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Were You a Hippie?

quietone posted on Jun 07, 2008 | views: 709 | Tags: memories, random chat about nothing, hippies, nostalgia

I do know that there are a few of us here in these halls of SC that are of the “hippie” generation.. Or should I say “de-generation”? LOL

Oh, the years of the 60’s and 70’s, to me there was nothing like it.. Never ending youth and fun. A good time to be had by all without having to look very far for the fun.

It was also a time of war and sadness and death. Viet Nam war was such a huge debate for the US at the time. Right or wrong, I still have not forgotten the people that lost their lives there and also for the ones that came home without a life to find.

Anyway, this blog has not much to do with that, but to do with the hippie in me. Yes, I would like to consider myself still an “ole hippie”, not to be confused with the ole hippie in Willie Nelson.. No, not that old! LOL Although I do like some of his older songs.

I am recalling the clothes we wore.. Those old bell bottom hip hugging pants? The wider the bell the greater the pants were. The shorter the top tied at the midriff the better. All flowers and wild colors one would not dare to wear today.. Or maybe they would. We also became the braless generation.. Ah, freedom everywhere.

I see from time to time, as I walk through a store, some of this coming back “in style”.. a bit different, but still the same. The tie died shirts, the “low rise” jeans, the wide leg pant bottoms.. Oh dare we not call them bell bottoms!!

I have no real point to this post, I am just rambling and thinking about those good old days of flower children, good music, and fun times. I also do realize that there was the not so popular drug fests that went on as well.. And the huge deal with Woodstock. Oh how I wished I had gone when I had the chance. I’d be one of those legends!

Remember the songs?

Well here is a couple:

 

 


 


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Comments

  • pickersplock said on Jun 07, 2008....
    I was only a few years old then, but I think I did have bell bottoms! LOL
    We actually go visit Woodstock quite often in the summer.
     
    You can go visit lots of hippies and pay $50 for a t-shirt!  Haha
     
    Actually, it's a very nice place to poke around! :)
  • wombat said on Jun 07, 2008....
    I kind of fell in between somehow and missed the "generation" fun--but I had the bell bottoms, (low rider) and halter tops etc...  I love the songs and the videos! 
  • skald said on Jun 07, 2008....
    OH yes, I wore those cloths and I sang the songs. I remember the years. Saw Woodstock on a film and did not do drugs. Bet you did not either. 
  • secretlife said on Jun 07, 2008....
    the 90's were completely a throwback to the 70's!
    i know cause my kids were dressing in low rise jeans and bell bottoms, clunky shoes and peasant-style shirts.
     
    i used to smile because the fashion reminded me of my own growing-up years, and was fun to relive them with my own kids.
  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....

    pickers ~ awe, too bad, you missed out on a good time.. well a different era for sure. 

    wombie ~ yes I think you are a bit younger (younger sis) LOL and just nipped the trail end of it.  I was a young teen of 15 or so I just barely made most of it!!

    skald ~ oh, I wore most the clothes and created some of my own, had long hair and a care free life. 

    secret ~ oh, I forgot about the platform shoes and the clogs..hmm see a lot of those these days.  Yes, but if you said to a kid today, oh, I wore that years ago... NO WAY!! I do miss some of that music and the care free lifestyle back then.

  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....
    pickers ~ oh, I would love to go check out the woodstock area now.. just for gigles. maybe I will do that some day.
  • crybabylu said on Jun 07, 2008....
    no, but my baby sister was., she even grew her veggies and herbs, and smoked dope,  she laughs now at all of that, but at the time, we were worried!
  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....
    cry ~ I am sure a lot of parents were worried about "us" too.  LOL 
  • botoni said on Jun 07, 2008....
    You left out the platform shoes, Quiet. Mary Quant, Twiggy, pirate shirts and sideburns the size of garden shovels.........all somewhere in my vague memory. In truth though, I was more a wannabe than an actual hippy. Hair was on TV last night. Brought back some old memories.
  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....
    botoni ~ LOL, yes I mentioned those shoes on secrets comment..  I did forget all about them though.. but they are also on the shelves these days.  Oh, and yes the sideburns.. so "in".  well, I was probably more a wanna be too.  If I were a bit older I think I would have headed to CA with the rest of em and lived in a commune somewhere.  haha.
  • Actorguy said on Jun 07, 2008....

    Remember Country Joe and the Fish?  I was only 14 in 1969, but very much a wannabe hippie.  I had a pair of purple bell bottoms with wide green stripes that I thought were just the coolest.

