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8/6/2019 Woodstock, A Youth Revolution
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WOODSTOCK
A YOUTH REVOLUTION
The baing hisory o mankind is ull o obvious
urning poins and signican evens: batles won,
reaies signed, rulers eleced or deposed, and now,
seemingly, planes conquered. Equally imporan
is he grea groundswell o popular movemens ha aec
he minds and values o a generaion or more, no all o
which can be nealy ied o a ime and place. Looking back
upon he America o he ‘60s, uure hisorians may well
search or he meaning o one such movemen. I drew he
public’s noice on he days and nighs o Aug. 15 hrough
17, 1969, on he 600-acre arm o Max Yasgur in Behel,
N.Y. W ha ook place a Behel, osensibly, was he Wood-
sock Music and Ar Fair, which was billed by is youhul
Manhatan promoers as “An Aquarian Exposiion” o music and peace. I was ha and more—much more.
Te esival urned ou o be hisory’s larges happening.
As he momen when he special culure o U.S. youh o
he ‘60s openly displayed is srengh, appeal and power, i
may well rank as one o he signican poliical and socio-
logical evens o he age. By a conservaive esimae, more
han 400,000 people -he vas majoriy o hem be ween
he ages o 16 and 30 showed up or he Wood-sock esi-
val. Tousands more would have come i police had no
blocked o access roads, which had become ribbon
like parking los choked wih salled cars. Had he esival
lased much longer, as many as one million youhs migh
have made he pilgrimage o Behel. Te lure o he es-
ival was an all-sar cas o op rock ariss, including
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and he Jeerson Airplane.
Bu he good vibraions o good groups urned ou o
be he leas o i. Wha he youh o America—and heir
observing elders—saw a Behel was he poenial power
o a generaion ha in counless disurbi ng ways
has rejeced he radiional values and goals o he U.S.
Tousands o young people, who had previously hougho hemselves as par o an isolaed minoriy, experienced
he euphoric sense o dicovering ha hey are, as he
saying goes, wha’s happeing. Aduls were made more
aware han ever beore ha he children o he welare
sae and he aom bomb do indeed march o he bea
o a dieren drummer, as well as o he une o an
elecric guiaris. Te spoaneous communiy o youh
“WE DON’T NEED
A LEADER, WE
HAVE EACH OTHER.”JANIS JOPLIN
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ha was creaed a Behel was he su o which legends
are made; he subsance o he even conains boh a
revelaion and a sobering lesson. From a sricly raional
viewpoin, which may be a dangerous and mislead-
ing way o looking a i, Behel was a nealy symbolic
choice or he esival he Biblical own o ha name was
a cener o idolary denounced b y he prophes Amos and
Hosea. o many aduls, he esival was a squalid reak
ou, a monsrous Dionysian revel, where a mob o crazies
gahered o drop acid and groove o hours o amplied
cacophony. In a classic ex ample o is good gray man-
nerisms, he New York imes in an ediorial compared
he Behel pilgrimage o a march o lemmings ow ard
he sea and rheorically asked:“Wha kind o c ulure isi ha can produce such a mess?” Bu even he imes
can change is une. Nex day, i ran a more sympaheic
ediorial ha spoke kindly o he esival as “essenially a
phenomenon o innocence.” Tere were, o course, cer-
ain hings o deplore o Behel. Tree people died—one
rom an overdose o drugs, and hundreds o youhs were
reaked ou on bad rips caused by low-grade LSD, which
was being openly peddled a $6 per capsule. On he oher
hand, here were no rapes, no assauls, no robberies and,
as ar as anyone can recall, no one single gh, which is
more han can be said or mos sporing evens held in
New York Ciy. Te real signicance o Woodsock can
hardly be overesimaed. Despie he piles o liter and
garbage, he hopelessly people ound i all “beauiul.”
