The Seventies



"Nite Owl: But the country is disintegrating. What's happened to America? What's happened to the American Dream? Comedian: It came true. You're lookin' at it."

- Watchmen

The Seventies: A time when love was free, peace was the sign of the times and polyester was the fiber of choice. A period in history where the men wear polyester leisure suits, flary pants, huge ties and sport highly sprayed and manicured hair, sideburns included. The women have feathered, Farrah Fawcett hair, and wear slinky dresses with no bras underneath. Black people sported huge, poofy Afros as a Take That to past straightening practices. Heck, even white people had afros if they could grow them. Most people spend at least 92 percent of their waking lives at the disco or behind the wheel of a car big enough to tow the Titanic. Disco music with a tense "waka-chu-waka" beat often plays during chase scenes, or on pornos.

Elsewhere, Western Terrorists (and the Arab ones) are trying to blow up people, the US is still losing in The Vietnam War, and the blockbuster movie is invented, twice.

Media Technology reaches a turning point, as 8-track audio cassettes and VCRs appear for the first time, however the LP and Film are both still king. Movies such as Taxi Driver and The Godfather begin to deal with subjects once considered taboo due to the loosening censorship laws, and pornographic film becomes legal. The world learns the meaning of Kung Fu thanks to a tough little guy from Hong Kong named Bruce Lee. Television is changed forever by such ground breaking shows as All in The Family, M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Saturday Night Live and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Meanwhile gentle family shows like The Waltons, Little House On the Prairie and The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams found their own audience while The Fonz was ruling the kid's imagination while giving Robin Williams his big time start as the master comedian in Mork and Mindy. Meanwhile, Star Trek: The Original Series is Vindicated by Cable and develops a sizable fanbase, spawning a juggernaut franchise that would not die for... well, ever. While the kids have made the best of the Dark Age of Animation with Saturday Morning Cartoons like Superfriends and Scooby Doo, they at least had PBS's breakthrough kids shows, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street in their vibrant glory of its youth before they graduated to The Electric Company, Zoom and The Big Blue Marble.

Punk Rock and Disco, two genres of music which continue to influence music to this day come out during this decade, as does the first primitive electronic music under such bands as the German Kraftwerk and Suicide from New York City. Comics enter the Bronze Age, featuring death, politics, and ethnic superheroes for the first time ever. The Cold War slows down as American and Soviet relations improve for the first time since 1945. American distrust for authority reaches a high point with the Watergate scandal.

The post war economic boom that dominated The Fifties and The Sixties ends in recession, turning the American manufacturing Belt into the "rust belt". Crime and grime are on the rise and respect for law and order - from both criminals and their victims - begins to decline in favour of the good old fashioned "heads blown off" method. The energy crisis has Westerners running out of gas for the first time, showing the world just how dependent we all are on the Middle East.

Covers roughly the period from the Kent State Massacre of 1970 to the inauguration of Ronald Reagan.

See Also: The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, The Forties, The Fifties, The Sixties, The Eighties, The Nineties, Turn of the Millennium and The New Tens.


