Woodstock 1969
In 1969 at Bethel, New York, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was three day festival that was all about peace, love, understanding, music, and serious partying. It was a historic event that changed many peoples outlook on life and was a big part of what is known as the hippie movement. At the Woodstock festival there were many influential musicians who performed at this festival and some musicians who rejected to show up but later regretted it because of how huge this event became. This was a big popular festival, which later led the later generation to want to recreate the same festival in the 1990s because of how historic it was. Woodstock was actually supposed to be a simple small festival that would have around a only expected to have a few thousand people to attend, but with approximately half a million participants, it actually become a popular festival part of American pop culture and influenced some of modern culture and changed the lives of the younger generation. At the end of the festival, many people left with a completely different view on life and had a new philosophy of peace, love, and understanding put into action.
The idea of Woodstock was originally supposed to be a recording studio to be built in Woodstock, New York. It was a small city that many musicians moved to by the late 1960s and so they wanted to build a recording studio there. To promote the building of the recording studio, a festival was suggested so the planning of the rock music festival started and the ticket sales for the festival was supposed to fund the recording studio (Perone, 23). It originally was supposed to be staged at the city of Woodstock but they denied permission. So the site of the festival was held at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York on August 15-17, 1969 and kept the name “Woodstock” because they still wanted to build the recording studio in the city of Woodstock. Since only a few thousand were supposed to attend and only a sum of number of tickets were sold, the festival became free because of how many people who showed up to the festival (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Wavy Gravy, who was in charge of security at Woodstock, was quoted saying “Let’s face it: Woodstock was created for wallets. It was deigned to make big bucks. And then the universe took over and did a little dance.” Ultimately, he was right because the whole purpose of the event was for the recording studio. When all the people showed up for the festival, ticket booths were not able to set up quickly enough to charge people. The participants demanded it to be free and they got it since security barely even existed, the whole festival itself ended up losing more than $1 million (Perone, 61).
The people who set up the festival were four organizers, known as the Woodstock Ventures who had little experience, were able to get some of the biggest rock musicians at the time, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and more. Michael Lang, Artie Kornfield, John Roberts, and Joel Rosenman were the four major people who planned and executed the Woodstock festival (Spitz, 25). Between these four people, they had many important contacts in the music industry, knowledge of the youth and counterculture market, and financial means to get this festival started. With their contacts they were able to get thirty-two performers to show up and some of them were very well known during that year. Artie Kornfield was the one who had the most experience out of all four of them. The rest of them had little experience to get things established for the festival so it became kind of a “let’s put on a rock festival, we’ll call all our friends” situation (Perone, 27). Arnold Skolnick, who designed the poster of a guitar and dove, described this festival as "Something was tapped, a nerve, in this country. And everybody just came." (Woodstock69.com). The whole festival itself had cost about $2.5 million just to fund. The oldest of the four, John Roberts, who was 24 at the time, supplied most of the money from a multi-millionaire trust fund he had. The famous poster of Woodstock was created by Arnold Skolnick, and consisted the famous dove and guitar logo. The slogan was “Three days of Peace and Music…An Aquarian Exposition”. The posters for the festival were not like the ones for other festivals. Their advertising did not focus on the names of the performers who would make an appearance, which was probably the advertising tactic that drew in many people to the festival that arrived early and camped outside to stay for all three days (Perone, 29). The entire advertisement strategy of the festival was focused to draw in the youth and was aimed to the counterculture.
On the day of the festival, many people who came to the festival were from mainly New York City and other cities. As people got closer and closer to the festival site, there were more and more hitchers who were heading to the place so it was as if they knew something major was going to be happening as they got there. Many hitchhikers had even come from different states because they heard about the news of Woodstock months earlier (Perone, 36). Since there were so many people who showed up, transportation was an issue. Originally, people were traveling in busses and cars, but as transportation started getting congested with bumper-to-bumper traffic, many people who had driven, left their cars and walked to the site. According to police reports, many left their cars on the roads or on the shoulders of highways, which made the traffic even worse (Collier). Many roads were blocked off because of the cars that people abandoned. The major thoroughfares like New York 17 and New York State Thruway had to be closed off as well as many small access roads because of the number of cars that packed the roads (Woodstock.com). Sullivan County became “a great big parking lot” for all the concertgoers (Collier). This became the biggest traffic jam that the nation had ever seen before. Other things such as the construction of the area was poorly built because they were behind but when the festival started, many of the things put up such has fencing and ticket gates were diminished, mostly from the number of people who started pitching tents outside. The transportation and roadblocks were not the only problems at Woodstock. The Woodstock Ventures had only estimated that about 150,000 would show up for all three days of the festival. So when there were about half a million people who came, new problems arose such as lack of food, water supply, sanitation, and medical care. Food for Love, Inc., was a big food supplier at the festival and eventually ran out of food, which caused problems. Close by churches and community centers helped with the food shortage (Perone, 38). Another thing that the organizers were not prepared for was the rain on the day the festival started. All three days the conditions were “mud, no sleep, rain, drugs, more mud, and even more smiles” (Lydon). Rain or shine, all the concertgoers stayed even if the conditions were bad.
