46 - Woodstock: Peace, Mud, and Music

Prisoners of Rock and Roll

Woodstock was an important moment in pop culture, music, and the hippie movement. The organizers of the event originally planned it as a way to raise money so they could build a recording studio in New York. They sold tickets in advance but decided to let people in for free when nearly half a million people showed up at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York over the course of three days in August during the summer of love in 1969.

The people in attendance were hammered by a massive rain storm that turned the dairy farm into a muddy mess. The traffic leading to the event was so bad that some concert goers abandoned their car on the road and walked to the venue.

But those who braved the weather, the traffic, and the drugs saw performances by Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, Janis, the Who, CCR, the Grateful Dead, Crosby Still Nash and Young, Santana, and more. Oh, and a guy named Jimi Hendrix closed the show with a performance of the Star Spangled Banner that became a symbol of the anti war movement.

In this episode, we’re taking you to Bethel, New York for three days of peace and music. We’re going to talk about the story behind the event – when the town did everything they could to stop it from happening. We’ll look at the impact it had on music play some of the awesome music, and provide our insight along the way.

Our show is sponsored by our home base of McCusker's Tavern at 17th and Shunk Streets in Philadelphia. We are proud supporters of our friends at Boldfoot Socks. We are just one of the dozens of awesome shows on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

Hear More

If you want to hear more about the music of Woodstock, check out the documentary Woodstock. This playlist also has a lot of the awesome music from the event.

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