Late 70s facts
While investigating facts about Late 70s, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Programmers for Atari in the late 70s went to the CEO of the company asking for royalties and their names be included on the boxes, when he turned them down they went and formed their own company -- Activision
The Dead Kennedy's started to attract an unwanted group neo-nazi punk fans in the late 70s. They released the single "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" as a response to white-power skinheads attending their shows.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 35 of the best facts about Late 70s I managed to collect.
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George Wallace, the governor who tried to stop two black students from attending the University of Alabama, became a born-again Christian in the late 70s, rebuked his support for segregation, and when reelected in the 80s, made a record number of black appointees to state positions.
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America is under a perpetual State of Emergency; 30 of them, to be exact. With the oldest dating back to the late 70s.
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A sub-generation exists called the "Oregon Trail Generation", and consists of people born in the late '70s and early '80s.
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The "laugh tracks" heard in American sitcoms from the late 50s to the early 70s were mostly recorded and edited by one company: Northridge Electronics, owned by sound engineer Charley Douglass and his family.
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Artist Yayoi Kusama (currently exhibiting her "Infinity Mirrors") has been been voluntarily committed to a sanitorium since the late 70s, only leaving to paint in the building across the street
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In the late '60s and '70s, the Orange Bowl in Miami had a tank with a live dolphin which would jump to celebrate touchdowns and field goals.
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Stephen King suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse in the 70s and 80s and has remained sober since the late 80s.
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The overlap between Generation X and Millennials are called the Oregon Trail Generation (late 70s to early 80s). They have traits of both generations, but do not fall fully into either category. Named for the popular computer game and also known as The Lucky Ones and Xennials.
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Television Executives in the late 70s decided that The Incredible Hulk (played by Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno) would be called Dr. David Banner rather than true comic book name Bruce because Bruce had too much of a homosexual connotation.
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Originally film credits rarely lasted two minutes. In the 60s and 70s, the list of credits grew longer and were moved to the end of the film. The average duration for credits was 3-4 minutes until the late-90s when credits averaged 6-7 minutes—some nearly 10 minutes.
What is true about late 70s?
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GM built and tested a Coal Powered Car in response to the oil crisis in the late 70s early 80s
Joni Mitchell contracted polio at the age 9, and it was during her recovery in the hospital that she began performing and singing to patients. After teaching herself how to play the guitar, she emerged as one of the leading folk performers of the late 1960s and '70s. - source
The One-child Policy introduced by the Chinese government in the late '70s ended on January 1, 2016, when it was changed to a Two-child Policy. Under the new rule, couples still have to ask permission to have a second child. - source
A rapid growth of nuclear power took place through the late 1960s and early ‘70s in the US. By the end of the ‘70s over 120 reactor orders were cancelled for many reasons; the construction of new reactors ceased. Out of 253 nuclear power plant orders from 1953-2008, 48% were cancelled/abandoned.
BMW and Lamborghini joined forces in the late 70s to create a car together. The car was finished by BMW alone and it is the BMW M1 - source
American Indians occupied Alcatraz Island for nineteen months in the late 60s and early 70s in a bid to have the federal government return the land to Native American tribes. The island still bears evidence of their occupation.
The "laugh tracks" in sitcoms between the late 50s and early 70s were all recorded and inserted by one guy, Charley Douglass. He was notoriously secretive about his work, and his one-of-a-kind device—the "laff box"—was only seen by his immediate family.
Most US states historically excluded women from jury duty; some required they opt-in as late as the 70s
In the late 70s, American artist Andy Warhol composed a series of what he called Oxidation Art. They are referred to now as "Piss Paintings" because after painting the canvas with copper paint, he would have his friends urinate on the canvas.
In the late '70s, staunch Republican John Wayne sent a letter of praise to Jimmy Carter and a letter of scorn to Ronald Reagan in response to each's position of the Panama Canal Treaty.
The sound of a coca-cola bottle being opened and poured in late 70s / early 80s commercials was from a synthesizer, created by Suzanne Ciani.
