Woodstock: A Rock N Roll Phenomenon

Woodstock: A Rock ’N Roll Phenomenon “Woodstock was a festival that took place in 1969, it gave people a chance to hangout and listen to thirty-three bands play Rock ’N Roll music” (History Channel). The event took place on a 600 acre farm where sex, drugs, and music were done in abundance. Woodstock was an influential event in the history of music because it was a political platform for musicians. It was a major part of the Hippie movement in the 1960s, and it left a lasting impact on Rock n’ Roll for years to come. “Woodstock started with a partnership between four men, John Roberts, Joel Rosemen, Artie Kornfeld and Mike Lang” (History Channel). Out of this group of men, the oldest was twenty-seven years old. Their original plan when creating

Counterculture meaning against what was right or what was the norm during the 60s. The actions of Counterculture movement began to disintegrate as soon as Woodstock came to an end. “Counterculture reached its peak and hippies finally had the chance to be a part of the Utopian Society” (Freccia). Woodstock gave the hippies a place to come together as a group with other hippies from around to share their thoughts and express their opinions against the war. The Vietnam War played such a huge role in Woodstock. Young people felt a lot of things did not meet their standards, and they supported a peace. “They protested with nonviolent demonstrations such as burning draft cards , and sit in protest” (Foster). The music of Woodstock often reflected the peaceful sentiments of the hippies. The song, “With a little help from my friends” was played at Woodstock by two musicians and it is significant, because during the war the hippies felt as if they had their friends they were set. They all came together as one and

“Some of the best bands that performed were, Richie Havens. Havens made a career both before and after using his powerful voice that everyone loved” (Brockton). “Another was Santana, he was a twenty years old musician who walked on stage sat down behind his drum set and performed one of his greatest hits” (Brockman). “Some of the less liked bands ranged from Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, to Joe Cocker” (Brockman). People say that it was not Jimi’s fault, it was his placement in the lineup that made his performance less than appealing. With him being the last to perform half of the crowd was done for the day and ready to leave. Jefferson Airplane, hippies said, just appeared too tired and out of it to perform. “Joe Cocker didn't go to perform he was there splitting the lyrics into tiny thousand of stretched out fragments of nonsense” (Brockman). It wasn't that people did not care for the bands, they just did not fall under the amazing band category for most people. Fashion was less than appealing at the time of Woodstock, people had on anything old looking. Their clothing ranged from ripped jeans, flare jeans, patched jeans, tie dyed t-shirts, flowers, bathing suits to no clothes at all. “At the time, hippies loved Salvation Army stores where they would gather most of their clothing” (Pokopac). Often at the festival males and females ran around nude without