Did you appreciate living in the 70s, 80s and 90s?

[LaosLover]

Lived in Greenwich Village 75-90, with broad guest list privileges for live shows (my brother was a semi-famous bouncer).

 

So for example, in one week, I saw Madonna open for Prince, Shawn Colvin (pretty good folk singer), and Sun Ra, a jazz legend now much more famous post mortem.

 

Another week might be Tito Puente in the park for free, Run DMC/Red Hot Chili Peppers, and some only famous in New York band like Lydia Lunch. 

 

And at those shows, you could meet interesting people, many of them women. My best years are right now, but those were great days. 

[macahoom]

17 minutes ago, LaosLover said:

semi-famous bouncer

Brilliant!

[Adumbration]

18 hours ago, Keep Right said:

The 60's were the best, summer of love, mini skirts, no Aids,  very few STDs. Great music, "far out man........"

If you can remember the 60's you didn't really have that good a time did you?

[Skeptic7]

Yep those were exceptionally great times to be alive, but present times are ok too. For those fortunate enough, it's what we make of them. But I appreciate and try to enjoy and make the most every "time", tho it's certainly not always been easy. I've suffered fairly recent tragedy and loss which most here would find unfathomable and unbearable. I certainly did for a couple years and almost didn't survive it, but this is all we've got. One and done. A speck of time on a speck of dust in a incomprehensibly vast natural universe that doesn't give a fig about us. 

 

Good post. I hope you are well and wish you all the best. 

[Skeptic7]

16 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

More fun being 20 in the '70s than 70 in the '20s.

Haha, yes youth has many advantages. 

 

Certainly for some tho, that's not necessarily true. Especially those fortunate enough to have health, spending money and reside here or other parts of SE Asia now❗

[thaibeachlovers]

17 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The best time ever for me is now!

Back in the good old days I was always a bit frustrated by lacking access to sex (even though I was married).

And the tech wasn't all that handy either, radio where I had to listen to what the DJ wanted to play, TV where I had to watch what was available on 3 channels that didn't start until 5:30pm. Books that the local library had chosen to stock. Life was all very limited.

 

Today, I can download any movie, TV show, music or books and have as much sex as I could ever imagine all easily available at either no, or little cost.

 

You only have lots of sex because you were lucky enough to discover Thailand when you had loadsacash. I didn't reference this century at all, which was when I discovered LOS, as my query was more about life in general, not how much sex we had.

I too had loadsasex in Thailand, but the rest of my life working in western countries sucked ( and not in a good way ). I didn't like anything much about this century- humanity has gone over regulated, PC, woke, overpopulated, overpolluted, too greedy, too many nasty people and generally unpleasant. Having a few nice songs doesn't make life in general better.

Anyway, I didn't start the thread to moan about life now, but about did we appreciate how good it was back then.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

17 hours ago, stoner said:

and the forbidden love ? 

Anyone trying that on would have had the <deleted> beaten out of them. Homosexuality was not acceptable, period.

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, xylophone said:

Thank heaven that in my younger days we didn't have women with nose rings, lip rings, facial studs and the like, nor any tattoo's, or none that you could see anyway!

 

Born in 1947, so experienced the 50s, and the 60s and 70s were brilliant, with far too much adventure and excitement to recall here.

 

The 80s were good, with a fantastic job in NZ, which enabled me to dine out wherever I wanted, and date some pretty Kiwi girls – – wouldn't change it for the world, and I'm well satisfied with what I'm doing at the moment, which is not much at all, apart from spending far too much time on the computer and collecting red wine.

Thanks for answering the topic.

Only Kiwi girls I knew were too good to "party", and I never got to know any bad girls. I had to wait till I was posted to Singapore to have some "fun times".

Prefer Asian girls.

[thaibeachlovers]

38 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

If you can remember the 60's you didn't really have that good a time did you?

Not all of us needed to use drugs to have a good time. Bit pathetic to need them, IMO.