 * Seventies Hair
 * Afro Asskicker
 * The Alleged Car: Pollution control systems were in their infancy so stalling, sputtering, and backfiring were often the order of the day. Lemons: The World's Worst Cars makes note that during the seventies, "quality control" took a nose-dive. Noted auto journalist Peter Egan once dismissed the entire decade as The Era of Stupid Design while Dave Barry theorized that the first generation of American subcompacts were a Batman Gambit to discredit the very concept of a non-aircraft-carrier sized car.
 * Blaxploitation
 * Blockbuster Age of Hollywood
 * The Bronze Age of Comic Books
 * Carpet of Virility
 * Cowboy Cop
 * Disaster Movie
 * Every Car Is a Pinto: The Trope Namer was produced from 1971 to 1980.
 * Everything's Even Worse with Sharks
 * Everythings Funkier With Disco
 * Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting, at least in the movies
 * Fan Yay: A phenomenon making its public revival after the beginning of the modern gay rights movement and the easing of mandatory media/postal censorship.
 * Funny Afro
 * The Fashionista, as stated in Vogue 1970 issue, there are no rules in fashion, and the fashion storm started that left a mark in the catwalk, then leaving a disaster on the next decade.
 * The Generation Gap
 * Glam Rock
 * Glorious Mother Russia (with every man a KGB agent and every woman a Gonk)
 * Heavy Metal: In its earliest stages. Especially Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
 * I Was Quite a Fashion Victim (in late works about this decade)
 * Jive Turkey
 * Limited Animation (Most of the worst products of The Dark Age of Animation would come out during this decade, and were strictly kids stuff, except for the occasional odd exception, like Ralph Bakshi's films.)
 * No Fame, No Wealth, No Service (when it came to clubs like Studio 54)
 * Pimp Duds
 * Porn Stache
 * Pretty in Mink (aside from the pimp coats, sheepskin and white rabbit jackets for ladies became popular)
 * Serial Killer: Several of the more infamous ones (Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, John Wayne Gacy, BTK, The Zodiac, etc.) became active during the decade.
 * Sweater Girl: Came back from The Fifties with a vengeance.
 * Who Wears Short Shorts?: I wear hot pants

Film

 * Almost Famous
 * American Gangster
 * Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
 * Apollo 13
 * The Baader Meinhof Complex
 * Boogie Nights (partially)
 * Breakfast On Pluto
 * The first half of Casino
 * Coonskin
 * Dark Shadows
 * Dazed and Confused (Like Life in Mars is set before disco)
 * Detroit Rock City
 * Dick
 * Donnie Brasco
 * The second half of Dreamgirls
 * Curse of the Zodiac
 * Frost/Nixon
 * Heavy Traffic
 * The Ice Storm
 * Invincible
 * The Last King of Scotland
 * Man on Wire is about daredevil tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who walked (and ran, and danced) on a wire strung between the two towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
 * Milk
 * Munich
 * Roll Bounce
 * The Runaways
 * Scotland, PA
 * Semi Pro: Few things are more emblematic of the 70s than white guys with afros playing ABA basketball.
 * Super 8
 * Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
 * The Virgin Suicides
 * Velvet Goldmine (partially)
 * The made-for-tv Elvis Meets Nixon comically imagined the events leading up to the meeting of two major players from The Fifties who fell off the radar in The Sixties only to get big again at decade's end.
 * Zodiac

Literature

 * The Big Book Of The 70s (referred to as "the decade where nothing happened", although the chapter on the birth of terrorism is particularly harsh in hindsight)
 * A great deal of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
 * Christine
 * The unnamed Harry Potter prequel, which takes place three years before Harry's birth, thus was set in 1977.
 * The Lovely Bones
 * Replay - spans 25 years. Several times.

Live-Action TV

 * Fantasy Island
 * Freaks and Geeks: Technically set in 1980, but the 70's hadn't quite worn off yet as disco is still around.
 * Hawaii Five O
 * I Love The 70 s on VH-1
 * Life On Mars 2006 (Set in 1973, before disco)
 * Life On Mars 2008 (American remake of the above, set in the same year)
 * The Seventies, an NBC TV miniseries that was a follow-up (not a sequel) to the previous NBC miniseries The Sixties.
 * Swingtown
 * That '70s Show. What did you expect?

Video Games

 * ''Hotel Dusk: Room 215': Very borderline. It's set just mere days before 1980.
 * Interstate '76: A different 1976 anyways.

