By David Cohea, ReMIND Magazine
If you were a high school teen in the 1970s, everything was cool and far out unless it was bogus or a drag.
Some things were still the same as earlier decades, but not much — shop for boys, home ec for girls. Technology was slowly creeping forward. Typewriters were electric and slide rules were replaced by electronic calculators. Toward the end of the decade, the brainiacs started fooling with Apple II computers and Atari game consoles.
Boys’ hair tumbled over collars. Girls were allowed to wear pants. Classrooms tended to be open and were often painted orange. Books were covered with brown paper bags, which got a suede feel after months of use.
In fashion, it was baggies and platform shoes, Hang Ten T-shirts and Earth Shoes. Army and jean jackets were ubiquitous, as were jumper dresses and H.I.S. jeans and shirts.
There wasn’t much on TV for teens, but the music was killer. There was soft rock, hard rock, soul, funk, disco, punk. Everyone had a stereo at home and in their car, often featuring an eight-track tape player. Albums became anthems: Led Zeppelin II, The Dark Side of the Moon, Frampton Comes Alive!, Born to Run. Artists became titans: Alice Cooper, Stevie Wonder, Yes, Joni Mitchell, the Rolling Stones, Foreigner, Bee Gees, the Clash. Album-oriented FM stations played whole sides of Quadrophenia and Thick as a Brick. Concerts swelled to arena size. Kids danced the hustle, the bump and the bus stop.
Everyone rode minibikes and roller skates and had clackers and mood rings and Pet Rocks. ID bracelets were popular as tokens of going steady. Car culture was still big. In 1970, two bucks would fill up the tank, but when the oil embargo hit in 1973, gas guzzlers became less popular than fuel-miserly Chevy Novas and Dodge Darts. Still, there was nothing like a roaring Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with “Radar Love” blasting away.
For the social cliques, they tended to separate into three groups — hard partiers, weekend warriors and straight arrows. For those so inclined, there was Miller Lite, the first of the “light” beers, and Boone’s Farm. Pot smokers were furtive but everywhere. (See Dazed and Confused.)
Drive-in movies were still popular, and movies popular with teens included American Graffiti, Jaws, Animal House, Carrie, Halloween and the first Star Wars.
For teens of the ’70s, high school memories were freaky-deaky, grody, gnarly, jiggy or just plain dy-no-mite!