[OneMoreFarang]

I think a good starting point is thinking about if we would have preferred to be born 10 years earlier or later. Or was the timing just right?

For me I think +/- 10 years is about the maximum which I like.

 

And now the question is, if we would ask people now, who were born maybe year 2000, what do they think? Would they have preferred to be born decades earlier, without internet, mobile phones, calculators, etc.? I have my doubts.

 

So at the end of the day, I think we are mostly part of the culture, time and location, where and when we grew up. I guess few people would prefer 30 years or more change from when they were born. The exceptions might be people who experienced war. 

[Expat68]

It is only now that the world is turning to <deleted> that I am starting to appreciate the fact that I was born in the 50s

[JonnyF]

I was too young to remember much of the 70's but the family pics are hilarious.

 

The 80's were great. BMXing, skateboarding, playing football (jumpers for goalposts) in the local park and going home for dinner when the street lights came on. Watching 80's TV, ET, Star Wars, Ferris Bueller etc. while playing Scalextric and gaming on the Spectrum 48 and Commodore 64/Amiga.

 

Then the 90's came with the illegal raves taking pills to dance music in farmer's fields, then off to Uni to get wasted for 3 years during the Oasis Britpop scene before backpacking around the world with my hot blonde 21 year old girlfriend.

 

Then came the noughties ????. The slide started with Blair and then 9/11. Then we were treated to social media and the rise of the smartphone. Political correctness, the precursor to the scourge of Wokeness etc. Fortunately I still have a great time as I moved to Thailand in 2006 and laugh at much of the nonsense in the West but I am very happy to have grown up when I did.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

The exceptions might be people who experienced war. 

Depends on the war, and what they did in the war. All NZ military that went to Vietnam were volunteers, and none that I spoke to regretted going. While they were not ecstatic to have gone, they were not unhappy about going.

[thaibeachlovers]

12 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

It is only now that the world is turning to <deleted> that I am starting to appreciate the fact that I was born in the 50s

That is how I feel too, and why I started the thread, to see how others of my era feel about it

[thaibeachlovers]

Something to think about.

Those of us that grew up without big brother nanny state telling us what to do, without health and safety regulations trying to make us all "safe" ( and failing badly ), without information 24/7 on a small hand held device, without being able to call mummy every day while on holiday etc etc etc, we grew up as independently motivated and able to fix things.

Every time I see a disaster on tv news and loads of people sitting around waiting for someone else to come and rescue them, I'm so glad I wasn't born this century.

[4MyEgo]

20 hours ago, KhunLA said:

80's music, disco

Are you serious, those were the best years of my life ????

 

You should be dancing.....LOL

 

[toofarnorth]

19 hours ago, nikmar said:

it s funny looking back and wondering how we all got by without messaging apps. and without access to information 24/7. We knew how to converse then.

Your last sentence.  Sitting round a table and talking . Now they sit around a table with the only conversation is on their pods/apps thingies .

[stoner]

47 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Anyone trying that on would have had the <deleted> beaten out of them. Homosexuality was not acceptable, period.

right. 

[Hummin]

It was a real Rollercoaster and managed to semi  retire at 47!

 

Had it all, sex, drugs and rocks roll.

 

If I ever had a bucket list, there is nothing left there I want to do, except fly a fighter jet plane. Was on my way to Russia to the camp for flying Mig 29, but I had a severe prolapse that stopped me, and now, I could not care less.

 

It was a time you could easily travel for sports and adventures, easily get well paid interesting work, and good potential for investing for future in solid prospects without to much gambling. 

 

So, what to say? The bad times I had, is a good reminder to not take anything for granted, and keeps me get up in the morning, and do what I have to do, and what I should do to preserve what I have.

 

Self discipline is the key to happy life!

[nauseus]

20 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

I definitely feel privileged to have "come of age" during the 70s and 80s.

It was a simpler time where people didn't rely on technology and hand held electronic devices to run their lives. 