Works that were made in this time period:
Works from these media are listed in categories:
 * Category:Aeni of the 1970s‎
 * Category:Anime of the 1970s‎
 * Category:Eastern European Animation of the 1970s‎
 * Category:Fan Works of the 1970s
 * Category:Films of the 1970s
 * Category:Manga of the 1970s‎
 * Category:Manhwa of the 1970s‎
 * Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1970s‎
 * Category:Puppet Shows of the 1970s
 * Category:Radio of the 1970s
 * Category:Tabletop Games of the 1970s
 * Category:Theatre of the 1970s
 * Category:Toys of the 1970s

Comic Books
See also Category:Comic Books of the 1970s‎


 * Tintin. Series started in 1929.
 * Tintin and the Picaros (1976).
 * Yoko Tsuno. First appeared in September, 1970.
 * Conan the Barbarian. Adaptation of the literary character. First appeared in October, 1970.
 * Darkseid. First appeared in December, 1970.
 * New Gods. Series started in February-March, 1971.
 * Man-Thing. First appeared in May, 1971.
 * Swamp Thing.
 * Swamp Thing/Alex Olsen. First appeared in June-July, 1971.
 * Swamp Thing/Alec Holland. First appeared in October-November, 1972.
 * Archie Comics.
 * Chuck Clayton. First appeared in August, 1971.
 * Coach Floyd Harry Clayton. First appeared in March, 1974.
 * Nancy Woods. First appeared in January, 1976.
 * Morbius. First appeared in October, 1971.
 * The Defenders. First appeared in December, 1971.
 * Green Lantern/John Stewart. First appeared in December, 1971.
 * Jonah Hex. First appeared in February, 1972.
 * "Him" became Adam Warlock in April, 1972.
 * The Tomb of Dracula. First debuted in April, 1972.
 * Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. First appeared in June, 1972.
 * Etrigan. First appeared in August, 1972.
 * Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze. First appeared in August, 1972.
 * Red Sonja. First appeared in February, 1973.
 * Thanos. First appeared in February, 1973.
 * The Night Gwen Stacy Died storyline, appeared in June-July, 1973.
 * Black Orchid. First appeared in July, 1973.
 * Blade. First appeared in July, 1973.
 * Freedom Fighters. First appeared in September, 1973.
 * Howard the Duck. First appeared in December, 1973.
 * The Punisher. First appeared in February, 1974.
 * Iron Fist. first appeared in May, 1974.
 * OMAC. First appeared in September, 1974.
 * Wolverine. First appeared in October-November, 1974.
 * Sandman/Garrett Sanford. First appeared in Winter, 1974.
 * Golden Eagle/Charlie Parker. First appeared in March, 1975. He later assumed the Hawkman identity.
 * Storm. First appeared in May, 1975.
 * X-Men. Revived in May, 1975.
 * Moon Knight. First appeared in August, 1975.
 * Batman Family. Series started in October, 1975.
 * The Warlord. First appeared in November, 1975.
 * Mickey Mouse Comic Universe
 * Bruto. First appeared in December, 1975.
 * American Splendor. Series started in 1976.
 * Power Girl. First appeared in January-February, 1976.
 * Omega the Unknown. First appeared in March, 1976.
 * Nova. First appeared in September, 1976.
 * Carol Danvers became Ms. Marvel in January, 1977.
 * De Kiekeboes. Series started in February, 1977.
 * Two Thousand AD. Magazine launched in February, 1977.
 * Savage. First appeared in February, 1977.
 * Spider-Woman. First appeared in February, 1977.
 * Judge Dredd. Judge Dredd
 * Thorgal. First appeared in March, 1977.
 * Albany and Sturgess. Series started in April, 1977.
 * Black Lightning. Debuted in April, 1977.
 * Shade the Changing Man. Debuted in June, 1977.
 * Wonder Twins. Adapted to the medium in October, 1977.
 * Cerebus. First appeared in December, 1977.
 * Huntress/Helena Wayne. Debuted in December, 1977.
 * Omaha the Cat Dancer. First published in 1978.
 * Quasar/Wendell Elvis Vaughn. Debuted in January, 1978.
 * Madame Xanadu. Debuted in February, 1978.
 * Elf Quest. Series started in Spring, 1978.
 * Firestorm. Debuted in March, 1978.
 * Steel/Henry "Hank" Heywood. Debuted in March, 1978.
 * Strontium Dog. Series started in May, 1978.
 * DC Comics Presents. Series started in July, 1978.
 * Vixen. First appearance in Fall, 1978. But in a title only available to DC personnel.
 * Flaming Carrot. First appeared in 1979.
 * Micronauts. Series started in January, 1979.
 * Ant-Man
 * Scott Lang. First appeared in March, 1979.
 * Scott Lang assumed the Ant-Man identity in April, 1979.
 * Lt. Col. James Rhodes (debuted March, 1979). He would become better known as War Machine.
 * Alpha Flight. First appeared in April, 1979.
 * ABC Warriors. Series started in June, 1979.
 * Captain Universe. First appeared in August, 1979.
 * ROM Spaceknight. First appeared in December, 1979.

