Woodstock
One didn’t simply go to Woodstock: one lived through it. In August 1969, the
Woodstock Festival was the largest counterculture event ever staged, attracting some
500,000 people and featuring many of the country’s top acts. Two decades later,
Woodstock has come to mean more than just “three days of fun and music”; it
symbolizes a time of community, exuberance, and intensity since lost. Woodstock
festival gave power to the youth, united people of all ages, races, and sexes, and defined
a generation, making it one of the most important musical events of all time.
In order to understand the impact and importance of the Woodstock Festival one
must first examine the society that preceded the 1960’s and set the stage so to speak for
the events of the Woodstock Festival. The end of World War II brought thousands of
young servicemen back to America to pick up their lives and start new families in new
home and new jobs. With energy never before experienced, American industry
expanded to meet peacetime needs. Americans began buying goods not available during
the war, which created corporate expansion and jobs. Growth was everywhere. The
baby boom was underway. Part of the what happened in the 1950’s with increased
employment and income, families had more money to buy things. People could afford
single family dwellings and suburbia was born . In the 1950’s a big change happened in
public education. In 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren and other members of the Supreme
Court ruled that separate facilities for blacks did not make those facilities equal according
to the Constitution . Integration of the public classroom came about across the nation as
a result of this action.
Perhaps one of the things which most characterize the 1950’s was a strong
element of conservatism and anticommunist felling which ran throughout much of
society. The phrase “under God” was added to the pledge of Allegiance. Religion was
linked with anti-communism mind-set. Fifties clothing was conservative. Men wore
grey flannel suits and women wore dresses. Male and female stereotypes were strongly
reinforced, girls played with Barbie Dolls and boys played with guns.
When the 1950’s are mentioned, the first type of music to come to most people’s
mind is rock ‘n roll. Developed from a...
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of biblical proportions. To many observers, Woodstock seemed to embody the values
of the 1960’s youth culture of personal freedom, political pacifism and social optimism in
what seemed to be a land of plenty.
Richie Havens, the first performer at the Woodstock Festival describes the impact
the best when he says, “Woodstock was in essence a coming together, a gathering, a giant
be-in. It was a peoples’ festival where people came together to celebrate their essences,
their concerns, and their feelings for the world around them.” In Havens opinion, the
Woodstock Festival accomplished what the youth of the early sixties set out to do, which
was to show that we as young people were not going to back down from our political
feelings, our emotional feelings and our newly discovered citizenry. Havens believes that
the spirit of Woodstock has saturated the world and has served the purpose of awakening
minds to the fact that they too have the right to celebrate and be free. Thus did the
Woodstock festival empower the youth, unite people of many races and ethnicity and
become one of the most significant musical events of all time.
The 1960’s was a radical decade filled with political tensions, social strife, and overall cultural intrigue. The beginning of the decade allowed for the transition from President Eisenhower to President Kennedy, the youngest President to take office, and the first Roman Catholic. The move represented a shift from a Republican to Democratic administration in the Oval Office. Kennedy became a symbol for the young vibrancy of the American populous, as he was quickly accepted by the grand majority. After Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon B. Johnson took office, the nation was further engulfed in the war that would come to define America for years to come. The Republican Party regained office as Richard Nixon was elected in his second attempt to run as the decade came to a close. Activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X paved the way for the civil rights movement that swept the nation and captivated the spirit of not only black Americans, but white Americans as well. The race between the United States of America and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for domination of space escalated as Kennedy pushed for a man on the moon by the close of the decade, achieved in 1969. The possibility of nuclear war became all too real in 1962 as the launch of nuclear missiles became an abundantly clear possibility. The drug culture emerged in the 1960’s in large part due to the newfound accessibility of illegal drugs, such as marijuana and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or LSD. American society was entrenched in the chaotic desire for new, improved highs. The profound ascent of the drug culture was truly realized when the 3-day music festival, Woodstock, took place in 1969, as “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” symbolized America’s...
...g force. One thing that I am certain of is that Woodstock, like any icon, should have never been duplicated. They attempted this in 1994 and again in 1999. Sequels never measure up to the original. People even try to imitate icons with no success. Madonna and Anna Nicole Smith both tried to be Marilyn Monroe, but there is only one Marilyn. To be able to recreate Woodstock, you would also have to be able to recreate Vietnam, The Civil Rights Movement, and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. The fact that Woodstock can’t be copied is what makes it an Icon. I only wish that I could have been there.
This along with many other things had opened up the youths’ eyes about a near perfect generation and about love. Each generation after the 1960’s has been compared to that generation. Most generations are trying to rekindle those feelings brought around by the 1960’s. Unluckily it has brought around a resurgence of those hard drugs that remain prevalent in the 21st century now. The music has also had a resurgence that has brought around the Grateful Dead and bands influenced by them like Phish, Moe, and Acoustic Hooka. All generations wish to strive to be more like that age when things seemed golden or was it a flashback?