People weren't so easily offended and snowflakes were just something that fell from the sky every winter.

Well said. UTV.

[The Fugitive]

27 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Depends on the war, and what they did in the war. All NZ military that went to Vietnam were volunteers, and none that I spoke to regretted going. While they were not ecstatic to have gone, they were not unhappy about going.

Very interesting thanks! Did New Zealand have National Service at that time? So there was no conscription? Only members of the regular forces who actually volunteered were deployed?

[The Fugitive]

3 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

Draft ended January 1975. I was 17 and 5 months. War ended in April. I was lucky.

Thanks for your info. I understood that USA and allies went home in 1973. Guessing that conscription continued due to manpower shortages caused by the conflict? 

[nauseus]

20 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I was at an all male boarding school in the 60s so no "summer of love" for me, which is why I posted the 70s as a starting point.

No sheep nearby? ????

[Screaming]

17 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

agreed 60s were the best for MODs on scooters and ska and blue beat 45s

soho R and B clubs were rocking all nite long 

keith was playing 98.6  

 

Good morning sun, I say it's good to see you shinin'
I know my baby brought you to me
She kissed me yesterday hello your silver linin'
Got spring and summer runnin' through me

 

Hey, 98.6, it's good to have you back again, oh
Hey, 98.6, her lovin' is the medicine that saved me
Oh, I love my baby

Hey everybody on the street, I see you smilin'
Must be because I found my baby
You know she's got me on another kind of highway
I want to go to where it takes me

 

Hey, 98.6, it's good to have you back again, oh
Hey, 98.6, her lovin' is the medicine that saved me
Oh, I love my baby

You know she's got me on another kind of highway
I want to go to where it takes me

Hey, 98.6, it's good to have you back again, oh
Hey, 98.6, her lovin' is the medicine that saved me
Oh, I love my baby

Wow, I just got a super flashback from reading this post and lyrics. Thanks for the post.

[Ben Zioner]

Vietnam  wasn't  he only war in the Seventies.  I was 20 in 1973, never fired my gun, just watched the R...eads run back to Egypt. Was great fun, the inventory of what they left behind was a chore though..

[Hummin]

11 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Vietnam  wasn't  he only war in the Seventies.  I was 20 in 1973, never fired my gun, just watched the R...eads run back to Egypt. Was great fun, the inventory of what they left behind was a chore though..

Those decades still have a few questionable wars and decisions made by the governments involved. Still not solved and may people still suffer.

 

Best times for us, but for many others, not so. We could be at a turning point now, and those who suffered have forgotten.

[thaibeachlovers]

51 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Very interesting thanks! Did New Zealand have National Service at that time? So there was no conscription? Only members of the regular forces who actually volunteered were deployed?

National Service ended in 1972, and I'm sure none of them went to Vietnam.

I actually got my National Service call up after I joined, so I got the better deal by joining the regulars.

Even in the regulars, only volunteers went to Vietnam.

Best decision of my life joining up. Saw a lot of the world that I never would have otherwise.

[thaibeachlovers]

49 minutes ago, nauseus said:

No sheep nearby? ????

LOL. No pretty ones.

 

I went to stay on a friend's farm during the holidays- thousands of sheep. Very interesting seeing what happens before they become meat.

[xylophone]

In the 70s......travel and adventure:-

In the 80s....White water rafting and sailing the NZ Americas Cup Challenge boat:-

In the 90s....Setting up an investment division and playing tennis against Steffi Graf (a friendly warm up)
in the 20s.....Thailand and my lovely Daughter

Couldnt have asked for anything more!

[billd766]

23 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I was at an all male boarding school in the 60s so no "summer of love" for me, which is why I posted the 70s as a starting point.

I was in the RAF in the 1960s to the early 1980s and whilst there was 'supposedly' free love it never got as far as Norfolk though it did work, to some extent on the odd base and intermittently in Singapore though not in Bahrain.

 

Music in the 1960s to the early 90s was much better apart from punk and grunge music.