Literature
In addition to what's listed at Category:Literature of the 1970s‎:


 * Amelia Peabody. This series of novels started in 1975.
 * The Apple Dumpling Gang
 * The Autumn of the Patriarch
 * Bernie Rhodenbarr. This series of novels started in 1977.
 * Bless the Beasts And Children
 * Brother Cadfael. This series of novels started in 1977.
 * Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
 * Deliverance
 * The Destroyer. The series started in 1971, though the first novel was written in 1963.
 * The Dogs of War
 * Ecce Romani. First published in 1971.
 * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
 * Fifth Business
 * House of Stairs
 * Last Son of Krypton
 * Maurice. First published in 1971, though it was written c. 1913.
 * Mommie Dearest
 * Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
 * NUMA Series. The series started in 1973.
 * A Planet Called Treason
 * Ragtime
 * Requiem for a Dream
 * The Silmarillion
 * Spenser. The novel series started in 1973.
 * The Stepford Wives
 * The Third World War
 * The Thorn Birds
 * Time and Again
 * Titus Crow. The character first appeared in 1970.
 * What Dreams May Come
 * The Winds of War and War and Remembrance

Live-Action TV
In addition to what's listed at Category:Live-Action TV of the 1970s:


 * Hardy Boys-Nancy Drew Mysteries
 * Kolchak the Night Stalker
 * Land of the Lost
 * Laverne and Shirley
 * Lou Grant
 * Mastermind
 * The Muppets
 * The Muppet Show
 * Night Gallery
 * The Partridge Family
 * Pinwheel
 * The Pippi Longstocking TV series, and its re-edition as feature films
 * The Professionals
 * Question Time
 * Quincy
 * Rhoda
 * Salvage 1
 * SCTV
 * Soap
 * SWAT
 * Upstairs, Downstairs
 * The Waltons

The Toku genre exploded in The Seventies, giving us several classic shows and two franchises that are still with us. More Toku shows aired per year in this decade than any other decade before or since:
 * Kamen Rider began in 1971 with its namesake series, and it's still going on (except for that break between 75 and 79 when Ishinomori was working on Sentai, and the break between 1980 and 1987, and the break between 1988 and 2000). Individual series are listed at Category:Live-Action TV of the 1970s.
 * Super Sentai began in 1975 with Himitsu Sentai Goranger, and it's still going on (except for 1978, where the Spider-Man tokusatsu aired in it's place, making way for the giant robots that are common in Super Sentai nowadays).
 * Himitsu Sentai Goranger (1975-1977)
 * JAKQ Dengekitai (1977)
 * Battle Fever J (1979-1980)
 * Choujin Barom 1
 * Japanese Spider-Man
 * Kaiketsu Zubat
 * Robot Detective
 * Space Ironmen Kyodain
 * Spectreman
 * Warrior of Love Rainbowman

