The
Altamont Speedway Free Festival was an infamous
rock concertThe term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...
held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway in northern California, between
TracyTracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States and an exurb of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 82,922 at the 2010 census.-History:...
and
LivermoreLivermore is a city in Alameda County. The population as of 2010 was 80,968. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California's San Francisco Bay Area....
. Headlined and organized by
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, it also featured, in order of appearance:
SantanaSantana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
,
Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
,
The Flying Burrito BrothersThe Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...
, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, with the Rolling Stones taking the stage as the final act. The
Grateful DeadThe Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
were also scheduled to perform, but declined to play shortly before their scheduled appearance due to the increasing violence at the venue. “That's the way things went at Altamont—so badly that the Grateful Dead, prime organizers and movers of the festival, didn't even get to play,” someone was quoted in
Rolling Stone.
Approximately 300,000 people attended the concert, and some anticipated that it would be a "
WoodstockWoodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
West." Filmmakers
Albert and David MayslesAlbert and David Maysles were a documentary filmmaking team whose cinéma vérité works include Salesman , Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens . Their 1964 film on The Beatles forms the backbone of the DVD, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit...
shot footage of the event and incorporated it into a documentary film titled
Gimme Shelter (1970). The event is best known for having been marred by considerable violence, including one
homicideHomicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
and three accidental deaths: two caused by a
hit-and-runHit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
car accident and one by
drowningDrowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
in an irrigation canal. Four births were reported during the event as well. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen and then abandoned, and there was extensive property damage.
Planning
The concert originally was scheduled to be held at San Jose State practice field since there had just recently been an outdoor free festival with fifty-two bands and eighty thousand people in attendance for three days, Dirt Cheap Productions was asked to help secure the property again for the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead to play a free concert. The Stones and the Dead were told the city of San Jose was not in the mood for another big concert and the grounds were out of bounds. Then
Golden Gate ParkGolden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
in San Francisco was next on the list. However, a previously scheduled
San Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
football game at
Kezar StadiumKezar Stadium is a stadium located adjacent to Kezar Pavilion in the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. It is the former home of the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL, and of the San Francisco Dragons of MLL. It also served as the home of the...
, located in Golden Gate Park, the weekend of December 6–7 made that venue impractical, and permits were never issued for the concert. The venue was then changed to the
Sears Point RacewayInfineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills...
, but after a dispute with Sears Point's owner, Filmways, Inc., over film distribution rights, the festival was moved to the Altamont Raceway at the suggestion of its then-owner, local businessman Dick Carter. The concert was to take place on Saturday, December 6; the location was switched on the night of Thursday, December 4.
In making preparations, the Dead's manager
Rock ScullyRock Scully was the manager of The Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1985. He is the co-author with David Dalton of the book .Living in The Haight before and during the Summer of Love, Scully first saw the band play at one of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests under the name "The Warlocks." He signed on as the...
and show co-producer Michael Lang helicoptered over the site before making the selection, much as Lang had done when the Woodstock Festival was moved at the last moment from
Wallkill, New YorkWallkill is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 24,659 at the 2000 census.The Town of Wallkill is centrally located in the county. Interstate 84 crosses New York State Route 17 in the southern part of the town. U.S...
to
Bethel, New YorkBethel is a town in Sullivan County, New York, USA. The population has been estimated at 4,532 in 2007.The town received worldwide fame after it became the host of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, which was originally planned for Wallkill, New York, but was relocated to Bethel after Wallkill withdrew.-...
.
The move resulted in numerous logistical problems including a lack of facilities such as portable toilets and medical tents.
The move also created a problem for the stage design; instead of being on top of a rise, which suited the geography at Sears Point, at Altamont the stage would now be at the bottom of a slope. The Rolling Stones' stage manager on the 1969 tour,
Chip MonckChip Monck is a Tony Award winning lighting designer, most famously serving as the Master of Ceremonies at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Personal History:...
, explained that "the stage was one metre high – 39 inches for us - and [at Sears Point] it was on the top of a hill, so all the audience pressure was back upon them". Because of the short notice for the change of location, the stage couldn't be changed.
"We weren’t working with scaffolding, we were working in an older fashion with parallels. You could probably have put another stage below it … but nobody had one," Monck said.
Because the stage was so low, members of the
Hells AngelsThe Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
motorcycle club, led by
OaklandOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
chapter head
Ralph 'Sonny' BargerRalph Hubert "Sonny" Barger is a founding member of the Oakland, California, U.S. chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club....
