# Woodstock, 50 years later



## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Today marks the first day of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival that was held in Bethal Woods NY in 1969.

Woodstock, in many way, united the baby boomers around peace love and music.

It had a profound impact on many. Mystical, magical, even religious.

There was never such a sharp contrast between generations as there was between the Great Generation and the Boomers.










This iconic photo which appeared on the cover of time magazine then the album cover also found it's way into the national archives.

The couple is still together and have 4 grand kids today. They live nearby.

I have tons of memories from this era.

What are the general thoughts on this event from the group?


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

it was before I was born, but it must have been amazing. I had a recording of Woodstock 1969 in high school. So many great musicians. Richie Havens and Freedom song is legendary


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

I suppose my generation (I was twenty) thought that we could change the world with love and peace! Hah! The man makes sure that that's not a happening thing. Woodstock was a culmination of all that seemed the best of the flower-power generation but Altamont put paid to that. Still, at least we have all the great, in the main, music from the three days. I have a few incarnations, the latest being a ten cd set that has pretty well everything important that was recorded. I'm hoping a good friend will lay his hands on the 38 cd 50th anniversary box for me. 

It brings back so many memories of those times, nearly all good!


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I read the title of this thread as *'Woodduck. 50 years later'.* I thought it was gonna be a thread about our esteemed member of the site with before and after photos or a photo montage accompanied by the music of Wagner. I'm gutted, tbh.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Jacck said:


> it was before I was born, but it must have been amazing. I had a recording of Woodstock 1969 in high school. So many great musicians. Richie Havens and Freedom song is legendary


Totally improv! The organizers had him play a longer set because the next act wasn't ready. After he had played everything he knew, he made up _Freedom_ on the spot. (The other great thing Havens did was introduce his friend Jimmy Spheeris to Clive Davis!)

One of my favorite performances from Woodstock was John Sebastian playing _Darling Be Home Soon_. One man, one guitar, 400,000+ people and one great song.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

The Woodstock Festival was a triumph over adversity which was represented by chaotic scheduling, sound problems, instruments de-tuning in the humidity, no-shows, rain, bad trips, mud, trash, militant groups threatening disruption if the festival didn't become a free event, the possibility of the whole event being declared a disaster area and Nelson Rockefeller ordering a friendly visit by 10,000 troops of the National Guard.

On the upside:

Pete Townsend pushing activist Abbie Hoffmann off the stage with his guitar when he tried to derail The Who's performance with a political rant (sadly not recorded, although Roger Daltrey says it did happen).
The crowd banging cans and chanting 'NO RAIN!'
Hendrix playing the Star-Spangled Banner even though over 50% of the people had already left by then.
The hundreds of people who stayed behind to clear up all the mess.
The fact that the couple who featured in that photo are still together.

Would I like to have been there? Yes, as long as I was at the back away from the mud and trash with a good pair of opera glasses and only a short trip to the (hopefully not overflowing) chemical toilet.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

My wife and I thought about attending, but we had a then 3-year-old child and decided against. Subsequent news reports showed our decision to have been a wise one. I love that the wonderful Joni Mitchell song commemorating the scene and event was written by someone who wasn't there, yet who absorbed the vibe and re-radiated it back so memorably.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm sure my memories of those days would be excellent, if I could remember them.


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## Tikoo Tuba (Oct 15, 2018)

Grandpa Woodstock


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Jimi Hendrix played his amazing version of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock. John Adams later wrote that when he was studying serial composition at Harvard with Kirchner, Sessions, and others, he was returning from a wearying class on tone rows and permutations when he heard it being played loudly from a dorm window. He said that it opened his eyes and changed his direction in music.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

For PBS watchers, don’t miss the excellent American Experience special on Woodstock that covers its inception and what could have ended as a disastrous event because of the weather and the challenge of feeding the multitudes and almost a half million people. It has the incredible Jimi Hendrix Star-Spangled Banner but is mainly about the overall experience of being there. It was a monumental counter-cultural event that still reverberates today for many of that generation. It was iconic. This in-depth special is one reason why I believe in and continue to support public television. Woodstock can be viewed for free, at least for now, using the PBS app, or watching at PBS.org or on Apple TV or Roku.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

90 minute documentary about Woodstock 10 o'clock tonight on BBC4, followed by another about Hendrix's appearance.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

This iconic event has never really captured my imagination. If I had been old enough to attend I doubt I would have gone. I don't like traffic or big crowds or drugs, and sleeping outdoors. Being from upstate New York I do love that part of the country. Woodstock is nice when there aren't loads of people around.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

One of the most iconic performances and one of the few performers to make a best-selling cover of a Beatles song:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

DaveM said:


> One of the most iconic performances and one of the few performers to make a best-selling cover of a Beatles song:


Didn't Joe Cocker also do _She Came in Through the Bathroom Window_ sometime later?


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

KenOC said:


> Didn't Joe Cocker also do _She Came in Through the Bathroom Window_ sometime later?


That and 'Something' both on his second album. I remember thinking he was pushing a good thing to an extreme.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I wonder how many of the Woodstock attendees are still alive today.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Fritz Kobus said:


> I wonder how many of the Woodstock attendees are still alive today.


Or how many babies were conceived.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Merl said:


> I read the title of this thread as *'Woodduck. 50 years later'.* I thought it was gonna be a thread about our esteemed member of the site with before and after photos or a photo montage accompanied by the music of Wagner. I'm gutted, tbh.


I hate you, not only for stealing my idea, but for doing it better than I would have.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Merl said:


> I read the title of this thread as *'Woodduck. 50 years later'.* I thought it was gonna be a thread about our esteemed member of the site with before and after photos or a photo montage accompanied by the music of Wagner. I'm gutted, tbh.


I swear I had not seen this post when I made my post in the Stupid Thread Ideas earlier today.


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

The music was great. I must have listened to the original record a thousand times. They came out with a 2nd album but I didn't like that as well. It was one of those things you couldn't plan. It just happened. That is the best kind of thing.

One thing I got a kick out of but questioned was, how did Sha-Na-Na get on Woodstock? Looked out of place to me. The festival was great though. I would have gone.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

haydnguy said:


> The music was great. I must have listened to the original record a thousand times. They came out with a 2nd album but I didn't like that as well. It was one of those things you couldn't plan. It just happened. That is the best kind of thing.
> 
> _One thing I got a kick out of but questioned was, how did Sha-Na-Na get on Woodstock?_ Looked out of place to me. The festival was great though. I would have gone.


I think there was a Hendrix connection - Jimi was friends with someone from the group, or something. Sha Na Na were only a few months old at the time, so maybe Jimi used his connections for them to appear. During the brief footage of the band from Woodstock I thought I glimpsed a greaser in shades near the front combing his hair - as this was near the end of the festival maybe the guy rolled up at the last minute just to see them!


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