THIS brings back memories and tons of laughs!

"I heard some AM hams yucking it up on 75M."
3885 was the frequency, WA1HLR and the AM Gangstas were the 3 Stooges + a few.

"I thought it was cool."
They sure were, There was no generation gap in my house when they were on, the OM sat next to me listening and cracking up.

"I realized that someday, I could get on the air and talk about roller inductors, and enlarged prostates."
And now they complain how hard it is to fuel a Slimatron with an aging prostate.

Only one problem with your assessment of "band conditions" back then, it was the slopbucketeers they complained about talking about enlarged prostates. Now the shoe's on the other foot and it has bunions. Meanwhile Timtron aka WA1 Henry Yell AAARRR the mad scientist of the group developed a weapon of questionable legality but highly effective, the SBE or side band eliminator. Just scroll down a bit, you'll find it.
http://www.amfone.net/AMPX/109.html