Music
See also Category:Musicians of the 1970s


 * ABBA. Debut album in 1973.
 * Aerosmith. They formed in 1970 and rose to become among the most popular hard rock bands of this decade.
 * Alice Cooper. First major hit for the band in 1971. First solo album for the singer in 1975.
 * Beastie Boys. They formed in 1979.
 * The Beatles. Released their last hit album in 1970, prior to disbanding.
 * The Bee Gees. They formed in the 1960s, but reinvented themselves in this decade. Releasing some of their greatest hits.
 * Black Sabbath. Formed in 1968-1969, debut album in 1970.
 * Blondie. Formed in 1974-1975. They gained mainstream success by 1978.
 * Blue Oyster Cult. Formed in 1967, debut album in 1972.
 * Carpenters. They debuted in 1969, but all their commercial hits were released in this decade.
 * The Cars. Debut album in 1978.
 * Chic. Debut album in 1977.
 * Creedence Clearwater Revival. Formed in the 1960s. Released a number of hits before disbanding in 1972.
 * David Bowie rose to stardom in this decade (he'd been recording since 1964), and became iconic and influential enough, especially in his native England, that two of the above-mentioned works set in it -- Life on Mars and Velvet Goldmine -- are titled after songs of his. The latter is a No Celebrities Were Harmed take on his Glam Rock period.
 * Deep Purple. Debuted in 1968. Released some of their greatest hits in this decade.
 * Deep Purple in Rock (1970)
 * Bob Dylan. Career started in the 1960s. Released a number of hits within this decade.
 * Eagles, Formed in 1971, debut album in 1972.
 * Electric Light Orchestra. Formed in 1970, debut album in 1971.
 * Emerson Lake and Palmer. Debut album in 1970.
 * Faces. Debut album in 1970.
 * Fleetwood Mac. Formed in 1967, released some of their greatest hits in this decade.
 * George Harrison. Career started in the 1960s. Released a major hit album in 1970.
 * Hawkwind. Formed in 1969. Debut album in 1970.
 * Michael Jackson. Debut album in 1972. Released a string of hit songs in 1979.
 * Billy Joel. Career started in 1964, but his solo career took off in 1972--1973.
 * Elton John. Career started in the 1960s, but John first enjoyed mainstream popularity in this decade.
 * Joy Division. Formed in 1976-1977, first recordings in 1978.
 * Judas Priest. Formed in 1969, debut album in 1974.
 * The Kinks (A British Invasion band from The Sixties that was still going strong).
 * KISS. Formed in 1973, debut album in 1974.
 * Led Zeppelin. The group formed in the 1960s, but reached the height of their popularity in this decade.
 * Leif Garrett. Had a steady acting career throughout the decade before releasing his debut single in 1976.
 * John Lennon. Debut solo album in 1970. Released a major hit album in 1971.
 * Lynyrd Skynyrd. Formed in 1964, debut album in 1973.
 * Paul McCartney. Released his first solo album in 1970.
 * Ronnie Milsap. Debut album in 1971, first major hit in 1974.
 * The Moody Blues. Formed in 1964. Released a number of hit albums within this decade.
 * Mike Oldfield. Debut solo album in 1973. Oldfield had previously performed and recorded both in a duo (with his sister Sally Oldfield) and in collaborations with various bands.
 * Tubular Bells (1973)
 * Dolly Parton. Her recording career started in the 1960s, but she gained mainstream success in this decade.
 * Pink Floyd. While formed in the 1960s, they released their most notable works within this decade:
 * The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
 * The Wall (1979)
 * The Police. Formed in 1977, debut album in 1978.
 * Queen. Formed in 1970, debut album in 1973.
 * The Rolling Stones. Formed in 1962, the group released a series of hit albums within this decade.
 * Rush. Formed in 1968, debut album in 1974.
 * Scorpions. Formed in 1965, debut album in 1972.
 * Sex Pistols. Formed in 1975, debut single in 1976.
 * Simon and Garfunkel. Career started in the 1950s. Released their last hit album in 1970, before ending their partnership.
 * Paul Simon. Career started in the 1960s. Released a number of hit albums within this decade.
 * Simple Minds. Formed in 1978, from the remnants of previous band Johnny & The Self-Abusers. Debut album in 1979.
 * Patti Smith. Debut album in 1975.
 * Ringo Starr. Debut solo album in 1970.
 * Status Quo (band). Formed in 1960s, but released notable commercial hits in this decade.
 * Steely Dan. Debut album in 1972. The duo had previously recorded a number of demos and an unsuccessful single.
 * Barbra Streisand. Her singing career started in the 1960s, but Streisand released several major hits in this decade.
 * Styx. Debuted under this name in 1972. Previously known as Tradewinds and TW4. They had their first major hit in 1977.
 * Donna Summer. First single in 1971, first album in 1974.
 * Thin Lizzy. Formed in 1969. First single in 1970, first album in 1971.
 * Uriah Heep. Formed in 1969. Debut album in 1970.
 * Village People. Debut album in 1977.
 * The Who. They formed in the 1960s. But released notable works within this decade:
 * Quadrophenia
 * Wings. Formed in 1971.
 * Yes. Formed in 1960s, but released several hit albums in this decade.
 * Neil Young. Debuted in 1968. Released his greatest chart hits in this decade.

