RateItAll: The Opinion Network

The goofiest, funnest , strangest and cheesiest of all the decades was much fun for the many who lived through it. Disco to CB radios, there were many great and nostagic fads to trip on. Gotta love those tacky leisure suits, big bow ties and afro's. Truly the party decade. Hell, the PC wussies haven't stopped folks, including teens form drinking, smoking oand having fun yet.

Although I was born in the late 70's I can't comment on events and happenings but I will say this decade was the ugliest time for style. Hideous clothing, hair, furnature... you name it and some truly dreadful archetecture came out of the 70's.

I graduated grade school in 1979.Yankees won 2 championships,Mc donalds coming to my neighborhood,disco(loved Saturday Night Fever),good music,TV-Match Game, and Battle of the Network Stars-I saw the 1979 version of it.I will never forget the 1979 version of this show.Not that it was so memorable.But because one of the players was Diana Canova.And 45 minutes after it ended,guess who came over my house?Yep.Diana Canova.That was fun.On the other hand,Presidents Nixon,Ford and Carter were all for the birds and there was the Iran Hostage crisis and long gas lines.

This was a terrible time for America. We had Watergate, the fall of Saigon, Jimmy Carter, 20% interest rates, 10% unemployment, Iran Hostages, gas lines, polyester leisure suits, disco, and the list goes on and on.

I enjoyed the 70's. Sex wasn't deadly, no fear of terrorist attacks, and disco dancing was fun. Weed was cheap and not yet mind altering and house plants and mood rings ruled! The big negative was the oil shortage. Times have changed and and not for the better.

Another very confusing decade for the united states. Clothes, cars and hair styles were all just wacked out. Music was ok. The government was reeling with the people from Vietnam still. Just a sad lost bunch of years this decade was. I think people were depressed and it showed in everything just about. Sorry to sound so negative but I honestly cannot think of a positive thing about this decade except for maybe the fact that the birth of alot of music styles were just forming into what would eventually became some great 80's music.

Great movies (Godfather, Blazing Saddles, Annie Hall), great music (Bee Gees, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac), great TV (All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Match Game) and cool fashions (bell bottoms, tube tops, platform shoes). I love the 70's!

Grottiest decade on the planet. Horrible. Punk played on 1950s guitar riffs and a you're worthless attitude, New Wave was a 60s revival and the recession was huge. So much misery. Don't believe the hype! So many lies have been told to make the 70s out to be good - they've been rewritten, wrapped up in pretty paper and flogged whole to a generation who should really have better things to do than live in fantasy land.

Truly a great decade. I was young but I wish I was of age in the mid-70's when Punk came out. Disco was fun and any vitriol towards it was fuled by Middle America White Racism. The major drawback of course was the progressive-Arena rock that polluted the airwaves! Thank goodness for Punk and New Wave! And people learned that all politicians were corrupt!

The last liberal decade. It had to be a great decade because Reaganism didn't rule the country yet. ... Born in '76, I must've missed a lot of great things that decade. Two Knicks NBA titles ('70 and '73), two Yankee championships ('77 and '78), disco, The Son of Sam, Watergate, end of the Vietnam War, afros, bell-bottoms, Nixon's resignation, Ford surviving two assassination attempts, Carter's Malaise speech. Why didn't my parents have sex earlier? I missed a lot of fun.

A tragic time where the ideals of the sixties delivered their promises. Drug addiction, the clap and Communism's high water mark.

Research Help Needed-- Why Did Disco Suck? Your Thoughts and Memories Needed: www.discosucks.org

I was in 8th grade when this decade ended. As a child in the 70s I thought it was great. Running around the neighborhood without a care in the world, riding bikes, acting like evil kenieval (probably inventing the first xtreme bike moves) thinking rocket ships were the coolest thing in the world, watching karate movies on tv, figured out in the 80s that 70s disco sucked but most of the good rock bands were from the 70s. I recall a neighbor boy back in 74 i believe running up and down the train tracks when we asked him what he was doing, he said he was catching butterflies. I was 8 then and had no clue why he was catching butterflies on the train tracks, especially when my friends and I never once seen a butterfly on the train tracks. I remember riding our bikes down to the pub with our 15 cents and buying peanuts or gum. As a kid in the 70s, I thought it was a great time.

Most of it sucked, but I was born in 1978 and that saved the decade.

From what my folks have told me and from what little I can remember 'those days' were a hell of a lot better to live in.

This is the decade where I graduated from high school, cemented friendships that would last a lifetime, joined the Navy, reached manhood, became a boxer, met my wife, beame a father and was hired by McDnnell Douglas (which later became Boeing). On top of that some of the greatest rock music came out of this decade. All in all, not a bad decade.

Watergate, an impeached President, Vietnam, Disco, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, hostages in Iran, the energy crisis. Not a great decade. Bad clothes and music thats kinda embarassing to admit to. It was the bicentennial of the counrty though.

