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.

[BEAVER]

Originally Posted by Frosty

I lived near Salem, Oregon at the time. Japanese cars in general just were pretty common, especially after just getting out of the second gas crisis.

So you were familiar with Ranier beer in all liklihood.....?

Eugene was much better in the 80's than today. I'm sure Salem was as well!

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by notorious

I miss parties where nobody had phones. You threw in a tape or CD at a request, pounded beer, took shots, and actually talked to people.

It was simple, and it was great. No selfies, no social media, just people. The only thing you afterwards was the memory of it or a couple blurry polaroids.

and if you did go to a concert, festival, or event you always met up with your friends as you had a preset meet up place and time, and everyone made it on time because that was the only way to make it work.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

And Kansas City had two papers a day, the Times in the morning and the Star in the evening. We'd pour over the box scores in the morning to see how the Royals did overnight, especially when they were on a west coast swing.

When I was about six years old, my parents got both a morning and afternoon newspaper. But not after that. I wasn't sure if it was because we moved to a different place or if the newspaper market changed.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

and if you did go to a concert, festival, or event you always met up with your friends as you had a preset meet up place and time, and everyone made it on time because that was the only way to make it work.

One of my early tests of maturity was leaving my parents at Six Flags or Silver Dollar City, armed with a couple of dollars for lunch and instructions to meet back at the giant gorilla statue or whatever at a certain time.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by BEAVER

So you were familiar with Ranier beer in all liklihood.....?

Eugene was much better in the 80's than today. I'm sure Salem was as well!

Oregon in general has turned into a POS. Look up who is in Jackson County Jail and it's endless meth head baby rapists. Some of the most beautiful areas filled with idiots. I couldn't raise a kid there now. Southern Oregon was my childhood. At the time it was amazing. (70's & 80's)

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

and if you did go to a concert, festival, or event you always met up with your friends as you had a preset meet up place and time, and everyone made it on time because that was the only way to make it work.

Lol, facts. Forgot about that. People were on time back in the day.

[stevieray]

...

[|Zach|]

The same people who bitch about kids always being inside and playing video games are the same people who call the police when kids are outside.

Not outside doing anything wrong...literally just the presence of kids out and about is deemed as suspicious by the same people who love to go on about these generational problems.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

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.

A friend of mine had custom made a chevy he did from scratch. It was one of the coolest ones I ever saw in person. In my junior and senior year he would was the captain of the football team. He would go to practice and I would pick up beverages and girls and go pick him up. It was great.

When I moved to Florida at 19 I noticed another Chevy on one of those rotating displays on the way to my girlfriends sisters apartment. Turns out they just wanted to break us up so they kicked me out as soon as we got there. I went to the local pick kwick and called a cab. 2 hours later I showed up and picked her up. The look on their face when I drove up and honked was priceless. It was a white with a 350. Not as nice as my friends but it was pretty sweet. They both had beds in the back with sitting on big ass speakers with a great sound system in the ceiling above the drivers seat. Captains chairs, pull curtains, fridge with shag carpeting. Tons of storage under the bed, TV VCR. I loved those vans. I am seriously going to look for one now for my boy. It's amazing how many of those things are still original owners.

One of the great thing about these was going to parties. You never had to drive drunk amongst other benefits.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

The same people who bitch about kids always being inside and playing video games are the same people who call the police when kids are outside.

Not outside doing anything wrong...literally just the presence of kids out and about is deemed as suspicious by the same people who love to go on about these generational problems.

How would you know fat boy? Did you ever pull your head out of the twinkies box and even go outside?

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by stevieray

...

Motorcycles were a huge part of my childhood. I started with a honda 50 key start at 6. Next was the Honda XR75. Yamaha 100 followed my finally graduating to a Yamaha YZ 125 monoshock. The technology advancement at that time was amazing. I tried racing motocross but we had 2 local kids that went pro early. One was Rick Bradley and the other was Smiley Otems. Once on the track with them I knew no matter how much I rode I would never be that fast.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

How would you know fat boy? Did you ever pull your head out of the twinkies box and even go outside?

I was outside all the time I loved the place I grew up.

Also, I would know because I answer those calls people make complaining about kids for no reason.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by BEAVER

So you were familiar with Ranier beer in all liklihood.....?

Of course. Ranier and Olympia were the local beers when I was going up and my dad drank both at times. I have never been much of a beer drinker and I don't remember ever having either.

Originally Posted by BEAVER

Eugene was much better in the 80's than today. I'm sure Salem was as well!

My in-laws are still in Salem so I go back a couple of times a year. There is still a lot I like but it's a lot busier now and a lot of the stores and businesses I used to frequent are closed now.

[|Zach|]

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 a great post...gotta take the good with the bad and have perspective.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

This is a great post...gotta take the good with the bad and have perspective.

Back then, if I wanted to watch Chiefs football I had to watch Marv Levy run the Wing T.

And if I wanted to discuss whether a tiger could kill a person in plate mail, the only person I could ask was the local librarian, and after a while she started hiding from me.