20 Pictures That Will Make You Nostalgic For the Seventies

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1. The iconic cover of Pink Floyd’s magum opus “The Dark Side of the Moon.” While it was the longest running album to stay on the Billboard 200 for a total of 741 weeks (1973-1988) it only topped the 200 for a single week. The whole album is basically a single body of work with the individual tracks as movements of sorts with the only pause between “The Great Gig in the Sky” and “Money.”

2. All In The Family: Before Tim Allen was the “Last Man Standing,” it was Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker. Making his stance against the radicals of the 1960’s and early 1970’s and the son in law that was part of it. Only difference between and Allen and O’Connor is that the later would more less side with Rob Reiner (in real life) who played the Meat Head of a son and law.

3. Fleetwood Mac rises to stardom: In 1975 the evolution of Fleetwood Mac was complete and their fusion of UK Blues and 1970’s California Rock would dominate the for the rest of the 1970’s. They were able to take the woes of their personal lives and create an album of songs based on them which was titled Rumours. That album would become their overall bestselling album spending 31 non-consistent weeks at the top of the Billboard 200.

4. The beginning of Star Wars: While the marketing is hands down misleading….So What???!!!So we did not actually see Luke Skywalker bare his chest or Princess Leia Organashow off her legs(we would get something more scantily clad with Return of the Jediyears later). These posters are very 1970’s, and the marketing worked when it needed to. The marketing logo is so 1970’s too. After the success of Star Wars, there would be no need to for these kinds of posters, and the posters would be more realistic to the story of the Star Wars saga. Still any diehard fan of Star Wars does get their kicks out of these 1970’s styled posters.

5. Bell Bottoms: Need I say more???

6. The Brady Bunch: TheLovely Girls, Brady’s Three Boys, the new married couple (The Lady and that fellow Mr. Brady), a housekeeper (to make the adult three complete) and now you have a blended family. Don’t forget that famous grid, which people love to mock. Even if you think this show is crap, it’s still a 1970’s icon…even if the show really began in the fall of 1969.

7. Disco: Thanks to the movie Saturday Night Fever, Disco music was becoming very popular. While disco fell out of favor, popular dance music was still evolving and eventually the use of stringed and horn instruments would be replaced by keyboards and drum machines. Today’s dance music at least for me makes me want to embrace disco. Even the Rolling Stones embraced disco in way that did not alienate their fanbase (Miss You). Others may have offended like Paul McCartney (Goodnight Tonight) and Rod Stewart (Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, which Stewart updated with the Pop Rock Dance band DNCE recently) but were quickly forgiven more/less.

8. ABBA: No other group from the Scandinavian region made their mark in the international pop music world like ABBA did. There would be others, but just would not have that longevity and mystic that ABBA had. They begin with the early 1970’s sounds of European Folk pop andSchlager (German for ‘Hitter’) music, but later would integrate those schlager harmonies and instrumental elements into the sounds of disco (like ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Voulez-Vous’) and early 80’s synth pop (Under Attack). “Thank You for the Music” ABBA.

9. The Muppet Show:
It’s time to play the music
It’s time to light the lights
It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight
You know the iconic theme song. The recent mockumentary format did not work for these critters’ like the 1970’s variety show format did. They were indeed the last hurrah in a dying TV genre. This series expanded on Kermit the Frog and Rolf the Dog and introduced us to now established characters like Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great, Scooter, Fozzie Bear,Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem (which included drummer Animal) and their equivalent of Siskel& Ebert; Statler and Waldorf. Don’t feel sad for Gonzo not able to get that final note right. It’s funny that way.

10. Wonder Woman live action TV series: Lynda Carteris not the original live action actress, but she made the role. Only ran for three seasons but you know, it’s still has its loyal geeks. Good thing she loves Gal Gadot. She should, Carter pave the way for a strong Jewish Woman to play a Pagan Amazon. Meanwhile we can enjoy the Amazon’s present as much as we love her past…live action that is.

11. Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo in the 1970’s: OK, we know that Captain Kangaroo started in 1955, but Bob Keeshan rebooted his character in the 1970’s and basically played himself while in a red jacket and wig. Mr. Rogers, always did play himself and loved to sing simple jazz tunes for the kiddies as well. Did not have to stoop to their level like Barney and earn respect. Still others would disagree. Just ask Jonathan Davis who is the lead vocalist for the metal band Korn. He wrote a song about Fred Rogers that he felt was honest…just not so nice and soft.

12. Nadia Comăneci: The whole world fell in love with her, regardless if you were not from her nation of Romania. ABC Sports decided to take the piece “Cotton’s Dream” (from the movie “Bless The Beasts and Chilldren) and put a montage together focusing on her road to a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Because of her association with that music (even though it was never used in the competition itself); “Cotton’s Dream” would be renamed “Nadia’s Theme” and it would peak at #10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1976. Nadia’s Theme was also associated with something else from the 1970s’.

13. When Y&R was really about the young and the restless: Before the Abbotts and Newmans fought for domination of the family run corporate world, Y&R actually did live up to its title by focusing on anupper-class family (The Brooks) and aworking class family (The Fosters). Since the movie “Bless The Beasts and Children” was distributed by Columbia Pictures and they had ownership of Y&R (their TV division was still called Screen Gems when The Young and the Restless first premiered); “Cotton’s Dream” could be used as the theme to Y&R. As I stated earlier it would also gain the title “Nadia’s Theme.”

14. Dolly Parton: She was one of hottest female Country acts of the 1970’s. She had the face, figure, voice, and the business smarts. The 1970’s was a time that she was breaking out.

15. Land of the Lost: The visuals were campy, but the writing at least for the first two seasons made this an iconic 1970’s TV series.

16. Mary Tyler Moore: MTM dealt with the cultural changes in the 1970’s but not as in your face like “All in The Family” did.

17. Skylab: The first space station, and America’s only one.

18. Atari Video Computer System (later called the Atari 2600): The iconic home video gaming system of the late 1970’s. It would become a dinosaur in the 1980’s but it had a great run.

19. Merlin: Bob and Holly Doyle and WendlThomis truly came up with a cutting edge toy in 1978. Six games in one. 5 million units sold during its prime.

20. The yellow happy face: Plain and simple. It says the 1970’s the best.