Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with 70s

Please identify this bitchin' car from the 70s

bonobothegreat — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:45:07 -0800

Can you identify this exotic car I saw a month ago on the highway, heading towards Stratford, Ontario? It 70s vintage, low and boxy, sort of like a Delorean or a Lamborghini with gullwing doors. Painted flat black with electric orange trim. I think it had a name like Brookline or Brooklyn. I vaguely remember seeing one in a magazine when I was a kid in the 70s and I remember the paint job being one of it's distinguishing features. I've thrown this description at Google in different combinations but nothing is sticking.

I wove you, metafilter

amethysts — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:44:47 -0800

Does anyone remember a website a few years back that would post scans of crafts and recipe books from the 50's-70's for the sole purpose of making fun of them for being horrible? I think it had "Lavender" in the name somewhere? It might be still going. It was a huge site with a lot of different sections of content and all of it was really funny. There's just too much out there for "70s crafts snark" to be a useful thing to google.
One of the images was a bizarre monster thing that said "I wove you!"

Drug addiction in the 50's-70's

TheJoven — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:02:08 -0800

Was there a measured increase in drug addiction due to the hippie movement? What were the drug addiction rates like in the 1950's compared to the 60's and 70's. Are there any resources that have historical data on addiction rates and the particular substances popular at the time? This spawned from a discussion I was having with a coworker about the drug war and he claims that drug use increased greatly due to the loosening of social mores and the liberation of permissible actions. Is there any data out there that covers drug use and addiction for the transition from the more conservitive 50's early 60's and into the more liberal late 60's and 70's?

What is a good book to read about late 60s early 70s England?

AbsoluteDestiny — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:59:19 -0800

What is a good book to read about late 60s early 70s England? Non-fiction preferred but well-researched fiction is fine too. Extra points for anything that also includes:

- growing up in the working class
- the music scene
- the north

The More You Know

Christ, what an asshole — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:13:29 -0800

I am looking for music that evokes the spirit of nostalgic, 70s-80s-era, variety show, Saturday morning cartoon, vintage game show-style aesthetics, like The Go! Team or...umm -- well, anything that sounds like TG!T really, then.

Help identify a music video from MTV Europe

ciocarlia — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:46:56 -0800

Help identify a music video I recently saw on MTV Europe...70s style video with a female lead singer and a banjo? I recently saw a music video on MTV Europe, but didn't get a chance to catch the artist name or song title. It was shot in a style that made it look like a 70s TV show (think American Bandstand). The lead singer was a female, with bangs, and the song featured a banjo throughout. Any ideas?

Remember those t-shirts with the drawing of the sabra cactus wearing that funny Israeli hat?

AnyGuelmann — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:47:19 -0800

Were you a Jewish kid in the 70s/80s? Remember those t-shirts with the drawing of the sabra cactus wearing that funny Israeli hat? I'm trying to find that drawing. I think the cactus was some kind of mascot and had a name - or maybe it was just Sabra. It's not important, I just half remember it and would like seeing it again.

Sex Role Reversal TV show from 70s or early 80s?

hworth — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:30:56 -0800

Trying to remember the name of a TV show from my adolescence (1974 - 1981). It was an office drama in which sex roles were reversed. Women had all the power; women were the bosses, made the money, etc. Men were in support positions and were sex objects. The show was syndicated, and, in Boston, at least, was on a UHF station. Any ideas?

70s style character intro freeze-framey thingie?

drjimmy11 — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:32:24 -0800

70s style character intro freeze-framey thingie? I need some examples (ideally on Youtube) of a technique used in film to introduce characters. it's kind of like the intros from Trainspotting, where there's a freezeframe with the character's name printed on it.

Except that there's also colorization on the freezeframe. I'm thinking of this kind of 70s style where the background goes to a solid color, there's a thick, usually white border around the character, who himself stays in normal color (or is maybe colorized too). I want to say it's been used in martial arts films, but I could be off on that.

Does this make sense to anyone? I'm pretty sure this exists and I have not hallucinated it. Any links to video would be fantastic!

thanks!!

In which you help me to compile the greatest Sunny 70s AM Radio Playlist The World Has Ever Known.

Senor Cardgage — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:47:08 -0800

In which you help me to compile the greatest Sunny 70s AM Radio Playlist The World Has Ever Known. It's an ongoing pet project of mine that I revisit every time the weather gets all nice and summery out. As it is now. So to give you some context...

I have labored (lovingly) to create the world's greatest and most exhaustive playlist of 1970s AM radio classics that have that "summer" sound, or at least ones that sound like summer to me. For instance, I always thought the Doobies' "Black Water" was a summertime jam, but Wiki tells me it was a late winter release in the year it was released.

Good examples from my POV would be songs like:

Seals & Croft "Summer Breeze" ("Diamond Girl" fits too)
Ozark Mtn Daredevils "Jackie Blue"
Firefall "Strange Way"
Chicago "Wishing You Were Here"

And so on.