I never understood how the peace generation became the me generation is just a few short years. The best thing I can recall was the ending of the VietNam war and that was not necessarily something to be proud of as many were murdered once we pulled out. The Beatles disbanded, the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jim Croce, Mama Cass Elliot, members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Moe Howard and Larry Fine, (3 stooges) Bing Crosby, 19 killed at the '72 Olympics in Munich, and Jim Jones and 900 others die in Guyana, Watergate and its aftermath, the gas crisis (1974 and 1978) and sudden jump in price for all fuels, the Carter economy with double digit inflation, poorly designed cars such as the Pinto and Vega, the fatal stabbing of a fan at a Stones concert and the Kent State shooting, (both in 1970) black exploitation films, (anyone remember Blacula?) disco, (if you didn't dance you weren't part of the crowd) The Son of Sam, the blackout on the east coast in 1977, (which showed us how much our society had deteriorated since the blackout of 1965) the 55mph national speed limit, the hostages in Iran, Studio 54 and the cocaine excess all overshadow whatever good the decade gave us. The good things I remember were things such as Reggie Jackson being the king of baseball, the Star Wars series began as well as Jaws and Rocky, and proposition 13 was the beginning of the tax revolt. I also made a number of good friends when CB radio was at its peak. It's understandable that those who were young at the time would look back with affection and for them I am glad they were sheltered from the difficulties of the time but for me it was the worst decade of my life.

It's an ok decade, except one thing (other than the Vietnam War) it gave us disco, I hate disco, disco sucks.

The best music ever.

Being born in '73, it's hard to rate a decade in which I spent my earliest childhood years (I turned six late in 1979), and I don't remember much of anything, except for the toys I played with (Chatty Cathy among many) and the popular music (BeeGees and so forth). Music? Yes, because music started influencing me when I was three or four years old, which contributes to the fact that I am into music now. I was much too young to understand the lyrics, of course; I merely enjoyed listening to the music. I have come to love some of the TV shows that aired earlier in the decade that I didn't even remember in their first run, but I like now because they are quality programs. Also, most of the '70s programs weren't so full of garbage like most of the television programs of more recent years. Key events of the '70s include (but are not limited to): the end of the Vietnam War, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution, and the Watergate scandals which caused former President Nixon to resign. In conclusion, I would say this decade was okay (the extra star is because of my being born). However, it would be better for people to rate these earlier decades who actually saw some of these things happen. Each decade on this list holds some significance in history and had some good and exciting things that happened, so any decade I rate would probably get no less than three stars from me, but no more than four, as every era had its problems as well. Everyone had to take the good along with the bad in every decade they lived to see.

I was just a kid during the 70's, so it didn't really mean that much to me as a whole. However, I think I would have really loved to be an adult back then to see all those hot guys with bell bottom jeans...and I mean tight ones...

Looking back, one would be forgiven in thinking that the me 1970's were inevitable after the similar excesses of the 1960's. The country was in a period of distrust with government, people were feeling mortal after Vietnam, and the nation was basically in a state of depression; however, all of this stands in stark contrast with what was happening culturally. While fashion was at a low point, music, architecture and functional art were blooming. Prog and classic rock were hitting their stride and heyday, Detroit was creating some of the last cars that will be considered classics (ie no one will be restoring that old Honda Accord), and of course disco gave the decade one of its most identifiable stamps of decadence. Moreover, the late 70's and early 80's are when most of your great one hit wonders and wedding songs originate. In the end, the 1970's is a time that would be fun to visit, but you wouldn't necessarily want to live there; therefore, put on your bell bottoms and have a nice day.

I wanted to give it a higher rating because I love the music and the culture, but because of VietnamI have to give it a lower rating.

why is it number 2 i think the 80's were much better does anybody remeber the pinto the only reason why it was popular now is because all the super liberals out there,You had a nation with the worsed economy since the depression inflation was high cars were crappy i mean real bad does anyone remeber the vega and the music was ok buteven it had its cheeziness. O h and you also had wonderful politics. What was so great about it.

This is the "me" decade and since I am SoSingular of course this is my favorite decade. Movies such as Saturday Night Fever, The Paper Chase, and Breaking Away had style. Jaws scared the hell out of me. Television had Rhoda, arguably the best show ever, as well as All in the Family and Mash. Music had Paul Simon and Elton John. And there was a whole lot of wonderful sex before AIDS set in.

being a 20 year old in the 70's would be great. being a a part of all the political and war movements, and hearing the good music and being able to see Led Zepplin in concert would have been amazing!

Easily the stupidest decade in this nation's (and probably the world) history. The beginning of the downfall of this country -intellectually and morally. Stupid hippies and flower children, corrupt governments, we lost our first war ever (Vietnamese) drugs, etc. The clothing fashions were hideous and who can forget disco music? Pathetic. Most the music was okay, some crappy. But what a moronic decade!

