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00:05in the mid-1960s rock and roll was enjoying a golden age basking in the intricate lyrics of
00:12bob dylan the growing sophistication of the beatles the exuberant dance music of motown
00:20but from california a new more radical sound was emerging from a desire for musical experimentation
00:26and a new drug subculture focused around lsd rock was about to go psychedelic um the word psychedelic
00:34i'm not quite sure my mind precisely what it means i mean does it literally mean mind revealing does
00:40it mean a substitute for lsd does it mean lsd itself does it mean art forms like underground
00:46movies i mean is it any of these things all of these things or none of these things psychedelic
00:50music is music that expands your awareness your consciousness it's that simple i guess it would
00:57be music that kind of bleeds together on in hallucinogenic drugs everything kind of blends
01:03together you see colors and and you hear you taste sounds and you know the senses are kind of
01:08intertwined it's music that triggers some kind of response that takes your mind like beyond almost
01:15what you're hearing in some way i don't know that's probably a real lame explanation excellent floaty
01:24not clearly defined not terribly rhythmic not terribly melodic psychedelic frequently with psychedelics i
01:33couldn't talk to anybody i couldn't make myself understood and i couldn't understand what people
01:37were saying to me but i i could communicate with music no problem and crosby hit a
02:09in april 1966 the birds unveiled a record which put them at the vanguard of a new sound
02:16eight miles high
02:19and when you touch down
02:22you'll find that it's stranger than no
02:45i was trying to emulate the music of john coltrane i believe it was india and uh there was a
02:50repetitive line d do do and that and i wanted to get the almost the valves closing on the uh
02:56try to
02:57emulate that on the 12th string so the sustain made that possible with a it rings out like a wind
03:04instrument as opposed to a string instrument
03:22in the previous year the birds had topped the charts twice but this new record was barely on the
03:27shelves when disaster struck there was a report in the states called the gavin report it was a radio
03:33station tip sheet they sent little flyers around to radio stations telling them what songs they
03:39thought were good and which ones they didn't like so much and eight miles high came up on the list
03:44of
03:44ones they didn't like because they thought it was a drug song and they recommended that it not be
03:48played anymore on the radio and consequently it wasn't
03:53eight miles high was actually a very interesting example of censorship the gavin report accused
03:59eight miles high being about drugs and uh dylan's everybody must get stoned but of being about drugs i can't
04:11imagine why and uh we had a hit with eight miles high going at the time and uh they actually
04:20killed it
04:21uh elvis had been called lascivious the beatles sacrilegious but this was something new well i think
04:30the word high uh was a double meaning and we all knew it everyone in that at that time had
04:35experimented
04:36with drugs and there was a tongue-in-cheek thought about the word high but it wasn't the main thrust
04:41of
04:41the song we we had a strong feeling about drugs we thought now the drugs that we're talking about then
04:46were psychedelics and marijuana we thought that they would very much help us blow our generation
04:54loose from the 50s this is the drug lysergic acid diethylamide popularly known as lsd if you haven't
05:04heard of lsd you will lsd was a uniquely powerful drug just a tiny amount could produce wild perceptual
05:13distortions which aficionados dubbed psychedelic or mind revealing
05:20eight miles high was the most public evidence of a psychedelic scene that had been growing in
05:25california over the last few years at its center was a young writer who had been introduced to lsd at
05:31stanford university after acquiring his own supply he loaded up an old bus with amplifiers and strobe
05:38lights and went on the road to stage what he called the acid tests to me it's always been
05:46proof of a god that you can kind of sense intelligence up there uh god saying hey they're
05:54squared up over in america let's see what we can do with them gabriel said hey send them some of
05:58that new
05:58stuff we just developed the acid tests were a way of getting people together going through what can be
06:14a hellish experiment and finding that there's people around you who are doing the same thing and it's
06:31positive kesey's acid initiation ceremonies were wild chaotic events with light shows improvised
06:37happenings and musical interludes from a local r&b band they were a hairy bad looking bunch of guys i
06:45i uh wasn't that interested in their music but i sure felt that they were on their way to no
06:52good
06:55what we did was r b plus a large amount of weirdness inserted into it you know and uh
07:04we just didn't seem to be able to not do it you know i don't know why we started doing
07:08it we just
07:08it just started coming up you know and so all of a sudden we would be doing a simple r
07:13&b song and it
07:13would turn into this 20 minute thing jerry garcia was well known on the san francisco music scene
07:26he had played in jug bands folk bands and blues bands now he added lsd to his list of influences
07:34improvisation was the first thing i learned about music i mean the the first concept that was introduced
07:40to me was improvise you know it was like for me it was like what music was really you know
07:46when you
07:47played played you made it up as you went along even if the bands were playing there was always
