Welcome To The 1970s
Get on your flares and platform shoes. We're doing this in style!
Musically, the ’70s started with Glam Rock and ended with punk. But it was also the decade of progressive rock, the start of electronic music and – of course! – disco.
Big films in the cinema included the most successful of all disco/dramas, Saturday Night Fever (1977), and some of the most influential science fiction films ever made such as Star Wars (1977), Close Encounters of The Third Kind (1977) and Alien (1979).
Some super-violent films got the British public worked into a lather and gave the British censors lots of overtime. So-called ‘video nasties’ included I Spit On Your Grave (1978), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). Sex films abounded too (not that I’ve seen them!) such as Deep Throat (1972) and Debbie Does Dallas (1978).
On TV, we had a fine selection of American cop shows ranging from Columbo and Kojak to Starsky and Hutch and Charlie’s Angels. Meanwhile one of the best British police shows ever was also being produced with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman starring in The Sweeney.
The 1970s was, of course, the decade of high fashion: from kipper ties to flared trousers, cheese-cloth shirts to platform boots.
I’ll be delving into the fads, fashions, food and films of the 1970s in posts yet to come.
But the heart of this substack will be a novel, set in the long, hot summer of 1976 and serialized over the coming year. Look out for the first chapter this summer. More chapters will be published each week thereafter.
Jump on board. It’s going to be a fun ride!