The Sixties. We think of the Vietnam War, Civil Rights protests, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Apollo landing on the moon, hippies, Peace on Earth, and most importantly, the music. Music is how famous musicians express their thoughts and feelings to a broader audience.1 The Sixties made history through its music and more iconically, through a three-day concert known as Woodstock.
It all started with four young men that wanted to build a recording studio: John Roberts, 26-years-old, and an heir to a drugstore and a multi-million dollar trust fund; Joel Rosenman, 24-years-old, a Yale Law School graduate, and guitar player for a lounge band in Long Island and Las Vegas hotels; Artie Kornfeld, 25-years-old, a songwriter, producer, and the vice president of Capitol Records; and finally, Michael Lang, 23-years-old, and owner of a head shop that sold accessories for weed, tobacco, and other recreational drugs in Florida.2 All four men met in February of 1969 and came up with the idea of creating a rock festival, and they discussed the budget for it. They met several times after to discuss other ideas for the festival. And by their last meeting, they had a budget of five hundred thousand dollars, and were hoping for fifty thousand people to attend. Unknowingly, their “Woodstock” would become the world’s largest and most remembered Rock concert of all time.
In March of 1969, the four young men formed the Woodstock Ventures company, and each man held a twenty-five percent stake in it.3 The team now needed a location for the concert; they decided to hold the concert in a three hundred acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, because it offered easy access from New York City, less than a mile from Route 17. And it offered electricity and water lines.4 They paid seventy five thousand dollars for the rental of the property to Max Yasgur, the owner.5 By April, Kornfeld and Lang wanted to advertise and introduce Woodstock as a place of freedom with music. They had promoters create a Woodstock image for the public. The group came up with the slogan “Three Days of Peace and Music,” because they figured, if people read “peace” in the poster, it would keep the public calm and the event free of violence. The group then hired artist Arnold Skolnick to create the image for a poster. What people thought was originally a dove on the Woodstock poster was actually a catbird, which was one of Arnold’s favorite things to draw. When Arnold finally completed the drawing for the Woodstock poster, it featured a catbird sitting on a flute along with the slogan, “Three Days of Peace and Music.” This design was approved by Woodstock Ventures. However, at the last minute, Arnold made a minor change by having the catbird stand on a guitar instead of the flute, and the poster was completed.6
Woodstock Ventures wanted the most popular rock’n’roll bands to perform at the concert. They composed contracts for each band member attending, which came with promising paychecks. They signed Jefferson Airplane for twelve thousand dollars, Creedence Clearwater Revival for eleven thousand five hundred dollars, and The Who for twelve thousand five hundred dollars.3 They had a total of thirty-two bands listed to play, including Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and others. The highest paid performer was Jimi Hendrix, who signed for thirty-two thousand dollars. Hendrix would be the last act to perform and he famously closed the festival with his version of the “Star Spangled Banner,” which has gone down in history as one of the greatest performances of his career.8 Woodstock Ventures paid a total of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars for all the musicians who performed in the concert. Lang made the decision that he did not care what it would cost to get a rock band to perform for Woodstock. They would pay the deposit and create the contracts at whatever cost to ensure that they had the best performers.
By the spring time, advertisements for Woodstock started appearing in the New York Times and on radio stations across the country.9 While Woodstock Ventures had originally expected fifty thousand people to attend the festival, they sold a total of one hundred and eighty six thousand tickets, costing six dollars per day.10 In August, one week before show time, Kornfeld wanted to capture the stories of the people, their thoughts about Vietnam War, and their thoughts about Woodstock. Kornfeld made an offer with Warner Brothers to document the festival. Woodstock Ventures paid one hundred thousand dollars to have the festival filmed, and a contract was signed agreeing that if the film made it big they would get paid double the amount, and if it failed they would get nothing.
On August 14, 1969, the day before the festival, early in the morning, Woodstock Ventures noticed that traffic was backed up ten miles long on Route 17, and they were shocked to see that so many people were attending. An estimated twenty five thousand people were already waiting before the festival began.11 The four young men knew this concert was going to be amazing, but they never thought that it would go down in history as one of the biggest and “the greatest peaceful events in history,” as Time magazine called it.12
Throughout the years many attempts to recreate another Woodstock have failed. The Woodstock of 1969 will forever go down in history for its great music, the psychedelic people, and most importantly, a once in a lifetime event that can never be forgotten.
