Woodstock, A Youth Revolution

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



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



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



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

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Woodstock, A Youth Revolution