Former US President Jimmy Carter dead at 100

[Max Rockatansky]

Star Wars was almost fifty years ago.  Nerds took a good thing and ruined it by constantly complaining.

[Flint1979]

Now I remember. My dad said that unemployment was high under Carter.

It got up to over 10% under Reagan in 1982.

[SEWIGuy]

I really feel sorry for young people growing up today. Back in the late 1970's and going into the 1980's the music industry was adventurous as hell.

This reeks of nostalgia instead of reality.

Young people growing up today have all sorts of "adventerous" music to listen to though nearly unlimited forms of media. Growing up in the 70s and 80s meant you largely listened to what record companies decided they wanted to produce, and your consumption was limited by the radio stations you could pick up.

[roadman65]

There's no denying the original pop-culture frenzy surrounding Star Wars when it was first released. Hell, there was even a cheesy disco version of the theme song that became a big radio hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ3kV3Icm28

My dad's Marine Corps career had us stationed in Japan through this period, which insulated us for awhile. But when we moved back state-side in 1980 the culture shock (or price shock rather) was pretty brutal.

Star Wars aside, the late 1970's going into the early 1980's was one of the last great periods of American music innovation before the big media labels started suffocating the shit out of everything. The late 1980's, with the arrival of grunge bands like Nirvana and Jane's Addiction, as well as "gangsta rap" acts like NWA, seemed like the last gasps of originality coming from America's music industry. Over the 30 years since then the music industry has been slowly shitting out the same old flavors of familiar fluff. It's no wonder why so many people, even young people, listen to old-ass music. I have a great niece that loves listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. That might be cool on one level, but she should have her own music from her own generation, not old people shit from my generation.

Many songs of today ( or at least a few ) are covers of old songs because they seem to have writers block nowadays.

[kernals12]

I really feel sorry for young people growing up today. Back in the late 1970's and going into the 1980's the music industry was adventurous as hell.

This reeks of nostalgia instead of reality.

Young people growing up today have all sorts of "adventerous" music to listen to though nearly unlimited forms of media. Growing up in the 70s and 80s meant you largely listened to what record companies decided they wanted to produce, and your consumption was limited by the radio stations you could pick up.

Bob Seger released a hit song complaining about the quality of 1970s music.  He said it didn't have "the same soul" as "that old time rock and roll"

[SEWIGuy]

I really feel sorry for young people growing up today. Back in the late 1970's and going into the 1980's the music industry was adventurous as hell.

This reeks of nostalgia instead of reality.

Young people growing up today have all sorts of "adventerous" music to listen to though nearly unlimited forms of media. Growing up in the 70s and 80s meant you largely listened to what record companies decided they wanted to produce, and your consumption was limited by the radio stations you could pick up.

Bob Seger released a hit song complaining about the quality of 1970s music.  He said it didn't have "the same soul" as "that old time rock and roll"

I had a long conversation with a couple of my kids over Christmas about the Smiths. I am hardly a Smith expert, but I enjoyed them back in the day when I discovered them in college. It was hard to impress on them that the main way you could find music like that was through word of mouth. They weren't being played on the radio except for some low power alternative stations, and of course there was nothing on the internet.

Now people have access to all sorts of music, like the Smiths, with just a few keystrokes.

Don't feel sorry for people who are growing up now. They have access to all sorts of great music from yesterday to today.

[bandit957]

Late '70s nostalgia never has gotten the respect it deserves. But living standards and pop culture probably peaked around that time, at least in our society.

There's no question that music, TV, and movies were better. Disco, new wave, hard rock, and country rock dominated the charts. 'The Dukes Of Hazzard' and 'CHiPs' filled our TV screens.

Man, did the late '70s ever rule!

[Max Rockatansky]

Guys, the Malaise era just plain isn't fondly remembered by the cultural median...it's okay.  Doesn't mean any of you can't enjoy individual aspects of the decade.  I like some of the music and the "so bad it's good" emissions cars.

[Rothman]

I don't know.  The era of "FORD TO NYC: DROP DEAD" certainly had its drawbacks.

[roadman65]

I think we all think that music of our youth ( no matter what generation we are) think those were the best times. My mom thought the forties were the best.

My cousin thought the sixties had it.