Professional Wrestling

 * All Japan Pro Wrestling. Established in 1972.
 * New Japan Pro Wrestling. Established in 1972.
 * Ric Flair. Debuted in 1972.

Video Games
See also Category:Video Games of the 1970s‎


 * Adventure
 * Air
 * Air-Sea Battle
 * Anti-Aircraft
 * Asteroids
 * Avatar
 * Blockade
 * Breakout
 * Colossal Cave
 * Combat
 * Computer Space
 * Atari Cops N Robbers
 * Crash 'N Score
 * dnd
 * Dungeon
 * Galaxian
 * Gotcha
 * Gran Trak 10
 * Hi-Way
 * Hunt the Wumpus
 * |Indy 500 (Atari 2600)
 * Jet Fighter
 * Lunar Lander
 * Maze War
 * Multi-User Dungeon
 * Night Driver
 * Oregon Trail
 * Panther
 * PLATO Empire
 * PLATO Moria
 * Pong
 * Pursuit
 * Quadrapong
 * Atari Qwak 1974
 * Rebound
 * Shark Jaws
 * Snake
 * Space Invaders
 * Space Race
 * Spasim
 * Sprint 2
 * Star Raiders
 * Starship 1
 * Star Trek Text Game
 * Steeplechase
 * |Superman (Atari 2600)
 * Tank
 * Touch Me
 * Video Pinball
 * Zork

Western Animation
In addition to what's listed at Category:Western Animation of the 1970s:


 * The Addams Family
 * Archie's TV Funnies
 * The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show
 * Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids
 * Dynomutt Dog Wonder
 * Fangface
 * Fred and Barney Meet The Thing
 * The Godzilla Power Hour
 * The Hair Bear Bunch
 * Hong Kong Phooey
 * The Jackson 5ive
 * Jana of the Jungle
 * I Dream of Jeannie
 * Laff-A-Lympics
 * Mission: Magic!
 * The New Adventures of Gilligan
 * Partridge Family 2200 A.D.
 * The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show
 * Scooby Doo
 * The New Scooby Doo Movies (1972-1974)
 * The Scooby Doo Show (1976-1979, ABC)
 * The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show (1976-1977, ABC)
 * Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics (1977-1979, ABC; renamed Scooby's All-Stars in second season)
 * Scooby And Scrappy Doo (1979-1980)
 * Space Sentinels
 * The Super Globetrotters
 * Uncle Croc's Block
 * Wonder Twins
 * Yogi's Space Race