07:56something else going on in another corner where there would be crowds of people involved uh watching
08:02neil cassidy toss a hammer in a strobe light or uh crawling into the speakers huge puddles of people
08:09would crawl into the speakers and lie there just stare at the sky or the ceiling and uh yeah it
08:15was
08:15it was just the most diverse uh collection of experiences that you could put in one room
08:25here came this businessman by and he saw all these funny looking people there and uh he said what is
08:30this we said his answer is his voice across he said a dollar a dollar you know he paid his
08:36dollar and he
08:36came on in and at about 11 o'clock as usual we passed out the acid about an hour later
08:44you saw him and his
08:45eyes were swimming around his head and he saw a shadow on the floor and he says he looked in
08:51the shadow and
08:52he says the king walks and he walks like this he puts his umbrella over his uh shoulder says the
09:00king turns
09:01around and he says now the king dances pretty soon he was dancing with these little hippie girls swirling
09:08around and having uh a great time and i've often wondered what came of this guy i love my heart
09:24people in san francisco in january 1966 kesey and his merry pranksters staged a three-day acid test in san
09:32francisco a city known to revel in non-conformity san francisco is has always been i i think even from
09:41its
09:41earliest days filled with crazy people it's a seaport one of the around the world mostly seaports
09:47is where things happen most because people from other cultures were continually going through them
09:51you know so ideas would get interwoven that probably has something to do in the 1950s san francisco had
09:57been home to the beat generation the bars and bookshops of north beach were full of pop poetry folk music
10:04and blues now the young hipsters greeted this new music with open arms and open minds
10:16at first it was a small scene nestled in an old victorian neighborhood on the edge of golden gate
10:21park but soon haight ashbury bolted the world's first psychedelic shop its first psychedelic newspaper
10:28and its leading psychedelic bands
10:33just about every day on a sunny day there would be drummers down here drumming and people uh settling
10:40into their lsd trip i mean a lot of people took their first trips in golden gate park and and
10:46had that
10:46cheery smiling uh community feeling uh that things are going to be pretty darn good we're going someplace
10:56everyone was influenced by the idea of doing basically two things one end the war in vietnam
11:04and secondly start a whole new model of living in america
11:12the hippies are capable of extremely hard work even though they tend to approach work
11:16as the rest of us do sport some of them are very successful this is the house of a popular
11:23local band which plays hard rock music they call themselves the grateful dead they live together
11:29comfortably in what could be called affluence do you think that your movement or your idea the hip
11:36idea is essentially connected up with drugs yeah i would say that that that's uh a large part of the
11:42framework i think most of the people who are hippies now came to it through drugs yeah but it's not
11:47a
11:47dope movement we're not trying to we're not pushing no we i think personally that uh the more people turn
11:53on the better world it's going to be we were talking before about a way of being and and and
11:59one of the
12:00ways of of achieving that being is through through uh drugs we we were the mayors of the hait ashbury
12:09our
12:10front steps the town hall it was just busy all the time the doors were always open to everybody the
12:19grateful dead lived on the stoop which is on the front steps and we just hung there it was just
12:26an
12:26amazing neighborhood and janice lived right down the street and big brother the rest of her band was
12:32around the corner and boss gags big brother and the holding company had come from the local blues scene
12:46but now their music took a much more eclectic approach we played a lot of things we played hall
12:52of the mountain king from the piergen suite of the greek and we played a tune called bacon or we
12:58thought
12:58about it i'm not sure if this is conceptual art and we're going to put a hot plate on the
13:02amplifier and
13:03cook bacon and play the song until the bacon was done actually later that was dumping the bacon cooking
13:21it all played straight blues you know there's just so much you can do with that
13:25to a certain degree you know we wanted that that other step beyond yeah like blues and technicolor yeah
13:32blues and technicolor in may 1966 they were joined by a new lead singer who had sung the blues all
13:39the
13:39way from port arthur texas the thing that makes this what they call the san francisco music scene as far
13:58as i'm concerned is like first of all the freedom to create here you know for some reason like a
14:03lot
14:03of musicians ended up here and ended up together and uh were had complete freedom to do whatever they
14:08wanted to and so they came up with their own kind of music what do you think sam
14:22that's what we call love music baby i think we're the perfect band for her because we didn't channel
14:30her into this real structured activity that we had all prepared you know if she would have gone to los
14:35angeles and joined the mamas and papas which it was bandied about at one time or taj mahal's band or
14:42whatever she would have been put into this very structured place because they were all very
14:47accomplished musicians and they knew what they were doing and but with us she could develop because we
14:52didn't know anything either but we didn't know anything either but we had a lot of enthusiasm
15:00this can't be
15:02Oh, baby.
