1970s news stories on Newser

Five '70s Cars That Plain Suck

Harry Kimball — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:06:45 CDT

The 1970s was "a decade of excess mediocrity in so many quarters it's hard to catalog it all," Tony Borroz writes in Wired . But you can start with the cars. Here follow five total flops. Ford Mustang Cobra II: "An over-glorified Pinto" that made a "mockery of the venerable Cobra...

March Madness: It All Started With Larry and Magic

Kevin Spak — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:16:00 CDT

March wasn't always so mentally unstable. A new book claims the whole college roundball craze started 30 years ago, when Michigan State and Indiana State—and their stars, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird—met in the title game. “You couldn't have asked for a better dynamic between these two central...

'Womyn's Lands' Dwindle as Gays Go Mainstream

Harry Kimball — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:48:00 CST

So-called "womyn's lands" are quietly persisting across North America but face a cultural shift as modern gays embrace mainstream society, the New York Times reports. Founded in the 1970s to give lesbians man-free, safe, non-judgmental communities, the roughly 100 groups have seen membership dwindle and populations age. “In 20 to...

The Culture Wars, College Football Style

Will McCahill — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:00:01 CST

The cultural disconnect between conservative college football programs and America’s liberalizing culture in the late 1960s and early ‘70s is the theme of War as They Knew It , a book by Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg. The survey of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry (which continues tomorrow) through the prism...

Campuses Shift to Middle as 'Radical Profs' Retire

Rob Quinn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:52:13 CDT

University campuses all over the country are becoming less passionate and more businesslike as liberal '60s professors retire, the New York Times reports. The process is expected to accelerate over the next decade as Baby Boomers hired in the great '70s expansion of higher education move on, to be replaced...

Lost Photos of Elvis Discovered

Zach Samalin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:55:00 CDT

Close to 40 photographs of a jump-suited, cape-toting Elvis Presley rocking the house at Madison Square Garden in 1972 have surfaced and will be on display next month at Graceland in an exhibit entitled, "Elvis Jumpsuits: All Access." One of them already graces a Times Square billboard. A longtime official...

'Jackie Moon' Plugs Old Spice

Jane Yager — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:10:00 CST

In its latest move to shed its image as a '70s relic, Old Spice has hired a '70s relic as its spokesman: the Afro-ed, headband-sporting basketball player Jackie Moon. Old Spice hopes Moon, a Will Ferrell character starring in the upcoming Semi-Pro , will attract the coveted young male demographic with...