One long-haired eenager summed up he signicance
o Woodsock quie simply: “People,” he said, “are nally
geting ogeher.” Te undeniable ac ha “people”—
meaning in his case he youh o America—go
ogeher has consequences ha go well beyond he
esival isel. For one hing, he Be hel scenew demon-
sraed more clearly han ever beore hepervasiveness o a naional subculure o drugs. A leas 90% o hose
presen a he esival were smokin mariju ana.In addiion,
narcoics o any and all descripion, rom hash o acid
o speed o horse, were reely available. Perhaps ou o
ear o rousing he crowd o hosiliy, police made ewer
han 100 arress on narcoics charges. By and large, he
U.S. has acceped he oversimplicaion ha all narco-
ics are dangerous and hus should be oulawed. Te all
bu universal accepance o marijuana, a leas among
he young, raises he quesion o how long he naion’s
presen laws agains is use can remain in orce wihou
seeming as absurd and hypocriical as P rohibiion.
Moreimporan, Behel demonsraed he unique sense
o communiy ha seems o exis among he young, heir
mysical eeling or hemselves as a special group, an “us”
in conras o a “hem.” Te esival was widely adverised,
bu he unexpecedly large crowd i atraced suggess
ha he poenial signicance o he even was spread by
a kind o underground nework. “I you were par o
his culu re,” said one pilgr im back rom Behel, “you
had o be here.” In spie o he grown up suspicionsand ear abou he even. Behel produced a eeling o
riendship, camarderie and, an overusedphrase a sense
o love among hose presen. Tis yearning or ogeher-
ness was demonsraed in counless major and m inor
ways: he agape-like sharing o ood and sheler by oal
srangers: he lack o over hosiliy despie condi- ions
ha were ripe or panic and chaos; he alruisic minisra-
Hippiedom Lives
ions o he Hog Farm, a New Mexico hippie commune
who ook care o kids on bad rips. I Behel was youh on
a holiday, i was also a demonsraion o he adul world
ha young people could creae a kind o peace in
a siuaion where none should have exised, and ha
hey ollowed a myseri-ous i nner code o law and order
inniely dieren rom he kind envisioned by Chicago’s
Mayor Daley. In he end, even he police were impressed.
Said Sullivan Couny Sheri Louis Raner: “Tis was he
nices bunch o kids I’ve ever deal wih.”
Youh’s sense o communiy is an ad hoc hing:
i is suspicious o insiuions and wary o organi-zaion, prizing reedom above sysem. In his,
as in many oher ways, he youh o Behel
displayed adherence o he prevailing spiri o he hippie
movemen. I is rue ha mos o hose a Behel were
no hippie s i n he commonly acceped sense: a good
hal o hem, a leas, were high school or college suden
rom middle class homes. Bu a Behel hen exhibied
2
4
3
1968
1969
1969
1967
Abbey Road, The Beatles
Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin
White Album, The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
Club Band, The Beatles
24
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o he world many o he hippie values and lie syles,
rom psychedelic clohing o sponaneous, unashamed
nudiy o open and casual sex. Youhul imaginaions
were capured, mos obviously, by he hippie sound: he
driving, deaening hard bea o rock, music ha is no
jus a paricular orm o pop bu he anhem o revoluion.
Te Jeerson Airplane, one o he rs and bes o he
San Francisco groups, sang ou he message a Behel in
words o sarling expliciness:
In is energy, is lyrics, is advocacy o rusraed joysrock is one long symphony o proes. Alhough many
aduls generally nd i hard o believe, he revoluion i
preaches, implicily or explicily, is basically moral; i
is he proclamaion o a new se o values as much as i
is he rejecion o an old sysem. Te values, moreover,
are no merely conned o he pleasures o umescence.
Te same kind o people who basked in he spiri o
Behel also sormed he deans’ oces a Har vard and
Columbia and shed ears or blood a Chicago las summer
all in he name o a new moraliy. o Hisorian Teodore
Roszak, he miliancy o he suden New Le and he
dropped ou pacism o he urned-on ypes are wo
sides o wha he calls a “counerculure” by which almos
everyone under 30 has been aeced. Like he poor urban
black, his couner-culure is an alienaed minoriy wih-in
he Auen Sociey, evenhough i is made up primaily
o he sons and daughers o he middle class. Tey have
seen suburbia, ound i waning, and have utered “he
absolue reusal,” as New Le Guru Herber Macuse call s
i, o modern urban echnology and he civilizaion i has
produced. Wih surpa ssing ease and a cool sense o auhor-
iy, he children o pleny have voice an an inenion o live
by a dieren ehical sadard han heir parens acceped.