At the festival, it is suggested that there were many people who had possession of drugs and alcohol. But it is hard to tell how many people actually possessed it since drugs became virtually legal on that festival site because attendees reported the cops ignored the people who were in possession of drugs and focused on helping to maintain the peace at the event (Perone, 59). The most common drug at Woodstock was marijuana, which about 90 percent of the concertgoers were smoking (Woodstock.com). Some other people had used psychedelic drugs such as LSD and were used very commonly at Woodstock. Glenn Weiser, who attended the festival, even admits to have taken drugs there. He states “Thousands of people, including me, took psychedelic drugs at Woodstock, and, truth to tell, had good ‘trips’ ” (Weiser). Since so many people were using drugs at the festival approximately 400 people went on bad drug trips. The Woodstock Ventures had taken in these precautions that people would need medical care in cases such as these. The small medical staff that was provided to treat the concertgoers was not inadequate, but they still treated the ones who needed medical help. The Hog Farm commune, who was present at Woodstock, was a group of “hippies” who would help many of these people who went on bad drug trips. Not only did they help with bad drug trips, but also they helped people live outdoors, had morning yoga, assisted security, and cooked macrobiotic food for people (Perone, 38).
Although there were people like the Hog Farm commune who showed others the model hippie lifestyle, the media did not pay to that as much. There were many drug busts that occurred at Woodstock, but there were no violent crimes or burglary present. However, during those three days three deaths did occur: one from a heroin overdose, a ruptured appendix, and one being run over by a tractor. On a more positive note, two births occurred during Woodstock as well (Woodstock.com). Even though the negative side of Woodstock was featured on the media’s headlines, every Woodstock performer or attendee saw Woodstock as one of the most important or the important moment in their life (Perone, 39).
The event of Woodstock seemed to draw the whole nation into this one in particular, which made it different from all the other music festivals of 1969. Not only did it draw in the nation during that decade, but also many people today still hear about Woodstock of 1969 because of the many great famous performers who appeared at Woodstock. Woodstock of 1969 was such a big event that started off in the counterculture underground, which had many people just spontaneously show up who felt that they needed to show up to this rock festival. Some like New York Times writer, Patrick Lydon suggested they only came for the highs like in his article, “Too many people came to the Woodstock festival but they came high and they only got higher” (Lydon). Many attempts were made to survey the people had come to the event. Though numbers are not exact, the surveys showed that it was predominantly male, mostly white, and the ages were about seventeen to twenty three years old. Even though many of them were between those ages, there were young children present at the festival as well. The statistics showed who showed up but they did not show why these people decided to come to this particular concert. According to writer, Joseph Sobran who interviewed many attendees, the festival had attracted many people who were loners and social misfits. Even Janis Joplin made a stage announcement “We used to think of ourselves as little clumps of weirdos. But now we’re a whole new minority group” that made it seem that it had drawn many people who thought themselves as loners. From the interviews, Sobran concluded, “the hippies weren’t rebels. They were positively hungry for authority. They settled for the only form they could get, which was peer pressure” (Sobran, 28-29).
In Lawrence J. Dessner’s essay “ ’Woodstock,’ A Nation at War” he answers what had brought everyone at Woodstock together. He suggests that people were either consciously or subconsciously all tied together in the movement of antiwar for those three days they were all together. Many of the younger generation were so committed to the antiwar movement and tying it to politics because of the violence that had broke out in 1968 at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (Dessner). Activists believe that the violence at the convention was the turning point for the younger generation in the 1960s to 1970s counterculture. For some, they believed that the event of Woodstock happened at the right place because of its nature setting and at the right time because of all the protests and violence going on. The new generation who was at Woodstock was not there for protests. Instead they lived together on that dairy farm for three days with people who were committed to the same causes all gathered in one place. Glenn Weiser wrote, “Every town had it's hippies, but now enormous numbers of us had massed in one area. Friday afternoon brought home to everyone there how broad-based the movement really had become.” (Weiser).