     


     

     

  • skald said on Jun 07, 2008....
    Botni. In England at that time time I was shouted at as Twiggy. I had all the right forms  I was 56 kilos but some people though I was her.  
  • woman said on Jun 07, 2008....
    I wore bells and leather vests, peace signs, funky jewelry, hair down to my waist. I went to sit ins, protest marches, listened to some of the best music ever, and cried for friends that didn't make it back from Vietman. It was a powerful time. My brother is directing Hair in a college production this year. I remember seeing the original play in California. It's a little piece of history.
  • satyr said on Jun 07, 2008....
    quiet, those songs bring back so many memories.  I still have a few momentos from those days when I had shoulder length hair.  My "Pumpkins for Peace" button and my black armband from the Kent State protests for sure. 
     
    There is an old saying about if you are a conservative at 20, you have no heart.  If you are a liberal at 40, you have no sense.  I guess I was blessed with a heart and some sense. LOL
     
    Uhmmmmm, I did inhale. (blushes)
  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....
    Actorguy ~ yes, I remember that song.  Wow... cool purple bells!!!  I remember the fringe on my jacket. and my big ole green plastic peace sign.  I too now that I look back was more a wanna be.
  • TinSoldier said on Jun 07, 2008....
    Heck, I was born in 1970. But I was never a hippie -- I think I was always a conservative.

    Not an Alex P. Keaton kind of conservative (from the TV show Family Ties) but just a regular old poor working-class kind of conservative.

    I guess that I was grunge before grunge was cool though -- I wore open flannel shirts over tee shirts and ripped jeans in high school.

    I do remember bell bottoms and tie dyes a little bit, and differently colored pants, and the bone-crushing poverty that existed in the '70s. I remember the rampant racism and sexism. I remember some of the music that played on the radio, both contemporary and country music.

    But I was never a hippie, nor did I really know any.
  • TinSoldier said on Jun 07, 2008....
    Maybe instead of the word "conservative" I should have used the word "square". Or "straight".
  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....

    woman ~ now I can see you even in one of those psychodellic (sp) colored busses that went from there to here and back.  We have a true hippie here - a flower child.

    satyr ~ I knew there was a few of us out there in the halls of SC!  I wish I still had a momento or two.  well, I wouldn't be too worried about inhaling.. I don't think you were alone.  haha!! ; >

  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....
    TinSoldier ~ I think by the mid 70s, most of the hippie thing was about over and on to something new.. a change - and you were part of that.  I was old enough to be your mother... haha ... well a young mother.  Family Ties, I remember that show!
  • mobil said on Jun 07, 2008....
    I was never a hippie Quiet, but I did kick the snot out of quite a few of them.
  • TinSoldier said on Jun 07, 2008....
    Heh, that's okay quietone -- my mother was young when I was born! (19).

    I thought that the early- to mid- '70s was pretty much the peak of what the '60s had started? With regards to hippies and drugs and free love and all that stuff? Well, and including the battle of the sexes and more of the rejection of sexism and racism?

    Anyway, I remember the Eagles on the radio and also the song Wildfire. Let me see if I can find it on Youtube...



  • quietone said on Jun 07, 2008....
    TinSoldier ~ here is some dates and history.. yup in the 70's we were an "aftershock" so this says..
  • mom said on Jun 07, 2008....

    Ok I was but a wee lass at that time, in my early teens and yes I fancied myself to be a hippie. I wore hip huggers with bell bottoms, and swabie jeans, mocassins, and that was if I wasn't barefoot and I carried my hippie bag.   I wanted a neru jacket really bad.  I did get into the drugs and drinking.  I couldn't go to woodstock, my mom would get mad if I was 5 minutes late, she would have been really mad if I had gone to woodstock.

    Black lights were pretty awesome back then.  I remember flipping the peace sign to just about everyone. Hitchhiking was cool and my mode of transportation but I also walked a lot of places.  Music was great back then.

  • TinSoldier said on Jun 07, 2008....
    I love Janis Joplin... and I love that song.
  • mom said on Jun 07, 2008....
    Tin-  Yes I do too.  I love the blues.  Boy she could belt out songs.
  • Fallyn said on Jun 07, 2008....
    my parents and all their friends were hippies.....except for the pot part.

    one of my best friends spent most of his childhood in a commune.
  • kruuyai said on Jun 08, 2008....
    I get asked this question all the time.  My answer is that I was born about 10 years too late... I was a child in the 60's and a teen in the 70's, so I guess I would have to group myself with the hippie wannabe's.  I got my first pair of bell bottoms in 4th grade... they were navy blue with big, white donuts.  Hip huggers and bell bottoms and even palazzo pants with the huge "elephant ear" bell bottoms were all the rage in junior high.  I had a pair of purple brushed corduroy bell bottomed hip huggers that I often wore with my fluorescent lime-green mohair sweater, and I thought I was sooo cool.  I didn't discover Janis Joplin, the Doors or CSNY until the late 80's, but they are among my favorite musicians now, and I guess I'm still a hippie wannabe... or maybe more of a yippee wannabe... thanks to the Wikipedia article that TinSoldier linked, I now understand the difference... yippees being more politically active, not doing drugs, and of course, cleaner.  lol 

