Friday night drinking thread, 1970s appreciation style
We haven't had a Friday night drinking thread in a while, so I hope XM doesn't mind if I begin one. Tonight's topic is inspired by comments in a post earlier this week.
The 1970s get a bad rap for a lot of things: the fashion, the cars, the disco. I was born in the mid-70s, so I didn’t really live through that decade. But looking back, there is so much more than it gets credit for. Some of my favorites in different categories:
Music: the birth of punk, Ziggy Stardust, and glam rock.
Movies: The Deer Hunter.
Books: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Invisible Cities; One Hundred Years of Solitude (wasn’t translated to English until 1970, so I’m going to count it).
TV: I still watch reruns of Taxi and Barney Miller when I see them.
Technology: The birth of home video games like Asteroids, Space Invaders, etc.
So tonight's questions:
- What do you love about the 1970s?
- What are you drinking?
- What's on your plate?
I just taught my last class of the semester yesterday, so I'm celebrating with some champagne (of beers, that is).
Bonus: since tomorrow is the coronation of King Charles III, here’s a gem from 1977.
I’ve been re-watching alot of the Bond movies on HBO Max. Just watched Moonraker (1979) the other day. Not the best of the series, but how can you not be entertained? Definitely a hat tip to the 70s. Also drinking some citrus beer from New Belgium.
I grew up on the Bond movies. 7 days of 007 was always awesome.
Yes sir!! So so good.
Who could forget "Jaws"?
RIP, Detroit born Richard Kiel
I'm pretty sure Matt Painter got a hold of Kiel's DNA to produce clones to play at center.
Um, the Spielberg movie, Jaws
I was born in ‘85 and grew up on Roger Moore (and Sean Connery) Bond movies. I thought Moore was the coolest dude on the planet for a good while lol.
I enjoy most of the James Bond series, and wonder who the next 007 will be.
My favorite Bonds begin with Connery and Craig - both were great. Then, probably Brosnan. The scripts for the Moore movies weren’t as gritty as others - which is no reflection of Moore - but does impact my perspective / rank of the actors portraying one of most epic characters in film.
And, I don’t know when the next Bond will be released, but I’ll definitely watch it.
All the Presidents men, Jaws, Godfathers..
I don’t read books from back then.
MASH, MASH, and MASH
Jameson/ Ginger Ale
Chicken Stir Fry.
Hamm’s Beer
Mannix
Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka
Bob Seger
Ned Harkness
Boones Farm
Any mention of "Mannix" nearly always results in an "auto-upvote" from me.
Simply put, there's never been a better private investigator than Joe Mannix (Mike Connors). Then add Peggy Fair (Gail Fisher) to the mix as Mannix's beautiful do-it-all assistant and criminals don't stand a chance.
Mike Connors' Joe Mannix was a bad-ass. Nobody else could be as cool in those god-awful horse-blanket-plaid sport coats they made him wear.
Two things I never knew about Connors until a couple years ago. One, he played basketball for John Wooden at UCLA (where he got the Nickname "Touch" from his teammates.) Two, he played one of the sheepherders that Charlton Heston beats up at the desert well in "The Ten Commandments."
Can't ever think of Mannix without thinking of catching a ride on the hood of a car.
and the Lalo Schifrin theme song
And Mercury Morris
17-0 Miami Dolphins (and toasting with champagne when David Tyree made the helmet catch 35 years later - Sorry Tom!)
I was born in 83, so 80s and 90s memories. And the 60s seem to be remembered fondly broadly, at least culturally. I guess then 70s are underrated!
I'm drinking a nice rose, when it's 70s (degrees) in the midwest for Spring, gotta soak it in!
Eating eggplant parm with slow cooked beef.
Bo Schembechler
the Fonz
lots of Kung Fu movies
Playboy magazines in the back fields
playing football
the colors brown and orange
Match Game 76
the Bicentennial
Star Wars
the peak of African American standard of living
a sensible progressive tax
the hair
grateful dead, the kinks, Willie Nelson
Gerald Ford as President
low cut jeans and tube tops
no bras and half unbuttoned shirts
Farrah Faucett and Loni Anderson
Playboy magazines in the back fields
What will our future generations do without woods porn?
Generative AI woods porn?
It's way too easy for this and the past few generations.
Born in 81 and I love 70s music. The disco, the blues, the MOTOWN, the soul, the funk, the R&B and of course the rock & roll.
That being said, I'm drinking Trooper beer by a band from the 80s
I saw Blue Oyster Cult twice in the 70's, the first time being at Kalamazoo's Wings Stadium:
According to Michigan Concert Database (a fantastic website if you wish to refresh the old memory banks on concerts you have attended, or to research your favorite bands), it was just $6.50 a ticket! The laser light itself was more than worth the price of admission; I don't think I saw a better light show until at least the 90's.