In the summer of 1969, a music festival called, “Woodstock”, took place for three straight days in Upstate, New York, with thirty-two musical acts playing, and 500,000 people from around the world coming to join this musical, peaceful movement. Woodstock started out being a small concert, created to locally promote peace in the world, by the power of music and its lyrics. Now, Woodstock is still being celebrated over 40 years later. The chaotic political climate that the ‘baby boomers’ were growing up in is most likely the reason for this event becoming of such an importance to the world. The violence of the Vietnam War, protests at Kent State and the Democratic Convention, and the assassinations contributed to an ‘out of control’ world. The fact that so many people came to Woodstock and were able to latch onto the ideals of peace, love, and community became a wonderful, joyous symbol to this generation. This three day music festival represented the ideal for baby boomers during a chaotic political time.
The late sixties was a time of turmoil in the United States. It was a transition period between the psychedelic sixties and the revolutionary seventies. The youth of the United States was becoming increasingly aware of the politics of war, the draft and other general misuses of governmental power. With the Democratic National Convention being held in Chicago during 1968, political tensions were running high throughout the city. Numerous protests were held during the time surrounding the convention in protest of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s policies on the Vietnam War. Most notably, the group of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, David Dillinger, John Froines, Lee Weiner and Bobby Seale...
Still, few musicians have lived more thoroughly the life of their times. Unlike the tie-dyed, good time trip of Jerry Garcia's Grateful Dead, Hendrix felt both the raw, unleashed energy of the sixties, and also the decades terror and confusion. Listening to his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, or the equally powerful Machine Gun one can't help but wonder if this wasn't the most empathic musician to ever pick up a guitar. In those works Hendrix seemed to feel everything for everyone -- black, white, GI, protester, hippie, straight -- he found a place for all of us. American music would never be the same.
They set themselves out as a group and were going to stand up for their rights as well as the rights of mankind. Songs of peace and harmony were chanted throughout protests and anti-war demonstrations, and America’s youth was changing rapidly. Never before had the younger generation been so outspoken. Fifty thousand flower children and hippies traveled to San Francisco for the "Summer of Love," with the Beatles’ hit song, "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band listen as they light up in the dark.
The muddiest four days in history were celebrated in a drug-induced haze in Sullivan County, New York (Tiber 1). Music soared through the air and into the ears of the more than 450,000 hippies that were crowded into Max Yasgur's pasture. "What we had here was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence," said Bethel town historian Bert Feldmen. "Dickens said it first: 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. It's an amalgam that will never be reproduced again" (Tiber 1). It also closed the New York State Thruway and created one of the nation's worst traffic jams (Tiber 1). Woodstock, with its rocky beginnings, epitomized the culture of that era through music, drug use, and the thousands of hippies who attended, leaving behind a legacy for future generations.
When the word "Woodstock" is mentioned, what do you think of? Perhaps you think of the little yellow bird from the Peanuts cartoons, or maybe you think of a small town in New York. However, you also might know that Woodstock was the largest and most famous of all rock festivals.
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
Rock and Roll is commonly known as the greatest music ever created. Most people do not know that Rock and Roll emerged out of the United States in the 1950s. Artists during this time like Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Bob Dylan were the first major stars among the birth of Rock and Roll in America. Since the 1950s, we have seen a rise in Rock and Roll culture. A peak in the 1960s-1970s was when the world began a musical, political, and social revolution. The revolution takes place during some tense times in the world- The Vietnam War, Political Issues with Cuba, JFK Presidency/Assassination, Malcolm X’s Assassination, Martin Luther King’s Assassination — you name it. The world was in a turmoiled state of mind, but what
...ted that the world did have the potential for different cultures to come together peacefully and celebrate diversity. Woodstock turned into an overpowering symbol displaying the capability for individuals to overthrow the world’s tragedies to live with peace, tranquility, and differences enforced by American youth.
Schowalter, D. 2000, “Remembering the Dangers of Rock and Roll: Towards a Historical Narrative of the Rock Festival,” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 86-101
Along with the peak of several movements music began to reach a point of climax. Rock specifically began to flourish in the 1960’s, while expressing the voice of the liberated generation. It is the power of such trends that overall lead to what is known as the greatest music festival of all time: Woodstock Music and Art Fair. The festival started on August 15, 1969 on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. Appealing to the time period, Woodstock was designed to be Three Days of Peace and Music. However, many argue that it was more than just a musical art fair of peace, but a historically significant event that shifted American culture. While some regard Woodstock as the beginning of a cultural advancement and the end of a naïve era, others view it as ridiculous hippy festival infested with illegal drug usage. Woodstock cost over $2.4 million and attracted over 450,000 people (Tiber, 1). Despite the debate of whether Woodstock produced a positive or negative effect, it is clear that a note worthy impact was made. When discussing the overall impact of Woodstock it is important to look at the influences and creative plan and the positive and negative effects produced from the festival.
Lee, Chris. "The Magic Of Coachella." Newsweek 159.16 (2012): 51. MAS Ultra - School Edition.