Retrospect

Though I was born in the 1960s, my real cognizance of cultural, social and political trends didn't start until the 70s. Yeah, I lived through the buildup in Vietnam, Woodstock, the Kent State shootings, the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, the first British invasion, the 1968 Democratic National Convention with the Chicago Seven, but I don't remember any of that. I was too busy with my Legos, GI Joe, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs and so on.

I became a teenager in 1973. There was junior high, high school and the start of college. There was a driver's license. There were jobs. There were girls. I became aware.

So much of the 70s is looked upon with distaste, scorn, derision. Because the 70s found its expression in disco, its fashion in bell bottoms, leisure suits and platform shoes, its leadership in Nixon, Ford and Carter, it is relegated to the status of kidney stones. Is this a fair judgment? Tough to say.

Much of the cultural malaise ascribed to the 70s was born from a 60s hangover, I think. Drab images from Vietnam, riots, and an overwhelming tide of negative energy generated by polarization of views and action found their response in the bright colors of polyester, spinning balls of mirrored light and LSD. A pendulum had swung.

I wasn't a big fan of the 70s. I didn't like junior high or high school, and that six years is a major chunk of the decade. The music of the time didn't generally impress me. The pain of first breakup was experienced, though that seems quite minor now.

I will say this - as blah as the mid-70s seemed, from 1977 on, it improved. I don't know if it was due to growing older, but I left for college in 1978 and that still remains one of my favorite eras in my life's history.

Time has tempered my view of the 70s. Now and then, I will hear a song that transports me back to that time, and I find myself stirring with positive feelings for that kidney stone of a decade. I'm not saying I'd like to go back and relive any of it.

But it's not the snark inducer it once was.

Except I still hate bell bottoms.