The old Geezers 70's and 80's Megathread

[BIG_DADDY]

The Suzzane Somers thread got me thinking about a conversation I was having with one of my friends about how awesome it was to be alive in the 70s and 80s. You try telling younger generations about it but it’s impossible. For starters testosterone levels were WAY, WAY higher back then. There were very few girly men like we have so many of today. Much higher levels of T and no cell phones had a huge impact on your social/sex life. Everybody was fing everybody and it was awesome. Nobody was up in your business. Everyone knew what they were and what bathroom to use. Fat people were few and far between. Teenage years were amazing. Cruising every Friday night with people bringing out all their bad rides and the girls all sexied up. Kegers every friggen weekend. The music was so much better too. Still remember going to Van Halen’s first tour. It didn’t cost anything to see those bands back then. As a young adult the party for me just continued as I went into health clubs. Once again everybody was doing everybody. The parties after we closed the club, just wow. When I moved to the bay area from Florida it just continued. I remember when the Exotic Erotic ball was a company function and we took 10 limos to the city filled with teenage girls in their sexiest lingerie. Can you imagine that happening today? Sadly that way of life ended with Anita Hill and the invention of the smart phone amongst other things. I will be forever grateful to god for being able to grow up during that time. I feel so bad for the kids coming up today, there’s just no comparison.

So what do you say old geezers, give me a walk down memory lane.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Not even with two girls? And one cup?

Cups were 3 for a dollar back then, so it just made sense to have extras.

[Brody Wa]

Classic rock and classic metal was much much better in the 60s,70s and 80s. With the exception of House and Techno, music started sucking ass (in my opinion) in the 90s and early 2000s.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Enid Borden

Yugos went for around $2k. We went on a test drive in one and it went as bad as you'd expect. It was clearly a hunk of junk, felt like it was barely held together and would fall apart if you went too fast through a dip. Very little horsepower. We didn't buy.

Father of my best friend in college actually imported Yugos back in the day. So of course, when Jason decidedhe needed a car for school, his dad gave him a brand new Yugo. It was a piece of junk, but it was pretty cheap on gas, and you could get four people into it. Also, no one, including my buddy cared what happened to it. Someone backed into it in the parking lot at the store? Someone stole it? Who cares? Lol.


Thing i really remember about Yugos is that the interior door panels were basically made of cardboard. Someone accidentally left the passenger door window open one night and in the morning after a long overnight shower, the door panel was practically falling off the door, lol.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I enjoyed growing up during that time frame. I would wander the woods in the late ‘60s all day. Play football in the neighborhood. Ride bikes everywhere. Kids would bring rifles into high school. My college years were among the most fun years of my life. But this idyllic view ignores a ton of reality.

1. The AIDS epidemic that emerged in ‘82-‘84 had far more to do with the end of the sexual revolution than Anita Baker did in 1991. Big Daddy’s experiences aren’t really relevant to 98% of the population because he boasted of his swinging lifestyle on CP well into the 2000s. No judgement, but his experience is an outlier.

2. How many people does our generation know that died from the freedom of being able to drink and drive when it was socially acceptable? A guy in my Boy Scout troop dead at 22. A guy in my wife’s HS class of less than 100 died before graduating. My college roommate killed someone drunk driving. Me and my college roommates had too many stupid moments.

3. How many rape victims do you know from that time period? Considering that 1 in 6 women are raped, it is not hard to know of several.

4. I was on a church youth group camping trip. One of the “older” girls went off with some older guy outside of our group for the night. Titillating gossip at the time. She was probably 15 or 16 years old and the dude she went off with was probably 18-22. I just can’t believe that was a positive experience for her. I’m not a prude but I suspect that ‘70s freedom was not a net positive in her life.

5. I played a game of chess in 8th grade against a kid (excuse the use of gender neutral pronouns) wearing nail polish in a conservative suburban school district in the mid-70s. I didn’t know them well, but I can’t imagine their life was easy and that they decided to wear nail polish on a whim. From their overall demeanor I would take all bets at 10:1 odds they were a trans girl.

6. Why were there not more LGBTQ people from earlier generations, you ask? 1) they were repressed and 2) the died of AIDS in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Don’t act stupid and pretend you didn’t know that you had LGBTQ classmates. I was way outside of any social circle and the rumors still made their way to me. There have always been LGBTQ people, but haters are mad about them not staying in their closet where they belong.