, were asked to surround the stage to provide security.
Security
By some accounts, the
Hells AngelsThe Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
were hired as security by the management of the Rolling Stones, on the recommendation of the Grateful Dead (who had previously used the Angels for security at performances without incident), for $500 worth of beer — a story that has been denied by parties who were directly involved. According to Rolling Stones' road manager
Sam CutlerSam Cutler is best known as former tour manager for the Rolling Stones. In numerous magazine articles and books, Cutler has been casually demonized as an unwitting, yet primary, catalyst of the violence that took place at the 1969 Altamont Free Concert.-Early life and career:Sam Cutler was born...
, "the only agreement there ever was ... the Angels would make sure nobody tampered with the generators, but that was the extent of it. But there was no way 'They're going to be the police force' or anything like that. That's all bollocks." The deal was made at a meeting between Cutler, Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully, and a Hell's Angel called Pete Knell, of the Angels' San Francisco chapter. According to Cutler, the arrangement was that all the bands lined up for the free concert were supposed to share the $500 cost for beer to pay the Angels, "[but] the person who paid it was me, and I never got it back, to this day.”
Hells Angels member Sweet William recalled this exchange between Cutler and himself at a meeting prior to the concert, where Cutler had asked them to provide security:
- "We don't police things. We're not a security force. We go to concerts to enjoy ourselves and have fun."
- "Well, what about helping people out - you know, giving directions and things?"
- "Sure, we can do that."
When Cutler asked how they would like to be paid, William replied, "we like beer." In the documentary
Gimme Shelter Sonny Barger states that the Hells Angels were not interested in policing the event, and that organizers had told him that he and his fellow Angels would be required to do little more than sit on the edge of the stage and drink beer and just make sure there weren't any murders or rapes going on. Other accounts also state that the initial arrangement was for the Hells Angels to watch over the equipment, but that Cutler later moved them, and their beer, near the stage to placate them or to protect the stage.
In 2009, Cutler explained his decision to use the Angels. “I was talking with them, because I was interested in the security of my band - everyone’s security, for that matter. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. They were the only people who were strong and together. [They had to protect the stage] because it was descending into absolute chaos. Who was going to stop it?” Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully said if the Angels hadn't been on the stage, "that whole crowd could have easily passed out, and rolled down onto the stage. There was no barrier."
Stefan Ponek, who hosted a December 7, 1969, KSAN-FM radio broadcast of a four-hour, "day after" post-concert telephone call-in forum (and who also helped organize the event), provided the following for the 2000 release of the
Gimme Shelter DVD: "What we learned in the broadcast was pretty much startling: These guys - the Angels - had been hired and paid with $500 of beer, on a truck with ice, to essentially bring in the Stones and keep people off the stage. That was the understanding, that was the deal. And it seemed like there was not a lot of disagreement over that; that seemed to emerge as a fact, because it became rather apparent that the Stones didn't know what kind of people they were dealing with."
The
Gimme Shelter DVD contains extensive excerpts from that broadcast. A Hell's Angels member who identified himself as "Pete, from Hells Angels San Francisco" (most likely Pete Knell, president of the San Francisco chapter), says "They offered us $500 worth of beer (to) go there and take care of the stage...we took this $500 worth of beer to do it." Sonny Barger, who also called into the KSAN forum, states: "We were told by one of the (other Hells Angels) clubs if we showed up down there (and) sat on the stage and drink some beer..that the Stones manager or somebody had bought for us." In his lengthy call, Barger mentions the beer deal yet again: "I ain't no cop, I ain't never going to ever pretend to be no cop. I didn't go there to police nothing, man. They told me if I could sit on the edge of the stage so nobody could climb over me, I could drink beer until the show was over. And that's what I went there to do."
Emmett GroganEmmett Grogan was a founder of the Diggers, a radical community-action group of Improv actors in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California...
(founder of the radical community-action group, the
DiggersThe Diggers were a radical community-action group of activists and Improv actors operating from 1966–68, based in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. Their politics were such that they have sometimes been categorized as "left-wing." More accurately, they were "community anarchists"...
), who was intimately involved in the organization of the event (especially at the two earlier-planned venues), confirmed the $500 beer arrangement on that same KSAN forum with Ponek.
