I suspect there were worse decades than this and the 70's. The 1340s with the black death or the 1910s with WWI or the 30s/40s with WWII I would imagine not having any records because they'd all been bombed by Zee Germans would be worse than there being a lot of chesy manufactured pop being released.

Aged 42, lying in an oxygen tent and not expected to live after a major heart attack, Eric Morecombe was visited by a tearful Ernie Wise. Ernie told him that Des O'Connor had just interrupted his live TV show to ask the whole audience to pray for Eric, fighting for his life in hospital. Eric replied that the thought was really appreciated, "those 6 or 7 people could make all the difference".

I hope that's true, it certainly sounds about right :D