Smith. Although I did love Star Wars and Grease And SNL - the Stones sucked in the latter half and into the 80's and the Brit invasion was gone by the 80's, but I am not Euro so my opinon on the original question is somewhat mute.

 

[blurred]

LOL Thank you guys and girls for all your help, i have some seriouse reading to do now...

 

[3113]

LOL Thank you guys and girls for all your help, i have some seriouse reading to do now...

There was a British version of "That 70's Show" that is probably out on DVD and rentable--I'd search for that.

The one problem I see is that you don't mention which part of the 70's. A decade is a decade and how it starts isn't a lot like how it end.

For example, in the 70's there were a lot of cults and religious enlightenment things happening (They called it the "Me" generation--books like "I'm Okay, You're Okay"--were all about finding yourself and your bliss). In the early 70's (70-73), these reflected the hippy 60's. For example, hippish Jesus movements (people dressed in jeans and tee-shirt singing to Jesus with an acoustic guitar) and Hari Krishna--aggressive recruitment but in a mellow, "come-join-our commune, brother, sister" way. That's when you get "Godspell" on stage and "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" in the theatres (Franco Zefirelli's visually beautiful and gentle movie of St. Francis complete with music by folk singer Donovan).

That's early 70's. Get to the middle (73-77) and you've got "EST" which is a psychological movement that holds seminars where people essentially get yelled at and abused until they crack and have an enlightened experience. You also have "Star Wars" which, so far as I'm concerned, was THE defining movie of the 70's. People really went for "The Force" in a big way.

By the end of the decade (78-80) however, you've got the Jonestown massacre (a religious cult were everyone died drinking poison).

We start with M.A.S.H. (1970) and The Godfather ('72) and Last Tango in Paris ('73) in the movie theatres, and end on Saturday Night Fever ('77)--and blockbusters like Star Wars ('77) and Reeve's Superman ('78) (there had NEVER been blockbuster movies like these before with lines around the block and people camping out all day to see it. Prior to that, in the U.S., you could stay in a movie theatre and see a movie again and again--Star Wars was what changed that. People would stay and see it a dozen times--so they started flushing the theaters so more people could see it--and they could make more money).

There's quite a difference from one end of the decade to the other, from hippy to disco to punk.

 

[gauchecritic]

There's quite a difference from one end of the decade to the other, from hippy to disco to punk.

Speaking of which (and taking that line for a cue) I think the Yanqui missed out entirely on Glam Rock except for what we exported and brought acceptability (albeit in a flamboyant, exhibitionist stylee) to mens' makeup.

Only now are they paying us back with (c)rap.

Seriously, can anyone tell me any U.S Glam Rockers from the 70s?

 

[3113]

Seriously, can anyone tell me any U.S Glam Rockers from the 70s?

Not off the top of my head, but that also brings to mind the wonderful movie Almost Famous which wonderfully recreates the 1973 music scene including the whole David Bowie movement and Elton John craze.

 

[Weird Harold]

Preferably, from the British point of veiw, as i'm british and so will be my character.

A memory of my tour in England came to mind: The Farnborough International Airshow of 1974.

Farnborough was a very big deal that year, because it was the site of the first public appearance of the SR-71 Blackbird -- which smashed the New York to London speed record by over three hours on it's way to the show -- and the first English appearance of the Concorde.

It was an incredible two days for anyone with the slightest interest in aviation or airshows -- which seemed to be everyone in England, to me -- with a full eight hours of constant aerial demonstrations highlighted by a pyrotechnic special effects assisted demonstration of the Harrier MKI by #1 Squadron RAF.

Like many of the spectators that year, my buddy, our two dates and I camped out (in the back of my American 1973 Chevy 4x4 pickup, in our case) because there simply weren't eough affordable hotel rooms available for the huge crowd. Your English protaganist would probably have borrowed or rented a "caravan" -- what Americans call a travel trailer -- or possibly organized a tent.

If you decide to include the 1974 Farnborough International Airshow and need a description of the #1 squadron RAF demonstration, let me know. FWIW, a quick google search didn't turn up anything about what other aircraft debuted at that particular edition of Farnsborough, but the Harriers, SR71 Blackbird and the Concorde were the definite highlights of the show for me.

 

[Carmenica Diaz]

Research is always helpful. Found the internet is useful, particularly when seraching for music from a particular period. Fashion is also important. It can all be done with the internet search engine.