"Pete" also tells host Ponek that the Angels were hired by Cutler due to some rowdy, anxious on-stage incidents during the Stones' Oakland and Miami concerts weeks earlier that Fall 1969 tour. As security guards, Pete says "We ain't into that security", but they agreed after the beer offer. He said other than being told to "just keep people off the stage", Cutler gave the Hells Angels very little specific instructions for stage security: "They didn't say nothing to us about any of that." And although the Angels are not security guards, "If we say we're going to do something, we do it. If we decide to do it, it's done. No matter what, how far we have to go to do it." (The similar lack of detailed security instructions by the concert's management was also mentioned by Barger during his telephone call-in.)
Altamont Speedway owner Dick Carter hired hundreds of professional, plainclothes security guards, ostensibly more for the purpose of protecting his property rather than for the safety and well-being of the concertgoers. (Barger mentions these guards, as identified by their wearing of "little white buttons".)
Since
Ken KeseyKenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
had invited the Hells Angels to one of his outdoor
Acid TestsThe Acid Tests were a series of parties held by Ken Kesey in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid 1960s, centered entirely around the use of, experimentation with, and advocacy of, the psychedelic drug LSD, also known as "acid."...
, the bikers had been perceived by the hippies as akin to "
noble savageThe term noble savage , expresses the concept an idealized indigene, outsider , and refers to the literary stock character of the same...
s". They were considered "outlaw brothers of the counterculture". They had provided security at Grateful Dead shows without reported violence. Further, the Rolling Stones may have been misled by their experience with a British contingent of self-described "Hells Angels", a non-outlaw group of admirers of American biker-gear, who had provided nonviolent security at a free concert the Stones had given earlier that year in
Hyde Park, LondonHyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
. Cutler claims he never had any illusions about the nature of Californian Hell's Angels ("That’s another canard foisted on the world by the press", he said ), but Rock Scully remembers explaining to the Stones what the 'real' Angels were like after watching the Hyde Park concert.
Although peaceful at first, over the course of the day, the mood of both the crowd and the Angels became progressively agitated, intoxicated and violent. The Angels had been drinking their free beer all day in front of the stage, and most were highly drunk. Fueled by
LSDLysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
and amphetamines, the crowd had also become antagonistic and unpredictable, attacking each other, the Angels, and the performers. A Jagger biographer,
Anthony ScadutoAnthony Scaduto is a journalist and biographer of rock musicians. His most famous work is Dylan, a biography of Bob Dylan, first published in 1972...
, in
Mick Jagger: Everybody's Lucifer, wrote that the only time the crowd seemed to calm down to any degree was during a set by the country-rocking Flying Burrito Brothers. By the time the Rolling Stones took stage in the early evening, the mood had taken a decidedly ugly turn as numerous fights had erupted between Angels and crowd members and within the crowd itself. Denise Jewkes of local San Francisco rock band
the Ace of CupsThe Ace of Cups was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1967. It has been described as one of the first all-female rock bands.The members of the Ace of Cups were Mary Gannon , Marla Hunt , Denise Kaufman , Mary Ellen Simpson , and Diane Vitalich...
, six months pregnant, was hit in the head by an empty beer bottle thrown from the crowd and suffered a
skull fractureA skull fracture is a break in one or more of the bones in the skull usually occurring as a result of blunt force trauma. If the force of the impact is excessive the bone may fracture at or near the site of the impact...
. The Angels proceeded to arm themselves with sawn-off pool cues and motorcycle chains to drive the crowd further back from the stage.
After the crowd (perhaps accidentally) toppled one of the Angels' motorcycles, the Angels became even more aggressive, including toward the performers.
Marty BalinMarty Balin is an American musician. He is best known as the founder and one of the lead singers of the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane.-Early life:Martyn Buchwald was born in Cincinnati, Ohio...
of
Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
was punched in the head and knocked unconscious by an Angel during the band's set, as seen in the documentary film
Gimme Shelter The
Grateful DeadThe Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
had been scheduled to play between Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Rolling Stones, but after hearing about the Balin incident from
SantanaSantana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
drummer
Michael ShrieveMichael Shrieve is an American drummer, percussionist, and later, an electronic music composer. He is best known as the drummer in Carlos Santana's eponymous band, playing on their first eight albums from 1969 through 1974...
, they refused to play and left the venue, citing the quickly degenerating security situation.