Then when something derails the trend we complain. When I graduated High School when Let's Dance by Bowie was popular on the radio, but that's when David Bowie began changing his sound from his previous to a new age. People were like WTF why is Bowie doing this. Ditto with Come Dancing by the Kinks as that was New Age from their 70s era sound. Both were out in 1983.

I am surprised Rick Astley when he came out with Never Gonna Give You Up made it several years after Disco died considering that tune was pure Disco.  In fact I thought that particular was a leftover from the 70s Disco Era, but it was released in the mid eighties.

[Max Rockatansky]

Never Gonna Give You Up was a regularly played song on the radio when it was new.  It got rediscovered when Rick Rolling became thing in the early 2000s.

[Bobby5280]

The music industry is very different today from what it was in the 1970's. Music labels and radio stations had far more independence decades ago. That all disappeared with all the mergers and buy-outs. I have friends who work in radio. They can't do anything like play listener requests. The corporate higher-ups give them their music play lists. It's basically the same ten songs over and over again for months on end, punctuated with lots of commercials. It's no wonder so many people have gravitated to services like Spotify and Amazon Music.

Speaking of Amazon, brick and mortar music stores are pretty much a thing of the past. The music section in Walmart is hardly a good substitute. I doubt many bands are mourning the loss since the record labels screw them out of seeing any royalties. Most bands have to make their money touring and selling merchandise (and of course the music labels want all that money too).

Back in the 1970's the style trends in music were changing in a volatile way. Disco was popular and then suddenly it sucked. Van Halen hit the scene and led to Ozzy Osbourne quitting Black Sabbath. The Sex Pistols were revolutionary. Today the music industry does not allow anything unpredictable like that to happen. All trends are tightly controlled. As a result, so much of it is stale. I think the arrival of Nirvana and death of hair band metal in the early 1990's was one of the last big sudden style shifts in the music industry. Over the 30 years since then styles have been changing in a very slow, gradual and controlled process.

These days I listen mostly to alternative rock music. It takes effort to find new bands that are making good, interesting music. It's impossible to "discover" anything new and good by listening to the radio.

[1995hoo]

....

These days I listen mostly to alternative rock music. It takes effort to find new bands that are making good, interesting music. It's impossible to "discover" anything new and good by listening to the radio.

I think the last time I discovered a new band I went on to like and listen to regularly (and see perform live several times) was when Bruce Springsteen joined the Gaslight Anthem onstage at the 2009 Glastonbury festival; later that day, the Gaslight Anthem's lead singer, Brian Fallon, joined Springsteen and the E Street Band onstage during their performance. They repeated that a few days later at Hyde Park Calling in London. At the time I had not heard of the Gaslight Anthem, but I figured that if Springsteen was into their music, it was worth getting one of their albums. So I did and I liked it.

[Bobby5280]

One way I used to find out about new bands was by going to concert festivals. I'd never heard of System of a Down until I saw them live at Ozzfest '99 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Black Sabbath (original lineup with Ozzy) and Rob Zombie were the headliners. Anyway, System of Down guitarist, Daron Malakian, was covered in glittery silver body paint. He was wearing silver gym shorts. He had a glitter silver Ibanez Iceman guitar to match. The guy's head was shaved except for a little patch on the top. The look was outrageous and funny as hell. I saw System of a Down in concert a couple more times years later.

Today, concert-going is yet another thing about the music industry that totally sucks ass. The Ticketmaster-Live Nation monopoly has ruined it. Sky high prices and crappy seats is all you get watching a concert at any big arena. If I want to watch bands play live I'll check out small venues and up-and-coming bands.

[bandit957]

It's really sad how nothing is as good as it used to be.

To say that the 2020s are better than the 1970s is laughable.

[Max Rockatansky]

Depends on what you mean by "as good?"  Yeah sure, something like a modern car has a planned obsolescence factored in (especially if it an EV or hybrid).  While my dad and I did keep my grandparents 1978 Chevette running into the mid-1990s there wasn't much point beyond their generation (depression era) being infamously stingy.

[SEWIGuy]

It's really sad how nothing is as good as it used to be.

To say that the 2020s are better than the 1970s is laughable.

You are warmly remembering back to when you were a child with a child's view of the world. Now you are an adult with adult responsibilities.

[Max Rockatansky]

I feel like I'm one of the few people on this forum who has enjoyed their adult life more than their childhood. 

[Rothman]

I don't know.

