40 shifting years have passed since Woodstock, people still remember it, but not as vividly as for those who were actually present; forever touched by the dovish festival. Today's generations only recalls the festival as being a sort of massive wild party, but it was much more than that, it was a legendary movement of peace and music. "For decades, our boomer elders have wielded that muddy weekend at Max Yasgur's farm as a signature accomplishment. To have not been alive during Woodstock, we're told, was to have missed the freest moment in American history" (Tylangiel, 2009). Also, performances by some of the most iconic musicians of the era, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Sha Na Na, Crosby, Santana, and many others, make Woodstock even harder to forget. But word says that the most impressive performance in that wooden stage, sitting victoriously at the bottom of the hills of people, was none other than Joe Cocker. The final sentences of the article give out evidence of it, "But Joe Cocker was the real king of Woodstock. We think of him now as a series of tics and growls, but his seven-minute version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" begins in complete control, slowly building until halfway through, when his sweet-voiced backup singers ask, "Do you need anybody?" Cocker responds ... well, it's hard to describe exactly what he howls. But there's no happier sound" (Tyrangiel, 2009). Just as Tyrangiel wrote in his final words, no matter how long people get together to listen music, there won't be another moment when singer, song, and audience merge so completely.
Would've the presence of absent, yet modernly notable bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (who all three declined their participation in Woodstock), made todays unretentive generation retentive of Woodstock?
Tyrangiel, Josh. "Woodstock: How Does It Sound 40 Years Later?." Time Magazine Arts. 24 August 2009.
