My 1970s media diet (1970-79) is made up of the film, television, books, magazines, newspaper, music, etc, that I consumed during the 1970s in the US. As it turns out, much of it came from the 1960s.
Background: My parents both had university educations, but they also had five children and little money. From that flowed all else. It meant, for example, that on Saturday we went to the library (free) instead of the movies ($$$). Being a middle child of five meant I had little control over the family’s one television. But I had my own radio and I was allowed to get out two books on my grandmother’s library card till I was old enough to get my own card. So my media diet was heavy on music and books, light on film and television.
Film: Even though I lived in the US throughout the 1970s I did not see Hollywood films like “Rocky”, “The Godfather” or “Apocalypse Now” till the 1980s or 1990s. Most of what I saw in the 1970s were old movies on television from the 1960s and 1950s, stuff like “Planet of the Apes”, “My Fair Lady” and “The Ten Commandments”. I did, though, see “Jaws” and “Star Wars” when they first came out.
Television: This was in black-and-white till 1973 (a year later than in Brazil), no cable till the 1980s. Even much of this wound up being from the 1960s, like reruns of “The Flintstones”, “Rocky & Bullwinkle”, and “Star Trek”. I loved watching cartoons on Saturday morning (do they still have that?). And the moon shots. And “The Gong Show”. And “Sonny and Cher”. And …
Internet: Service unavailable.
Porn: Almost none and mainly just naked breasts in National Geographic and an occasional Playboy.
Magazines: I did a post on this. The only ones I bought were MAD and Omni. The pictures in my father’s copies of National Geographic, which ran from about 1965 to 1973 (when his employment history was most stable), were more or less burned into my brain during the 1970s. Most of what I knew about the world beyond the West came through their colonial lens.
News: mainly from MAD magazine till I was old enough to read the Week in Review section in the Sunday New York Times.
Music: mainly Top Forty Radio, which played the current top 40 hit songs endlessly, the #1 hit once an hour. It was heavy on soft rock, soul, and disco music, at least in New York. The most 1970s part of my 1970s diet, but my exposure to 1970s hard rock came mainly from the 1980s when I went to work and university.
Books: By far the least censored, least US, and least 1970s part of my diet. Not only did I have a library card, my parents had over 500 books of their own. My older brother had the Golden Book Encyclopedia and later the World Book encyclopedia. Most of the books in my Lost Book Covers posts are from this period.
– Abagond, 2019.
Update (November 9th): Updated in light of my Time Warp Radio: 1979 post.
See also:
- media diet
- US magazines in the 1970s
- Lost book covers, part II – mostly from the 1970s
- Time Warp Radio: 1979
- Cher
- Donna Summer
- Elton John: Rocket Man
- Diana Ross: Love Hangover
- Isaac Asimov
- Star Trek
- Golden Book Encyclopedia
- The New York Times
- National Geographic
- The Internet: a brief history
- My adventures in porn
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“Porn: Almost none and mainly just naked breasts in National Geographic and an occasional Playboy.”
This is the most striking statement. The internet started to kick off right when I went into puberty. I can only imagine lol
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Both The Godfather and Apocalypse Now were shown in my home town, Maputo, during those years.
I’ve watched the latter but not the former, because of age restrictions for viewers of movies in our theaters, valid at that time.
Interesting to notice that both movies counted on the work of two giants of the 7th art namely, Francis Ford Coppola and Marlon Brando.
Apocalypse Now let in my conscience a very strong impression. I let the movie theater that day, with a distinct impression of having just visited the Hell. Even now, when a reference is made to that movie I recollect vivid and disturbing images of it. Very strong work!
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@ Abagond
Did your parents give you the rationale about movies: “Wait a year and it will be on TV and you can watch it for free”?? That was the one I always got.
I did manage to get to see Star Wars in the theater for my birthday. I remember thinking during the opening shots that they wouldn’t have been anywhere as jaw-droppingly awesome on the small screen of a TV.
My parents didn’t get a color TV until I was in my 20s, so I didn’t get the full effect of all the wild color combinations and garish costumes in the TV shows of the Sixties and Seventies.
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I wouldn’t know about these things, I wasn’t born yet. I’ve got some swampland in Florida for sale if anyone is interested!
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1970s and no SOUL TRAIN?
I remember I used to watch that on Saturdays after we got our first colour television.
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@ Solitaire
Exactly: “Wait till it comes on TV” – an argument that did not work with “Star Wars”.
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Well i got to see star wars in the theater, we didn’t go to the movies often, my mom dragged us to ‘Grease.’
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Update: Updated in light of my “Time Warp Radio: 1979” post.
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