Did people in the 90s really had nostalgia for the 70s?

[Oliverlogan263]

Since the 2010s were nostalgic about the 90s, I need to know whether people back in the 90s were nostalgic about the 70s. I heard people back in the 90s wanted the 70s to come back because the 90s to them sucked. Was there really a 70s nostalgia trend that was going around in the 90s?

Yes

No

[abc3643]

Yes. Sort of. ("That '70s Show" which premiered in 1998 is a perfect example.)

Every 20-25 years, there is nostalgia for the decade 2 decades earlier.

For example, in the 1970s, there was nostalgia for the 1950s which is why "American Graffiti" (*), "The Lords of Flatbush", "Happy Days", and the play-then-movie "Grease" were popular. Indeed, "Happy Days" was very popular in the 1970s BECAUSE people were longing for the past. ABC broadcast that show to compete against Normal Lear's popular contemporary and controversial shows on CBS. Those shows reminded people of the shitty present, while "Happy Days" took people in their 30s and 40s back to life before Vietnam and civil rights and women's liberation and when everybody on TV was White.

And that example illustrates the crux of what I said above. This is because people in their 30s and 40s are now responsible adults living in a shitty contemporary world and they want to go back to relive, in a sense, the time when they were teens - naïvely optimistic and not yet aware of the darkness of human nature - put another way, they weren't cynical yet - and not having the responsibilities and pressures of adulthood.

In 20 years, you'll be feeling nostalgic for these times... when people still had jobs before robots took over... when the sea level wasn't so high... when 110 degF temperatures were still rare... when a large fraction of idiots idolized Trump... when there was still broadcast TV and radio... etc.

===

"American Graffiti" was released in 1973 and took place in 1962. (The movie's tagline was "Where were you in '62?".) However, 1962 was really an extension of the 1950s; it wasn't until The Beatles that the 1960s culture shifted significantly.

[abc3643]

Another example about the 70s/90s...
The popular 1993 movie "Dazed and Confused" which takes place in Austin TX on the last day of school in May 1976,
I was living in Los Angeles when it came out and had to go see it. When I was in the theatre in Torrance and the movie opening credits start with showing a Firebird with Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" playing and then the beautiful girl is licking the paper as she is rolling a joint, I smiled and thought "This is the movie for me."

[abc3643]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR7KwG5PE5Q

To me in 1993, this was porn.

[abc3643]

I was wrong; it's not a Trans Am... It's a "goat" - a Pontiac GTO. My cousin's first car was a GTO... "The Big Green Mean Machine" and he would have been the same age as a senior in this movie.

[blueonblack22]

The 90s was the last decade of good music and the technological advances were still innocent and not negatively impacting our lives like they do now. People still interacted with each other and nobody was using the “virtual attention” as crutch for true human needs to socialize.

[DrPepper12]

There's PLENTY of great music still being made! Hard disagree!

[blueonblack22]

@DrPepper12 not saying there isn’t. But the use with digitization is that artists are constantly be bombarded with accesible tunes, lyrics, etc. It is much hard for them to be creative.

[Nikki1989]

70s influenced music was big in the 90s so maybe.

[MemeSupreme]

yeah I've heard of it before

[OtterMan68]

No, but there were a few years where they were obsessed with 40s big bang music and dancing. See the movie Swingers for example.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/zHT2zOnutCA

[KrakenAttackin]

No, the 70's were filled with the Vietnam war, social strife, oil shocks, Inflation, etc. In the 90's we were beginning to get the sense we were in the verge of amazing advances (the personal computer, the Internet, medical advances), the 90's were exciting which is why the early 2000's (right after 9/11) was such a fucking bummer.

[goaded]

Well, it must have been nice not to have a death sentence associated with bad luck in love (AIDS). I was a child in the 70's, I expect older people looked back in fondness. Unless they were black, gay, etc.

[handsomelad70]

ESPECIALLY black and/or gay. (I'm the former, not the latter.)

[bolverk]

Yes there was nostalgia for the 70's but not so much for the 'fashion' that could be left back there, It was mainly because it was simpler, with non of the IT/Technology proliferation that started in the 90's

[Dongie]

For me I was told I still lived in the 80s till like 95. I just lived, didn;t miss the 80s just wasn't into grundge type music much, but it grew on me. But I personally started to long for the 70s about 7-8 years ago. Born in 62

[FunkyMonkee]

I don't know. I never did. People today seem to have a lot of nostalgia for the `70's, though!! Can't imagine why!!

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

Yes, there is a chance it could be

[82lynx]

I narrowly missed the 70s but I have a strong appreciation for the technology and industrial design from back then. I have surrounded myself with late 60s to early 80s items and use them all the time. I avoid buying new like the plague.

[DrPepper12]

Got an 8 track? 😂

[82lynx]

@DrPepper12 Seven car stereos and one component recording deck.

[DrPepper12]

Nice! In my next life I will own a jet black, tinted 87 Grand National. Fell in love with that car from day one.

[82lynx]

@DrPepper12 Those are pretty sweet rides.

[exitseven]

Everybody has nostalgia for the 70s. It was a great time to live in America.

[DrPepper12]

For some, not all.

[exitseven]

@DrPepper12 true, but the 2020s are worse.

[abc3643]

It was a great time to be YOUNG in America.
It was not a great time if you were an adult with a family and not rich.

[DrPepper12]

@abc3643 or black, gay, native American,...

[abc3643]

@DrPepper12 Well, in a way, it was better for them than earlier decades.

[handsomelad70]

I think so, though the 60's were still the nostalgia decade through at least some of the 90's.

[DrPepper12]

You just don't know. Gen X was feral.