1967: The Last Good Year...Agree?

[KevWind]

Last good year ? No ....

But there were some amazing things goin on to be sure. The era was in some ways a perfect storm ( particularly music and cultural awareness and questioning )

If someone was not at least oh say 14 or 15 years of age at the time, pretty hard to fully explain or imagine what it was really like , and pretty hard to form a truly accurate picture .

While reading and study can give one glimpses of what it was like, but it is still often predicated on the recounting from individual perspective, often biased and anecdotal .

As noted in a Tale of Two Cities , "It was the best of times ,it was the worst of times". To assume it was really either one or the other, is just personal bias talking.

[Davis Webb]

As not to influence things I have held back on my source.

Here it is, to fatten our thinking...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967:_The_Last_Good_Year

[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by David MacNeill

I like the way you think, brother. To be a parent of a young human these days is to be fraught with anxiety for the future. I grew up in an optimistic, enlightened world of infinite possibilities that is essentially gone now except for the 1% — and even they don‘t seem very happy. Why else would they all want to move to Mars or hop a generation ship to a nearby M-class exoplanet?

Our machines were supposed to set us free but they enslaved us instead.

THanks David Macneill
I agree that happiness seems to be more fleeting with every new generation.
There is no doubt that social media has had a negative Impact (not to negate the positives). There are just so many kids that seek validation through digital medium. It has becomes a drug and it has a direct effect on self esteem.

We do plan on limiting social media as well as TV as much as possible, at least in the early years, as well as do out best to educate her in Regards to how best to utilize the internet to her advantage, and not get caught up in the “noise”. There are just so many outside influences that we as parents need keep an eye on, while not trying to control our young.

[tbeltrans]

As a kid or teenager growing up in the late 1960s, it was an exciting time with lots of possibility. However, whenever I hear some of the music from that era on the radio, I try to place myself in the shoes of folks from my parents' generation, what it must have been like for my dad driving to and from work and hearing the music and the news of the day on the radio.

There was civil unrest unlike most anything they saw in their lifetime. WWII seemed to involve the entire nation from the guys in the battlefield to "Rosie the Riveter" at home with at least some sense of honor, where Vietnam pitched the citizens of this country against its government, fighting it out in the streets. The music was becoming more and more outrageous to ears used to the high level of individual musicianship those guys all had in the big bands and orchestras.

For their generation, it seemed to be a rather threatening time when the world they knew was rapidly coming apart. Personally, I am glad that during that time, I was the teenager seeing all the possibilities. So it seems to me it depends a lot on who you were relative to what was going on. I mentioned age, but there are other factors that probably should not be discussed in these forums, such as certain groups of citizens who had to fight hard and even die in the streets of this country, in the hope of stopping always getting the "short end of the stick" at the hands of other groups of citizens.

As far as the last good year, I don't agree. Life goes on and it always has. I think one of the saddest movies I saw parts of was The Hoosiers. I can't imagine middle-aged people still reveling in the "glory" of high school sports, while their current lives are total crap. For me, "now" is better than "then", and tomorrow promises to be even better.

My theory about nostalgia is that we humans are uncomfortable with the unknown. Whatever problems we have, or see, today, we don't yet know how they will turn out, whether we will ultimately be OK or not. That can be rather scary sometimes. But looking back to the past, it turned out OK or we wouldn't be here now, so of course that is more comfortable -we now know what happened, and it turned out OK. So that is a comfortable place to be - in the past where we know what happens.

Tony

[MikeBmusic]

It was a good year to be young, but not 'the last' good year.
I was 11. I could ride my bike several miles across town to visit my friends (suburb about 30 miles outside Boston) as long as I was home by dinner time. Parents didn't feel obligated to supervise their children's whereabouts 24/7, or to have them involved in a myriad of extracurricular activities - I could get out of the house early to catch the school bus on its outward-bound trip, or walk a quarter mile 20 minutes later to catch it on its return. After school, I could go play with friends, make model cars at home, or do whatever I felt like.
After dinner was homework time, followed by family TV time - everyone gathered in one room to watch shows at least several nights a week.
FM radio was starting up and rock music was nearing a peak, replacing radio-pop.

My father had to drive into the city for a job he hated (and eventually left to start his own businesses) - an hour or more commute each way.
Every night the news started off with the latest casualty and MIA numbers from Viet Nam.
GBLT people and blacks were discriminated against, often beaten or killed.

[Nyghthawk]

1967 - An American made car could be expected to go about 75K miles before needing major mechanical work. They were under warranty for only 12K.

My 2014 Civic has 102K and purrs like a kitten. Oh, and it monitors my tire pressure. Has a backup camera. Did I mention gas mileage?

Things 1967 did not have - Stints or bypass surgery. Scopes for any medical procedure. No MRI no CT scans.

Telephone calls even to the next town over were long distance. If you mail ordered something it took "4 to 6 weeks for delivery."

The list is lengthy if you just take a minute to slip the blinders off. There never was a past era that was any better overall than this one.

[51 Relic]

Bit of a watershed year for me . It was the year I received my first guitar and started classical lessons . My wife was 14 and had her first gig at school . My only regret , I didn't live thought the first Beatle years . My great years were the Glam Rock explosion with Bowie Slade and TRex etc . Priceless

[AmericanEagle]

I was born in 1967, so I guess that was a good year for me.

