Original subtitles

The '60s generation is often called the Woodstock generation .

I don't think the decade had a name

before Woodstock happened ,

but it enabled our media-driven society

to be able to put a symbol next to a feeling .

The '60s was a feeling among people.

At the time it felt like something that was just very important.

They were the first generation that really believed

that they could actually make a monumental difference.

And they were getting conflicting messages from the establishment.

"You gotta be this way. You've gotta do things."

And the establishment wasn't being this way

and wasn't doing these things.

My group wasn't buying that.

They weren't buying into the American dream ,

as it had been presented .

We were more into changing things.

We were more into the revolution of changing .

We're not gonna do this, we're not gonna have jobs,

we don 't wanna go to school, we don 't wanna do any of those things.

I think we all meant to change it very, very, in a very peaceful way.

WADLEIGH: Well, of course, the ecology movement got started then.

The consciousness for what's happening to the planet

began during that era.

Anti-war, you know, here we are to Iraq ,

well , it was Vietnam then .

This horrible war going on that nobody wanted any part of.

It was unpopular, but it was going on ,

and everybody knew it was pretty much the wrong thing to be doing .

MONCK ON PA: The United States Army has lent us some medical teams

and giving us a hand.

(AU DI ENCE CH EERI NG)

They're with us, man. They are not against us.

They are with us. They're here to give us all a hand and help us.

We, the youth of the time,

felt like we were sort of backed into a corner,

and at the same time, we were huge.

Woodstock showed to the world

all these people who had been against Vietnam ,

against the new sexual mores,

all the things that were happening in the '60s

all came together at Woodstock.

It was not only anti-war, it was love in the broader sense.

It was a breakdown of racial boundaries, something that I very strongly feel .

I felt then , feel today.

U ntil 1 965, you could go to a soda fountain in South Carolina

and not be allowed to sit next to someone who wasn't your color.

Also human rights, you know, gay rights,

women's rights, black rights, and so on ,

that took off during that time.

It was a breaking down of of all the various boundaries

that separate men and nations.

That was a very rapid change, that had really affected everything

that was what we call the Woodstock generation .

All of those sort of things had a sort of mini-revolution .

And there it was for people to see,

and they could see these wonderful people,

and , you know, you'd been hearing about hippies and all the terrible...

And here they are, these wonderful , joyous people

having the greatest time of their life.

This was, you know, a show of force,

for everybody to say, "Okay,

"things are changing , and we're gonna change the world ."

And you really felt at that time

that there was a difference being made here

just by the show of people.

I think that this event culminated that decade

and somewhat culminated that feeling .

Somebody was saying this was the second largest city in New York.

There's been no police. There's been no trouble.

I NTERVI EWER: You said a moment ago that this wasn't the end of this festival ,

that this was a beginning . What do you mean , a beginning?

ARTI E: (LAUG HS) Well , look at it.

MICHAEL: This is the beginning of this kind of thing.

ARTIE: Of this kind of thing?

Worldwide, I don't feel that anyone thinks that another generation ,

even right up to now,

has even come close to starting a revolution

like the Woodstock generation did .

So, I'm sort of proud and excited to be part of it.

I'm very proud to be of that generation ,

and I think we stopped the planet for a year or so.

Woodstock was like the. . . It was the wraparound that said ,

"This is the Woodstock nation ."

And because that weekend we could all cooperate,

there was a birth , a death , there was a cosmos there.

And we did , we all cooperated . I stayed out there for three nights.

Can't remember it all , but we were very much a part of it,

so it was an important cultural landmark.