7. Bullying sucked. Personal experience. Smart, socially awkward, skinny, and different opinions filled my bingo card.

8. Middle aged guy in my parent’s neighborhood riding his bike casually, crashes and ends up disabled due to brain injury. But at least he didn’t look like a dork by wearing a helmet.

9. A friend in our early 20s social circle got hit by a car crossing the street. 6 mo recovery and still never the same. He used to be a great guy to hang out with and became paranoid , unapproachable, and unable to lead a normal life. That led me to a life long vow: do whatever I can to reduce risk of a brain injury to me or my loved ones. I’m not living in a bubble but yes, I am extra sensitive to situations where I may get a brain injury.

10. Kid in my high school has a “gun cleaning accident”. Everyone knew it was suicide but no one knew why.

11. I got into music and had a mid-range stereo system ( reciever, speakers, turntable, and tape deck) that I probably had $600 invested in. An equal amount in records. With my phone, a $350 Bluetooth speaker and $11 per month I can access virtually all music in the universe that sounds better. This ignores 45 years of inflation.

This is all very much true as well. It was NOT all roses. The bullying that took place in school was very real and very hurtful. And there’s remains in me an angst that I affected a person or persons in a really harmful manner. I’ve made amends where I can. And those folks were gracious enough to accept my extremely late expression of regret.

Suicide was very real in that day and age. But it was also kept under wraps as families were worried not only about their personal loss, but the shame that went along with it. And that too, was very real.

[redfan]

Movies peaked in 1994.

[AdolfOliverBush]

Originally Posted by redfan

Movies peaked in 1994.

For sure, or at least 1994 was the last great peak. 8 or 9 movies I'll still watch to this day.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I enjoyed growing up during that time frame. I would wander the woods in the late ‘60s all day. Play football in the neighborhood. Ride bikes everywhere. Kids would bring rifles into high school. My college years were among the most fun years of my life. But this idyllic view ignores a ton of reality.

1. The AIDS epidemic that emerged in ‘82-‘84 had far more to do with the end of the sexual revolution than Anita Baker did in 1991. Big Daddy’s experiences aren’t really relevant to 98% of the population because he boasted of his swinging lifestyle on CP well into the 2000s. No judgement, but his experience is an outlier.

2. How many people does our generation know that died from the freedom of being able to drink and drive when it was socially acceptable? A guy in my Boy Scout troop dead at 22. A guy in my wife’s HS class of less than 100 died before graduating. My college roommate killed someone drunk driving. Me and my college roommates had too many stupid moments.

3. How many rape victims do you know from that time period? Considering that 1 in 6 women are raped, it is not hard to know of several.

4. I was on a church youth group camping trip. One of the “older” girls went off with some older guy outside of our group for the night. Titillating gossip at the time. She was probably 15 or 16 years old and the dude she went off with was probably 18-22. I just can’t believe that was a positive experience for her. I’m not a prude but I suspect that ‘70s freedom was not a net positive in her life.

5. I played a game of chess in 8th grade against a kid (excuse the use of gender neutral pronouns) wearing nail polish in a conservative suburban school district in the mid-70s. I didn’t know them well, but I can’t imagine their life was easy and that they decided to wear nail polish on a whim. From their overall demeanor I would take all bets at 10:1 odds they were a trans girl.

6. Why were there not more LGBTQ people from earlier generations, you ask? 1) they were repressed and 2) the died of AIDS in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Don’t act stupid and pretend you didn’t know that you had LGBTQ classmates. I was way outside of any social circle and the rumors still made their way to me. There have always been LGBTQ people, but haters are mad about them not staying in their closet where they belong.

7. Bullying sucked. Personal experience. Smart, socially awkward, skinny, and different opinions filled my bingo card.

8. Middle aged guy in my parent’s neighborhood riding his bike casually, crashes and ends up disabled due to brain injury. But at least he didn’t look like a dork by wearing a helmet.

9. A friend in our early 20s social circle got hit by a car crossing the street. 6 mo recovery and still never the same. He used to be a great guy to hang out with and became paranoid , unapproachable, and unable to lead a normal life. That led me to a life long vow: do whatever I can to reduce risk of a brain injury to me or my loved ones. I’m not living in a bubble but yes, I am extra sensitive to situations where I may get a brain injury.