Certainly, I have a lot of nostalgia for my very young years running around my neighborhood with friends and a limited view of the world.

I also certainly enjoy my current financial stability which affords me more freedom than I've ever had in my life.

In the middle, there were tough years and challenges I have no desire to repeat again.

When it comes down to it, I prefer the freedom of today to the innocence of yesteryear.

[SEWIGuy]

I feel like I'm one of the few people on this forum who has enjoyed their adult life more than their childhood. 

I don't know.

Certainly, I have a lot of nostalgia for my very young years running around my neighborhood with friends and a limited view of the world.

I also certainly enjoy my current financial stability which affords me more freedom than I've ever had in my life.

In the middle, there were tough years and challenges I have no desire to repeat again.

When it comes down to it, I prefer the freedom of today to the innocence of yesteryear.

Agree with both of you.

[DTComposer]

It's really sad how nothing is as good as it used to be.

To say that the 2020s are better than the 1970s is laughable.

Death by heart disease has fallen by 2/3 since the 1970s.
Vehicle-related deaths have fallen by 1/2 since the 1970s.
Death by cancer has fallen by 30% since the 1970s.
Homicide rates have fallen by 50% since the 1970s.
Overall crime rate has fallen by 50% since the 1970s.
Life expectancy has increased by 7 years since the 1970s.
Infant mortality rate has fallen by 2/3 since the 1970s.

Now we can quibble about subjective things like movies (I think '70s were definitely better), TV (I think today is better), music ('70s, although not my favorite, is better than today), etc., but I'll trade any of that for the statistics above.

My opinion (and I felt this way as a child in the 1970s as well) is that it was one of the tackiest decades from an aesthetic standpoint. Even by the 1980s having ironic disco-themed parties was a thing. I hated (and still hate) the mustard-yellow/avocado green/brown template that was so prevalent then.

[roadman65]

Modern medicine has indeed improved and one thing that we have now than in the seventies was Autism Awareness. 

Back in the 70s people thought it was just an Atypical behavior problem and never thought to have an examination of the behavior.  Autistic Meltdowns were regarded as simple tantrums and even shrinks now prescribe medicine rather than couch therapy.

Although I wouldn't say the meds are good totally, but at least something to attack the chemical imbalances that spectrums cause. Couch therapy can only do so much, but the problems still exist.

[Max Rockatansky]

It's really sad how nothing is as good as it used to be.

To say that the 2020s are better than the 1970s is laughable.

Death by heart disease has fallen by 2/3 since the 1970s.
Vehicle-related deaths have fallen by 1/2 since the 1970s.
Death by cancer has fallen by 30% since the 1970s.
Homicide rates have fallen by 50% since the 1970s.
Overall crime rate has fallen by 50% since the 1970s.
Life expectancy has increased by 7 years since the 1970s.
Infant mortality rate has fallen by 2/3 since the 1970s.

Now we can quibble about subjective things like movies (I think '70s were definitely better), TV (I think today is better), music ('70s, although not my favorite, is better than today), etc., but I'll trade any of that for the statistics above.

My opinion (and I felt this way as a child in the 1970s as well) is that it was one of the tackiest decades from an aesthetic standpoint. Even by the 1980s having ironic disco-themed parties was a thing. I hated (and still hate) the mustard-yellow/avocado green/brown template that was so prevalent then.

I feel as though poop brown and vomit green were the defining car colors of the Malaise era automotive landscape. 

[Rothman]

It's really sad how nothing is as good as it used to be.

To say that the 2020s are better than the 1970s is laughable.

Death by heart disease has fallen by 2/3 since the 1970s.
Vehicle-related deaths have fallen by 1/2 since the 1970s.
Death by cancer has fallen by 30% since the 1970s.
Homicide rates have fallen by 50% since the 1970s.
Overall crime rate has fallen by 50% since the 1970s.
Life expectancy has increased by 7 years since the 1970s.
Infant mortality rate has fallen by 2/3 since the 1970s.

*citation needed*

[Bobby5280]

In terms of violent crime, the US hit a historic peak in 1980. Nationally the homicide rate was over 10 murders per 100,000 people. The rate hovers around half that level or less today. The public wouldn't know this with the way the media reports "news." All the emotional amplification to instill fear and anger would have viewers thinking crime is worse than ever.