Being a teenager in the 70s. Music, fashion etc.

Oops spelling mistake, read navel!

Dempie55 - loved boys/men with long hair so the 70s was great for that. Lots of attractive young men about.

Loving these posts! I remember my knitted purple hot pants, navy bomber jacket and white, wet-look knee-high boots. Also those lovely long cardis with little buttons all the way down the front. Thin as a pin those days, rocking it to Led Zep amongst others at the youth club disco. Have discussed with my school friends of over 60 years - we had far less pressure than todays teens. No mobile phones, no social media, no ‘influencers’. You bought what was available at Chelsea Girl or C&A, not what some random woman on Instagram was wearing. Happy days !

I left school in 1970 when I was 18 and went to university. I hated school - all of it - but loved uni . so it was worth it. I met my partner there. Some of the fashions were brilliant… my embroidered Afghan coat, 33 inch bottomed loons, long dresses and coats, wigs, beads. Not keen on some of the music … Gary Glitter etc.

Loved the 70s. Went to college early 70s and had the time of my life. We were on the outskirts of London and regularly went to the Marquee club in Soho. We wore loons (trousers tight to the knee with massive flares), platform shoes and cheesecloth smocks with loads of cheap beads, plus Afghan coats. They were cheap from a market, looked amazing, but the slightest drop of rain and they stank to high heaven. Went to the Biba shop in Kensington regularly but couldnt afford the clothes so we bought tins of baked beans instead. They had a very distinctive black and gold label and I still have one (minus the beans). Saw Led Zep, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan. Ate cheap food, drank cheap cider, partied, made friends for life and didnt have a care in the world. Its cheered me up just thinking about it.

I was a teen in the 70's, and it was a great time for pop music, television and changing fashions.

I had my first jeans, and they have been my staple wardrobe piece my whole life. In summer we wore huarache sandals, in winter blue suede adidas or Cougar hiking boots.

Too young to go to concerts, we did have some great bands play at our school dances, including the just starting Steve Miller Band, Saga, mostly rock. But the dances in the gym were disco all the way! We had such fun.

Of course teenage years were also full of angst, and my father was very ill so we were very poor. But lots of good memories along with the sad.

NotSpaghetti

Dempie55 - loved boys/men with long hair so the 70s was great for that. Lots of attractive young men about.

Not forgetting their incredibly tight trousers, which showed every tiny detail of their assets….

Ah the 70s ....

Donny Osmond
Cheesecloth tops
Smocks
Midi and Maxi skirts
Little quilted Chinese jackets
Oxford bags
Ultra high platforms (although I sprained my ankle)
Cowboy boots
The Jackie problem page (read during chemistry lessons)
Snoopy merchandise
David Essex (met him at the dentist)
Ford Escorts
Nylon sheets (not a fan)
Crimplene
The Bay City Rollers (remember the look of shock in this posh haberdashery when I bought a strip of Stuart tartan to tie on my wrist)

I was 15 in 1970 and loved that decade. My best friends used to go every Saturday night (underage) to the Mecca Ballroom and Top Rank Suite Sunderland to listen and dance to great music and live bands. There was a revolving dance floor at the Rink as I recall. Cider and black was my tipple with the occasional Pernod & Lemonade to end the night. No such thing as going without a coat, you handed yours in and got a ticket in the venue. Loved all of the fabulous clothes, loons, smock tops, platform shoes, midi and maxi dresses and makeup. Passed my driving test in 74 and my parents bought me a car, a yellow Morris Marina. I’d definitely go back in a heartbeat, far less pressure than kids have today and no social media. Bought my first home for £4k in the mid 70s with a fixed rate 15% mortgage through the local authority. The payments seemed like a fortune but nothing in comparison to what today’s first time buyers pay.

