Totally Normal in the ’70s: 25 Bizarre Things That Would Shock Us Today

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Strange History Podcast, the podcast where

0:04 Speaker 1: we dive deep into the weird, the wild, and the

0:07 Speaker 1: often wonderfully uncomfortable corners of the past. I'm your host, Amy,

0:12 Speaker 1: and today we're going back, way back to a time

0:16 Speaker 1: of shag carpet, asbestos insulation, and the Marlborough Man. That's right,

0:22 Speaker 1: we're taking a psychedelic trip down memory lane to the

0:25 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, a decade so packed with oddities and contradictions

0:30 Speaker 1: it feels like it happened in a parallel universe, except

0:34 Speaker 1: that millions of us actually lived through it. So put

0:37 Speaker 1: on your flared genes, fire up the fondue pot, and

0:41 Speaker 1: get ready to marvel, laugh, and maybe cringe a little

0:45 Speaker 1: as we explore a long list of things that were

0:47 Speaker 1: completely normal in the nineteen seventies and would be absolutely

0:52 Speaker 1: bonkers today. Back in the nineteen seventies, smoke was practically

0:56 Speaker 1: part of the decor. It hung thick in restaurants, floated

1:00 Speaker 1: through office buildings, and filled the air on airplanes. You

1:04 Speaker 1: could sit in a hospital waiting room and watch your

1:06 Speaker 1: doctor exhale a cloud of Winston smoke between patient visits.

1:11 Speaker 1: Teachers smoked in the teacher's lounge and occasionally right in

1:14 Speaker 1: front of the blackboard. Entire family dinners were hosted around

1:18 Speaker 1: a haze of secondhand smoke, while the kids passed the

1:21 Speaker 1: ketchup and ash trays in equal measure. And speaking of transportation,

1:25 Speaker 1: hitchhiking wasn't seen as reckless. It was seen as normal.

1:30 Speaker 1: Teens with duffel bags and patched up jeans would just

1:34 Speaker 1: stick out their thumb and catch a ride. Sometimes cross

1:37 Speaker 1: country Hitchhiking was how you got to music festivals, to college,

1:41 Speaker 1: to grandma's house. Parents might even offer some friendly advice,

1:45 Speaker 1: like make sure it's not a weirdo and send you

1:48 Speaker 1: off with a bologna sandwich in a brown paper bag.

1:52 Speaker 1: Drinking and driving far more socially accepted than you'd imagine.

1:56 Speaker 1: A man could finish a six pack on the drive

1:59 Speaker 1: home from the bowling, and if the cops pulled him over,

2:02 Speaker 1: the likely outcome was a friendly warning, drive safe, pal,

2:06 Speaker 1: they'd say, perhaps even tipping their hat as the driver

2:10 Speaker 1: peeled off half in the bag. For kids, freedom meant

2:14 Speaker 1: something truly wild. No supervision. You were expected to leave

2:19 Speaker 1: the house after breakfast and not show your face again

2:22 Speaker 1: until the street lights flickered on. Parents had no idea

2:25 Speaker 1: where you were, and most of the time, neither did you.

2:29 Speaker 1: You climbed trees, dug questionable holes in the backyard, and

2:33 Speaker 1: rode your bike like evil Knievel over homemade ramps made

2:36 Speaker 1: of plywood and cinderblocks. Helmets, please. Helmets were for professional

2:42 Speaker 1: motorcyclists and nobody else. Cars themselves were rolling metal living

2:46 Speaker 1: rooms with ash trays in every seat. Seat belts were

2:49 Speaker 1: often shoved deep into the upholstery, unused and unnoticed. Babies

2:54 Speaker 1: bounced on laps in the front seat, Toddlers lounged in

2:57 Speaker 1: the back window, and no one thought twice about it.

3:01 Speaker 1: Family road trips were survival of the fittest, and if

3:04 Speaker 1: you got car sick, tough luck. Here's a napkin. In

3:09 Speaker 1: science class, your teacher might casually let you play with mercury.

