Comments

40 years ago, I was reporting on Woodstock on the radio from 75 miles up the road in Troy, NY. I had been to the Atlantic City Pop Festival a few weeks earlier and couldn't afford to attend a second such event. Given the contemporaneous accounts of friends who attended -- or tried to attend but were stuck in the mud -- I am actually glad to have been both part of the Woodstock generation and not at Woodstock itself.

Posted by Steven Levy at August 15, 2009 3:59 PM

Waiting to hear whether I'd got into art college, taking photographs, growing my hair, falling in love.

Posted by RobCH at August 16, 2009 3:53 AM

Steven, I'm jealous. I thought Atlantic City's lineup was far superior - Booker T, Butterfield, Byrds, Zappa, Buckley, etc. What were your recollections of THAT one? I heard Joni Mitchell quit her set cuz folks weren't listening.

Rob, I was just reminded that Woodstock is as far removed from present time as the Crash of '29 was from Woodstock. I think it's time for my nap.

Posted by John O'Leary at August 16, 2009 9:05 AM

Keeep on Truckin' John.

Odd thing is that the real influence of Woodstock was arguably through the later film rather than the event itself. Around the time of the festival the "end of innocence" moments from my distant UK perspective were the Manson murders, and later (more than Altamont) the Kent State shootings.

But the spirit still lives...

Posted by RobCH at August 16, 2009 10:45 AM

Geez, I almost forgot about that. I was playing in Hollywood at the time of the Manson murders (which affected the music community deeply given the players involved, including Manson himself who hung with the Beach Boys briefly). Sheer terror all summer in the Hollywood neighborhoods. Thanks for the memory. :-) Maybe I won't take that nap after all.

Posted by John O'Leary at August 16, 2009 11:07 AM

I'm afraid to report that I was having an 11 year old's strop. Neil Armstrong had recently beaten me to the moon and, as excited as I was to watch it, I was incredibly upset that it wasn't me. I am, just about, now over it though.

Posted by Mark JF at August 16, 2009 2:33 PM

John - Mid August 1969 I was just past 17.

I'm pretty sure I was propping up some bar in England learning the art of real ale drinking.

I'd been working for 8 months in my local hospital thinking this will be an OK job for a few months till I find something I really want to do ... I stayed in healthcare for 35 years ...

I was definitely arguing with my mates that The Kinks were better than The Beatles and worshipping George Best and Manchester United.

I was naive and pretty argumentative .... In fact come to think of it I've hardly changed at all :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 16, 2009 2:57 PM

Peace and Love, peace and love,

The flower power continued on and still has a presence today. The Grateful Dead continued on with the hippie movement, and in some respects, peace and Truelove continue today; even on the TP blog.

I've been watching footage of Woodstock all week and I truly enjoy the period of rock, rebellion, and acid. I love the announcements warning participants that the brown acid is "bad" and not to take it or only take a 1/2 tab. The weather, the people, the experience had to be outstanding.

I remember attending the Texas Jam in 1987 (I believe) and watching Van Halen, Dio, Loverboy, BTO, Krokus, and other artists perform in July with 120 degree heat on the field of the Cotton Bowl. I believe the temp was hovering in the low 100's outside the Bowl. There were stabbings, shoe fights, fist fights, and chi-chi contests galore for the event.

The event was no Woodstock, but was fantastic. The guitarist for Dio (Vivian Campbell?) had to change guitars after every tune because of the heat. By the end of Rainbow in the Dark, he was probably a good 1/2 to full step out of tune. Van Halen opened up with Summer Nights and I enjoyed the aroma of weed from our neighbors.

Good post...

Posted by Scott Peters at August 16, 2009 5:12 PM

Mark, it's never too late. Well, maybe for the moon but not for Mars.
Trevor, we could all argue about the best rock band of all time and come up with 5 or 6 candidates, but they'd all be Brits anyway.
Scott, I was so proud I made it through the post without using the words "hippies." But despite my cynicism about the flower-child thing, the "peace-and-love-through-music" did hold sway for a moment in time.

Posted by John O'Leary at August 16, 2009 8:15 PM

You bet John!!!!

Hard to believe that the nation is bleeding jobs at the number of one Woodstock per month.

