1978 – 8-tracks and Moon Shoes

Jane Ann McLachlan had this great idea for a blog challenge for the month of October to do one day for each of the first 25 years of your life.  This is the 15th installment. 

In 1978 the Dow closes at 805
Inflation was at 7.62%
Average cost of a new house: $54,800
Average income: $17,000
Gasoline: $0.63 a gallon
Movie ticket: $1.50

The Hugo is won by Frederik Pohl for Gateway.
The Campbell Award Orson Scott Card for best new SF Writer.

Worst year for fashion ever!  Leisure Suits, Silk shirts, open collars, gold chains, moon shoes.  Disco is sweeping the world.

The Galaxy 2000 is opened in South Charleston.  It’s a dance club with lighted floor just like Saturday Night Fever.  The Bee Gees tear up Billboard and I actually notice.  I like their music.  It will be years before I start liking heavier stuff.  It will be a few years before I set foot in the place and by then the Disco craze is past.


Fantasy Island premieres and pairs with Love Boat.  I love both of these shows as a kid.

Elvis impersonators start coming out of the woodwork.

The first ever radio episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC radio 4.

Dallas premieres on CBS as a miniseries.

Carl Sagan wins Pulitzer for “Dragons of Eden.”

The first ever SPAM email is sent to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the U.S.

Grease premieres.  Travolta is the hottest thing on the planet. 

The Sony Walkman is released. 

Space Invaders is released.

First test tube baby is born.

I get my first turntable/8-track player.  The first albums are Dire Straits, Foreigner, the Partridge Family and I can’t remember the 4^th.  My brother and I start collecting 8-track tapes.  We both like Cheap Trick.

This is the year my mother’s parents move to Madeira Beach, Florida.  The 8-tracks come in handy during our 18 hour road trips to Florida.

I went to camp this summer and experience my first real kiss with a girl I barely know. I’d kissed lots of girls prior to this, but no tongues. It was exciting and scary all at the same time.  She was ready to go behind the bushes with me, and although I wasn’t exactly sure what she had in mind, I wasn’t quite ready for that yet. Six months later my answer would have been completely different.  Puberty is such a strange animal.

I also remember drawing a lot at this age.  I did a pretty good imitation of the Dr. Smock cartoon.  I’m also elected Governor in our WV Studies class, much to the chagrin of my teacher, although I never really figured out what she had against me.

This is the era when I start lifting weights. Mark Moss, Bill Shamblin and I used to go to Carl Hundley’s house several times a week and try to put on some muscle. I weigh right around 100 pounds and could bench 120, but despite my efforts I can’t seem to get any bigger.  Carl seemed to be the only one of us that was gaining any muscle.  My metabolism is ridiculous at this age. I could eat anything and not gain a pound.  Oh, how I miss those days.

Clear Ether!