The legacy of Woodstock lives on in many people’s lives. Adults who were not there at the festival could see Woodstock as a disaster with all the traffic jams, food shortage, and they ways people were living. Some could even see Woodstock as “an inevitable consequence of the mindlessness and rootlessness of today’s youth.” (Woodstock: Like it was). After finally seeing the other side of the festival, many were amazed about how so many people had come together and were able to live in such peace with each other during those three days. Michael Lang, who was one of the organizers of Woodstock, was quoted saying, “Today is a time to think about what happened here – the youth culture came out of the alleys and the streets. This generation was brought together and showed it was beautiful” (New York Times). Even Max Yasgur was impressed when he made an announcement on the last day of the festival, "You have proven something to the world ... that half a million kids can get together for fun and music and have nothing but fun and music. "The original Woodstock gave a lasting memory to those who attended. Those who were not able to come were able to watch the documentary film called Woodstock – 3 days of Peace and Music produced by Bob Maurice and directed by Michael Wadleigh. The Woodstock Ventures had made a deal for a crew of 100 to come shoot a documentary of the festival to help promote their recording studio. The deal was made before anyone had even known what Woodstock would become. The documentary was later released in 1970 to show what had happened at Woodstock and many people got a chance to see what it was like and what had happened to all the concertgoers (Perone, 160).
Twenty-five years later three attempts were made to recreate Woodstock. However the venue had changed since Max Yasgur no longer owned the dairy farm and new owners would not a low people to set up the concert again. The newer generations of Woodstock to celebrate the anniversaries of Woodstock however were not successful as the original. Woodstock ’94 (twenty fifth anniversary) was described about just the music of the 1990s generation; Woodstock ’99 (thirtieth anniversary) however was nowhere near like the previous two. Woodstock ’99 could probably be the opposite of Woodstock ’69. The fires and rapes that took place at the ’99 festival caused this festival as “dangerous to be around…there were just waves of hatred bouncing around the place…” as reported by Kurt Loder on-air for MTV (Perone, 92). Although the recreations to celebrate the anniversaries of Woodstock ’69 did not have the same effect, it did lead the younger generations into a new decade for the 1970s. It was a big turn around and probably one of the biggest hippie movements to show that the younger generation could all have peace like how the rest of America should be during the time of anti-war protests.
Through all the rain, uncomfortable living settings, deaths, drug trips, and more negative affects featured on newspaper headlines, Woodstock was still a great festival to the people attended. There were many things that went wrong with the festival but there were many things that went right. Though many see Woodstock as a way for the younger generation to rebel, the concertgoers and performers see their days at Woodstock as a very important even in their lives. Some see it as such a significant even in their life and in interviews admit it was one of their best ideas to go attend Woodstock. It was an event of counterculture that brought many people who believed in the same cause of anti-war. Even with all the chaos caused by traffic, everyone seemed to be able to maintain the peace at Woodstock. The event of Woodstock left a lasting impression to many even to those who did not attend but were able to achieve the knowledge of what had happened at Woodstock. To many, Woodstock was a typical example of counterculture and was able to express the hippie era.
Annotated Bibliography
“1969: Woodstock Music Festival Ends” BBC News. August 18, 1969.
This article had some basic details of the festival.
Collier, Barnard L., “200,000 Thronging To Rock Festival Jam Roads Upstate”, August 16, 1969, New York Times (1857 – Currentfile); ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 – 2003), accessed July 8, 2007.
This article published in the New York Times described the traffic jams in upstate New York.
Dessner, Lawrence J. “ ‘Woodstock,’ A Nation at War”.Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 4, Number 3, Blackwell Publishing,Winter 1971 , pp. 769-776.
This essay by Dessner addressed some thoughts on what type of people went to Woodstock.
Lydon, Patrick. “A Joyful Confirmation That Good Things Can Happen Here”, New York Times (1857-Currentfile); ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 – 2003), page D16, accessed July 8, 2007.
This article was published in the New York Times and it described how it was a peaceful event even though there were many people there.
Perone, James E. Woodstock An Encyclopedia of the Music and Art Fair. Westport, Connecticut,: Greenwood Press, 2005.
I used this book a lot in my paper because it gave more details about certain aspects that I wrote about in my paper.
“Quotation of the Day” August 18, 1969. New York Times, ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2003), accessed July 8,2007.
This was a quote that I used in my paper that described how Woodstock brought everyone together.
Sobran, Joseph, “A Nation of Loners,” National Review, (September 1, 1989) page 28-29.
This gave some insight of why some people went to Woodstock.
Spitz, Robert Stephen. Barefoot In Babylon : the creation of the Woodstock Music Festival, 1969. New York: Viking Press, 1979.
This book had some memories of being at Woodstock and what the author remembered and some things that people didn't see or hear about at Woodstock.
“The Woodstock Music and Art Fair." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 13 July 2007
This gave some basic information of the fair and some facts of it.
Weisner, Glenn, “Woodstock: ’69 Remembered,” accessed July 10,2007.
Glenn Weisner was a participant of Woodstock and he published his experience online.
Woodstock, How it Happened, accessed July 9, 2007.
This website gave the story of how it started and why they had Woodstock.
“Woodstock: Like It Was; Woodstock: Like It Was in Words Of Participants at Musical Fair” August 25, 1969.New York Times; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2003), accessed July 8,2007.
This is a newspaper article that was released right after the festival ended that had interviews with people who attended Woodstock. It gave some information of their experience and how it changed them.