Brits have turned out some wonderful bands...but we have the Jonas Brothers and Ms. Cyrus, need I say more?

As Rock-N-Roll goes, so does the nation. We're in desperate need of a comeback. Les Paul's passing was huge to the RNR community. What a great figure. I believe that he was bigger than Woodstock to the RNR community. Let us not forget him too...

Posted by Scott Peters at August 16, 2009 10:43 PM

even my parents were too young to remember.

Posted by henry at August 17, 2009 8:15 AM

Woodstock is such an excellent example of how the events of today, while talked about at length (sometimes ad nauseum) in the media and around water coolers, can stir discussion, exploration, and inquiry many, many years later. Events such as Woodstock, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Vietnam war... so, so many things we look back on and discuss in differing contexts today -- contexts that we didn't even imagine then.

Such are the ripples we create today. Hopefully, we're doing more to stir positive discussions about then negative for the generations that will follow us.

Posted by Dan Gunter at August 17, 2009 8:28 AM

I'm still 'chilling' 40 years on John :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 17, 2009 10:10 AM

Woodstock was the high water mark of the peace and love movement. It was actually pretty amazing that it turned out to be as large a watershed moment as it did. Most folks were pretty cynical about it all by then. We have to remember this was one year after Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated, one year after the Chicago Democratic Convention, and eight months after the Tet Offensive. Despite all of that, the "young generation" put on a fantastic event that said to everyone--"yes, we can" (earlier and better than that polished pol did last year). Of course, afterwards everything went right to hell...

Posted by Mike at August 17, 2009 5:10 PM

Only the self-important baby-boomers could rebrand a 3 day supersized frat all-white party into an event as meaninful and important as D-Day.

Posted by zorro at August 17, 2009 6:17 PM

'fraid I am the wrong generation for this (born in 68) so I don't really "get" the whole woodstock thing - although I am a fan of some of the music of the era.

Scott - glad you mentioned Les Paul - a true great and pretty much indefatigable right to the end - 94 is a pretty good innings. A very interesting and unusual mix of technical inventor and performer.

Posted by PaulH at August 18, 2009 2:34 AM

That's interesting Paul - my 28 year old daughter loves 60's music - it seems to travel well through the decades. I'm not surprised.

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 18, 2009 3:25 AM

Trevor - I think there is a mix of things in terms of 60s music. I do think there is an element that time filters out the rubbish! (like old film classics). Aside from that I do like the raw energy of performers like Hendrix - I think there is also a lot of experimentation and variety. Part of it for me personally is I started listening to some of the older blues and R&B stuff (howlin wolf etc) and it's fascinating to see the morph into The Animals (very under rated band) Canned Heat, Savoy Brown (Kim Simmonds still plugging away!) etc

Posted by PaulH at August 18, 2009 4:18 AM

Why do we think of music as "60s music" or "modern" or whatever? It seems especially odd as music went through a profound change in the 60s so pop from the early 60s is very different to the late 60s, which is probably what we're talking about here. They're not labels that generally get stuck on literature or art or cinema etc. Sure, we pay some attention to when a film was made or a book was written but we don't generally classify them by release date.

For me, there's simply music. Some I like, some I don't and tomorrow my taste will be different to what is was yesterday. Labels like "60s music" are surely irrelevant.

Posted by Mark JF at August 18, 2009 8:26 AM

Mark, it's probably because so little time has passed since even the beginning of rock & roll that we make these distinctions as if these decades represent epochs. In time we'll likely be referring to all rock between the early/mid 50s (the beginning of it all) and 2000 as "20th century rock" and it will be as meaningful a term as "19th century novel." If media outlets brand themselves now by the specific decades they feature in their playlists, the outlets of the future may brand themselves by the specific centuries they feature. I wonder which artists & songs from the recent past will survive the cut in a more crowded field to get "play" hundreds of years from now. (I'm sure Trevor, still kicking in 2109, will be requesting Eagles & Kinks.)

