The Altamont Curse: The Night the Stones Invented Death at a Rock Show

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00:00The Altamont Curse – The Night the Stones Invented Death at a Rock Show

00:05Four months after Woodstock promised peace and love, the Rolling Stones decided to throw

00:09their own free festival.

00:11What could go wrong?

00:13Everything, as it turned out.

00:15December 6th, 1969, at Altamont Speedway became Rock's Darkest Day, a cautionary tale that

00:21reads like someone fed Murphy's Law through a Marshall's stack and cranked it to 11.

00:26The problems were clear from the start.

00:28The venue was finalized days before the event, the stage was low and unprotected, and security

00:33was handled by the Hells Angels in exchange for $500 worth of beer.

00:38With no professional crowd control, violence broke out early and escalated throughout the

00:43day.

00:44Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin was knocked unconscious on stage, and the Grateful Dead,

00:48co-organizers of the event, withdrew before performing.

00:52The chaos was not accidental, but the result of poor planning, inadequate security, and

00:57critical failures in risk management.

00:59The Rolling Stones finally took the stage as darkness fell.

01:03The crowd pressed against that ridiculously low platform like a human tsunami.

01:08During Under My Thumb, the song's title now carrying sick irony, 18-year-old Meredith Hunter

01:14approached the stage and was pushed back by angels.

01:16He returned holding a gun.

01:19Then Alan Passaro's knife found Hunter's back.

01:22The Maisel's brothers caught it all on film for their documentary Gimme Shelter.

01:27Four people died that night, Hunter's murder, two hit-and-run victims, and one drowning.

01:33The footage would later acquit Passaro on self-defense grounds, but the damage to Rock's

01:37utopian dreams was irreversible.

01:40Altamont became the anti-Woodstock, exposing the limits of peace and love idealism.

01:46Intended as a counterculture celebration, it instead became a symbol of violence and chaos.

01:52The so-called Altamont curse now looms over later festival tragedies, from the Who's Cincinnati

01:57Concert to Astroworld, marking the event as a lasting warning about prioritizing atmosphere

02:03over safety.

02:04Well, all this week, I got here to get a copy of the song.

02:10So, if I think the song goes wrong, you can hear from me, a woman, a woman, a group of

02:24all the different things.

02:25I love it.

02:26That's an important point.

02:27And I love you, boy.

02:28I love you, boy.

02:29I love you.

02:30I love you, boy.

02:31I love you, boy.