20 Things Gen X Forgets About the Late '70s
The late ’70s didn’t announce themselves as a moment. Life just happened with the TV always on and adults constantly annoyed. Gas lines appeared, ashtrays filled fast, and serious voices on the news blended into background noise. Nothing felt historic while it unfolded.
Pop culture sat in an awkward in-between. Disco ruled public spaces. Punk lived in basements. Star Wars existed without sequels, lore, or merch walls. Computers stayed expensive curiosities, not household tools. Everything looked unfinished, slightly off, somehow acceptable.
Time sanded it into a pre-’80s blur, but details stayed sticky. Uncomfortable, loud, forgotten when neon arrived and rewrote memory.
Smoking Indoors, 1970s
Cigarettes stayed lit on planes, in offices, restaurants, and living rooms without restrictions.
Roller Rink Peak, 1978
Four-wheel skates dominated recreation and disco culture before inline skating existed.
Disaster Movies Rule, 1970s
All-star casts battled fires, floods, and sinking ships before sci-fi blockbusters took over theaters.
Love Canal Exposed, 1978
Buried chemical waste in a New York neighborhood triggered health crises and national environmental outrage.
Bell Bottom Holdover, 1976
Flared pants and corduroy lingered well past disco’s decline.
Hobby Computers, 1977
Early machines like the Apple II stayed expensive, technical, and rare outside enthusiasts’ homes.
No Music Channel, 1970s
Radio DJs and record stores still controlled music promotion without video and television.
Atari Takes Homes, 1977
The Atari 2600 introduced color graphics and interchangeable cartridges to living rooms.
Punk Breakthrough, 1978
Acts like The Ramones and The Clash reshaped underground music before mainstream adoption.
Pre-Walkman Life, 1979
Portable music meant radios or lugging tapes until Sony’s cassette player barely entered the market.
Space TV Craze, 1978
Battlestar Galactica tried bringing cinematic sci-fi spectacle to weekly television.
Border War, 1979
China launched a brief but violent invasion of Vietnam that quickly vanished from Cold War memory.
CB Radio Boom, 1979
Drivers traded handles and chatter over citizen band radios long before mobile phones existed.
Shah Toppled, 1979
Iran’s pro-Western monarchy collapsed, allowing an Islamic republic to take power almost overnight.
Star Wars Shock, 1977
Star Wars: A New Hope arrived as a one-off gamble before franchises became inevitable.
Embassy Seized, 1979
Iranian militants stormed the US embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage for over a year.
Disco Everywhere, 1977
Nightlife, fashion, film, and radio revolved around dance floors fueled by the Bee Gees.
Gas Lines Again, 1979
Oil shortages tied to the Iranian Revolution caused panic buying, long fuel lines, and sudden price spikes across the US.
Camp David Deal, 1978
Jimmy Carter brokered a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel that briefly stabilized a volatile region.
Nuclear Scare, 1979
A partial meltdown at Three Mile Island released radiation fears that halted new US nuclear projects.