The Rolling Stones waited until sundown to perform. Stanley Booth stated that part of the reason for the delay was that Bill Wyman had missed the helicopter ride to the venue. When they began their set, a tightly packed group of between 4,000 and 5,000 jammed to the very edge of the stage, and many attempted to climb onto it.
Death of Meredith Hunter
Lead singer
Mick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
of the Rolling Stones, who had already been punched by a concert goer within seconds of emerging from his helicopter, was visibly intimidated by the unruly situation, urging everyone to "Just be cool down in the front there, don't push around." Within a minute of starting their third song, "
Sympathy for the Devil"Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by The Rolling Stones which first appeared as the opening track on the band's 1968 album Beggars Banquet. It was written by Mick Jagger credited to Jagger/Richards...
", a fight erupted in the front of the crowd, at the foot of the stage. After a lengthy pause and another appeal for calm, the band restarted "Sympathy" and continued their set with less incident until the start of "
Under My Thumb"Under My Thumb" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for The Rolling Stones. Its first appearance was as an album track on 1966's Aftermath...
". Some of the Hells Angels got into a scuffle with
Meredith HunterMeredith Curly Hunter was a male spectator at the Altamont Free Concert. During the performance by The Rolling Stones, Hunter pulled out a gun after being punched by a Hells Angel and was then stabbed to death by a Hells Angel serving as a security guard...
, age 18, when he attempted to get onstage with other fans. One of the Hells Angels grabbed Hunter's head, punched him, and chased him back into the crowd. At that point, Hunter returned to the stage where, according to
Gimme ShelterGimme Shelter is a 1970 documentary film directed by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, chronicling the last weeks of The Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour, which culminated in the disastrous Altamont Free Concert. The film is named after "Gimme Shelter", the lead track from The Rolling...
producer
Porter BibbPorter Bibb is an American media producer and publisher. He is best known for being the first publisher of Rolling Stone magazine.Bibb is a senior investment banker specializing in media, entertainment, and technology ventures...
, Hunter's girlfriend Patty Bredahoff found him and tearfully begged him to calm down and move further back in the crowd with her; but he was reportedly enraged, irrational and so high he could barely walk. Rock Scully, who could see the audience clearly from the top of a truck by the stage, said of Hunter, “I saw what he was looking at, that he was crazy, he was on drugs, and that he had murderous intent. There was no doubt in my mind that he intended to do terrible harm to Mick or somebody in the Rolling Stones, or somebody on that stage."
Footage from the documentary shows Hunter (seen in the film in a bright lime-green suit) drawing a long-barreled revolver from his jacket, and Hells Angel
Alan PassaroAlan David Passaro was a Hells Angels member known for the December 6, 1969, stabbing of Meredith Hunter to death at the Altamont Free Concert during The Rolling Stones' set, as seen in the 1970 documentary film Gimme Shelter. Charged with murder, Passaro was tried in a court of law in January...
, armed with a knife, running at Hunter from the side, parrying the gun with his left hand and stabbing him with his right. The footage was shot by Eric Saarinen who was on stage taking pictures of the crowd and
Baird BryantWenzell Baird Bryant was an American filmmaker. He is best known as the cameraman on the Albert Maysles film Gimme Shelter who filmed the fatal stabbing of Rolling Stones concertgoer Meredith Hunter by Hells Angel Alan Passaro at the Altamont Free Concert in December 1969.As a cinematographer,...
, who climbed atop a bus. Saarinen was unaware of having caught the homicide on film. This was discovered more than a week later when raw footage was screened in the New York offices of the Maysles Brothers. In the film sequence, lasting about two seconds, a two-meter opening in the crowd appears, leaving Bredahoff in the center. Hunter enters the opening from the left. His hand rises, and the silhouette of a revolver is clearly seen against Bredahoff's light dress. A muzzle flash could be construed, or perhaps it is just the film grain. Passaro is seen entering from the right and delivering only two stabs as he pushes Hunter off-screen and the opening closes around Bredahoff. Passaro is reported to have stabbed Hunter five times in the upper back. Witnesses also reported Hunter was stomped on by several Hells Angels while he was on the ground. The gun was recovered and turned over to police. Hunter's autopsy confirmed he was high on
methamphetamine Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
when he died. Passaro was arrested and tried for murder in the summer of 1971, but was acquitted after a jury viewed concert footage showing Hunter brandishing the revolver and concluded that Passaro had acted in self-defense.
The Rolling Stones were aware of the skirmish, but not the stabbing, and felt that if they had stopped playing then the crowd would have become even more unruly and start to riot, leading to more chaos.
