It is an iconic image. There he is with his tie-dyed T shirt and jeans on Aug. 15th 1969, standing in front of some 500-750,000 folks having been pushed out on the stage to perform by Michael Lang’s crew as the natives were getting restless. I am referring to John Sebastian, formerly of the Loving Spoonful, though solo by this juncture.
If someone were to ask you– What was the most well attended event in America in the last 50 years that shaped a whole culture and a generation, would you have guessed Woodstock??? Well you should have. It is not 9-11, despite the enduring effects of that tragedy.
By any normal manner of measuring, Woodstock not merely rocked a generation’s world (quite literally), it shaped it. On this stage over a three day period with tons of rain and mishaps appeared Crosby Stills, Nash and Young (for only the second time), the Who, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Santana (for only the second time on any significant stage), Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, Jefferson Airplane, Richie Havens Joan Baez, and too many more to even mention. And now that the film and the original recordings have been remastered, you can really get a sense of the proportions of this epochal event. Its the one event in my life that I most regret I had a chance to go to, and turned it down.
There were many remarkable things about this event, including how generally well behaved all the young people were at this event. Consider this— on the first day of the festival, Friday Aug. 15th, 1969, even by a conservative estimate some 1 million young people tried to get to Bethel New York. This was not chiefly because of great marketing or low ticket prices. Woodstock didn’t become a free festival until that was necessary after it had begun and Michael Lang didn’t want life and limb endangered by gate crashers etc. The size of this event makes things like a football afternoon in Ann Arbor look small.
Michael Lang had no idea how many people would show up in this small rural place in upstate N.Y., not readily accessible on major roads, and not really near any major cities or normal concert venues. What had drawn all those kids to this event? Well of course there were a variety of motives, but there is an underlying theme, and Michael Lang’s book makes that clear.
There were a lot of us that did not believe in and were sick and tired of the Vietnam war, an undeclared war which never ever met the standards for what could be called a ‘just war’. Never. What we wanted was a dramatic alternative to the culture of war. I was already a pacifist before Woodstock, but I was hardly alone. There were millions of us in the U.S. at that juncture. What we believed in was just the opposite of war— we believed in love, peace, understanding, and along the way— good music that emphasized and under-girded these values. Oh, yes we wanted a bit more freedom of choice, for instand choice as to whether we would serve in the miltary or not, especially in such dark times.
Sometimes too much emphasis has been placed on the drugs or sex involved at Woodstock. It certainly was a factor at Woodstock, but it was by no means the over-arching focus, and it had nothing to do with the purpose of Woodstock. The purpose was to create an alternative culture that was not just a reaction to the one that was dominant at the time in America. What is interesting to me was how many of these groups and individuals kept harking back to the values of Jesus and the Gospel at this concert. When Joan Baez went on late into the first night at Woodstock, she mostly sang old spirituals like Swing Low Sweet Chariot. There was indeed a spiritual ethos to this cultural moment in the making and both the audience and the musicians knew it. “Jesus was just alright” with them. “Tricky Dick” Nixon– not so much.
I have no desire or interest in justifying the ethical errors and excesses of some people at Woodstock, indeed they can’t be justified. But it is a mistake to dismiss or fail to take seriously the importance of this event for our history on the basis of the immoral behavior of the few. What the residence of the nearby towns remarked on over and oer again about this event was how well behaved, respectful, loving, kind, and patient the vast majority of these kids were at this event.
Max Yasgur, whose farm was the venue for the event, and whose crops were forfeit because of it, himself concluded that those young people proved that even in bad weather, and even without adequate food and water and facilities, these young people were amiable and able to get along and as Max put it “having three days of peace, and music and love, and nothing but peace, and music and love.”
In any given city of a half million or more, you are going to have some incidents and accidents in a three day period. What bad things happened at Woodstock? One kid did die from a bad trip. One was accidently hit by a tractor when sleeping too near the road trying to get to Woodstock. One woman went into labor and had to be flown out— that’s it. The police who were hired basically spent the time helping the hungry find food and wet find shelter and so on. They never needed or used any weapons. Never. It is a remarkable story, and Lang has finally told it well without all the mythology and later revisionist history.
When I compare that generation to the current younger generation now living under the shadow of two wars, I have to say that we do not see much counter culture these days that is politically engaged, and whose better ethical values are reinforced by the music. It is telling that U2 is about the most politically engaged and formative band out there today, and they are living out of their original Christian commitment and vision, and they of course are part of the last wave, in the late 70s, of the original counter culture.
