I’m a 60’s boy and all my life I’ve heard those around me refer to ‘The Good Old Days’ at some point or another. When were they, what was so good about them and were they better than today?
The '70 s were brill.
Yep Peter - I took to the dance floor at the end of them 
Nothing better for me than Ready Steady Go.
The OGWT remains the best ever music prog.
The '70s were fun, a bit unknown with the new technology coming in and probably the last decade before mass commercialisation came in. There remained vestiges of innocence and even mystery before we were steamrollered by corporates taking over.
Dos anyone understand what i’m getting at ?
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Yes I know what you are getting at.
Whatever you wanted to do there was always the chance to do it if you had the courage
and some ability.
There was a door which would swing open for you and no one stopped you getting in.
It was amazing.
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What was OGWT?
Ready Steady Go for me was about being there on the set with the music and the people
being part of my life.
That’s it Barbara, probably sounds corny but it seemed like a time of opportunity. I was travelling the world in the Merchant Navy whilst being based in France with occasional trips to the UK and the world seemed a relatively ‘safe’ place to travel. Things changed politically and socially the world over and I wouldn’t want to travel like that nowadays.
OGWT - Old Grey Whistle Test. Otherwise for music we had John Peel in the evenings on R1.
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Who knows who the Old Greys were, and what was the Whistle Test?
David, this is what Wiki says
“According to presenter Bob Harris, the programme derived its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys – doormen in grey suits. Any song they could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test.”
Interesting stuff.
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oh yes John Peel was an excellent DJ …way out…as they would say.
I travelled to Germany with a school friend when I was 16 and it was
without fear and then again to Italy shortly after that. I think that it was
a different world then.
Even crime has been commercialised by the media.
The age of innocence and ability to travel are relevant now since the EU published their plans for a young person’s railcard. My initial thoughts about that were to do with the comparative safety of travelling back in the good old days and now. Euro rail was a great way to travel and fulfil dreams and although evetyone I know who used the system came back with amazing tales about what they experienced they all came back safe and sound in mind and body. I do so hope that is still possible today.
I often went to Tin Pan Ally just off Tottenham crt Rd London.Managed a
band who made a recording of a friends song. There you are a young women who
was fresh out of school…almost, was managing musicians.
Well done, I knew the answer. I bought a couple of OGWT CDs in Germany in the 90s because they contained 100% classic tracks. The definition was given on the CD case. Most music radio stations played the music through the building and the tunes picked up by the cleaners were deemed to be the ones that would succeed.
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For most i suspect “the good old days” were when they were young, optimistic and slightly innocent; viewed through the rose tints of selective memory.
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Yes you are right.
But when you look at what is going on in the world just now does it not make you dream
of those days.
I will always cherish those days even though I live for now and make it as special as I can.
We can define life by what we see before us and what is mirrored for the future.
Not really.
1960’s - optimism and the hippy movement but also the cold war, Cuba, the Vietnam war
1970’s - UK in dire straits, IMF, unstable government, industrial unrest, power cuts, 3-day week
etc, etc
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But young people maintained a sense of happiness, contentment.
Perhaps we rose above those ailments.
However much of the world is out of love now and to find kissing cousins is hard.
So, actually I feel that we are not as they say “in a better place”
Yes, absolutely
There is a point in everyone’s life when the world and its opportunity lies in front of you, optimism reigns and one hasn’t had enough experience of the world to grow cynical.
Then age and experience set in, opportunity and optimism diminish and we see the world and ourselves more for what they are than what we wish them to be.
No wonder we hark back to “Glory Days” as Springsteen put it.
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Not a fan of Springsteen but I am sure he tells his story.OK tenderly touching on the truth
yes, you are right.
But as Peter pointed out we are reflecting on life before commercialisation really set in and
took over. I still say that in this current climate adventure as I knew it would not be possible.