I window shopped at Biba - I longed for those smelly Afghan coats - I did have a gorgeous Afghan swirly dress that I think might have come from Biba - it lasted for years - came to London 1969/70 working as a secretary £11 per week - we lived on fresh air. Out every night. Shared bedrooms in flats (no one does that now). Our first flat only had a skylight - not even a window!

TerriBull

Friends and I queued up around The Finsbury Park Rainbow for an entire day to get tickets for The Faces, funny because if Rod Stewart were on the telly now I wouldn't bother watching!, but thought he was a great front man then. Also saw Roxy Music there, Bryan Ferry another great performer. What a good venue it was!

I did manage to see The Doors.. and absolutely loved them

I saw Thin Lizzy there.

Would anyone like to see a little video of London street in 1970s?

twitter.com/bo66ie29/status/1722379097714606239?t=Ims666dpusehs4XzkBqteg&s=19

Wow, what a lot of traffic even then!
I don't see anyone walking round with coffees in their hands, (and of course phones).

But rather lovely Joseann I thought.

The person who posted it on twitter (X) has others too.

Yes, a blast from the past. Memories.

I’d forgotten how many people wore hats! You hardly ever see them now.

Enjoyed being a teen in the 70s. Was very much the hippie style with long skirts,old furcoat, cheesecloth tops and lots of beads. Must have smelt dreadful with wet fur and patchouli oils ! Started nursing in 1974 as an 18year old and on my first day the nurse tutor told me to go and get my haircut, it was very long and curly like Marc Bolan. She said I needed to put a nurses hat on my head so had to all be short !

I remember the 70's and in my opinion it was the best decade for music, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, ELO, ZZ Top..was great.
But my funniest memory was in 1972.. I was 8 yrs old and my father had a buddy who worked at Johnson Space Center ( NASA ) in Houston where we lived and arranged a VIP tour for my dad, brother and me...
We toured Mission Control and got to see and touch a real space suit and at the end of the tour even got to meet and shake hands with a real Astronaut..
The Astronaut kneeled down and rubbed the top of my head and said " Do you want to go to the moon when you grow up ? "
I said, Nope... I'm going to be a fireman when I grow up... they all laughed and he said that's fine you be whatever you want to be young man..
I didn't realize it until years later that it was Buzz Aldrin that I was talking too...
LOL..

I was a branch librarian in the 1970s (in my 30s) but I can recall day after day riding past a sign saying "Jubilee pomp amidst poverty". And I remember the 3 day week.

Things dont change much.

It was my decade too, though I prefer a lot of the 60s records more.

My favourite tv series (broadcast around 10 years ago!) was life on mars which depicted the 1970s era very well, especially some of the now outdated attitudes. Ashes to ashes was good too, depicting the 1980s.

Our school has a "birthday" every September. At one we had a speech about each decade. I spoke on the 70s and remember that a main theme was our battle with knee length school skirts as fashion dictated them from mini to midi to maxi and back.
We were mostly punk or heavy rock by the end of the decade and looked a right mess.

Marmin

Like others music was the focus of my teenage years. I also saw The Faces as well as many other bands. By 1976 I was a committed punk though. I saw the Sex Pistols twice and The Clash many times.Green hair was a short lived phase though!

A kindred spirit! Punk was the focus of my teenage years in the 70s. I saw pretty much all of the big punk bands with the exception of the Sex Pistols. My first date with my husband was going to see Magazine, with a then-unknown Simple Minds as the support act - and we've been married 40 years this year!

I wasn't a teenager in the 1970s, I was married and having a family.

Perms were fashionable and I remember going to have my hair primed at the hairdressers when I was pregnant. It became an almighty frizz and starting breaking off so I had to have it chopped off a few weeks later.

No platform shoes but loose cheesecloth tops were useful.

I was more into Elton John The Carpenters and some classical music than Davd Cassidy (he was for teeny boppers, I think). However, I saw him years later on stage in Blood Brothers with Clodagh Rogers.

That hot summer I was pregnant and then trying to keep a new baby cool and a toddler happy. Phew!

primed permed