The Post: 9 Household Sounds That Were Everywhere in the 1970s first appeared on Crafting Your Home
A 1970s home had its own soundtrack, built from ringing phones, humming appliances, clicking controls, and music players that made almost as much noise as the entertainment itself.
Long before silent touchscreens and nearly noiseless buttons became part of everyday life, household technology announced what it was doing.
Some sounds started the morning, others followed chores through the afternoon, and a few became part of relaxing at night. Not every home had every device, but these nine sounds were familiar features of American domestic life during the decade.
1. The Clock Radio Buzzing You Awake
For many households, the day could begin with a bedside clock radio.
Some models gave sleepers a choice between waking to a buzzer or letting the radio do the job. A General Electric flip-number AM/FM clock radio associated with 1972 offered both a buzzer alarm and a radio timer.
That made the clock radio more than a way to check the hour in the dark. It could also be the first piece of household machinery heard each morning, starting the day’s soundtrack before anyone had even left the bedroom.
2. The Coffee Percolator Bubbling in the Kitchen
Soon after came one of the kitchen’s most recognizable rhythms: the bubbling of a coffee percolator.
A percolator repeatedly moved hot water through coffee grounds, creating a steady sound that could accompany breakfast preparations.
For many people, that bubbling was simply part of the morning atmosphere.
The decade also brought change. Mr. Coffee introduced its home electric drip machine in 1972, and Americans increasingly moved toward drip brewing. So while the percolator remained a familiar sound, it was no longer the only coffee-making noise in the kitchen.
3. The Electric Can Opener Grinding Away
Opening a can could be surprisingly noisy.
Pressing the can against an electric opener’s cutting wheel started the motor, and the can rotated as the lid was cut free. The combination of grinding, humming, and metal-on-metal movement made the job easy to hear from across the kitchen.
One especially vivid period example is a Dazey combination can opener and knife sharpener made around 1970 and preserved by the Smithsonian. It featured an avocado-green case and a magnetic lid lifter, details that fit comfortably into the visual world of a 1970s kitchen.
4. The Blender Suddenly Roaring to Life
Few countertop appliances entered a conversation as dramatically as a blender.
One button press could turn a relatively quiet kitchen into a wall of motor noise as the blades chopped or puréed whatever was inside the pitcher.
A Waring blender preserved in the Smithsonian collection helps illustrate the era. It included a glass pitcher, a four-blade chopper, and buttons labeled “WHIP,” “CHOP,” “PUREE,” and “LIQUIFY.” Even without claiming that a particular model sat in every kitchen, the design captures just how mechanical and hands-on food preparation could sound.
5. The Vacuum Cleaner Humming Across the Carpet
Move from the kitchen to the living room, and another familiar sound took over: the vacuum cleaner.
Its continuous motor hum followed the user from one stretch of carpet to the next, with pitch and effort changing as the machine moved across different surfaces.
A circa-1970 vacuum documented by the Illinois State Museum included a toe-operated power switch, a cleaning dial, and a brush attachment.
Vacuum designs during the decade also had to contend with shag carpeting, with some machines adapted to help lift the long carpet fibers.
Cleaning the living room was rarely a quiet activity.
Related: 15 Forgotten Areas You Need to Clean in Your Home
6. The Rotary Phone Clicking Back Into Place
A phone call could begin with a miniature mechanical performance.
On a rotary telephone, a finger pulled the dial around to the desired number and released it. The dial then spun back toward its starting position with a whirring series of clicks.
Once the call came through, the telephone’s bell could provide another unmistakable sound.
Rotary phones were still very much part of the 1970s even though Touch-Tone service had been introduced earlier.
By the end of 1976, 70 percent of Bell System lines were capable of providing Touch-Tone service, but only 30 percent of those equipped lines actually had it installed.
So the rotary dial remained an everyday sound in plenty of homes.
7. The Television Channel Knob Clicking
Changing the television channel once required considerably more physical effort than tapping a remote.
Turning the channel selector produced a firm mechanical click, followed by the brief transition as the picture settled onto another station. Channel surfing had a sound.
Some households did have remotes. Zenith’s Space Command system used buttons that struck metal rods, creating ultrasonic signals that controlled the television. That means the familiar idea that nobody had television remotes in the 1970s does not hold up.
Still, whether someone twisted a dial on the set or used an early remote, changing channels was often much more audible than it is today.
8. The Record Dropping Onto the Turntable
Evening music brought a gentler collection of sounds.
There was the handling of the record, the movement of the turntable, the stylus lowering into place, and then the first notes of an album filling the room.
Some records might also produce a little surface crackle during playback.
LPs were a major music format throughout the decade.
An account based on recording-industry figures reports that more than 300 million LPs and EPs were sold annually during the 1970s.
Playing music could feel almost ceremonial because it involved so many small physical steps before the song even began.
9. The Eight-Track Clicking Between Programs
Few sounds belong so neatly to the era as the eight-track program change.
An eight-track tape commonly divided an album into four programs. When the player switched from one program to another, listeners could hear a click.
Sometimes that interruption arrived at an awkward moment, even splitting parts of a song.
Of course, eight-track players were not in every household. Their popularity also faded as the decade progressed. By the late 1970s, Americans were buying more cassette tapes than eight-tracks.
For homes that did have a player, though, that sudden click could be as memorable as the music itself.
From the first clock-radio alarm to the final click of an eight-track, the 1970s home was filled with machines that made sure you could hear them working.
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