What I see far too much in youth culture today is a lot of cynicism and Gangster Rap, and alienation and narcissistic tendencies. In one of the telling moments in Lang’s book Lang was talking with Prince about the 25th anniversary reunion event at Woodstock. Prince asked Lang directly— why in the world did you invite all those nasty bands that encourage the worst and darkest tendencies in young people? He was referring to thrasher bands like Korn, and sure enough the crowds and mosh pits at the reunion concert got ugly then. It was not a true reunion event and Lang freely admits it. I have a theory as to why.
In 1969, the dominant cultural force in America was still the Judeo-Christian tradition, and this was the source of the iconic images of hope and love and faith that the counter culture drew on for their inspiration then. We are a long way from their now and not in a better place. I do not wish to gild the lilly or be a practicioner of revisionist history, but I do think Christians can learn something from reading this book about the importance of positive culture making events that can shape whole generations and lives. Most importantly we need to be reminded that if we do not give our young people something to hope for beyond being continually in debt, or spending their lives overseas fighting dubious wars they will perish without a more Biblical vision of the future. And this is certainly not alright with Jesu
s.
posted October 20, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Ben, I have great respect for your scholarly work, but I must say, I really love the social commentary you do!
This is probably the most thoughtful response I have ever read to Woodstock and the rthos that came with it… It reminds me of some of the worldview related work Michael Goheen has done.
As a young man (27) seeking to reach today’s young people, your closing statements resonate deeply.
What do you suggest as practical ways to engage in the sort of formative culture making you refer to? How can those of us in pastoral ministry do a better job of shaping not just lives, but a whole generation?
posted October 20, 2009 at 9:35 pm
oops… second section should read “ethos” not “rthos”… haha!
posted October 20, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Hi Tommy:
As it happens I have done a lengthy post earlier this year on Culture making and what can and should be done. Basically the church needs to once again be what it was in the Middle Ages– culture makers…. sponsors of the arts, feeders of the poor, healers of the ill, offerers of Christian insurance of various sorts and hospice care. In short, all the positive things that humans need help with, and have come to depend on governments for, we were already called to do as the church in the teachings of Jesus and the early Christians. Christians should take care of their own— for example, there should be no indigence in the body of Christ, as a witness to the world of how community should be done (see the summaries in Acts 2 and 4), and so on. The church also should be sponsors and patrons of meaningful discourse from a variety of viewpoints on the major pressing issues of the day so Christians will have a meaningful way to make up their minds about things. And if you want to really see culture making by the child of Lutheran Missionaries (namely he instigated the building of some 80 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan for girls, who previously had none) read Greg Mortensen’s Three Cups of Tea.
You can use the search engine to find my previous post on this stuff—search for Culture-Making and Andy Crouch.
Blessings
Ven
posted October 21, 2009 at 12:44 am
I wasn’t around for Woodstock, so I can’t speak from any experience of that era. Being an early 30-something, married to a just-graduated-twenty-something, I’m sure I have plenty of biases. But I am just trying to add some additional thoughts to the discussion.
There is certainly a large amount of cynicism but I think much of that is transformed into some activism of different forms that hasn’t been expressed into a Woodstock-like event. That’s not meant as a judgment but an observation. No age groups are specified in the blog post, so I am assuming that this refers to college age groups? Quite a few grass-root organizations do not get much attention from the press but they are attempting to make a huge difference. From personal experience, I would point to Invisible Children (there have been major gatherings there to bring to light the night commutes and DP camps in Uganda), Love146, To Write Love on Her Arms, Better World Books, Falling Whistles, or even Tom’s Shoes. Not to mention the large number of college students I joined with in New Orleans post-Katrina.
A quick glance through my Facebook feed shows dozens of groups that I or my friends have joined carry the mission of affecting change on a large scale or are focused on the needs of others. That does carry a danger that many may half-heartedly join a group but have no actual involvement. However, I know of several local groups/chapters that I support and interact with on a regular basis and that may be the key: These groups must offer local and regular interaction for younger members to participate in. I suppose that would constitute a community in a sense.
I agree that there are not many who are politically engaged (Invisible Children advocates may be an exception here) and that probably comes back to that cynicism that you mentioned. Many see either that political change is broken, too slow to respond or are part of the problem and so they avoid trying to engage the system.
