ALL MY ROCK STARS ARE DYING (1)
Towards the end of 1969 I bought a ticket for a movie called ‘WOODSTOCK’ at the ABC LOTHIAN ROAD, Edinburgh.
Woodstock, a place in high New York, USA, based in Max Yagurs farm, forever to live in the popular music parlance LEXICON. For the baby boomers at least.
It’s 55 or so years ago! I’ve had a lifetime of musical moments as a consumer and so have the rock musicians, as creatives, some longer than others. Now in 2000- 2025 it seems so many are now passing in their 70’s 80’s. So many passed away in their earlier years, apparently a consequence of ‘playing hard’!
Anyhow this movie introduced me to many of my ‘new for life’ bands and more that I would listen to for years and so far at least, for ever.
Kids, I’ll mention a pile of them here and ask you to hunt them, their music down – compare contrast and so on with your mega-tunes today, hear the words and tell the music snobs to f%&k off.
Make it your music. Whatever you do, whatever you listen to. Make these and new sounds part of your life.
Preferably of course learn to play an instrument or more!! I didn’t – Je regret!! Hugely!!
WOODSTOCK –
Santana, The Who, Ten Years After, Richie Havens, Melanie, Country Joe, Mountain, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Incredible String Band, John Sebastian, Joe Cocker, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Band, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, She Na Na, Paul Butterfield Blues, Johnny Winter……….and a good few more.
There was a whole bunch of others invited – Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Rolling Stones, Rascals, Moody Blues, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull……..and more, who turned down invitations for a whole set of reasons mostly to do with musical ego trips. Bob Dylan had a mood but played at the Isle Of Wight festival with The Band a couple of weeks later. Free did similar. These were all ‘down in history’ events.
There were a few contexts for this event which spawned many films, recordings, books and other media. The main one was aimed at the US govt and its treatment of the Viet Nam war participants and veterans. To this day the US government carries a huge shame regarding this.
‘Three Days That Defined a Generation’ recorded the tension in the US re it’s citizens and the government, this ‘Baby Boomer ‘generation and the degree of criticism the press showed on young people as ‘hippies’ drug pedlars and so on. The music and performances were at a the heart of most published materials.
The whole world’s watching!! Festival chant, meant a lot to a lot of people.
Some songs stayed with me for ever – The Who- I Can See For Miles, Ten Years After, I’m Going Home, Jimi Hendrix – everything he played – Joe Cocker, A Little Help From My Friends, which captured also many nuanced aspects of the event and arguably was one of the best cover versions of any song around, at the time at least – originally of course by the Beatles.
There was a multi disc album which I kept for years called ‘Three Days of Peace and Music’, that for me captured the sounds of the time. Many other grabbed a more academic analysis of the ‘socio’ bits of it all and life at the time.
A 50th Anniversary compilation in 2019 aimed at ‘Capturing A Generation’.
There were other copycat events to follow in the years to come but the original thing was the original thing !!!!
C’mon kids I dare you – listen to the guitar solo on Ten Years After ‘I’m Going Home’. Head blower and air guitar highlighter!
I’ll register Rory Gallagher, his band Taste and then his Rory Gallagher Band, started and reinforced my Blues fascination. Now, there’s another list!
Foot note, I’ll list the other top bands of mine in the next blog or two – I wasn’t an expert but I liked a lot of them and started and continued my struggle against music snobs.