Shakedown 1979
When I was a teenager, the world was a simpler place. There were only four television channels and we all watched the same programs. Today, when I ask if anyone saw the episode of Psychic Kids last night, I get blank stares. This could be due to nobody watching it, or concern over my state of mind. When I was 15, and asked if someone had seen Happy Days last night, an entire room started talking about Fonzie or Richie.
In addition, we had reading material that supported this uniformity. Society was concerned about illiteracy and television, so magazines were developed that we would read. They needed to be entertaining, but not too taxing, like Omni. So they focused on television shows and popular culture. I recall thinking, at the time, that they were pretty vapid and squeaky clean. While Dynamite was promoting Mork and Mindy, the big news in the 9th grade was the story about one couple that had started having sex. As you can see, there was an incongruent reality. Looking back at these magazines now, I’m not surprised by the alarmingly blind content, but at the super groovy colors and mastheads. Dyn-o-mite!
