(I wrote this in high school in 2019)
The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was held on a farm in the town of Bethel, New York on August 15th, 1969. Although it was meant to last 3 days, it ended slightly later than expected, on the morning of the 18th. It was arguably the most famous rock concert and festival ever held, largely due to its political and cultural significance. Woodstock was very much a symbol of the counterculture movement of the 60s and 70s. The festival’s objective was to be 3 days of peace and music, which many believe it achieved. Its atmosphere of peace, love, and unity epitomized the values of the youth culture at the time, which were heavily anti-war. In this essay, I will explore and analyse the different factors that made Woodstock more than just a festival.
Many factors were responsible for the formulation of the counterculture of the 1960s and early 1970s. One of these was the “baby boom” that followed the second world war, which led to a massive increase in population and created many potential disaffected youths. Furthermore, the post-war financial prosperity allowed the counterculture generation to philosophize about the different aspects of their society. This contrasted with the previous generation, who lived during the great depression and were preoccupied with obtaining the fundamental material necessities of life. This contributed to the generation gap because the counterculture was largely anti-establishment, however the older generation was satisfied that the economy was doing well.
The term counterculture is an umbrella term derived from numerous groups that were active in the 60s such as the Black Panthers, women’s liberation activists and political radicals, so be aware that when I mention counterculture, I am generally referring to the hippie counterculture. The hippies, who called themselves “freaks” or “love children,” were easily distinguishable due to their colourful style and their long hair and beards. They refused to conform to society’s conventional beliefs since they rejected many social norms such as capitalism, consumerism, and materialism, making them outcasts. This, along with their value of community, encouraged many to create communes and live together. Hippies were also well known for their open sexuality, love of rock music, eco-conscious lifestyle and psychedelic drug use.
One of the aspects of society that the counterculture detested was racial discrimination. The civil rights movement fuelled the growth of the counterculture. There were many peaceful civil movement protests against the discriminatory laws such as racial segregation, which were met with harsh police brutality. In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights movement leader, was assassinated. Following King’s death, people looked to Robert F Kennedy for hope. Kennedy was a politician who fought for racial equality and liberalism, he was assassinated 3 months after King. This was during the heart of the counterculture era, consequently, it fuelled the disgust and distrust towards violence and authority. The assassinations were a little over a year before the Woodstock festival and were one of many preludes to setting the stage for the festival’s cultural significance.
Another factor that fuelled the movement was America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. With the advent of television, grim footage from Vietnam was made available to many American homes, shedding light on the gruesome reality of warfare. This led to many protests against the war. The message of “3 days of peace, and music” that the Woodstock Festival promoted was created intentionally to oppose the country’s involvement in Vietnam and to demonstrate the countercultural lifestyle. In this regard, Woodstock was indeed political.
Numerous musicians performed songs that held an anti-war message, which was a sentiment that was enthusiastically shared by the majority of the audience. The song which addressed the Vietnam War most directly was “Fixin’ to Die Rag” by Country Joe and the Fish. This song was well received by the audience and became an anti-war classic thanks to its catchy chorus that went (“And it’s one, two, three, what are we fighting for… Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn, next stop is Vietnam…And it’s five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates… There ain’t no time to wonder why… Whoopie, we’re all gonna die!”). Another notable song with an anti-war message was Jimi Hendrix’s legendary and unorthodox performance of the American national anthem. The cultural critic Greil Marcus wrote of Jimi’s performance as “his great no to the war, to racism, to whatever you or he might think of and want gone.”
Woodstock held political significance inherently due to the circumstances surrounding it, but its prominence in media at the time can also be attributed to the festivals’ publicity company called the Wartoke Concern. The founders of the company were passionate about the anti-war movement and counterculture in general, so they were very dedicated. Jane Friedman, who was one of the founders of Wartoke said, “We were desperately looking for a project on which to hang our hope for change, and this festival stood for a new way of thinking and living.” In their first press releases, they stated that the event was only going to be two days as a tactic to gain more coverage in publications upon announcing they added a third day. When the news of the festival became controversial, they tried to engage people in taking a side. At the end of the year following Woodstock, Wartoke was cited in a trade publication as being the most effective publicity company in the country.
No more than 200,000 people were expected to attend the festival. By the end of the weekend, an estimated 400,000 people attended the festival, although many believe there was closer to 700,000 because the crowd was counted via aerial photographs, but there were many in the surrounding forests, where there were markets set up. Due to the unexpected size of the audience, there were many logistical issues such as not enough food, water, bathroom facilities or first-aid tents. As well as this, there was very little security due to New York City Police Commissioner Howard Leary denying off-duty officers from contributing their services at the festival, just a day before the festival was set to commence. This led to severe traffic jams, some eight miles long, which made it impossible to have the much needed additional supplies brought to the festival by road so helicopters had to be used to fly in food, doctors, medical supplies and many of the performers.
Despite all of the issues, there were only two fatalities. One of which was a drug overdose and the other was an incident where someone was sleeping and a tractor accidentally crushed him, unaware of him due to being in a sleeping bag. This lack of accidents and violence was much to the surprise of the general public, displayed in ABC’S news coverage from August 18, 1969. In it, a local of the area where Woodstock was held said: “they took a lot of aggravation and inconvenience that the average adult wouldn’t take.” Another said, concerning the town’s reaction to the event, “certainly, in the beginning, there was a great deal of apprehension, but right now I can say the attitude of the town has changed towards these young men and women.” A news reporter for ABC said “there were 450,000 young people here, an instant big city really, with no conveniences, few police but no violence, not even arguments in the midst of a 12-hour traffic jam, Its true one may not ask for the names of the tailors of these youngsters, but would anyone care to venture a guess about what would’ve happened if 450,000 well-dressed businessmen were thrown together for three days under similar circumstances.”
The festival’s goal to be three days of peace and music was wholly achieved. Police estimated a million people were on the road trying to get to Woodstock, they were overwhelmed by the numbers but pleasantly surprised by the good level of behavior. The festival’s chief medical officer, Dr. William Abruzzi said, “These people are really beautiful. There has been no violence whatsoever, which is really remarkable for a crowd of this size.” Max Yasgur, the dairy farmer whose land it was held on, addressed the audience on the last day saying, “You have proven to the world that half a million kids can get together for fun and music and have nothing but fun and music.”
The legacy of Woodstock has survived throughout the years. The term “Woodstock Nation” has been used as a general term to describe the youth counterculture of the 1960s, illustrating the festival’s symbolic significance regarding the movement. The festival’s importance is still appreciated to this day. The Wall Street Journal referred to Barrack Obama’s inauguration as “Washingtons Woodstock”. A journalist named Gail Collins had a column titled ” Woodstock Without the Mud” appear in the New York Times the day after the inauguration. In it, she wrote, “Having been lucky enough to attend two of the most memorable events in modern American history, I am able to report that Inauguration Day in Washington was very much like a cold-weather Woodstock. At both, there was a wonderful feeling of community”.