    The hippie culture is a lot more in evidence here in Europe than in the US (as it was in Mexico as well).  One thing I love about living in Prague is being able to walk down the street and take a gander at all the good looking guys with their long hair and beards and casual clothes... and I get to dress that way as well, and I often do.  Of course, I appreciate the freedom to do whatever the hell I want, so in addition to my bell bottoms and eastern flowing skirts, I also wear straight legs and blazers once in a while... isn't that, after all, the essence of the hippie movement?  Do your own thing? 

    Thanks to everyone who posted songs.  That was a great trip down memory lane.  :)  Peace.
  • kruuyai said on Jun 08, 2008....
    BTW, where is all the war protest music these days?  Is there a similar movement going on?  There should be... the Iraq war is every bit as unjust as Vietnam...  how high do the death tolls have to be before people start taking notice?
  • bluegum said on Jun 08, 2008....

    quiet, i was never a hippie, never wore hippie clothes or boggie boots or the brylcream slicked down hair . i was just so square it makes me laugh ,short back and sides hair cut with a part on the left side,white shirt and black  tie, long blck trousers with a foulded up cuff all ironed .and black shoes gleaming.

    blue.

  • RollingC said on Jun 08, 2008....

    Well I'd like to think of myself as a former ' Hippie '  but don't know if I really qualify although I was old enough to remember Woodstock.   I used to live in Weschester County and if I hadn't been in South America at the time ( family was stationed there at the time) I would've gone for sure.  Although in spirit I was there and even went to see the movie they took of all the stars playing and people getting high.   I even got high with my friends in the movie.   In Uruguay at the time nobody new what the heck pot was and I even remember smoking it (very few times) in public places like movies or restaurants.  ( heh, don't recomend that now though.) 

    I believe that movie made it around the world.

    :^)

    Rc

  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....

    mobil ~ I bet you did kick some "freeks"  And I think I understand why.  But, then I bet you just did it because you could!  haha  good to see ya every now and again.

    mom ~ yes that was more like me too.  I almost posted the same exact song.  I loved Janis Joplin.  I love this, yes I forgot about the moccosins and the "fringe" on everything, the beads etc.. how fun. And, yes, I did also experiment with the drugs and drinking...

    I think people either loved Janis or hated her.  I also love the blues... thanks mom!

  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....

    Fallyn ~ awe how cool to know that.  I think you would have liked living in these times as a teen. 

     

  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....
    kruu ~ how fun is that!  LOL Actorguy also mentioned purple bell bottoms.. haha.. wonder what it was about that color then?  and thanks for the name of those extra wide bells with the pleats in the bell.. I had a couple pair of those too.. and some of us complain about the baggy pants the kids wear now.. .. also just making a statement of their own. (as much as I hate that look)
  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....


    one of my favorite groups and song!  I guess I am not the only one that has "aged" haha... look at the difference...... haha!!

     



     

  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....
    blue ~ haha, now weren't you just the picture of "dork" Maybe you were just ahead of your time!  LOL  I find it hard to believe you didn't have at least one pair of bell bottoms???  My grandson is like that, he would rather wear a dress shirt and tie to school then jeans.. I think that is pretty cool! 
  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....
    RC ~ you know what, I have to admit, I don't think I have seen that movie... or I can't remember for "some reason".  LOL  No, I would not reccommend smoking in a restaurant today!!  So it was round the world then?  Even in Sout America.. see, as a kid then, I didn't realize that.. thought we "were" the world.. ya know!
  • kruuyai said on Jun 08, 2008....
    quiet:  CCR is one of my favorite groups, too.  Funny, you can tell they've aged, not just by looking at them, but their newer version of the song takes them a full minute more to sing!  Now, that's really slowing things down.  ;-)
  • scipio said on Jun 08, 2008....

    Definitely from the 'Hippy Generation" - Enjoyed the music and jeans  & long hair for a short while.

  • polarheart said on Jun 08, 2008....
    Quiet, I was born in the early 70ies so I missed the whole thing!  Darn!  But my sister and brothers who were in their mid-teens had the whole thing "going on". . .less the drugs.  I think the fashion colours were mustard (our kitchen cabinets doors had mustard fronts), avocado (one bathroom in our house was white and avocado green) and burnt orange.  I also remember a lot of paisley designs and moccasins. . .they were still "in" in the 70ies.
     