15:04Baby!
15:06Baby!
15:06I'm not gonna say.
15:09Please, please.
15:11Oh, no.
15:11Please.
15:12Oh, please.
15:14Oh, please.
15:17And I want somebody to tell me.
15:21You're the one to be wild.
15:25And they're telling me why love is love.
15:28Well, it's like a ball and a chain.
15:50San Francisco boasted several old Victorian ballrooms,
15:53which were soon pressed into service for psychedelic happenings.
15:59We were not playing to a watching and waiting audience.
16:03We were playing to dancers,
16:05people who were taking LSD or other kinds of chemicals and dancing.
16:09I mean, dancing their hearts out.
16:11So when we played it to the last,
16:13people used to say you played it to the last for an hour and 20 minutes, what?
16:17It was like easy, because people were like working it out.
16:23See that girl, where I wasn't alone,
16:26whistling and singing, she's a carrier along.
16:30And laughing in her eyes, dancing in her feet,
16:33she's a neon light, finding she's a man on the street.
16:36Hey, hey, hey,
16:39where are you going to come and find every day?
16:43Hey, hey, hey,
16:45where are you going to come and find every day?
16:49But while the San Francisco bands were polishing their sound on the ballroom circuit,
16:54another group prepared to leave the touring treadmill.
16:57In August 1966,
17:00the Beatles played their last gig in San Francisco's Candlestick Park.
17:04And in the same month,
17:06they released a new album,
17:07which showed that they too were moving in a radically new direction.
17:11I don't know where you were,
17:12when the first time you ever heard Tomorrow Never Knows,
17:15somebody pulled us in off the street in 1967,
17:19in the hate,
17:20it was a 66, 66, I think,
17:22pulled us right off the street into a record store,
17:24said, you've got to listen to this.
17:26You've got to listen to this.
17:27And it was Tomorrow Never Knows.
17:28So we felt very strongly at that time
17:31that the Beatles were on the same wavelength as we were.
17:33In fact,
17:34everybody in San Francisco was around the world too.
17:44Turn off your mind,
17:46relax and flow downstream.
17:51This is not dying.
17:55This is not dying.
17:57After years on the road,
17:59the Beatles had grown tired of screaming fans
18:01and now wanted to explore the possibilities of the studio.
18:05They too had been turned on to LSD
18:07and were experimenting with Eastern religion and music.
18:11John came with this idea,
18:12this song,
18:13which was almost a chant.
18:16And he actually said that he wanted his voice
18:18to sound like the Dalai Lama on a mountaintop.
18:22And it was a very insistent drum beat by Ringo,
18:25which was quite interesting.
18:28And Paul had been experimenting with tape recorders
18:32and he would bring me these weird loops
18:34made from guitars or just singing noises
18:38or all sorts of things.
18:41And by having them on different machines,
18:43you have a loop on a machine
18:45and then we fed that through,
18:46through the console.
18:48So that by raising any one of the faders
18:51at any one time,
18:52like an organ stop,
18:54the sound would come up.
18:55So the console in the studio
18:58became a playing desk.
19:02We have a special man who sits here
19:04and goes like this.
19:06And the guitar turns into a piano or something, you know.
19:10And then you may say,
19:11why don't you use a piano?
19:12Because the piano sounds like a guitar.
19:18Music from all over the world
19:20was thrown into the psychedelic melting pot.
19:24George Harrison studied sitar
19:26with master musician Ravi Shankar.
19:29And the birds made their own synthesis.
19:32I first heard Ravi Shankar back in 1964
19:35when Jim Dixon played some of the stuff
19:38that they'd been recording over at World Pacific
19:40where he worked.
19:42And Ravi was one of their artists.
