Woodstock: 40 Years Later
It’s hard to believe that it has been 40 years since Woodstock! Not that I would remember, I was 9 years away from being born at that time 
But the memories live on and we will no doubt relive the peace and love of the festival over the coming days as the anniversary approaches, this Saturday, August 15.
Were you there? How was it? What were you’re thoughts?
If you didn’t go, did you want to? Do you regret not going?
From the Associated Press:
The town of Woodstock didn’t want the concert and promoters were bounced from another site at the 11th hour. Lang settled on a hay field in Bethel owned by a kindly dairy farmer named Max Yasgur. The concert did come off Aug. 15-18, 1969, but barely. Fences were torn down, tickets became useless. More than 400,000 people converged on this rural corner 80 miles northwest of New York City, freezing traffic for miles. Then the rains doused everything.
It should have been a disaster. But Americans tuning in to the evening news that weekend saw smiling, dancing, muddy kids. By the time the concert movie came out months later, Woodstock was a symbol of the happy, hippie side of the ‘60s spirit.
Baby boomers are the “Woodstock Generation” — not the “Monterey Generation” or the “Altamont Generation.” Bethel’s onsite museum has logged more than 70,000 visitors since last summer, a fair number of them college students born well after Woodstock. A roadside monument there regularly logs visitors from around the planet.
“It’s almost a pilgrimage,” said Wade Lawrence, director of the Museum at Bethel Woods. “It’s like going to a high school reunion, or it’s like visiting a grave site of a loved one.”
From Lollapalooza to All Points West, there have been plenty of big festivals focused on youth culture. The continent-hopping Live Aid shows of 1985 did that and more, enlisting top names like U2 and Madonna to fight hunger in Africa. None have the cultural cachet of Woodstock. Who would ever ask a Generation X-er: “Were you really at Live Aid?”
People who went to Woodstock say the crowd set it apart as much as the music. The trippy anarchy of Woodstock has become legend: lots of nudity, casual sex, dirty (and muddy) dancing, open drug use. The stage announcer famously warned people to steer clear of the brown acid.
Tags: Acid, All Points West, Altamont, Baby Boomer, Bethel, Festival, Gen X, Gen Y, Grateful Dead, Hendrix, Hippie, Jerry Garcia, Live Aid, Lollapalooza, Madonna, Marijunana, Max Yasgur, Monterey Pop Festival, Music Festival, Politics, Pot, Protest, Sex, The Who, U2, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Woodstock, Woodstock Anniversary
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August 13, 2009 at 11:14 pm
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August 15, 2009 at 12:20 am
It was my Generation, and I don’t care what anybody says, these Years and Events were absolutely Un-matched by anything Before or Since. I Loved this Era— The Clothes, the Music, the Drugs, the Parties, the People, the Simplicity…. Too bad I don’t REMEMBER where the hell I was, who I was with, and what the hell I was Doing.. but it was GREAT! I didn’t go to Woodstock, but I’ve got every Documentary on it, and Recorded the entire “3 Days of Woodstock” as it happened from Beginning to End when it was shown on TV some years back (it took-up 8 Video Tapes). I don’t really Regret not being there within the massive Crowd, the Weather, and the
“Conditions” of the place itself, but— although I’ve seen some of the Bands “Live” in later years— I wish I had been able to see the others I was “Into” that I never did, especially since some of them aren’t “Here” anymore. Doesn’t matter… I’m just really Glad that Woodstock, and those Times, were a Part of MY Time here.
November 4, 2009 at 12:35 am
I was 8 when Woodstock happened and I liked and still do, alot of the musicians who performed there. At that age though most of the 45s I bought were by Bubble Gum groups or one hit wonders: Ohio Express-”Chewy Chewy”, Edison Lighthouse-”Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes”, and songs by the Monkees, Archies, Cowsills, Bobby Sherman, etc. My sister liked the British Invasion while I liked the soul music of Stevie Wonder, Supremes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, and songs like Mary Wells’ “My Guy”. Hard to believe the 70s decade will soon be 40 years old.
November 4, 2009 at 12:44 am
I remember the 60s with hanging out with my cousins dancing to 45s and reading 16 Magazine to get the latest 8×11 pinups that we put on our walls. We liked bell-bottoms as kids and we had the “love beads” necklaces that were popular then. We used to wear headbands and keep up with the apparel of the time. My favorite show of the 60s was “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In”. I also like Dean Martin’s variety hour, Smothers Brothers show and also The Wonderful World of Disney.