The jangly pop melodies of the 60s were muscled aside by the thudding beat of disco and the DIY energy of punk.
Fashion became even more flamboyant, with the rise of platform shoes, and technological breakthroughs included the Sony Walkman, the VHS video recorder and exciting new video games.
It wasn’t all good though, with the miners strike leading to a three-day week, and the decade ending with a series of strikes during the ‘winter of discontent’.
Below are some of the things you’ll probably remember doing if you grew up during the 1970s, from popular toys you may have played with to restaurants you would have eaten at and the TV shows children watched.
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9. Riding your Raleigh Chopper with pride
The Raleigh Chopper bicycle was invented in the late 60s but became a 70s style icon, which was at the top of almost every child's birthday wishlist back then. | Independent News and Media/Getty Images Photo: Independent News and Media/Getty Images
10. Coming a cropper trying the latest skateboarding trick
Skateboarding was supposedly born in the 1950s in California, where surfers were looking for something to keep them entertained when the waves were lacking. It took a while to reach these shores, but the skateboarding craze really took off in the UK in the 1970s, with a number of skateboarding parks opened as the sport's popularity boomed. | Malcolm Clarke/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Photo: Malcolm Clarke/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
11. Pulling on your bell-bottoms
They were first worn by sailors in the early 19th century but in the 1970s they became a fashion must-have. Typifying the bold and colourful style of the decade, bell-bottoms were so popular they even made it into the charts, in Derek and the Dominos' 1971 single Bell Bottom Blues. | Steve Lewis/Getty Images Photo: Steve Lewis/Getty Images
12. Lightsaber fighting as Star Wars fever gripped
The 1970s marked the birth of the blockbuster, and none were bigger than Star Wars. Following the release of the first film in the franchise in 1977, children everywhere were engaged in imaginary lightsaber fights. | Colin Davey/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Photo: Colin Davey/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images