In 2003, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office initiated a two-year investigation into the possibility of a second Hell's Angel having taken part in the stabbing. Finding insufficient support for this hypothesis, and reaffirming that Passaro acted alone, the office closed the case for good on May 25, 2005.
Reactions
The Altamont concert is often contrasted with the
Woodstock festivalWoodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
that took place less than four months earlier. While Woodstock represented "peace and love," Altamont came to be viewed as the end of the hippie era and the
de facto conclusion of late-1960s American youth culture: "Altamont became, whether fairly or not, a symbol for the death of the Woodstock Nation." Rock music critic
Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
wrote in 1972 that "Writers focus on Altamont not because it brought on the end of an era but because it provided such a complex metaphor for the way an era ended."
Jefferson AirplaneJefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
drummer
Spencer DrydenSpencer Dryden was an American musician best known as the longest-serving drummer for Jefferson Airplane. He also played with New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Dinosaurs, and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.-Early life:...
was disillusioned by Altamont and left the group two months later. Future rock concerts were banned at the site.
The Grateful Dead wrote several songs about, or in response to, what lyricist
Robert HunterRobert C. Hunter is an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his association with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.-Biography:He was born Robert Burns in San Luis Obispo, California...
called "the Altamont affair," including "New Speedway Boogie" (featuring the line "One way or another, this darkness got to give") and "Mason's Children". Both songs were written and recorded during sessions for the early 1970 album
Workingman's DeadWorkingman's Dead is the fourth studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded in February 1970 and originally released on June 14, 1970....
, but "Mason's Children" was viewed as too "popular" stylistically and was consequently not included on the album.
The song "Transmaniacon MC" by
Blue Öyster CultBlue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
references "below the stage at Altamont" in the lyrics written by the band's then-manager
Sandy PearlmanSandy Pearlman is an American music producer, artist manager, professor, poet, songwriter, and once was a record company executive...
.
The concert is repeatedly mentioned in
Norman SpinradNorman Richard Spinrad is an American science fiction author.Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco,...
's 1987 novel
Little Heroes as one of the major events in the life of the main female protagonist.
The Altamont concert and the stabbing incident inspired
Hungarian writer
Tibor DéryTibor Déry was a Hungarian writer. In his early years he was a supporter of communism, but after being excluded from the ranks of the Hungarian Communist Party in 1953 he started writing satire on the communist regime in Hungary.Georg Lukács praised Dery as being 'the greatest depicter of human...
's 1971 novel,
Imaginary Report from an American Pop Festival (
Képzelt riport egy amerikai popfesztiválról), which dealt with the death of a Hungarian immigrant girl on a fictional rock festival in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. The novel was later adapted into a very successful stage musical by Gábor Presser and Anna Adamis.
In 2008 a former FBI agent asserted that some members of the Hell's Angels had conspired to murder Mick Jagger in retribution for The Rolling Stones' lack of support following the concert, and for the negative portrayal of the Angels in the film. The conspirators reportedly used a boat to approach a residence where Jagger was staying on Long Island, New York; the plot failed when the boat was nearly sunk by a storm. Jagger's spokesperson has refused to comment on the matter.
The
Seth PutnamSeth Edward Putnam was the founder of grindcore band Anal Cunt. He was known for his brutal screaming and lyrics that either shock, offend, or invoke morbid humor...
-led
grindcoreGrindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
band Insult wrote a song titled "Altamont Was Cool," which was released on their split CD with Ruido in 1998.
The Australian band Black Cab released an album in 2004 entitled
Altamont Diary. Loosely based on the Altamont Free Concert, it features a cover of the Grateful Dead song "New Speedway Boogie." Sam Cutler became involved with the band's second release
Jesus East after hearing of
Altamont Diary.
American artist
Sam DurantSam Durant is a multimedia artist whose works engage a variety of social, political, and cultural issues. Often referencing American history, his work explores the varying relationships between culture and politics, engaging subjects as diverse as the civil rights movement, southern rock music,...
referenced the Altamont Free Concert in his 1998 sculptural installation "Partially Buried 1960s/70s Dystopia Revealed (Mick Jagger at Altamont) & Utopia Reflected (Wavy Gravy at Woodstock)."
The rock band
AltamontAltamont is a rock band from San Francisco, California. It was formed in 1994 as a side project by Dale Crover of Melvins, along with Joey Osbourne and Dan Southwick of Acid King...
