As we moved from the 60's into the 70's, we discovered something. We didn't like the 70's. Student protests turned into student apathy as the draft slowed down and finally disappeared. Everyone quit fighting for causes, and instead sat around thinking about themselves. Early in the decade, some termed it narcissistic.
I remember missing the 60's very much by about 1972. I missed the Beatles. I missed Get Smart. Entering my tumultuous teen years, I missed the more carefree days of being a little kid.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one pining for the past. Because the early 70's saw an unprecedented wave of nostalgia sweep the US, which stayed around right up until the start of the 80's. We all wanted to go back in time, and the decade that was most sought after was the 1950's.
By and large, the nostalgic wave was kicked off by George Lucas's brilliant low-budget smash American Graffiti. Lucas must have sensed the Boomer generation missing its youthful days when he envisioned a film about his own youthful cruising of Modesto's strip in hot rods circa 1962. But he probably didn't foresee what a smash the film would be, and the continuing flow of nostalgia that would follow.
The soundtrack became a Top Ten album. Songs that had been on the singles charts in the 50's reappeared. And Wolfman Jack was given his due as one of the greatest DJ's of all time.
But we wanted more! So the next year saw Happy Days appear on TV, starring none other than AG's Ron Howard. Though the show was eagerly watched by Boomers, the rest of the country didn't catch on right away. But by 1976, it was the #1 rated show on TV, and it propelled ABC from its traditional distant third place into the top network on television.
Personal note: I loved the first season the best, when Fonzie was a side character who was very intimidating for the others to even talk to. When he was made the focus of the show, it suffered. Never mind the fact that he was the original shark jumper.
Happy Days spun off successful shows of its own, and I remember going to lots of 50's parties about the time I got old enough to drive. And the commercials! My favorite was a 7Up ad featuring a ghostly 1950's teenager who fades into and out of the commercial while a great doo-wop song blares in the background. YouTube has a plethora of old 7Up commercials, but I didn't find this one.
Predating American Graffiti by two years was an off-broadway play called Grease. It scored great reviews and got lots of attention. It opened on Broadway in 1972 and drew huge crowds throughout the decade. A movie was eagerly anticipated, and in 1978 was released.
Grease vaulted the careers of already successful John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. It also garnered a #1 single for 60's veteran Frankie Valli. And it brought on another tidal wave of 50's nostalgia right in the heart of the disco era.
As we moved into the 80's, the obsession with the 50's finally began to wane. But it remains a hot era even in our time, as the recent smash success of Hairspray proves.
What genuinely surprised me was that we finally even got nostalgic about the 70's! Dazed and Confused and That 70's Show were big hits in their own right, although the popularity of 70's nostalgia has never approached that for the 50's.
But hey, the new century is still young. Let's wait and see where longing for the past takes us next.
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Comments (5)
We just watched a fun 1999 movie, "Blast From The Past" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124298), starring Christoper Walken, Sissy Spacek, Alicia Silverstone and Brendan Fraser. It's about a couple (Walken and Spacek) who head into their well-appointed bomb shelter in 1962, saving them from an airplane crash. Unfortunately the crash convinces them L.A. has taken a nuclear strike, so they wait for the radioactivity to subside...in 1999!
Their son (Fraser) was born underground, and he steps into the world of the future.
It's very funny and very charming.
I believe "Hairspray" is also set in the year of 1962.
Remember Richie Cunningham's brother, Chuck, from the first season? I think he must have wandered into the Twilight Zone, because he disappeared after that season, and no one ever referred to him again.
I agree, the first was the best season, no "Aaaay" from the Fonz, or ovations from the audience every time he walked into the scene.
Posted by Mike Ransom | August 22, 2007 2:10 AM
Posted on August 22, 2007 02:10
I remember when that AG
soundtrack was everywhere. Actually, I believe it was the largest selling double album up to that time.
Also, it was the first movie to showcase a soundtrack solely based on charted hits, generating a ouvre of nostalgic flicks showcasing the same, such as Diner and Animal House. The songs in all three were as integral as the movie,
and in AG's case perhaps
the songs themselves were the real star, though the rigging of the cop car bumper by Ron Howard was a classic. And what ever happened to that "toad"
character who pined after Candy Clark, the
Marilyn Monroe clone?