19:43And we loved it.
19:45I'd never heard anything like Indian music before.
19:47And Crosby and I got into it on the 12 strings.
19:50We started playing...
19:57Trying to emulate the sound of the sitar
19:59on the 12 string.
20:23I'm glad that I was almost 47
20:26going 50.
20:28Otherwise, I might have lost my head
20:30like many, most of them do, you know,
20:34with that adulation.
20:36It was just being treated like a rock star.
20:39I'm sure you must have been asked this
20:41lots of times before,
20:42but what's your opinion of
20:45sort of English pop groups,
20:47the American pop groups
20:48using sitar and the Indian influence
20:50in their records?
20:52Well, I'm afraid that
20:55this sudden interest that
20:56there seems to be now might go away.
20:59What made me very angry
21:01that they all said
21:02that in India, everyone takes drugs.
21:05Unless you take drugs,
21:06you cannot meditate,
21:07you cannot play music,
21:08you cannot have sex.
21:11And strange,
21:12which is completely wrong, you know.
21:16It's a beautiful morning
21:18I think I'm full of my heart.
21:241967 opened on a high note.
21:28In January,
21:3020,000 hippies crowded into Golden Gate Park
21:32for a taste of things to come.
21:38First thing in the morning,
21:39Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder
21:41and Lenore Kandel
21:42and other poets circumambulated the field
21:44in order to purify it
21:46using Tibetan mantras and chants.
21:49And as the day went on,
21:51the stage was set up,
21:53the bands came with their equipment,
21:55and people started to come in.
22:04The band we call
22:06the gathering of the tribes.
22:08When you walked into that park that day
22:11and it was so full of pot smoke,
22:14you could barely see,
22:15but it was totally crowded with people
22:18and camped out all over.
22:20It looked like this.
22:21It looked like a Chippewa village.
22:26The human being was
22:27a very interesting experience for me.
22:29I remember we got the word
22:30that was going to happen in Berkeley
22:31and then in the morning
22:32taking some LSD
22:34and going over to be in the audience
22:36and just experience it.
22:37And when I was coming on to the LSD
22:39and sitting there
22:40and I remember seeing everybody up on stage
22:41and thinking,
22:42this is really great.
22:44This is like,
22:44these are all the princes and princesses
22:46of the new tribe
22:47and we're the tribes.
22:51I would say this
22:52to all the members of the establishment,
22:56we are happy and proud
22:58to have you in our brave new world.
23:02We realized at the time
23:04that we were communicating something to America.
23:06We were communicating
23:07that thousands of American youths
23:10could gather together in peace and love
23:12and that we were a force
23:15in the American political and social framework.
23:22The human being
23:23turned the Haight-Ashbury scene
23:25into national news
23:26and the major record companies
23:28soon came calling.
23:29I took the president of Columbia Records
23:33to the Haight
23:34with his chief honchos.
23:36We were out here for the party
23:38presenting the debut
23:40of the Moby Grape album
23:41and they walked him down Haight Street
23:44and all he could see
23:45was dollar signs.
23:46And he was,
23:47wow,
23:48what's,
23:49hey,
23:50wow,
23:50and I'd say,
23:51look,
23:52this is really happening.
23:53You have to understand
23:54what's going on here.
23:55This is your son.
23:55This is your daughter.
23:57And he said,
23:57sign anybody you want.
23:58Sign anybody you want.
24:00He'd say,
24:00get these people,
24:02tell them.
24:02You can sign anybody you want.
24:03It was great
24:04because he just saw
24:04the cash register
24:05going off right away.
24:07They're coming out
24:09around the world
24:10ready for a friend to be.
24:14Warner Brothers
24:14sent their A&R man
24:16up to San Francisco
24:17to get the Grateful Dead
24:18out of the park
24:19and into the studio.
24:21We were nervous about them,
24:23so we thought
24:24maybe the best way
24:25to deal with
24:25the record company
24:26was to dose them.
24:28Then they'd know
24:29what we were all about
24:31and they'd be our friends
24:32and then we could trust them
24:33once they were high.
24:35So it became our objective
24:37to get Joe Smith
24:39and Warner Brothers people
24:41to San Francisco
24:42as many times as we could
24:44during these
24:44complex negotiations.
24:47And we'd hand them drinks
24:49which they would not drink.
