DAILY DIRT: Woodstock, fueled by the iconic rendition of the national anthem by Jimi Hendrix, earns No. 1 impactful spot

Can you imagine what a ticket Woodstock — at today’s concert costs — would have gone for in 1969? … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,066 of The Daily Dirt

1. The most impactful moment in rock music history? No. 1 on our list is Woodstock.

Over the years, the Woodstock phenomenon has actually grown in importance in serving as an illustration connected to the political and social pressures of the time.

Woodstock also showed that large crowds of young people could be gathered together minus catastrophe. Woodstock led to larger rock concerts in arenas and stadiums.

If you have been with us in recent days, you will remember the network TV debuts of Elvis (No. 3) and The Beatles (No. 2) preceded Woodstock.

No. 1: Woodstock

I can remember, in the latter stages of the summer of 1969, “Newsweek” magazine arrived at our house on a hot summer day in late August. As I was paging through the publication, I came across a relatively short story near the back about a music festival called “Woodstock” in upper New York state, held on a 600-acre dairy farm.

There was no color picture on the cover of the magazine, just a small black-and-white offering near the back. The fact that the story was about pop music was the hook for me, and the more I read the more I wondered why a bigger deal had not been made about this event. Many of the biggest names in rock had been part of that weekend. But this was late 1969 and rock music, while popular, was hardly center stage in a media still controlled by the Silent Generation.

But once word filtered about Woodstock, our world — once again — changed forever. Much like it did with the arrival of Elvis, and then the Beatles.In mid-August 1969, 32 acts and more than 400,000 attendees arrived at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., for “three days of peace, love, drugs, and most importantly, rock ’n’ roll”. 

“It was immediately obvious that the festival was going to be big, but no one knew just how iconic Woodstock would become,” according to historyfacts.com. “Despite various technical difficulties, food shortages and bad weather, the festival became a living embodiment of the 1960s counterculture.”

As for the lineup, it was quite impressive: The Who, Carlos Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, the Grateful Dead, The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — to name but a few.

There was also Jimi Hendrix, who gave arguably the most iconic performance of the entire festival with his stirring, feedback-fueled rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Which, to this day, still gives me goosebumps.

Here’s who got paid what that weekend:

The headliners

• $18,000: Jimi Hendrix
• $15,000: Blood, Sweat and Tears.
• $10,000: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez.
• $7,500: Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Band,
• $7,000: Sly & The Family Stone.
• $6,500: Canned Heat, Richie Havens.
• $6,250: The Who. 
• $5,000 each: Arlo Guthrie; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Others 

• Ravi Shankar: $4,500
• Johnny Winter: $3,750
• Ten Years After: $3,250

• Country Joe and the Fish: $2,500

• Grateful Dead: $2,500
• Incredible String Band: $2,250
• Mountain: $2,000
• Tim Hardin: $2,000
• Joe Cocker: $1,375
• Sweetwater: $1,250
• John Sebastian: $1,000
• Melanie: $750
• Santana: $750
• Sha Na Na: $700
• Keef Hartley: $500
• Quill: $375

2. Did you know (Part 131)

• That Stephen Stills auditioned to be one of The Monkees.
• That Rod Stewart auditioned to be the lead singer for Deep Purple.
• That one of the writers for the old CBS comedy show “Good Times” was David Letterman.
• That one of the guitar players who auditioned for KISS (but was rejected) was Richie Sambora, who went on to fame with Bon Jovi.
• That one of Bette Midler’s backup singers was a young Katey Sagal.
• One of the lawyers who worked on the defense team for Richard Nixon at the time of the Watergate fiasco was a young Diane Sawyer.

3. Season 50 of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” premieres Saturday, Sept. 28.

Here are the first five weeks of hosts and musical guests:

• Sept. 28: Jean Smart (Jelly Roll).
• Oct. 5: Nate Bargatze (Coldplay).
• Oct. 12: Ariana Grande (Stevie Nicks).
• Oct.19: Michael Keaton (Billie Eilish).
• Nov. 2: John Mulaney (Chappell Roan).

Steve Thought O’ The Day — One final thought on Woodstock: Despite being remarkably peaceful, there were three fatalities there, including two drug overdoses and a 17-year-old who was run over by a tractor.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Getting run over by a tractor sucks.