Blog Assignment #2: American Icons

For my first (potential) American icon choice, I decided on the Woodstock Festival. Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock in the past few weeks has to have at least heard of this psychadelic and hippie-filled event. What with the movie that just premiered last Friday and the fact that it is one the biggest concerts in history, I don't think there are a lot of people that know nothing about the festival. In my eyes, Woodstock is iconic because it showcased bands that now serve as influences to a lot of new musicians. Think about the artists that played at the concert, bands like The Who, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Those bands were catapulted into the spotlight and went on to write some of the best rock music ever. You probably wouldn't be able to find a rock band today that isn't at least somewhat inspired by the musical stylings of Roger Daltrey, and you can barely be called a rock musician if you haven't heard the heavenly sounds of Hendrix’s guitar work.

Do I even need to explain how the music of the Woodstock era impacted American culture?

…Okay, fine. Back in the late ‘60’s/early ‘70’s, a lot of teens were trying their hardest to rebel (just like in any other era, I suppose). The best way to make their parents angry was to become a peace-loving, drug-using hippie. But most importantly, they listened to a very new and very scary style of music called “rock”. This alone was enough to send parents into a frenzy of concern for their little darling. And it was spreading. So eventually there was this whole hippie movement consisting of hundreds and thousands of teenagers and adults. Then comes this concert and all hell breaks loose (in the hippie world anyway). That’s about 500,000 people in one small New York town, all using drugs, being loud and generally just disturbing the peace. I think that counts as an impact.

And as much of an impact as it had on American culture, you’d think a music nut like me would have loved Woodstock since I first learned of its existence during my glory years (7th grade). However, this is not the case. I only recently learned the magnitude of such a festival, and realized that this wasn’t just a huge gathering of hippies, but a huge gathering of hippies AND great music. Something like this inspires me to push forward in my musical endeavors so I can not only attend but play in a huge event like this. Now that I’ve seen that new Demetri Martin movie, I feel like I have an even better understanding, since it’s impossible for me to actually experience Woodstock myself. Although it’s a Hollywood representation, it made me want to research for myself and find out more about the astounding success of the amazing Woodstock Festival.