24:50The record companies
24:51were regarded in San Francisco
24:52at that time
24:54as kind of
24:54robber barons
24:56who would just come in
24:57and plunder
24:59whatever they could
25:00and put it out
25:01and probably not
25:02support it too much
25:04and just let it hang there
25:05and see what would happen.
25:06And eventually
25:08the other bands
25:09were signing
25:10and so
25:10I personally felt
25:12that we made
25:13our first record too soon
25:14that we really
25:15weren't ready to record.
25:16We went to a jazz label.
25:18It was called Mainstream.
25:19It's actually a jazz phrase
25:20meaning
25:21the conventional
25:22mainstream of music.
25:25And when their needles
25:26would go in the red
25:27on the VU meters
25:28they would panic
25:31and that's kind of
25:32where we wanted them
25:33to be in the red
25:33all the time
25:34and they didn't want them
25:35to be in the red
25:35so we were cooling
25:36back and forth.
25:50from across the San Francisco
25:52Bay came
25:53Country Joe
25:54and the Fish
25:54with an album
25:55soaked in LSD.
26:01I deliberately made it
26:03so that
26:04it went from
26:05contrast to contrast
26:07to contrast
26:07to contrast
26:08and there was
26:09from a slow song
26:10to a fast song
26:11and then there would be
26:11a little introduction
26:12with an eastern flavor
26:13to it
26:14and then it would go
26:15into a country western thing
26:16and then it would go
26:17into a blues thing
26:18and it was all
26:22also designed
26:23so that it didn't have
26:23any frightening moments
26:25in it really
26:26but a lot of
26:27introspective moments
26:28and sewing moments.
26:42I do remember actually
26:44when it was over
26:45after we assembled it all
26:46and listening to it
26:47a high on LSD
26:49to find out
26:50if it worked or not
26:51and deciding that
26:52yes it did.
26:54I went to a convention
26:57of some kind
26:57in the music industry
26:58at that time
26:59and I said
26:59you have to understand
27:01the only people
27:03we trust right now
27:05are our friends
27:06and the people
27:07we buy dope from.
27:09There's no one else
27:10in this country
27:10we can trust.
27:11We can't trust the government.
27:12We don't trust the cops.
27:13The teachers we had
27:14lied to us.
27:15Our parents basically
27:16didn't tell us the truth.
27:17We only trust
27:18very few people.
27:19You've got to market
27:21this music
27:22like you were
27:23a dope dealer.
27:24You've got to get
27:25the trust
27:25of your clients
27:27and then you can
27:28sell them anything.
27:46The first of the new wave
27:48of San Francisco bands
27:49to have any real success
27:50in the pop charts
27:51was Jefferson Airplane.
28:06We were college educated
28:08bored white children
28:09who were disenchanted
28:11with the nature
28:12of the times around us
28:14and spoke to it
28:15in some fashion or other.
28:22I think the one good thing
28:24that Jefferson Airplane
28:24had going forward
28:25at the early times
28:26that most of the other bands
28:27didn't have
28:28was good singing.
28:29I said right away
28:30I want to sing
28:31with a woman.
28:32A lot of feminists
28:33would consider this
28:34more oppression
28:35but it only takes
28:37one woman singer
28:38to balance five
28:39or six males
28:40in a band.
28:45As far as singing
28:46I don't have anybody
28:47I can imitate
28:48because I have
28:48a very limited range.
28:49I can yell
28:50very high
28:51but try to sing
28:52a lullaby
28:54lullaby
28:55and goodnight
28:57I can't
28:58but I can blow
28:59your camera out
29:00and I can do it loud.
29:01What kind of a voice
29:02is that?
29:02It's perfect for rock
29:03and roll
29:04but it's limited.
29:05One pill
29:07makes you larger
29:09and one pill
29:11makes you small
29:13and the ones
29:15that mother gives you
29:17don't do anything
29:20at all.
29:23Go ask a pallet
29:25when she's ten feet
29:28One pill
29:29mother gives you
29:30doesn't do anything
29:30at all.
29:31One pill
29:31makes you large
29:32one pill
29:32makes you small.
29:33There's pills
29:33all over
29:34and they're doing
29:35all these
29:35consciousness
29:36changing things
29:37to themselves
29:38that they
29:38have legalized
29:40say it's okay
29:41if I change
29:42my consciousness
29:42with valiums
29:43and yet
29:44there's another
29:44little thing
29:45like marijuana
29:46or LSD
29:47which was legal
29:48at the time
29:49which takes
29:50your mind
29:50into places
29:51that opens up
29:52doors
29:52that will never
29:53be closed again.