The arts are replete with many who are attempting to bring messages out but it seems to be more of an indie movement at this point. The Flobots and Michael Franti come to mind but I’m sure there are many more. There is a “rockumentary” touring now named Call+Response, but I haven’t seen it yet and am not sure who the original creators are to comment about it.
I certainly can’t speak for whole generations and I may be involved with some exceptions, but there is a core group out there that is taking societal change to heart whether it be “going green” or ending sex trafficking. Part of me wants to believe that this cohort is pretty large, much larger than we realize and they are too involved to stop and try and bring attention to their numbers.
Admitting my own bias, I have tended to think of Woodstock as an event where many came together and with one voice announced their frustration of society and those in power; but than I have wondered if anything came of it or did everyone just go home? This blog post has given me much to think about and adjust my perspective, which I always welcome.
posted October 21, 2009 at 9:40 am
Thank you Adam for this timely reminder of what is being done today by young folk, which is a helpful addition. What I did not say in the post is that many of us joined the Peace Corps and Vista and helped with the start of Habitat for Humanity etc. in response to this culture-making that Woodstock was one part of.
Blessings
BW3
posted October 21, 2009 at 10:03 am
“We must be in Heaven, Man.” Wavy Gravy from the stage of the Woodstock Festival 1969.
WOODSTOCK LIVES ONLINE!!!! Join us. We’re a small group of folks based at Utopia Studios in Woodstock who are keeping the spirit of Woodstock alive.
Listen to RADIO WOODSTOCK 69 which features only music from the original Woodstock era (1967-1971) and RADIO WOODSTOCK with music from the original Woodstock era to today’s artists who reflect the spirit of Woodstock. Watch Woodstock TV.
Go to http://www.woodstockuniverse.com for details and to join our Woodstock Universe online community.
Peace, love, music,
RFWoodstock
rfwoodstock@gmail.com
posted October 21, 2009 at 10:47 am
In 1969, the dominant cultural force in America was still the Judeo-Christian tradition, and this was the source of the iconic images of hope and love and faith that the counter culture drew on for their inspiration then.
In 2009, is the Judeo-Christian tradition less dominant than it was in 1969? The membership of mainline Protestant denominations is in freefall. But has not membership in evangelical denominations and non-denominational churches more than made up for the mainline decline? And are not evangelicals more committed to the central truths of the Christian tradition than are the modernist mainliners?
Further, in 1969 neither party was nearly as committed to opposition to abortion*, to homosexuality, and to funding of evangelical activities as is the Republican party today. And evangelical believers were politically quiescent in 1969 and active and engaged politically today. Is that not evidence of the true faith having more cultural influence today than then?
*Even before Roe, the incidence of abortion was quite high.
posted October 21, 2009 at 10:52 am
this was the source of the iconic images of hope and love and faith that the counter culture drew on for their inspiration then.
How many of the songs sung at Woodstock were explicitly Christian? Doubtless many contained images of hope and love. But how many contained what might fairly be called images of faith of any identifiably Christian sort?
posted October 21, 2009 at 10:54 am
I agree that Woodstock had a tremendous effect on the Nation, and not all for the good, but it wasn’t a defining moment in my life. Maybe that is because I grew up in Mississippi and hurricane Camille hit the Gulf Coast about the same time. Or maybe Woodstock happened about the time that I went from Eagle Scout to Army officer. Besides, it was during that time that I heard the words of the music and decided that rock n’ roll did not support my Christian beliefs. Sorry, Ben, I know how you love the music, but I could see the drift away from the Judeo-Christian ethic in the lyrics.
posted October 21, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Thanks for the response Ben, I will look forward to reading your articles from earlier this year.
I have only recently found your blog, but have enjoyed your Socio-Rhetorical commentaries IMMENSELY!
posted October 21, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Mark I won’t deny that some of the lyrics are objectionable, but that is not a basis at all for not appreciating the music itself and its creativity. You could equally well object to the lyrics of Carl Orff’s Carmina… or Beethoven’s Ode to Joy but that would be a mistake since the music is spectacular and inspiring. And furthermore, most people knew that the lyrics of most of the songs were not intended as discourses or diatribes… with the exception of the Bob Dylan sort of stuff.
James by my count at least 30% of the Woodstock music draws on Biblical ideas, images, concepts, terms.
BW3