Woodstock’s Influence 40 Years Later

The War Babies and the Baby Boomers grew up with the beginning of rock and roll in the '50s. By the beginning of the '60s you had the trio of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper dead from a plane crash, Elvis had joined the Army, The Kingston Trio were big with family friendly folk music. From then on out, the snowball started rolling and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger, The Beach Boys came along in '62 and then The Beatles hit in '64 (after they had tried to crack the American market for a whole year in '63). Kennedy's assassination, race riots, The British Invasion, Vietnam, the '60s were the biggest domino era that has ever been! One thing hit another which hit another, and youth were feeling it. Musicians were feeling it. It brought out the best in musicians. A lot of the musicians of the '60s were brought up around music as kids, be it first wave rock and roll, country, bluegrass, blues, jazz, classical. Families would play it together and all these elements stayed with these musicians as they grew up into their late teens/early 20s. You had TALENT back then. There was an innocence in the learning of this music and then making it your own once you got older. Sure kids got together in garages then as they do now and tried to be The Rolling Stones or whoever. But it was new and fresh then. The Beatles then showed everyone that the sky's the limit for whatever you want to do with your music, or the recording studio. It's all rotten now. There are those, like me, who want to make music as it was made then. That includes the use of analog tape! Kids are realizing how good tubes sound now and things like that. There is a resurgence of young people buying record players and vinyl. It was the best time ever for music. We'll never have another era of music like the 1960's.

Matthew McKay of CA 2:01AM August 30, 2009