Reel in horror at - The Ascendancy Of The Boomers! SEE blood-curdling fashions! SEE the twisting of Hippie idealism into excuses to get stoned! SEE fawning obesiance to the Beast that the '50s spawned! SEE the disregard for their juniors as 13th Gen children are neglected and left only the dregs of what the Boomers have enjoyed. *Management is not responsible for audience illness or death caused from the chilling experience of --- THE '70s!!!

The 1970’s began with a feeling of weariness. By this time almost everyone – even those who would not agree verbally, knew in his/her heart that Viet Nam had been a monstrous failure. The daily dose of killing, hate, mayhem, protest, political unrest and general bitching and moaning had taken its toll and, I think, gave us a certain amount of apathetic cynicism and a need to move on to something less depressing. Early in the decade, “All in the Family” changed the concept of television families as Archie Bunker railed at his dingy wife and ultra-liberal son-in-law. Before I graduated high school, Watergate reared its ugly head, which seemed like just one more nail in the coffin that would bury my respect for the world of politics and politicians – thank you Tricky Dickey and pals your pathetic legacy lives on! Finally, in 1975 the ugly diseased confused beast that was the Viet Nam war stumbled, fell and took its last breath. Fashion married polyester and quickly went over the top in the process. Though it wouldn’t be completely apparent for a time, this ill-advised union along with some questionable color combinations and rather ugly cuts caused many of us to live out the decade like a collection of unemployed clowns. Perhaps the whole polyester, paisley, green, pink platform shoe thing was some kind of artistic backlash reflecting the miserable socio-political doggie do we’d waded through in the previous 10 years. Or maybe these clothes along with a lot of crumbling attitudes simply sprung from the decaying stench of a society that was growing more and more jaded and self-loving. Looking back, fashion along with comedy, television, and film all seemed to take on a kind of MAD Magazine satirical tone. Either way, by 1975 the world was primed and ready for the Prime Time Players when Saturday Night Live aired its first show. This wacky group of comedians said more honest things about the state of our nation and the world than any presidential speech ever could. There were many memorable movies produced during this decade and some have aged better than others. Among my favorites were “The Godfather”, “American Graffiti”, “The Sting”, “Blazing Saddles”, “Young Frankenstein”, “Jeremiah Johnson”, “Breaking Away”, and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. And, of course, you can never leave a conversation or any other form of communication about the ‘70’s without dissing disco. Having been a twenty something at the time I had more than a passing acquaintance with it, which is why I think I see it as more of a passing craze than an actual music type. And, say what you will about it, but for a brief, somewhat gaudy speck of time I enjoyed putting my cares away and dancing to that mindless thudding beat. But my tastes have always been diverse running from classical to rock to pop and a little of almost everything in between so I also enjoyed crowding into stadium seating concerts with friends to see performers like The Dooby Brothers, Santana, Lynard Skynyrd and Joe Walsh among others. It seems ironic in a way that the disco ball dimmed just as this decade ended. It was as if it were all tied together somehow moving at breakneck speed, building up heat until it somewhat mercifully went into spontaneous combustion. Speaking for myself, I was rather glad to put this tense, somewhat frivolous and confused era behind me and move ahead.

I once agreed with a friend of mine who said "Man I wish I woulda been a teenager back in the 70s, driving muscle cars, going to Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts and just living like the Dukes of Hazard." haha

Here was an attempt to clean up the mess of the 60s. They tried, but the country was such a wreck after the 60s that the leadership at the time didn't know how to handle it. Ford was useless as a president, Carter was worse than useless. 19% interest rates for mortgages! 19%!!! Do you know that I hear people bitch all day about 6%? 19% is crippling to any homebuyer, and those rates were stuck there for most of the 70s. Then we had that bogus energy crisis, remember that? We were supposed to have run out of oil 20 years ago! do you think there are LESS cars or oil-based fuel vehicles out there now than there were in the 70s? Heck no! So where's the crisis? What a joke, and it robbed the American people even more. Now, I don't really blame the people for electing Carter. Obviously, people were bitter over Nixon (wrongly, but that's another story) and come hell or high water were NOT going to elect a Republican after that. Well, you got what you deserved. The 70s DID have some of the best rock music ever written, and thats no joke. The musclecars from the early 70s are still the greatest machines ever to ride on four wheels. TV was not the cesspool it is today, although there was alot of crap on the tube. Most 70s detective shows were well done anyway. The movies were in a bit of a slump, but that all changed when certain films like Star Wars and Jaws came about. the 70s was a "pick up the pieces" kind of decade, and one can't help but wonder if those pieces couldn't have been put together better had we had a quality leader, like we would start the 80s with...

I always associate Disco with the 70s. It's the first thing I think of. Culturally, America was booming in the 70s. Drug use was running full-fledged by this time, and people had afros and funky clothes. Politically, the 70s was just as bad as the 60s, marking a period of distrust between the people and the government not cured until Reagan's Administration.