Woodstock Essay, Research Paper
Woodstock
Woodstock was a microcosm of the 60 s era reflecting the music, sexual activity and attitudes of the youth. The three days of peach and music introduced some of the greatest songs and musicians of all time. The concert also exposed new experiences for the youth in attendance such as drugs, and ideas (sexual behavior and behavior towards authority and old ideas).
The concert called Woodstock was mainly put together by four individuals. Michel Lang and Artie Kornfield were the two who were more of the creators and dreamers of the concert. John Roberts and Joel Rosenman were the money investors. The four of them wanted to create a concert like no one had ever seen or thought of before. So they chose a place in Bethel upstate New York. It was a pasture for dairy cows owned by Max Vasquer.
The music was the core of the entire experience of Woodstock. Woodstock was the birthplace of some musical stars such as Santana and Janis Joplin. It also was the end point for some well known bands such as The Grateful Dead, and then soon after, Jimi Hendrix and Arlo Guthrie. Some of the other attractions to the concert would be Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and The Who. The bands were there for the fans and to be part of something that was unique and that would be remembered for ages to come.
Woodstock was a well-mixed group of young Americans. Of the 300,000 who attended, there were students, hippies, protestors of the Vietnam War, anti-gays, anti-government, anti-drug people and fans who were there just to hear the music and have a good time. Surprisingly, the concert stayed peaceful through the heat, rain, water and food shortages and the lack of sanitation facilities. The people in attendance broke very few laws accept trespassing. The ponds of the local community became bathtubs and the trashcans were the ground. Throughout the entire concert there were only 2 deaths and 2 births. One death occurred when a young man was sleeping in a field and a farmer ran over him with a tractor.
The conditions of Woodstock were the best but they were bendable. Even before the concert started the fans experienced some frustrations with the traffic getting to the little turn of Bethel in upstate New York. Then when the concert started up they experienced a lack of water and food supplies. There were not enough sanitation facilities to handle everyone who attended. The sun shone for the first half of the concert but then the rains came. Some people left in fear of the rain spoiling the event but those that stayed made the best of it. The concert ended Monday mid-morning and the frustrations still continued with traffic out of Bethel and then the five-day cleanup of the pasture.
The dreamers who made Woodstock possible wanted the concert to be three days of peace, love and music. For the most part, the concert was full of peace, love and music but it was also full of drugs and people overdosing and even death. There were really only two deaths at Woodstock. The first happened on Saturday morning when a 17-year-old young man was crushed by a tractor while sleeping in a field. The other death was when another young man overdosed and died.
The young Americans who attended the Woodstock concert were full of adventure and experimented with things. The youth experimented freely with their sexuality. Some of the people who lived in Bethel New York said, They did not care where they did it or who was watching. They did not only experiment freely with sex but they also experimented with drugs. At Woodstock, Elliot Tinber said Drugs were all but legal at Woodstock. The youth there were also full of a righteous attitude. They protested against the Vietnam War, some against drugs, some gays and lesbians, and also some against the government.
The Woodstock Nation was a group of young men and women that were united by common beliefs, values and lifestyles. This nation destructed the authority and the standup American values. This nation also suspended the freedom to openly experiment with drugs and sex.
The town of Bethel had a bad prejudgment of the hippies and the Woodstock concert itself. The town had thought of the hippies as renegades of the law and thought that there would be a lot of crime. But the concertgoers showed them wrong. The only committed crime was trespassing. Most of the farmers and landowners around Bethel had trouble with the hippies using their ponds as bathtubs. The hippies believed that the water was for everyone.
The musicians who played at Woodstock were remembered for a lifetime. The American teens and young adults almost instantly loved the new musicians that were introduced to the audience.
The Woodstock experience was loved by all the people who attended. The young Americans were given a chance to express themselves to each other and the world. The ones who stayed during the rain said, It was more fun than without the rain. But there were still those who left on Sunday night who missed Jimi Hendrix mid-morning version of the Star Spangled Banner. The ones who stayed and heard Hendrix said it was the highlight of the weekend.
Woodstock was, if not the greatest concert of all time where there were practically no riots during the 3 days of peace, love and music. Woodstock was a small and brief New World for lots of young adults and children.