1974
Land of the Lost debuted in 1974, which, in my opinion, according to things I've observed, was the most decadent year of the 20th century in the U.S.
This is what I know from growing up:
1. I was born in 1974. I am decadent. People my age, the gen-x ers (a term I got incredibly tired of hearing) are usually more decadent than I. They invented things like extreme sports, extreme piercing and were among the first to use ecstasy. I have never tried ecstasy, or X. I am less decadent.
2. Schools closed, teachers were laid off, the number of on site school psychologists seemed to increase every time our grade arrived. I had to see some of these psychologists and grew to appreciate their frustration.
Once, there was a bomb threat at my grade school. It was as though no one really wanted us around anyway.
3. I once sat down with an english professor at college who candidly told me that he had never met a group of more disturbed kids than our class. He had been teaching at Kenyon for more than 30 years. It's true that there were 4 attempted suicides in my class of 400 during the 1992-93 academic year. I knew two of them.
4. 1974 was probably the year when abortion was most trendy.
5. Children are not for the decadent.