Youth Culture: Woodstock, the festival that began all festivals.

Woodstock started with four men who had an idea. Mike Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman and Artie Kornfeld, when Mike Lang turned up to speak to Artie Kornfeld about the starting of Woodstock, he voiced his opinions to start a recording studio there as it was a place where artists lived, such as Bob Dylan[1]. This was an idea to pitch to the man with the money John Roberts, he was due to inherit the fortune left by his family. However, the idea to create the studio was completely out of their sights, money was limited. They came to a conclusion, start what would now be seen as the greatest music festivals known to man. It can be said that it was never intended to be what it became, they wanted to hold a festival were the youth of the sixties who were into movements came protested peacefully listened to good music, and raise funds for the recording studio.

It was to be held in Wallkill, New York, a small town with a population at about eight thousand people [2]. Since the town was small the people living there were not keen on the idea of protesters turning up. This became a problem as the creators of Woodstock sold tickets and did not want to refund those who had brought the tickets [3]. This meant the hunt for a new venue, which surfaced in July 1969, a farm owner Max Yasgur rented his land in a different town of New York, Bethel to be exact. However, the story of the greatest music festival did not end there. They ran into problems because they forgot the main priorities, such as gates and parking as well as restrooms and it was getting later and later to put them together now. The lack of facilities did not seem to upset as nearly 500,000 people that attended between the 15^th and the 17^th August 1969. [4].

The crowds here at Jimi Hendrix's performance of Star Spangled Banner

Even though there was setbacks, like every new venture. It ran relatively smoothly. Performers included, Jimi Hendrix who played to crowds in the rain. Jimi Hendrix has been said to have one of the most memorable performances of Star-Spangled Banner, the reason this was prominent was because it was essentially rebelling against the American national anthem and what it stood for. He did this by holding down his tremolo leaver on his guitar to make a high pitched noise, sounding like an air raid siren. This changed the whole theme of the song, meaning he changed the sound to protest the war in Vietnam, he over played the song to make sure those who were there really got the message showing that there was a different meaning to the anthem.

 

Star Spangled Banner- Jimi Hendrix

As there was various protest songs, and it allowed people to be free it unwittingly became the music festival that started the craze, there was numerous drugs, nudity and sex. It really encompassed the new and emerging ideas of the sixties, allowing it to pave the way for today’s music festivals, as far as being free and allowed to express what people felt the need to express.


By Amy Spelzini

Further Reading

[1] Littleproud, Brad and Hague, Joanne, Woodstock - Peace, Music & Memories (Krause Publications, 2009)

[2] Ingrassla-Hunt, Dorothy, Town of Wallkill (Arcadia Publishing, 2006)

[3] Perone E. James, Woodstock: An Encyclopedia of the Music and Art Fair (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005)

[4] Storey, John, Culture and Power in Cultural Studies: The Politics of Signification (Edinburgh University Press, 2010)