Things we didn't know or do in the 60's and 70's

[BadSanta1281]

Four words: Estes model rocket igniters.

We used to light off the rocket engines without putting them in a rocket. Stupid but fun.

 

[GretschWretch]

^^^ Signs you're getting old. Your parents said the same thing about rock 'n' roll.

But rock 'n' roll at least had rhythm AND melody AND harmony. It's easier for me to classify some of what I hear today as poetry rather than music.

 

[GreyBeard]

Getting shocked by the mic. I was playing a Moose club in Fairmont WV. We had to use ground lift adapters on everything. The guitar player was checking his mic when I saw a inch long spark jump from his mic to his nose. He screened "This f#$@ing place" and it came over the PA!! We laughed for days.

 

[socialleper]

But rock 'n' roll at least had rhythm AND melody AND harmony. It's easier for me to classify some of what I hear today as poetry rather than music.

Then you are listening to the wrong music. Or, more likely, listening to music wrong.
One of the advantages of the music boom through to the 80s was that music was funneled through some very specific channels. Audiences were more or less told what to like through a series of AR reps, producers, labels, radio DJs, and TV shows.
Music today is a complete buffet. Classic media like radio, TV, magazines are really only looking at the tiniest tip of the iceberg. And you would be right to say it is garbage. You can find any kind of music that sounds like anything you want; the daunting part is sorting through the massive piles to get to what interests you.
One thing that can absolutely be said about the 60s and 70s is that there was a simplicity to things that doesn't exist anymore.

 

[Haroldo]

I had one of these Kustom bass amps along with the Kustom no tuck and roll cousin Kasino bass amp.

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Though you might not initially think so, these two things made a kick-ass lowish volume bass amp:

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(The nameplate has to be engraved with 'Jim' for it to really work well)

 

[whatever4]

I remember amps with tremolo and reverb with reverb springs that would make weird slinky noises if you bumped into the amp. I once played through an Oliver Amp that had a head that would rise out of the cabinet like the bulletproof shield on James Bond's Astin Martin when you pushed a button.

 

[GretschWretch]

I think this post went south with the phrase, "How come we made the best music of the century?" I think without that, this thread would have been interpreted as the harmless little lark Paula intended. Seen Paula's posts for a couple years now, she seems like a good and decent person without any ill intentions, and she's justifiably proud of what she's done in her life. But man, that little phrase, for all this post's good intentions, makes the whole post come across as one of those "You kids suck, we were so much better than you" posts that we see so often on here. Sorry but it does. Maybe if it had been phrased like, "How come we were able to make such good music?" without the element of putting down the other music people made in the century, it would have been better received.

Just my opinion on it.

If the phrase had been "because music was so central to everyone's lives back then," do you think the flak still would be flying? And AFAIK no one ever defined "best." But a lot of music in the 60s and 70s was so good in so many genres.

 

[Passinwind]

I'm of the opinion that every generation believes the music they grew up with is the best music, because it's inextricably linked with their youth and all the things that go along with that.

But, but...until I actually grow up I have nothing to fetishize.

 

[Robert B]

We didn't have an "ignore button" back then. Sure glad we have one now!

 

[Haroldo]

If there is something that was definitely drilled into my head as a kid in school during the 80s, it is that everything cool that our parents and older relatives enjoyed will kill us.
Sex will kill you.
Drugs will kill you.
Alcohol will kill you.
Relaxing will kill you.
Food will kill you.
Driving will kill you.

And as the great oracle, Warren Zevon, put it:

 

[GretschWretch]

We weren't afraid of catching a venereal disease that was fatal.

Best post of the thread!!

 

[Haroldo]

But, but...until I actually grow up I have nothing to fetishize.

Damn. You gotta be an adult to possess fetishes? I really am doing it wrong.

 

[GretschWretch]

I got number 30 in mine. Got drafted in '72. But due to a knee injury in football in '69, they declared me IV-F after examination by a specialist.

Hmpf. Of the first six finishers in my pre-induction physical, I was the only one who passed. The docs wouldn't even let one fellow drive himself home. They called an ambulance to the examination center.

 

[Jehos]

Damn. You gotta be an adult to possess fetishes? I really am doing it wrong.

You don't have to, but it helps. You can typically afford to dive deeper down the rabbit hole the older you are.

 

[Richland123]

I remember amps with tremolo and reverb with reverb springs that would make weird slinky noises if you bumped into the amp. I once played through an Oliver Amp that had a head that would rise out of the cabinet like the bulletproof shield on James Bond's Astin Martin when you pushed a button.

Like this? That is so cool! I never saw one of those amps before.

 

[GretschWretch]

If there is something that was definitely drilled into my head as a kid in school during the 80s, it is that everything cool that our parents and older relatives enjoyed will kill us.
Sex will kill you.
Drugs will kill you.
Alcohol will kill you.
Relaxing will kill you.
Food will kill you.
Driving will kill you.

As it was drilled into our heads in the 60s.

 

[whatever4]

Like this? That is so cool! I never saw one of those amps before.

Yep, that's the beast.

 

[GretschWretch]

Then you are listening to the wrong music. Or, more likely, listening to music wrong.
One of the advantages of the music boom through to the 80s was that music was funneled through some very specific channels. Audiences were more or less told what to like through a series of AR reps, producers, labels, radio DJs, and TV shows.
Music today is a complete buffet. Classic media like radio, TV, magazines are really only looking at the tiniest tip of the iceberg. And you would be right to say it is garbage. You can find any kind of music that sounds like anything you want; the daunting part is sorting through the massive piles to get to what interests you.
One thing that can absolutely be said about the 60s and 70s is that there was a simplicity to things that doesn't exist anymore.

You are spot on about the simplicity. The music I was referring to is what I hear coming from the car adjacent me at the traffic light, which is very pronounced on rhythm, which is why I think of it more as poetry. And you are correct: very little of what is contemporary interests me. I very much am a retro-cat.

 

[bassinflorida]

We used a lot of these in really old buildings and somehow survived.

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Actually, relative to Paulabas's post these were either not invented yet or non in use.

 

[socialleper]

As it was drilled into our heads in the 60s.

Oh, and that we were under threat of being kidnapped every second of every day. We were told even to be suspicious of other family members suddenly showing up to pick us up from some where.