3:13 Speaker 1: You'd roll the silvery beads across the desk like some

3:15 Speaker 1: kind of magical alien goo, then chase them with your

3:19 Speaker 1: pencil as they broke apart and reformed. No gloves, no warnings,

3:23 Speaker 1: just don't swallow it. Most kids were latchkey kids. You'd

3:28 Speaker 1: get off the school bus, unlock the door with the key,

3:31 Speaker 1: hanging around your neck and fix yourself a snack, usually

3:34 Speaker 1: something like a peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich washed

3:37 Speaker 1: down with a glass of tang. Then it was time

3:40 Speaker 1: for the Brady Bunch or Gilligan's Island reruns before starting

3:43 Speaker 1: your homework with a pencil sharpened by a loud wall

3:46 Speaker 1: mounted grinder. Kitchen decor was a fever dream. Everything came

3:52 Speaker 1: in harvest gold, avocado green, or burnt orange. If your fridge, stove,

3:57 Speaker 1: and tupperware didn't match one of those colors, were you

4:00 Speaker 1: even living? And the shag carpet, it was so thick

4:04 Speaker 1: you could lose your shoe in it. Vacuuming felt like

4:07 Speaker 1: hiking through underbrush. Television was an instant gratification. You had three,

4:12 Speaker 1: maybe four channels, and you had to get up and

4:15 Speaker 1: walk to the TV to change them. Click click, click,

4:19 Speaker 1: You'd smack the side if the picture got fuzzy, And

4:22 Speaker 1: when you wanted to watch something, you had to wait

4:24 Speaker 1: all week for it to come on. If you missed it,

4:27 Speaker 1: you missed it. No replays, no DVR, no mercy. Doctors

4:31 Speaker 1: rewarded you with candy. After getting your tonsils checked, you'd

4:35 Speaker 1: get a lollipop from the doctor, and dentists had bowls

4:39 Speaker 1: of sugar retreats in the waiting room. Sugar was everywhere,

4:43 Speaker 1: in cereal, in drinks, in health snacks. You'd start your

4:47 Speaker 1: day with a bowl of fruit loops and end it

4:50 Speaker 1: with a tube of pixie sticks and a can of tab.

4:54 Speaker 1: Lead paint was still coating every toy chest, windowsill and

4:58 Speaker 1: crib rail and asbestos. That was the miracle material that

5:03 Speaker 1: kept your house fireproof. Kids could pull apart crumbling insulation

5:07 Speaker 1: in basements like they were harvesting fluffy white snow. Nobody blinked.

5:12 Speaker 1: Parents didn't hover, They pushed. If you told your mom

5:16 Speaker 1: you were bored, she'd say, then go outside and find

5:19 Speaker 1: something to do. That was the end of the conversation.

5:23 Speaker 1: You were expected to entertain yourself, which led to hours

5:27 Speaker 1: of tree climbing, worm collecting, and mildly dangerous games involving

5:32 Speaker 1: pointy sticks and questionable dares. On Halloween, strangers handed out

5:38 Speaker 1: homemade treats, popcorn balls, candied apples, even hand wrapped fudge.

5:44 Speaker 1: Parents encouraged you to take one from Missus Jenkins down

5:47 Speaker 1: the street. She was known for her chocolate turtles, razor blades,

5:51 Speaker 1: poison That urban legend hadn't caught on yet. Trust was

5:55 Speaker 1: still currency in the neighborhood economy. Mascots and advertising were

5:59 Speaker 1: a wild, unfiltered jungle. Joe Cammell was a cartoon character

6:04 Speaker 1: designed to sell cigarettes to adults and unintentionally to kids.

6:09 Speaker 1: Beer commercials aired during primetime TV, and women were always

6:13 Speaker 1: shown giggling in bikinis while men grilled steaks and drank schlitz.

6:17 Speaker 1: Ronald McDonald showed up at birthday parties unannounced and didn't

6:21 Speaker 1: terrify anyone until much later. Roller rinks were like Studio

6:26 Speaker 1: fifty four for sixth graders. You'd show up in striped

6:29 Speaker 1: tube socks and short shorts, circle the rink to KC

6:33 Speaker 1: and the Sunshine Band and hope the DJ called for

6:36 Speaker 1: a couple's skates so you could hold sweaty hands with

6:38 Speaker 1: your crush under the disco ball. Everyone had a bowl

6:42 Speaker 1: cut or feathered hair. You either looked like a mushroom

6:45 Speaker 1: or a Charlie's Angel. Parents cut your hair in the

6:48 Speaker 1: kitchen using a mixing bowl for precision. Photos from the

6:51 Speaker 1: era looked like everyone was auditioning for the mod Squad,

6:54 Speaker 1: whether they meant to or not. Birthday parties often involved clowns,

6:59 Speaker 1: full clown painted faces, squeaky shoes, big red noses, and

7:04 Speaker 1: not the ironic kind. Kids loved them. Nobody thought they

7:08 Speaker 1: were creepy until much later, when pop culture gave us

7:12 Speaker 1: nightmares in the form of Pennywise. Dinner was often served

7:15 Speaker 1: in a metal tray. TV dinners were a marvel meat, peas, potatoes,

7:20 Speaker 1: and a brownie, all compartmentalized in microwave together or baked

7:24 Speaker 1: in the oven if your family didn't have a microwave yet.

