Our generation's Woodstock
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- era4O4
So I saw "Taking Woodstock" this evening and came to realize that I haven't witnessed a cultural event of Woodstock's magnitude in my lifetime and probably won't ever. It's sorta depressing to think that most of today's ventures are probably driven by capitalism. Even Burning Man has "sold out" to a degree. Hell, most of the first half of "No Logo" (Naomi Klein) is about how corporations fabricate all cultural events nowadays. And if the venue isn't stamped by a product, the event, itself is. Granted, the movie showed how Woodstock was initially a business investment itself.
So I feel like there's probably little chance that I'll experience something like that in my lifetime without the foul aftertaste of commercialization lingering.
I was thinking about the inauguration of Obama and how friends said to me "wanna go down to Washington for three days to celebrate and be part of a once-in-a-lifetime historical event?" and I was like "nah." And I wondered if someone said the same thing to me about Woodstock if I'd react the same way...and I got even sadder thinking that I probably would've.
Anyway, I need to fix that about myself.
- forcetwelve0
you make a good point.
- lambsy0
don't be fooled by the romanticized & idealized vision of a 'movie' scripted and acted to make it seem like the greatest show that ever was.
woodstock was also great because entertainment was shit compared to what we have today.
- bort0
Also, wasn't there a lot of feces on the ground at Woodstock? And rivers of urine. Don't forget about the rivers of urine.
- Shaney0
just go to a summer festival in the UK, same shite repeated every year, naked hippies the lot
- jfletcher0
I went to hempfest in Seattle... I think that was enough "woodstock style life experineces". Just thinking about it gives me anxiety.
- Meeklo0
I have been to tons of events, that you might see as crap, but I believe them to be the "woodstock" of my generation, in 20 years they are going to make a movie about them, and some youngster like you, that never experienced any of them will complain about current events, and how his generation doesn't have a burning man, a coachella, a love parade, an oktoberfest, creamfields, electric daisy, bonaroo or whatever you want to call it..
There will never be an event like woodstock again, but back then, they never had burning man either, complaining about how come we don't have something you never experienced anyways is plain silly, don't you think?
And what if you were able to attend and you have a bad trip on acid and you have the worse time of your life, in fact, you never took acid ever again because of the green midgets humping your leg you saw at woodstock?
this is your time on earth, enjoy it, so you can tell your grandchildren how much their festivals suck, and how great was your time on this planet.
my 2 cents
- I guess. Just commercialization makes it seem so...played out.era4O4
- SteveJobs0
"the good 'ole days" every generation contemplates them.
- Meeklo0
the circle of life...
- era4O40
The whole point of this rant was that regardless of there not being any historical cultural rara avis occurring today, I probably would've passed on even going in the first place. So my reaction was that I need to not only join these events, but also to seek them out. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
- moth0
Balls to Woodstock.
Our generation have done away with culture altogether. We've got celebrity to tell our grandchildren about. We've got so many 15 minute idols we can never be short of a variety of inspiration and culture.
There's never been a better time to be alive!
There's a new series of xfactor on and everything!
- kezza_20
Well my woodstock was illegal raves of the 90's and Creamfields as someone mentioned above
They (uncommercialised events) still happen, we're just too old and not cool enough to know about them
- LOL @ creamfields.. the MOST commercial pseudo rave ever. cream was a total selloutmax_prophet
- kezza_20
PS get on facebook and twitter... where all the cool kids hang out. Apparantly the new trend in London are pop up clubs promoted on twitter. One night only. Flash clubbing.
- monoboy0
Do not take the brown acid.
- era4O40
Yeah, I hit a few memorable raves in Detroit when I went to school up there. Purely anti-commercial. And while they were fun, they were no Woodstock.
My dad went to Woodstock. He filled up a VW Microbus with Village Voices, drove up from NYC and sold them for $.25 a piece. I told him it's not really in the spirit of Woodstock, is it? He said that was the only way he could afford to go, and by the time he got there, people were buying them more for toilet paper than for reading them.
- harlequino0
When QBN members hacked that religious school website and posted demonic LOLcats and ORLY owls everywhere---- that was my Woodstock.
- ninjasavant0
Great cultural events are only labeled as such in hindsight. Its not like everyone in the 70s gushed about how substantial Woodstock was. It was only when those people hit their 30s in the 80s and got all nostalgic. We'll come up with something.
- mikotondria30
It was proper underground raves, when the music exploded and the scene took off, first half of the 90s, if you were there you know, be it in Detroit, London, Germany, wherever - it was bigger better and longer than Woodstock, every weekend, a real sense of global community and kinship better than that which briefly made an appearance in the 60s, by the time it got to be the soundtrack to commercials and became a fashion term, it had just about ended. If you weren't there, I'm sorry, but it happened and was the most significant cultural epoch of this generation, and in many ways marked the end of historical cultural movements.
Everthing in the music scene since has been derivative or either it (eg Justice style 'electro house', nuRave), or previous cultures - rock, blues, and rock and roll.
Sorry kids, but that was it.- I was there. But it was still commonplace. Epic for me, but nothing like telling people I was at woodstock.era4O4
- ximeraLabs0
Every generation has their 'Woodstock' thing, think of "Madchester", the "Britpop" era, etc. You kind of live through it because you're caught up in the moment, but only 10, 20, 30, 40 years later when it all gets romanticized does it look like Very Important Events™
(I'm not debating they weren't — but when I was at a rave I didn't think OMG I'm making history here!)