“Three Days Of Peace And Music” That Changed Pop Culture Forever!
It is the world’s most iconic music festival of all time: Woodstock – the 1969 concert that changed pop culture – and music – forever…it just celebrated its 49th anniversary, with plans already underway for a huge 50th celebration next summer….why?
Well, not only was this one of the most amazing lineups of musical Artists ever to perform at one event, it changed American culture as well!
First, here is the trailer for the 4 hour film that was released after the event:
From the moment that hundreds of thousands of music fans clogged the roads leading to the site, a new era was born…young people creating their own festival, their own pop culture events…and my friend Michael Castner just pointed out that the couple from the iconic photo at the event are still together!
Bravo!
Yes, it was 3 days of peace and of course the music, which immortalized it forever – like Jimi Hendrix performing an electrified version of the “Star-Spangled Banner”…
And It Didn’t Take Place At Woodstock!
That’s right! Here’s a fascinating fact: The festival organizers wanted to hold the event in the village of Woodstock in upstate New York, but they couldn’t find a location! Luckily, after losing their permits a month before the show was to happen,dairy farmer Max Yasgur agreed to allow them to have their festival on his property in the Town of Bethel, New York!
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young immortalized Yasgur’s Farm with their song about the event, “Woodstock.”
“Well, I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, tell where are you going?
This he told me
Said, I’m going down to Yasgur’s Farm
Gonna join in a rock and roll band
Got to get back to the land and set my soul free”
And of course, one of the most memorable moments in the documentary is when it is announced from the stage that “the brown acid is bad”…you can hear it here:
The documentary is an amazing time capsule, a time of “free love”, where there were no inhibitions, and no reported acts of violence at the festival…
The four-hour film “Woodstock” won the Best Documentary Oscar in 1970. The film was directed by Michael Wadleigh, with a very young Martin Scorsese an an assistant director.
This 40th anniversary blu-ray includes hours of music not used in the movie:
Finally, there is this iconic photo, which was used on the cover of the three-LP set that was released after the event:
I found many of these rare photos at “Suggest.com”, and you can see them all here:
It’s hard to imagine how peaceful this massive music festival was, considering what happened on the streets of Chicago just a year before:
The riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention were over America’s role in Vietnam, and there is a movie that captured some of that real violence – because they filmed in the midst of it!
This amazing film used the riots as a backup to they story of a journalist caught up in the social upheaval of the time…read all about “Medium Cool” by clicking on my story here:
What a sad end to the “summer of love” of 1967, when everyone was so happy!
Yes, the hippie era didn’t last long, but while it did, “flower power” was everywhere! See more of this cultural phenomenon here:
And let me know if you’ve taken the time to watch the entire 4+ hours of “Woodstock!”