I hate to say it, but for awhile the 50's music was more cool that than current top 40. Doo Wop re-issues were everywhere. Even the old sayings became part of the venacular,
though "Sit on it" was
created by the writers
of Happy Days. I remember a few others...
"Your ass is grass" and
"Be there or be square"
were popular in my neighborhood circa 1973-75. Actually, I think
"Laverne and Shirley"
was more faithful to the era. I really got a feeling of late 50's Milwaukee watching it, and the show was far funnier, with the great Lenny and Squiggy serving as a 70's TV version of Laurel and Hardy. The play "Grease"
actually originated in Chicago out of the old
Victory Gardens theater.
Chicago, being nostalgia orientated to begin with, was big on such plays, also coming up with "Do patent leather shows really reflect up", a memoir
of catholic school days.
My folks saw it when it first came out, and we still have the playbill from 1972. I also remember a lot of 50's themed nightclubs in the late 70's, as the era was ebbing. We had one called "Jukebox Saturday Night", and I'm sure there were hundreds across the nation. Even today, you see some, like Ed Devebic's in Chicago,
with the proto-typical gum-snapping waitresses with boiffant hairdos
(what can I get for yaa,
hun? SNAP). I think there is a chain like that on Royal Carribean cruise ships currently
called Johnny Rockets.
Per Grease, I remember the first time I heard
"You're the one that I want" on the radio before the movie came out. My friend told me it was John Travolta, and I couldn't believe it. Hardest to believe was that Olivia Newton-John actually was cool in the role. She was already in her 30's, but somehow pulled that off with panache. The
skintight suit funhouse chase was a classic.
She was a member of a small group of singers who made one great movie and were never heard from again. A few
others would be John Denver in OH GOD, and Glen Campbell in TRUE GRIT.
Per the nostalgia based on decades themselves,
I would say that the 70's had the unfortunate fate of coming right after the 60's, which would be the equivalent of going on stage after James Brown or jimi Hendrix. The 70s were a little more nondescript, not much happening. Really,
they were just an afterglow of the 60's,
with polyester added for good effect.
Shake your booty, indeed!
Posted by scott | August 22, 2007 1:24 PM
Posted on August 22, 2007 13:24
Actually "Hairspray" is set in the 60's, not the 50's.
Posted by Laura | August 24, 2007 1:20 PM
Posted on August 24, 2007 13:20
Your right Ron, I thought the first season of Happy Days was the best! Fonzie was cooler and didn't act like he did in later years! Everything really had a feel for the 50s!
I too was caught of in the AG movie and tried to live those simplier times even though I was just a wee lad at the time. I still look at the 50s as being a period in time that was nice. And I only lived in 59 for about 5 months in reality! Love the music and can't get enough of it! When I was in early highschool, we wore the tee shirts and pegged leg work pants! Chuck Taylor Tennis Shoes with wool stripped socks that folded over the high topped portion of the shoe. We wore Peters Jackets and or fake or real leather Jackets! We didn't, (some did) wore grease in their hair. We didn't! We looked dumb at the time, but we thought we looked cool! We considered ourselves Grits!
Posted by Rivers End | June 30, 2009 4:35 PM
Posted on June 30, 2009 16:35
Thanks, Ron, for re-upping this article. Very cool.
Thanks also for clarifying where the term "jump the shark" comes from for any newbies out there. :D
My dear hubby is 12 years older than I am so we often have dueling nostalgia. He remembers every detail of the day that Buddy Holly died - I remember every detail of the day that Kennedy was shot. It proves for some interesting mixes on our cd player.
Thanks once again for putting into words what I've felt through the decades.
Although, I must disagree with one thing - the 70's did give us Disco - one unmistakably weird look and sound that is burned into my memory banks forever. Good or bad, that is one fierce memory!
I double-dog-dare ya to stand still during the Bee Gee's NIGHT FEVER! Admit it... you can't!
Nostalgia rules - no matter what decade we're talking about. Thanks again for the memories!
Posted by Patti | February 18, 2010 7:32 AM
Posted on February 18, 2010 07:32