July 1976. Yes, that’s Patty Towery, our managing editor, on the cover.
Has our country — and the world — changed very much since 1976, when the first issue of Memphis Magazine (then called City of Memphis) hit the newsstands? You decide:
• America celebrated its bicentennial anniversary from April to July 4th with a series of ceremonial events, festivals, and commemorative memorabilia. Just look at our cover (right)!
• Memphis celebrated the American bicentennial with performances by Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Club, and Outlaws.
• The president of the United States was Gerald Ford, with Nelson Rockefeller serving as vice president. Ford later lost to Jimmy Carter in the November presidential election.
• Memphis’ mayor was J. Wyeth Chandler, who served from 1972 to 1982.
• FedEx, founded in 1971, achieved sustained profitability for the first time in 1976.
• The world population was 4.14 billion. Today’s world population is north of 8 billion.
• The U.S. population was estimated to be 212,851,000 as of June 1, 1976. Today, it’s north of 342 million.
• Memphis’ metropolitan area population was estimated to be 961,700; that number today is more than 1.3 million.
• The most populated state was California, with a population of 21,522,419.
• The most populated city was New York City, with a population of 7,615,000.
• A dollar in 1976 would be worth $5.72 today.
• The average price of a new home was between $45,000-50,000.
• Started in the 1960s, second-wave feminism carried into the Seventies as more women entered the workforce.
• Also emerging at the tail end of the Sixties with Stonewall, the gay liberation movement grew exponentially in size and began making strides with LGBTQ+ rights.
• After the Civil Rights Movement, legal rights improved for African Americans, yet many still faced struggles with housing, education, and health discrimination.
• In Memphis, the Dixon Gallery and Gardens opened in January.
• Born in grungy music venues, the punk movement surged to popularity throughout the Seventies.
• The Cold War remained a background source of tension and anxiety.
• Soft, loose clothing, polyester, and denim dominated fashion trends of the decade, with a slide toward stretchy fabrics and punk aesthetics towards the latter half.
• Exxon was ranked in the Fortune 500 as the largest industrial company, pulling in $44.8B in sales.
• The best-selling car was the Oldsmobile Cutlass, selling more than 500,000 units by 1977.
• The price of gas was 57¢, or about $3.50 now when adjusted for inflation.
• The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl X (January 1976).
• The Cincinnati Reds won the 1976 World Series against the New York Yankees.
• The Indiana Hoosiers won college basketball’s national championship and remain the last team in the sport to go undefeated.
• The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final.
• The NBA and ABA merged.
• The Summer Olympics were hosted in Montreal; the US brought home 94 medals in total, 34 of them gold.
• The highest-grossing movie was Rocky, raking in $117,235,147 from 55,039,975 tickets.
• Other popular movies released include A Star Is Born, King Kong, All the President’s Men, The Omen, and Midway.
• Actors Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert de Niro enjoyed significant acclaim.
• Actresses Faye Dunaway, Barbara Streisand, Jodie Foster, and Jane Fonda also received notable popularity.
• The highest-rated TV show was Happy Days, which aired on ABC from 1974 to 1984.
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (directed by Miloš Forman) won Best Picture at the Oscars. It also won in four other categories, including Best Actor for Nicholson.
• A Chorus Line swept the Tonys, winning nine categories.
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show brought home the most Emmy awards, at five awards.
• “This Masquerade” by George Benson, Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, and “I Write the Songs” by Barry Manilow won Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year respectively at the Grammys.
• The best-selling record was Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive!, selling over 8 million copies and hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a total of 10 weeks that year.
• “Silly Love Songs” by Wings, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee, and “Disco Lady” by Johnnie Taylor topped the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart
• The Eagles released their Hotel California album, which would go on to become the second-best-selling record of all time (outsold only by Michael Jackson’s Thriller).
• Elvis Presley performed his last show in Memphis on July 5, 1976, before his death in 1977.
• Curtain by Agatha Christie, Trinity by Leon Uris, and The Final Days by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein rode the top of The New York Times bestseller list.
• Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to end conflict in Northern Ireland.
• The tallest building in the world was Willis Tower / Sears Tower in Chicago, standing at 1,451 feet.
• Fast-food restaurants, such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Taco Bell, grew in popularity over the decade.
• Foods like cheese balls, fondue, pasta primavera, Jell-O, and quiche were popular on tables.
• Several important inventions were introduced, including the Cray-1, a pioneer of supercomputers; the IBM 6640, one of the first inkjet printers; and Steadicam.
• JVC introduced VHS, which would go on to be a pioneer of home video technology.
• The Copyright Act of 1976 was passed and endures largely as-is today.
• Apple Computer Company was founded, and launched the Apple I — without a monitor.