7:27 Speaker 1: Tang was served with pride. After all, the astronauts drank it,

7:32 Speaker 1: and anything the astronauts did was basically gospel. Flying on

7:35 Speaker 1: a plane was an event. People dressed up, men wore

7:39 Speaker 1: suits and ties, women wore skirts and heels. You got

7:43 Speaker 1: a hot meal and a tiny bottle of wine. Even

7:46 Speaker 1: in coach, the seats were plush, the windows had curtains,

7:50 Speaker 1: and the stewardesses as they were then called, served drinks

7:54 Speaker 1: like it was a cocktail lounge in the sky. Women

7:57 Speaker 1: wore pantyhose with everything under dresses, skirts, and somehow even shorts.

8:04 Speaker 1: You might be dripping sweat on a summer day, but

8:07 Speaker 1: if your legs weren't covered in sheer nylon, you were

8:10 Speaker 1: practically indecent. Phones were tethered to the wall with long

8:14 Speaker 1: cords that could stretch halfway across the house. Privacy meant

8:18 Speaker 1: dragging the receiver into a closet and whispering while sitting

8:21 Speaker 1: on the floor. If someone called your house and the

8:24 Speaker 1: line was busy, they got a busy signal, No voicemail,

8:28 Speaker 1: no call waiting, just beep, beep, beep, and try again later.

8:36 Speaker 1: You take photos on a thirty five millimeter camera and

8:38 Speaker 1: have to wait a week for them to be developed

8:40 Speaker 1: at the drug store. Half the photos would be out

8:43 Speaker 1: of focus or have someone blinking, but it didn't matter.

8:47 Speaker 1: You slid them into a sticky photo album, wrote the

8:50 Speaker 1: date on the margin and called it a memory. TV shows, commercials,

8:55 Speaker 1: even board games, were riddled with casual sexism and off

8:59 Speaker 1: color joe folks that no one questioned. Game shows like

9:02 Speaker 1: The Dating Game treated women like door prizes. Ads praised

9:07 Speaker 1: floor wax and dish soap as the greatest gifts you

9:09 Speaker 1: could give your wife. Public pools were cloudy, overly chlorinated,

9:15 Speaker 1: and full of unsupervised children. Lifeguards spent more time flirting

9:20 Speaker 1: than watching the deep end. If you got a mouthful

9:22 Speaker 1: of pool water, it was just part of the experience.

9:26 Speaker 1: Nobody questioned the hygiene, and best of all, no one

9:30 Speaker 1: knew where you were, and it was glorious. You were

9:33 Speaker 1: off the grid, truly unreachable. If someone wanted to find you,

9:38 Speaker 1: they had to drive around the neighborhood calling your name,

9:41 Speaker 1: or wait until you showed up at dinner time, sunburned,

9:44 Speaker 1: filthy and thrilled from a day of freedom. It was

9:47 Speaker 1: the seventies, a time when your mom smoked in the

9:50 Speaker 1: grocery store, your dad wore socks with sandals unironically, and

9:54 Speaker 1: you thought riding in the way back of a station

9:57 Speaker 1: wagon was the pinnacle of luxury transportation. It was unsafe, unsupervised,

10:02 Speaker 1: and in many ways, unforgettable. If this episode gave you

10:06 Speaker 1: a nostalgic chuckle, a cringe, or a flashback to your

10:09 Speaker 1: own bowl cut, be sure to follow the Strange History

10:12 Speaker 1: podcast wherever you get your podcasts, leave us a review,

10:16 Speaker 1: tell a friend, or just shout it out your car

10:18 Speaker 1: window like it's nineteen seventy seven and you've just discovered disco.

10:23 Speaker 1: Until next time, keep it strange, but maybe skip the

10:26 Speaker 1: asbestos