, a side project by
Dale CroverDale Crover is an American rock musician. Crover is best known as the drummer for Melvins and Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, and for a brief time, drummer for Nirvana. He is also guitarist and vocalist for Altamont...
of the Melvins, is named after the concert.
The rock band Hackman released a song "Fuck You, I Played Altamont" on their album
The New Normal.
In the famous song "
American Pie"American Pie" is the title of a song by American folk rock singer-songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971, the single was a number-one U.S. hit for four weeks in 1972. A re-release in 1991 did not chart in the U.S., but reached No. 2 in the UK...
" by
Don McLeanDonald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
there are some lines which refer to Altamont: "And as I watched him on the stage/My hands were clenched in fists of rage/No angel born in hell/Could break that Satan's spell/And as the flames climbed high into the night/To light the sacrificial rite/I saw Satan laughing with delight."
The Fox television show
GleeGlee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
has referenced this event twice. In season one, Rod Remington remarks having "seen that guy get shot." In the episode "
Prom Queen"Prom Queen" is the twentieth episode of the second season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 42nd overall. It aired May 10, 2011 on Fox in the United States. The episode was written by series creator Ian Brennan, directed by Eric Stoltz, and featured the return of guest...
" of season 2,
Santana LopezSantana Lopez is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Naya Rivera, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Santana was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan...
states that the Bully Whips will be "like the Hell's Angels to The Rolling Stones at Altamont", with the joke being her lack of awareness at the disaster that occurred.
Set lists
The Rolling Stones
- "Jumpin' Jack Flash
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released as a single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by Rolling Stone, the song was perceived by some as the band's return to their blues roots after the psychedelia of their preceding...
"
- "Carol
"Carol" is a song written by Chuck Berry, first released by Chuck Berry in 1958. It was later covered by The Beatles for a live BBC performance during 1963, this version was released on the 1994 compilation album Live at the BBC. It was also recorded by The Rolling Stones and released on their...
"
- "Sympathy for the Devil
"Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by The Rolling Stones which first appeared as the opening track on the band's 1968 album Beggars Banquet. It was written by Mick Jagger credited to Jagger/Richards...
" (stopped then restarted because of fights breaking out)
- "The Sun Is Shining"
- "Stray Cat Blues
"Stray Cat Blues" is the eighth song on the Rolling Stones' album Beggars Banquet. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Jimmy Miller...
"
- "Love in Vain
"Love in Vain" is a 1937 blues song written by Robert Johnson.The song is noted for its sad lyrics, tone, and style. In the 1991 documentary film The Search for Robert Johnson, John P. Hammond plays Robert's recording of "Love in Vain" for the elderly Willie Mae Powell, the woman for whom it was...
"
- "Under My Thumb
"Under My Thumb" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for The Rolling Stones. Its first appearance was as an album track on 1966's Aftermath...
" (stopped then restarted because of fights breaking out)
- "Brown Sugar
"Brown Sugar" is a song by The Rolling Stones. It is the opening track and lead single from the English rock band's 1971 album Sticky Fingers...
" (first live performance)
- "Midnight Rambler
"Midnight Rambler" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed.The lyrics take the point of view of a roaming rapist/murderer; some of the words are reportedly quotes from Albert DeSalvo's confession to the Boston Strangler's crimes. Keith...
"
- "Live with Me
"Live with Me" is a song by the Rolling Stones from their classic album Let It Bleed, released in November 1969. The song is unique in a number of respects: It was one of the first recorded contributions by guitarist Mick Taylor, who joined the band in June, 1969...
"
- "Gimme Shelter"
- "Little Queenie"
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...
"
- "Honky Tonk Women
"Honky Tonk Women" is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single on 4 July 1969 in the UK and a week later in the US, it topped the charts in both nations.-Inspiration and Recording:...
"
- "Street Fighting Man
"Street Fighting Man" is a song by English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet. Called the band's "most political song", Rolling Stone ranked the song #295 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.-Inspiration:Originally titled and recorded...
"
Further reading
- McNally, Dennis. A Long Strange Trip: the Inside History of the Grateful Dead (First Edition), 2002. ISBN 0-7679-1185-7
- Wyman, Bill. Rolling with the Stones (First Edition), 2002. ISBN 0-7894-8967-8
- Storm thwarted Mick Jagger murder attempt Telegraph, UK, Sunday, 2 Mar. 2008