Not only BOC played: also featured was Mahogany Rush (a heavy blues/metal group) and Mott (the watered down version of Mott the Hoople sans Ian Hunter).
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BTW, here's the link to the Michigan Concert Database website:
I saw BOC with Todd Rundgren at Hill Auditorium in either 82 or 83, freshman year. No ticket stub, but the best seats I've ever had for a concert in Row 4, front and center. They drove a motorcycle onstage, Todd Rundgren slipped and fell and continued to play guitar, and I probably suffered permanent hearing damage.
Wow. $6.50 a ticket would make a man feel rich.
The newness of the 60's had worn off, but there was a platform from which craftsmanship emerged in the 70's. Some classic bands were at their peak:
- The Dead from 1970 to 1974 were tight and firing on all cylinders
- Allman Brothers still had Duane for a bit, but were solid up to 1975
- The Eagles and Joni Mitchell were setting the west coast on fire.
- Prog Rock established itself with Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, and Genesis at the fore.
- Bruce Springsteen brought it back home in the mid-70s
- The Ramones, The Clash, The Pretenders, and Talking Heads were punk. I was never a fan of the Sex Pistols...
- Mahavishnu Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, and Return to Forever worked at the intersection of jazz and rock.
- Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Paul Simon all found their own voices beyond what brought them national attention in fht first place.
- Kind of a down decade for straight ahead blues, but it did give us Alligator Records.
On a much sadder note, the decade marked the passing of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.
The music of the 70s (that's not disco) is wildly underappreciated. Some of the greatest yacht rock, easy listening and country songs of all time are straight out of the 70s.
Just drinking water tonight, early tee time tomorrow.
Pizza from a nearby place for dinner, deluxe pie weighed about five pounds. Good stuff.
Enjoy that local pie. Neighborhood party store makes the most a-maize-ing pizza that weighs a ton. 12" pie is more than we can eat. Always have leftovers 😋.
Tomorrow morning, hit em straight, hit em long 🏌️.
Apocalypse Now
So many great movies. Think Al Pacino and all his movies (Godfather, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Author! Author! - not his best but still good); Mel Brooks and all his movies, Jaws, Star Wars, Neil Simon and his movies, Comedies like What's Up Doc and Bad News Bears, some of Robert Redford's best movies, some of Woody Allen's best movies, Saturday Night Fever and Grease, some of Dustin Hoffman's best movies.... the list goes on and on. Even the mediocre movies are good. Great television: MASH, All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Taxi, Saturday Night Live, Sanford and Son...
Have you read Mel's book All About Me?
I'm at the part about him working on Young Frankenstein
"Fernwood Tonight" was one of the most underrated gems of television history,
Yes! 70s TV is a little underrated because people think Brady Bunch and Love Boat are representative. But there was some terrific guerrilla TV beginning with Monty Python in the early 70s, and continuing with stuff like Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Fernwood Tonight. Fernwood was my introduction to Tom Waits who sang The Piano Has Been Drinking and improved an "interview" with Marty Mull. Great stuff.
And, not to be forgotten, the original classic cast of Saturday Night Live is absolutely a 70s thing.
Can't forget the muppets.
Ah yes, the seventies.....
My life searching teen years and early adulthood adventures!! Great music, attended my first Meeeechigan football game (1971) then season tix in 1977. So many great memories.
Currently sipping a generous pour of Penelope Architect Build #5. An amazing bourbon 🥃.
Had dinner at the golf course, mushroom/swiss burger 😋.
Cheers and TGIF to all my fellow MgoBloggers!!
Cheers to you!
What I love? Three words: “The Big Bus”
what I’m drinking? Mead
What im eating? Burger
it is, at times necessary to avoid, as shakspeare said, "the sun and air of a mongrel beach." L'anarchie pour de uk. i profess love for the pistols and clash when they hit stateside.
"old speckled hen" for me. arrgh I had pork chops...pretty tasty
70’s Michigan Football!! I cried When Dennis Franklin broke his collarbone (?) and I knew our Rose Bowl hopes were doomed. My freshman year Ricky Leach vanquishing the Joe Montana led Figthing Irish. Tacos w/ cilantro rice some vodka and lime in our first iced tea of the season.
"Two tight ends and a balanced line. Davis close and Huckleby deep and Ricky Leach under center in the I-formation ".
scanner; hope you have a great big beautiful Meeeechigan weekend.
Looking forward to seeing you in AA in the fall. Go Blue!!!!
Fumbleby
1973 travesty.
Going with come Cinco de Mayo green chile enchiladas on the plate.
Somehow Cinco de Mayo completely passed me by today and I ended up eating shawarma.
Yum! That's on my near term to do list as well.