Which decade would you choose?

[Morrus]

If you had to be trapped in a decade from the 20th century, and live there, which would you choose? You don’t get to use your future knowledge to your advantage; you have to live the decade as it was but you’re your current age (you don’t get to be younger again!)

And - importantly - why?

 

[monsmord]

1970s. If in my 20s-30s and somehow not drafted into the US Army.

 

[Morrus]

1970s. If in my 20s-30s and somehow not drafted into the US Army.

Nope, you’re your current age!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

80s or 90s. Because of the music.

 

[MarkB]

Either the 80s or 90s. A tough choice - the 80s had better music, but the 90s had better TV shows.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The 80s. Even at my current age. Everything went in the 80s, and it was OK. From fashion to music, every couple months fads changed, resulting in it being OK to dress or listen to anything. Fantasy and Sci Fi were also anything goes. Looking back a lot of 80s stuff seems so ridiculous, but that's what made it so great. Same with gaming. New RPGs were being created everywhere, and since it was still a new hobby, the creativity was off the hook. Imagination ran supreme. When you didn't have access to all the information at your fingertips (internet), you came up with your own rulings and interpretations based on what you wanted; you didn't wait for some official tweet and did what they said. Nearly everyone homebrewed and created their own campaigns and adventures. And adventures weren't these huge slogs that took months; the vast majority were modules that were completed in a couple days at best and you could move on to different PC or different adventures before returning to the other campaigns.

 

[monsmord]

Nope, you’re your current age!

Ugh! Fine! The 60s. Mostly for the music, art, home styling, and food. As I write this, I'm digging on some lounge music courtesy of YouTube - in the 60s I could get my hi-fi going, sit by the fireplace in the middle of my plushly-appointed sunken living room, sip my third pickletini, nibble on hors d'ouevres, and chat with the well-dressed folks at my every-Saturday-night cocktail party.

 

[MarkB]

You don’t get to use your future knowledge to your advantage

On a bit of a tangent, this had me picturing going back to the 90s, rewriting D&D 5e from memory, and unleashing it upon my local gaming groups. But I had to wonder whether it would even have been popular back then, or if we needed to go from there to here in order to appreciate it.

 

[Mercurius]

It is hard to answer this question without touching upon politics, as that would be a significant factor. Either way, I'd probably choose the 70s. I find the late 60s to mid-70s to be one of the most fertile periods artistically, musically, and culturally. I love the mixing of genres, funk, some prog rock, etc, as well as New Hollywood film, New Wave sf and Ace SF classics, the blossoming of fantasy fiction during the Ballantine Adult Fantasy run (1969-74) and the Daw line, and of course D&D in 1974.

There was a sense of hope in the 70s. The cultural revolutions of the 60s, the end of the Vietnam war, and a still thriving American economy and middle class. Yes, there was the hanging cloud of the Cold War, but a higher percentage of Americans could live some semblance or version of the "American Dream."

Or to put an image to it:

 

[R_J_K75]

You don’t get to use your future knowledge to your advantage; you have to live the decade as it was but you’re your current age (you don’t get to be younger again!)

90s! The reason I would choose them is because of the age I was at then and lack of any real responsibility. It was a lot of fun. If I had to be my current age, and cant use any of my current knowledge then Id expect it to be pretty lame; work, stress, aches and pains so it doesn't seem like it'd be much different than today so I'll stay where I am. I wouldn't want to croak on the couch drinking a Budweiser and watching an episode of Rosanne. Although I suspect that if I somehow gained the ability to time travel then something else is cosmically amiss and the events that played out in the "New 90s" would be different than the history we know. George H.W. Bush puking on Japans Prime Minister starts WWIII, Ross Perot is the US president and Kurt Cobain lives to the ripe old age of 28. If that's the case I'll go back in a second.