The Milk Farm That Changed Rock And Roll

The Milk farm that changed rock and roll

"Buy No Milk. Stop Max's Hippy Music Festival" was the motto of choice for many protesters from the Catskill Mountains in southern New York, little did they know that ‘Max’s hippy festival’ was about to change the future of rock and roll. Max Yasgur owned a 600-acre dairy farm 43 miles from the town of Woodstock. In August 1969 he was approached by the festivals organisers, Roberts and Rosenman, asking permission to use his 600 acre plot of land to host the Woodstock festival, promising no more than 50,000 attendees, this was far from the case[1]. Due to a prior sudden change in venue, the promoters were faced with a galling dilemma, scrap the festival or let people in for free, they decided on the latter. Over the course of the festival, Max’s dairy farm had attracted a crowd of over 400,000 people, each desperate to catch a glimpse of their favourite rock stars[2].

Over the course of the long weekend 32 acts performed, with the final act of the festival being the most memorable. The final act was Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix produced a performance that has been engraved in the minds of every rock and roll fan, his psychedelic rendition of the Star - Spangled Banner followed by Purple Haze was considered to be one of the defining moments of the 1960s by many historians and music fans as it played a vital role in underlining the sixties zeitgeist.  The performance of Hendrix was immortalised along with the majority of the festival with the academy award winning film ‘Woodstock’ released the following year. Journalistic giants Entertainment weekly stated that the film was a ‘bench mark for concert movies’ as it preserved the feeling and emotion that the 400,000 attendees felt. Despite the festival nearly bankrupting the organisers, their stake in the film more than compensated for their losses as the film profited over $50 million.

The festival emphasised what the 1960s was all about. It challenged the norm to promote a successful atmosphere of peace, music and love. Max Yasgur strongly believed the festival had done this by stressing that the festival was the perfect opportunity for disaster, instead nearly half a million people spent with days with only peace in their minds, he followed this by stating ‘if we join them, we can turn those adversities that are the problems of America today into a hope for a brighter and more peaceful future’[3]. The idea of spreading love and peace was what 1960s youth culture was predominantly about, therefore the Woodstock festival will remain a reflective beacon for the 1960s zeitgeist.

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[1] Rotimi Ogunjobi, ‘The Essential Jimi Hendrix’. (Tee Publishing: 2006). Pg. 120

[2] Brad Littleproud and Joanne Hague, ‘Woodstock-Peace, Music & Memories’. (Krause Publications: 2009). Pg.7.

[3] John Anthony Moretta, ‘The Hippies: A 1960s History’. (McFarland: 2017). Pg. 300.