Thus far I have 5.8 hours of tracks. 91 of them.

You can see what Ive got already here...

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/506/itunes1.jpg

(anyone know how to extract just the relevant playlist txt out of iTunes?)

So what say ye gents?
Comb that chest hair, rev up yer custom van, splash on some Hai Karate and lets do this thang....

What were those Hoffy papers?

rikschell — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:00:46 -0800

Does anyone remember Hoffy papers? Obscure elementary-school learning machine memory (pre-1980 edition) ... When I was in the primary grades, we would sometimes go to a special room and do worksheets using a special machine that I remember very little about. This was in the late 70s, in the midwest USA, at a Catholic school, so the machine was likely old already. The worksheets were standard color and shape matching stuff, Kindergarten or 1st grade, and they featured a furry monster who looked like Grover from Sesame Street (except I think he was red), and his name was Hoffy. I'd bet it was linked with some company with a Hoffman name, but that's only a guess. Google does nothing for me, but the worksheets were printed, not dittoes, so it couldn't have been just me!

Looking for full audio of 70s pop radio broadcasts

Senor Cardgage — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:44:19 -0800

Im sort of a 70's nostalgia head, and as such would love to find some audio (format not important) of 70s radio broadcasts, commericals and all. Now Ideally I would like to find files from the mid to late 70s of just raw radio broadcasts. I would love to get the songs, the dj/announcer, even the commercials if at all possible. I want to get as close as possible to being able to pretend Im just listening to the radio.

Of course Im not even sure how possible or likely any of this stuff is to track down, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

As far as genre goes, Im pretty wide open. AM? Disco? AOR rock? All of these would do just fine. I'd even be interested in popular country/western station recordings.

What say ye, MeFiHive?
Is this a futile search?

What was life like in the 1960s and 1970s?

gadha — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:51:37 -0800

Where can I find out what life was like in the 1960s and 1970s? I want to find out more about how life was in the 1960s and in the 1970s with the view of trying to find out more about the culture, politics and daily life that was part of my father's and grandfather's existence. Any advice on where I can find out how life would be like for a young man in his 20s in the 1970s and/or a man in his 30s in the 60s?

If it has an African, and especially East African bent to it that would be perfect, but failing that UK and US based experiences would be close enough. I'm open to anything from picture-books to autobiographies -- anything that would give me a good idea on how it felt to live through those periods.

Why does Uncle Tom Say: Only YOU Can Prevent Ghetto Fires?

ezekieldas — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:47:23 -0800

Why does Uncle Tom say: Only YOU Can Prevent Ghetto Fires? Last (2008) summer I read Yvon Chouinard's "Let My People Go Surfing." On page 27 of that book is a photograph of the interior of a shop, a dog in the foreground, and two men working (note the date "C. 1970). The man in the back of the shop is standing in front of this poster (click on the image to zoom). It's a slightly caricatured cartoon drawing (almost in the vein of R. Crumb) of an elderly black man, holding a hoe in his left hand, pointing directly at the viewer with his right. It appears there are charred remains, embers of a building in the background. The text "Remember..." is emblazoned across the top of the poster, the bottom half reads "Uncle Tom says only you can prevent ghetto fires."

I'm aware of the Stowe novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and also the various references to the term Uncle Tom but what does this poster mean? My first reaction was the events around the organization MOVE but that was the later 70s. I've googled various parts of the poster text and get some cryptic references but no clear explanation. I wish I'd stayed in touch with my Black History prof from college.

Please Hive Mind, help!

"Guess what?" "What?" "THAT'S what!"

grumblebee — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:22:55 -0800

When I was a kid (in the early 70s), this baffling "riddle" was all the rage in the schoolyard: A: "Guess what?" B: "What?" A: "THAT'S what!" I thought this was a quirky but of Southern Indiana nonsense, but my wife -- who hails from Alabama -- also remembers it from her youth. What does it mean? What's its origin? Just to be clear: one kid walks up to another and says, "Guess what?"

"What?" asks the second kid (the straight man).

"THAT'S what!" says the first.

The last line was always said in a "gotcha" voice, is if the second kid was a moron and should have known the answer all along.

So I get that it's a weird sort of schoolyard insult/trick. And I can appreciate the absurdity of it (the nonsense quality). But I still feel like I'm missing something. And I'm sure that I -- and most of the kids who engaged in this ritual -- had no idea what it meant. We just did it like we recited certain nursery rhymes without knowing what they meant.

Does anyone know the origin? I'm surprised it co-existed in both Indiana and Alabama. Presumably, it existed it other places, too. I'm wondering if (maybe in some altered form) it comes from some pop-culture comedy show from the time -- maybe something like "Laugh-in."