Te pleasure priciple has been elevaed over he Purianehic o work. o do one’s own hing is a g reaer duy han
o be a useul ciizen. Personal reedom in he mids o
squalor is more liberaing han social conormiy wih
he rappings o wealh. Now ha youh akes abundance
or graned,i can aord o rejec maerialism. I is easy
enough or aduls o rejec he irraionaliy and hedonism
o his ehic. Bu he young are quick o poin ou ha
he mos raional and echnically accomplished sociey
known o man has led only o racism, repression and a
meaningless war in he jungles o Souheas Asia . I ha
is oversimplicaion, i is he kind around which ringing
slogans are made. Youh has always been rebellious.
Wha makes he generaion o he ‘60s dieren, is ha
i is largely inner-direced and unconrolled by adul
doyens. Te rock esival, an ar orm and social sruc-
ure unique o he ime, is a good example. “Tey are no
mimicking somehing done in is pures orm by aduls,”
says one prominen U.S. sociologis. “Tey are doing
heir own hing. All his shows ha here is a breakdown
in he capaciy o adul leaders o capure he young.”
Some oher observers agree ha he youh movemen is a
poliics wihou a saesman, a religion wihou a messiah.
“We don’ need a leader,” insiss Janis Joplin. “We have
each oher. All we need is o keep o heads sraigh and inen years his counry may be a decen place o live in.”
A leas wo naional gures have been able briefy
o capialize poliically on he idealism o he young.
Te knigh-erran campaign o Eugene McCar hy was,
his enemies said, somehing o a Children’s Crusade.
Bobby Kennedy, like his broher Jack, was also able o
speak o he Now Generaion in language ha i heard
The Moratorium to End the War in
Vietnam demonstrations took place on
October 15th. Millions of Americans
to participate in local demonstrations
against the war.
During Democratic National
Convention in Chicago, anti-warprotestors marched through the
city resulting in a “police riot.”
Mayor Daley brought 23,000
police and National Guardsmanupon 10,000 protestors.
In January 20,000-30,000 people
staged a “Human Be-In” anti-war
event in the Golden Gate Park in San
Francisco, near the Halght Ashbury
neighborhood that had become thecenter of hippie activity.
Anti-war demonstrations were again
held around the country and the world
March 26 with 20,000 taking part inNew York City.
The anti-war movement had
expanded to become a national
and global phenomenon. Anti-warprotests drawing 100,000 were
held simultaneously in as many as
80 major cities around the
US, London, Paris and Rome.
63%63%
52%52%
48%48%
48%48%
62%62%
Protests from 1965-1969
= 10% of Americans anti-war, wanting peace.
*According to the Gallup Report
Look what’s happening in the streets. Got a
revolution, got to revolution. Hey, I’m danc-
ing down the streets. Got a revolution, got
to revolution...
and headed. Clearly, he passions o he Be hel people
are here o be exploied, or good or ill. I is an open
quesion wheher some as ye unknown poliician could
exploi he deep emoions o oday’s youh o come,
build a poliics o ecsasy. Te rock esival as been in a
way, he equivalen o a poliical orum or he young.
Te poliics involved is no he expression o opinion
or ideas bu he spiri o communiy creaed, he good
vibraions or he bad ones, he young in ouch wih
hemselves and aware. I Behel is any proo, his kind o
expressive happening will become e ven more imporan.
v warns Jimi Hendrix. “ Te only way or kids o make
he older generaion undersand is hrough mass gah-
erings like Behel. And he kids are no going o be in
he mud all he ime. From here hey will sar o build
and change hings. Te w hole world needs a big wash,
a big scrub-down.”
26
1965–1969
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arrestswere made ondrug charges,none for smokin’a doobie.
hours of mud making
5
4
3
2
1
Rainfall the First Day
FESTIVALDAYS
CLEAN UPDAYS
stayed to watch
Jimi Hendrixon Monday morning.
The rest left
Sunday night.
clothing optional
9 10FLOWER
CHILDREN
smokedmarijuanaon site.
millionof debt afterfestival. Moneywas gained backfrom audio andvideo sales.
500,000 hippies
1 2 3
Friday,August 15
Sunday,August 17
Saturday,August 16
“This was only the beginning,” -Jimi Hendrix