Posted by John O'Leary at August 18, 2009 9:30 AM

The Age Revolution: How to live to be 150

"Experts believe that the first person to live half way through their second century has already been born. Jeremy Laurance, health editor, reports on the stunning breakthroughs that science promises, while Sarah Harris outlines 10 ways to extend your life"

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-age-revolution-how-to-live-to-be-150-431059.html

John - Thanks for your vote of confidence in my longevity. I now have this image of you and me discussing the 'old days' from our respective beds in the Nursing Home in 2109. I will still of course be arguing Henley is the best singer :-)

Mark - you have to forgive us oldies reminiscing about the 60's but when I looked recently at the charts in 1963 and saw 5 Beatles singles in the top 20 I have to think to myself there was something very special about that decade.

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 18, 2009 3:55 PM

I have a feeling your affinity for the music of the 60s is down to something else. There's a theory that the music we were teenagers / young adults with is the music we go back to and regard as "classic." It was (to you) fresh and contemporary. Others might feel it was borrowed or not as good as the music from their youth. I feel strongly about music from the 70s and I know younger people who think the 80s were the pinnacle. We all seem to love the music we grew up with...

Posted by Mark JF at August 18, 2009 4:08 PM

“We all seem to love the music we grew up with...”

I agree Mark. I remember my late beloved Dad telling me in the 60’s that The Beatles, The Kinks and The Stones were nothing more than talentless, long-haired yobbos who couldn’t sing and the music was not a patch on the days of Mario Lanza. I’m pretty sure in the last 20 years I’ve said similar things to my 3 children!

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 18, 2009 4:20 PM

But Trevor The Beatles, Kinks and Stones were a bunch of talentless, long haired yobbo.....

Good point Mark - only I grew up (in a music sense) in the 80s. The pinnacle for me should be the so called New wave of British Heavy metal - Saxon, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Motorhead (my first gig!) etc - This is most of the reason why I have explored other areas!

Posted by PaulH at August 19, 2009 4:22 AM

Love it Paul thanks - my Dad was very wise :-)

Hottest day of the year today here in wonderful Warwickshire!

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 19, 2009 5:33 AM

PS John, just re-reading the post, wasn't the first IoW festival in 1968, before Woodstock?

Posted by RobCH at August 19, 2009 7:46 AM

Good catch, Rob. Isle of Wight launched in 1968 but it was the 1970 IoW Festival - with a turnout of 600,000 - that put them on the map. Woodstock - or more precisely the "story" of Woodstock - captured the imagination of fans, artists, & concert promoters and changed the game thereafter. Once again, the power of narrative.

Posted by John O'Leary at August 19, 2009 9:44 AM

What about the Monterey Festival in 1967 - wasn't that really the first of the modern pop festivals? The organisers included The Mamas and Papas, Beatles and Beach Boys! And acts included The Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding. (Wow!)

Given that it was taken as the model for Woodstock, how ironic that it's Woodstock we remember while the real trail blazer is quietly forgotten.

Posted by Mark JF at August 19, 2009 10:25 AM

Pedants 'R Us. 1970 IoW drew so many people in 1970 that they passed a special law to stop too many people gathering on the island, so that was the last festival they held. Heady days.

Posted by RobCH at August 19, 2009 2:03 PM

Mark, as mentioned in the original post, Monterey should get its props for being the first. The artist line-up was just as good as in the bigger festivals that followed. All captured in DA Pennebaker's documentary "Monterey Pop."

Posted by John O'Leary at August 19, 2009 8:19 PM

"One minute you're at Woodstock standing in the
mud watching Joan Baez.
The next, you're in the back of the room at a town
meeting screaming 'the government! the government!"

- David Letterman

Posted by zorro at August 19, 2009 9:30 PM

I was just 11 at the time but an avid music fan with my collection of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Move, Rolling Stones, The Kinks and Donovan to name but a few.

I was just too young to see Jimi Hendrix at Chatham Central Hall - a very small venue indeed and had to wait a few years to watch a 'karaoke version' i.e. Robin Trower! :-)

It seemed like the world had a moment where people all thought we could make it a better place. Idealism and hippy values were clearly insufficient without the financial nouse to move the levers of power. It is back to Tom's point that Execution is more important than Strategy!

Peter

Posted by Peter Cook at September 24, 2009 4:09 AM

In summer of '69, I was in graduate school, working, and doing my best to be a Good Little Drudge. 40 years later, I think that was a serious mistake.

Posted by Paula at September 28, 2009 2:04 PM