70s movie help

An Infinity Of Monkeys — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:25:55 -0800

Help me find a movie - It might have been a made-for-TV movie, probably in the early 70s. I thought the lead actress was Maureen McCormick but I've checked all her IMDB credits and it wasn't her so it must have been someone who resembled her. The main character was put into a girls' school (reform school, maybe?) and the final scene involved a big fight in the recreation area and the main character ended up being killed by another girl stabbing her in the throat with a big knife which actually pinned her to the ground; the stabbing wasn't actually shown as far as I remember but the sound gave me nightmares for weeks afterward.

70's and 80's songs to play in a business.

ptsampras14 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:15:49 -0800

What are some good 70's and 80's songs suitable for playing in a pharmacy? My father owns a family pharmacy and we have an iPod with nice 70's and 80's songs set to play for the customers. Can you tell me some that I can add to the playlist? Remember nice calm easy listening ones are best, and no dirty or bad songs about dying etc.. To get an idea of some of the songs I have here's a link to the playlist so far. Specific songs are great, but I will also take artists. Try not to give duplicates. If 10 people give 10 songs that's 100 new songs! Thanks!

NYPL/Pylon font match?

activitystory — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:56:00 -0800

What is the font used by Pylon on all their records and singles and everything else? You know, this one. It looks similar to the font used for the word "Police" on some 1970s NYPD squad cars-- is it the same one?

What is it?

Mitheral — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:52:03 -0800

What is this machine glimpsed in the 1978 movie "Up in Smoke"? It is seen for a split second about 30 minutes in during a street scene in Southern California. The man pictured next to the machine is not one of the characters.

How to set a 70s car radio

yetanother — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:47:03 -0800

How do I set the memory on a 70's mechanical tuner car radio? Just got a 70's radio to match a recently acquired 70's vehicle, and it works great in glorious 70s AM/FM. It has one of the old mechanical tuners with 5 preset buttons that make the tuner jump. Someone as old as me should remember how to set the presets, but I cant work it out. I thought it had something to do with turning the tuner with a preset pushed in, but that doesnt seem to work.

It's a Blaupunkt Bavaria S if it makes a difference.

Help me remember this detective comedy film from my childhood!

jspierre — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:18:37 -0800

I am trying to find the title of this film I remember scantily from my childhood. I do remember belly-laughing at this film when I was a kid, but can't remember for the life of me more than just a few details. Here's what I know (or think I remember)... I don't know the year, but probably the film I remember is from the very late 70s through perhaps the first couple of years of the 90s. It was a movie about a guy who was enrolling in some sort of "detective school" which was actually a scam being run by what I think was a con artist in a run down building. I think in the end it led to the main character actually solving a crime or mystery of some sort and, of course, figuring out that the detective training he attended was a scam.

I'm not very sure about any of the details except that I remember that it was really funny to me (at the time), oh and I remember a scene toward the beginning where the Lead is first brought into the detective training program and he is offered "hor douvres" of peanut butter on crackers by a very intimidating black woman who then charges him for the one he takes - something like six dollars. Then, she offers him a soft drink for which she demands additional money.

I think the word "Tourist" may have been in the title, but I'm just grabbing at straws there from what my fragmented mind remembers.

Any help anyone could give me on indentifying this childhood favorite would be greatly appreciated!

Everybody was kung fu fighting

Astro Zombie — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:31:02 -0800

If I was a teenager in the 70s, what style of martial art would have seemed the most badass to me? And why?

Someday we'll find it, the film grain connection.

eschatfische — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:24:15 -0800

Why are films from the 70s so grainy? Watching The Muppet Movie with the family this afternoon, I commented on how grainy I remember the film being from my childhood -- and how most films from my childhood seemed to look similarly grainy. On the other hand, color films from the 30s through to the 60s often don't have similar problems, nor do films from the mid-80s on (unless a filmmaker is going for a 70s look, like Tarantino or Gallo).

So, I know it has something to do with the Eastman color stock used during that era... but that's all I can find, no specifics. Was there a conscious effort by filmmakers to attain that look, a known flaw in the film that filmmakers felt they could live with for a price cut, or something that just sort of happened along the way?

Help me identify 70s animated movie?

robotdog — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:36:14 -0800

Trying to remember an animated film from late 70s, early 80s. I saw it in 5th grade classroom 1983. All I can remember is a musical song sequence where kids are in a forest (or bog) and are being chased/haunted by the spirits of the forest (or maybe one particular spirit?) the song is catchy and I think the chorus has the word "Who?" sung as if it was the sound a ghost makes. I think the movie might have had a slight pro-environment message as well.

Baby, lets groove?

aleahey — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:53:02 -0800

Song goes something like "babbbyyy letsss groooveee" Name that song. It sounds very 70s-ish, like the Staples Singers, but not them.

Lyrics are something like "baby lets groooveee, awayyyy" or "baby lets mooveee, awayyyy".

Anybody?