- Alan Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2 (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014), 812-813. ↵
- “How Woodstock Happened,” reprinted from The Times Herald-Record, 1994. http://www.edjusticeonline.com/woodstock/history/index.htm. (accessed November 17, 2016). ↵
- “How Woodstock Happened,” reprinted from The Times Herald-Record, 1994. http://www.edjusticeonline.com/woodstock/history/index.htm. (accessed November 17, 2016). ↵
- “Woodstock Music Festival.” History.com, 2009, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/woodstock-music-festival-concludes. (accessed November 10, 2016). ↵
- “How Woodstock Happened,” The Times Herald-Record Woodstock Commemorative Edition, 1994, http://www.edjusticeonline.com/woodstock/history/index.htm. (accessed November 17, 2016). ↵
- “How Woodstock Happened,” The Times Herald-Record Woodstock Commemorative Edition, 1994, http://www.edjusticeonline.com/woodstock/history/index.htm. (accessed November 17, 2016). ↵
- “How Woodstock Happened,” reprinted from The Times Herald-Record, 1994. http://www.edjusticeonline.com/woodstock/history/index.htm. (accessed November 17, 2016). ↵
- Spencer Bright, “Forty far-out Facts you never knew about Woodstock,” Daily Mail, August 7 2009. ↵
- “How Woodstock Happened,” The Times Herald-Record Woodstock Commemorative Edition, 1994, http://www.edjusticeonline.com/woodstock/history/index.htm. (accessed November 17, 2016). ↵
- Daily Mail, August 2009, s.v. “Forty far-out Facts you never knew about Woodstock,” by Spencer Bright. ↵
- “How Woodstock Happened,” reprinted from The Times Herald-Record, 1994. http://www.edjusticeonline.com/woodstock/history/index.htm. (accessed November 17, 2016). ↵
- Daily Mail, August 2009, s.v. “Forty far-out Facts you never knew about Woodstock,” by Spencer Bright. ↵
75 comments
Mia Stahl
In my humble opinion, the late sixties early seventies had some of the best music out country has ever seen. I have always heard about Woodstock and the incredible impact it had on the world around it. At this time my parents were, toddlers just learning how to walk. To think that the music that was being created when my parents were only babies would be some of the most influential music in my life is mind boggling.
Eric Ortega Rodriguez
This article was very fascinating. I remember talking about The Woodstock of 1969 in high school and I have always amazed at how many people this venue was able to hold peacefully. I find it bizarre how four young men were able to plan out and manage such a huge venue and even have Jimi Hendrix perform. Overall, this article was extremely informative, very well written, and excellent topic selection. Great work.
Arieana Martinez
As an avid lover of rock music, I appreciate this article immensely. More people need to know how this iconic music festival and the culture that literally kickstarted the 70’s of rock n roll and embracing being yourself. Loved this article and the way that everything tied together towards the end of the article. From the slogan to the men who started this festival, their message of peace and love was portrayed from their poster to the people singing. They couldn’t have chosen better people to relay this message. Loved this article!
Marina Castro
One of my favorite articles! The Woodstock concert of 1969 is so legendary and cool! I am glad other people like to read about vintage music and the events they had back then. This concert was so iconic, there are so many songs and events inspired by it. This event marked the difference between old style concerts and modern day concerts.
Tyanne Pearcy
This article is very interested as it talks about Woodstock one of the most legendary rock n roll festivals. It is inspiring that this was an idea and it became a reality through perseverance and hard work. The festival advocated for peace and love and people could let loose and be free during these events. This started the idea of bringing music and people together to escape whatever is going on and just focus on having fun.
Esperanza Rojas
I learned about Woodstock in my culture class, but never learned the origins of it all. The fact that four men put this whole event together is really amazing and I find it sad that they’re never mentioned when one talks about Woodstock. The performances would have never happened if it were not for these men. Woodstock was really a peaceful rave that was only about the music and not the fights that normally happen in today’s concerts.
Valeria Perez
I just read the article on Jimmy Hendrix and his iconic performance of the National Anthem! It is so cool to see how articles come together.
It is amazing that such an iconic music festival was created by people who had relatively nothing in common. I was surprised on how much they paid each of the artists, considering inflation, that it a lot of money for each person! I am glad that so many people came together to enjoy music.
Engelbert Madrid
I wished I could go back to history and just experience the atmosphere of pure rock n’ roll music. Woodstock is one of the greatest achievements for rock music, because it gave a voice to the sound of rock music with thousands of people that attended in this magnificent festival. I’m glad Woodstock happened in history by the help of four young men. It would have been amazing seeing rock legends like Carlos Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix.
Mariana Valadez
I have heard about Woodstock before, but I never really knew how it began. It is interesting that four men who were well-off began this festival. I always imagined free spirited hippies would have begun this festival. When people thing of Woodstock they think of an escape and peace people had. To this day there are festivals like this that bring people together with music.
Alexis Martinez
Wow, I never knew who organized Woodstock but it was really interesting to hear about it. Woodstock is one of those things that so many festivals have tried to replicate but it was so unique for its time. It was something so amazing that people used to escape what was happening in the world and it was so popular and really played a big part in the culture at the time.