    Much love
    Polar
  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....
    polar ~ I remember that awful green, yes that and that awful yellow and everyone was getting that awful orange "shag" carpet.. the kind you had to rake! haha.. imagine raking your carpet!  Paisley was another big one along with tie die.  Ah, yes my dear poalrdoodledaughter... you missed it. 
  • soaringraven said on Jun 08, 2008....

    This has been an interesting read, both the origional post and the answers that followed.  I remember friends gathered together watching television and hearig the word hippie bantered about by the media.  We would look at each other with quizical expressions and ask, "Anybody know what a hippie is?" , or "Are there any hippies in here?"    No one I knew at the time had any idea what a hippie was.   According the the media anyone with long hair and colorful clothing was a hippie, anyone who disargreed with our foriegn policy was a hippie, anyone who thought equal rights shouldn't have to be fought for was a hippie, anyone who questioned traditional values was a hippie.  In other words almost everyone born between about 1945 and 1955 ended up being a hippie during that period.    Silly notion of course. 

    The youth movement of that particular era was a lot more than sex, drugs and droppng out.  And when those of us old enough to remember, talk only about those aspects we do a great disservice tho those who were at the leading edge of the movement as well as to any who may have followed after them.

    soaring

     

  • woman said on Jun 08, 2008....
    Ah Soaring. Thanks and well said. So many people misunderstand that era. It was a time not to be repeated, with so many protests going on, so many people just waking up and realizing what was going on. There was the civil rights struggle, and a struggle it was. While it didn't totally change the feelings of many people about race and the law, it DID change the laws and enforce the laws, and lay down a path for enlightened people to walk on. My own children still struggle with the race issue, being African Americans but they have the tools to struggle with. And the womans' rights movement, it was then too, just a little later. As a woman I was filled with hope at the thought of being treated with equality and forming friendships based on that common struggle. That was intoxicating. Really. And then of course the struggle that tore our country apart. The antiwar movement. While the young people dressed in the clothing you speak of, it wasn't about the clothing. It wasn't about drugs, many of us didn't use them, it was about the pain of seeing our friends be drafted off to a war that we didn't believe in. A war that hurt the people of Vietnam and the people of our country. A war that the government refused to even call a war, but referred to it as a "conflict". And yet our friends came home in body bags and the death count was announced each night on the news. That was our bedtime story. That's what brought us nightmares. We attended our friends funerals. We cried out against the government. We sang "We shall overcome", arm in arm, as we sat together on college campuses, trying to understand the world we were growing up in. It was a time of passion and conflict and our clothes relected that. Our hair relected that. We knew we were a part of a revolution.
  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....
    soaring ~ yes it was more than sex,drugs, long hair and peace signs.. it wa a huge movement world wide about "peace" and "war".. some fought on their own land for "peace" while others had to endure long tours of duty in a "war" with much controvercy over it.  what we gained, each of us would have our own opinion about.  thank you so much for your comment. 
  • lfbno7 said on Jun 08, 2008....
    I was sort of a hippie and sort of not. I loved the music, took the drugs, and opposed the war. But I was a fighter, not a peace and love kid. I was in a karate school that was run by the army. All the teachers were army. It was a tough school. I finished second in their tournament, beating 7 soldiers and losing to 1. It was the kind of school where they made you suffer and kicked you around. It wasn't like today where the karate schools are babysitters. Little kids weren't allowed. I got kicked in the balls, kicked in the eyeball too, and just kept fighting, and usually winning. So I don't know if I was your conception of a hippie or not.
  • CreativeWoman said on Jun 08, 2008....
    I missed out.  My teenage years were in the 80's.  I do like the retro stuff coming back into style though.  :-)  I might have been a good hippie minus the drugs, etc.

    CW
  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....

    woman ~ I agree with both you and soaring and I am sure there are others that would as well.  It was a trying time for the ones "caught in the middle" and misunderstood. that era ruined a lot of peoples lives... but also made some people who they are today.

  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....

    Lbno ~ sounds like you had a huge fight going on inside yourself at that time!  We all had our way of dealing with the things going on during those days... including the bad part... war and drugs.

  • quietone said on Jun 08, 2008....

    CW ~  Yes, a hippie had their time in the world.. some of us are still around.. like Willie Nelson.. he is an old hippie! I think you would have made a good one too! 

     
     

  • m0j0d17 said on Jun 28, 2009....

    satyr

     I would like to hear from you concerning your post:

     "satyr said on Jun 07, 2008.... quiet, those songs bring back so many memories. I still have a few momentos from those days when I had shoulder length hair. My "Pumpkins for Peace" button and my black armband from the Kent State protests for sure."

     I would like to learn more about: "Pumpkins for Peace" button

    Please contact me.

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