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For me, the peak occurred sometime in the spring / summer of 1977. Prior and up until that point, things had a certain sense of reason about them. Beyond that point, things slowly devolved into a world that makes less and less logical sense.

Consider the following cultural tipping points as evidence:

• The Eagles “Hotel California” was the #1 album and song on the charts from May 1-7, 1977

• Star Wars – most all-around amazeballs film of all time. Released May 25, 1977

• Smokey and the Bandit – Manliest film of all time. Released May 19, 1977

• Holy Jeebus, talk about your top flight entertainment options! How can you compete with that?!? Things were so clearly at their prime that Elvis Presley – faked his death on August 16, 1977 in an effort to go out on top vs. compete with this full court press of media kickasserey.

The King was onto something big here. He knew it wasn’t getting any better than this, time to walk out on this party.

Fast forward to today. Music is more about postproduction and reverb than guitar skills, cars plug into electrical outlets vs. scaring the hell out of you with 8 cylinders of whupass, and movies have all the amazement value of a walk through a WalMart. No wonder Elvis decided to hide out.

Hat tip to you, 1977.