Woodstock University addresses the educational interface of 1969's iconic Woodstock Festival, as a number of its attendees and performers would later become academics 'with a touch of gray,' and it also considers the role of music in Woodstock's legacy as the embodiment of 1960s countercultural idealism, escapism, and activism. A self-mythologizing event, as indicated by congratulatory stage announcements, Woodstock made a real-time claim for its own historic importance. Elevated by its remarkable (and in some cases doctored) audio, celluloid, and oral history afterlives, Woodstock would enhance the aura of rock star celebrity, and in the process expose the counterculture as a cash cow and weaponize the machinery of corporate rock.

The essays in this collection are the participant observations of performers and attendees of Woodstock and related festivals, and also the reflections of cultural historians on aspects of the festival, its representation, and its ambiguous legacy.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Popular Music and Society.

About the Author

Oliver Lovesey is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia, Kelowna, Canada, and is the author of monographs on Ngugi wa Thiong'o and George Eliot. He edited Popular Music and the Postcolonial, and his most recent book is Popular Music Autobiography.

Book Information
ISBN 9781032335261
Author Oliver Lovesey
Format Paperback
Page Count 120
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 220g