[Steve DeRosa]

If I had to choose I'd pick 1953, 1961, or 1966, in order of preference - certainly nothing thereafter...

[Neil K Walk]

One thing that seems to come with threads like this that often go unmentioned is "what have you done to make the subsequent years in you and your own circle of influence's existence to try and make it better?"

Not to sound morbid, but to lament at how bad things have become since is akin to digging your own grave. After 50 years some of you should have hit China by now.

As gruff as that sounds, my point is that life is ultimately what we make of it. Grumbling about how the world is worse, reminiscing about good times long gone or lamenting on regrets is just wasted energy - or worse.

Granted, I'm younger than many of you but I still consider myself "middle aged" since I find myself smack in the middle of worrying about elderly parents and an uncertain future with challenged kids. While I stay up late every night worrying I wake up each morning with the attitude that each day is a new opportunity to change previous trends for the better.

I hope that many here can appreciate that. I'm not asking anybody to drink the Kool Aid - but neither am I willing to swallow a bitter pill. Life's too short.

PS: I'm really looking forward to that new movie about the Apollo 11 mission. Wrong year I know, but 1969 was my year - not 1967.

PPS: I'd be more than happy to "inherit" a 1967 Camaro Rally Sport. I don't really like the 69s.

[PeteCady]

1967 was a very good year for me personally.

I graduated from law school.

I married the lady I remain married to and in love with.

I got a first "real" job.

I settled in Vermont, and have been here ever since ('tho thoughts of Montana run through my mind since both of my offspring have been living there).

I passed the (Vermont) bar on the first try. (Don't hardly happen no more.)

I was discharged from the Marine Reserve without ever having been called up and sent to 'Nam (I had pretty much assumed I'd be going, but I didn't figure on LBJ's need to convince the public that "...it isn't really war" (Tom Paxton, I think.)

From my personal standpoint, the Last Good Year may have been '65, or at least the first half of it - before Dylan went onto the stage at Newport with a Strat, and ended the Great Folk Scare in an instant...

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

As a kid or teenager growing up in the late 1960s, it was an exciting time with lots of possibility. However, whenever I hear some of the music from that era on the radio, I try to place myself in the shoes of folks from my parents' generation, what it must have been like for my dad driving to and from work and hearing the music and the news of the day on the radio.

There was civil unrest unlike most anything they saw in their lifetime. WWII seemed to involve the entire nation from the guys in the battlefield to "Rosie the Riveter" at home with at least some sense of honor, where Vietnam pitched the citizens of this country against its government, fighting it out in the streets. The music was becoming more and more outrageous to ears used to the high level of individual musicianship those guys all had in the big bands and orchestras.

For their generation, it seemed to be a rather threatening time when the world they knew was rapidly coming apart. Personally, I am glad that during that time, I was the teenager seeing all the possibilities. So it seems to me it depends a lot on who you were relative to what was going on. I mentioned age, but there are other factors that probably should not be discussed in these forums, such as certain groups of citizens who had to fight hard and even die in the streets of this country, in the hope of stopping always getting the "short end of the stick" at the hands of other groups of citizens.

As far as the last good year, I don't agree. Life goes on and it always has. I think one of the saddest movies I saw parts of was The Hoosiers. I can't imagine middle-aged people still reveling in the "glory" of high school sports, while their current lives are total crap. For me, "now" is better than "then", and tomorrow promises to be even better.

My theory about nostalgia is that we humans are uncomfortable with the unknown. Whatever problems we have, or see, today, we don't yet know how they will turn out, whether we will ultimately be OK or not. That can be rather scary sometimes. But looking back to the past, it turned out OK or we wouldn't be here now, so of course that is more comfortable -we now know what happened, and it turned out OK. So that is a comfortable place to be - in the past where we know what happens.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Very interesting comments, particularly the last paragraph which I modified to put into bold type.

I do think people are very anxious about the future. I think your theory really has some merit!

- Glenn

[Basalt Beach]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

A
As far as the last good year, I don't agree. Life goes on and it always has.

My theory about nostalgia is that we humans are uncomfortable with the unknown. Whatever problems we have, or see, today, we don't yet know how they will turn out, whether we will ultimately be OK or not. That can be rather scary sometimes. But looking back to the past, it turned out OK or we wouldn't be here now, so of course that is more comfortable -we now know what happened, and it turned out OK. So that is a comfortable place to be - in the past where we know what happens.

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Hi Tony,
I do think people are very anxious about the future. I think your theory really has some merit!

+1 Agreed, I've learned Attitude is Everything and that every moment, of every day, in every week, of every month, of every year, will be whatever your attitude makes it. No anxiety over the instructions to duck and cover during the cold war. Passionate debates of youthful idealism. Long gas lines turned into an opportunity to make close friends and to sell doughnuts, bagels, newspapers, and coffee at 6:00 am to drivers waiting in long lines. High mortgage rates in the 80's meant living in the apartment longer and spending time with friends and neighbors, while not accumulating debt. Continually discovering new music. Pursuing the abundance of opportunities outside the four walls and under the roof. Whatever the year, whatever is occurring in the world, as Tony says, Life goes on and attitude is everything.