10. Kid in my high school has a “gun cleaning accident”. Everyone knew it was suicide but no one knew why.

11. I got into music and had a mid-range stereo system ( reciever, speakers, turntable, and tape deck) that I probably had $600 invested in. An equal amount in records. With my phone, a $350 Bluetooth speaker and $11 per month I can access virtually all music in the universe that sounds better. This ignores 45 years of inflation.

1. WTF does Anita Baker have to do with anything? AIDS was pretty much a disease for pirates. It didn't slow them them down though as they fought BIG TIME legally to keep the gay bath houses open in SF. I was in the epicenter of that shit and I don't know one heterosexual that got aids.

2. 25% of all wrecks are caused by cell phones which we didn't have back then. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that driving while texting is six times more dangerous than driving drunk.

3. Rape is at an all-time high now. Not just any rape either. This isn't someone 21 with somebody 16. It's meth and babies now. Another swing and a miss.

4.Give me a break dude. A 16 year old and 18 year old happens all the time. You can't even get the ages right.

5.You have sympathy for trans, congratulations. Another horrible example filled with assumptions.

6. That was just weird, save your lecture.

7. Bullying sucks and always will and it still happens, I would say probably now more than ever. Bullying has a new friend now that it didn't have in the 70s and 80s, it's called technology. From social media to cell phones I would say this is another big swing and miss.

8, 9. WTF is that? So your case is it's better now because we have more laws protecting people from themselves? Weird.

10. Suicide is higher now than ever before, another swing and a miss.

11. Nobody gives a Rats Ass about your music. You can buy a huge collection for the price of a concert ticket now.

Friggen negative Nancy another thread bro. 70's and 80's rocked.

[BIG_DADDY]

Yes, this was a much, much better life.

[BIG_DADDY]

On a good note, how about those killer custom vans of the 70's and 80's before they screwed them all up turned them into window vans? 2 seat shorties with the bed in the back, couple bean bags. I had one for 3 years when I first moved to Florida. Great times.

BTW I am looking for one but the price on these things in great condition is steep as hell. My kid just turned 16 and would love one. Might have to settle for the Lexus.

[Fish]

It's called Rosy Retrospection. Or the Golden Age Fallacy. It's a very well known cognitive bias that results from the difference between how good memories and bad memories are formed and stored. Everything wasn't actually better. Some things were. Many things were not. There's actually tons of research about it.

That said, the 80's still had some pretty incredible advantages as a kid that can't be applied today.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

On a good note, how about those killer custom vans of the 70's and 80's before they screwed them all up turned them into window vans? 2 seat shorties with the bed in the back, couple bean bags. I had one for 3 years when I first moved to Florida. Great times.

BTW I am looking for one but the price on these things in great condition is steep as hell. My kid just turned 16 and would love one. Might have to settle for the Lexus.

We had two of them, lol. First was a Dodge custom, with a 360 motor, big green thing, with a folding bed in the back, shag carpet all around, and even had a sink, lol!

Second one was a ford, a little shorter, but got better gas mileage, and drove a lot better. Also had a bed, but no sink.

[Loneiguana]

Originally Posted by Fish

That said, the 80's still had some pretty incredible advantages as a kid that can't be applied today.

Boys today will never know having to call a girls house and talk to her parents first.

I regret that as a dad nowadays.

[The Franchise]

The irony that Big Daddy misses ****ing teenage girls and windowless vans. Can’t make this shit up.

[AdolfOliverBush]

I regret just missing the "quaalude era". By the time I was old enough to want to try them, they were already a thing of the past.

[Rain Man]

I kind of figure that everyone thinks that their memories were great, and that changes are substandard.

People who grew up in the 1940s probably talk fondly about victory gardens and how much better life was with stay-at-home moms.

People who grew up in the 1910s probably reminisced about those stick and hoop toys, and how much better life was when ice was delivered by hand with those big tongs.

People who grew up in the 1790s probably talked fondly about at-home candle tallow making and how much better life was before the Indians got guns.

People who grew up in the Ice Age probably talk fondly about killing giant ground sloths and how much better meat tasted before cooking over fires started.

In forty years, people will talk about growing up in the 2020s and how great tiktok was and how much better life was before AI matched you up with your future spouse in elementary school.