29:54What we're told
29:55when we're very young
29:57is that
29:58a chemical
29:59of one sort
30:01or another
30:01is going to
30:02let you have
30:02a wonderful
30:03adventure.
30:04Alice in Wonderland
30:05there's
30:05Drink Me
30:06makes her
30:07literally high
30:08she takes
30:09mushrooms
30:10smokes a hookah
30:13bites some kind
30:14of stuff
30:14that's round
30:15looks like a big pill
30:17Wizard of Oz
30:18they fall down
30:20in a field of poppies
30:22and then see
30:22the Emerald City
30:23Peter Pan
30:24sprinkles some white
30:25dust and you can fly
30:26is that cocaine
30:27so what do you
30:28expect us to do
30:29say no
30:30just say no to drugs
30:31why you read me
30:32when I was little
30:32all this wonderful
30:33stuff
30:33how great life
30:34could be
30:35if I just took
30:35something chemical
30:36so I was kind of
30:37nailing the parents
30:38with that song
30:39remember
30:42what the dog
30:43said
30:47feed your hand
30:52feed your hand
31:10gradually the
31:11psychedelic scene
31:12spread across
31:12the Atlantic
31:13soon strange
31:14noises could be
31:15heard
31:15emanating from
31:17an old church
31:17hall in London
31:25there was a need
31:26to experiment
31:27in order to find
31:28another way
31:29of expressing
31:30ourselves
31:30that didn't involve
31:32practicing playing
31:33the guitar for 10
31:34years
31:34the time people
31:35were standing there
31:36in little suits
31:37you know
31:37with those Gibson
31:38the two
31:39gun-based guitars
31:40held against the
31:41chest
31:41going like that
31:42and although it
31:43wasn't very
31:44complicated stuff
31:45it wasn't something
31:46I was interested in
31:47I found
31:47if you turned the
31:48thing up loud
31:48and used a
31:49plectrum
31:50and I had a
31:51Rickenbacker
31:52which I bought
31:52with a grant
31:54in fact my entire
31:55term was grant
31:56one term
31:57and if you
31:58banged it hard
31:59and it made
32:00strange noises
32:00when I found
32:01that if you
32:02pushed the
32:02strings against
32:03the pickups
32:04it made funny
32:04clicking noises
32:11there was a
32:12sort of wildness
32:13about the
32:14British psychedelic
32:15scene
32:16that was a
32:17sort of
32:17freedom of
32:18expression
32:19which you
32:19didn't come
32:20across in
32:21America
32:21and we thought
32:21that was all
32:22part of the
32:22psychedelic
32:23experience
32:24and I don't
32:25think anyone
32:25really did that
32:26at that time
32:27maybe the
32:27Grateful Dead
32:28did in terms
32:29of guitar
32:29solos
32:30but they
32:30tended again
32:31I think
32:31to improvise
32:32in a far
32:32more conventional
32:33manner
32:34you know
32:34around
32:34sort of
32:35conventional
32:35chord sequences
32:36whereas I
32:37think
32:37that a lot
32:38of the
32:38British stuff
32:39was much
32:39more
32:40you know
32:40chord sequences
32:41what are they
32:42we're just
32:43playing man
32:43you know
32:44and they just
32:44sort of
32:44played one
32:45you know
32:45played one
32:46chord
32:46until
32:46everybody
32:47got bored
32:47and then
32:48said
32:48one two
32:48three
32:48and back
32:49to the
32:49song
32:49you know
32:57British record
32:58company soon
32:59woke up
33:00to the
33:00underground
33:00scene
33:01Pink Floyd
33:02was signed
33:03by EMI
33:03and Sid Barrett
33:05penned the
33:05perfect slice
33:06of psychedelia
33:21Arnold Lane
33:22and C.M. Lee
33:23play
33:23were both
33:24sort of
33:24minor hits
33:25we would not
33:26perform them
33:28live
33:29because we
33:29considered
33:30the three
33:31minute form
33:32to be
33:33irrelevant
33:33to the idea
33:34of live
33:34performances
33:35and
33:36so we
33:37did a lot
33:38of gigs
33:39where people
33:40would stand
33:40on the balcony
33:41and pour beer
33:42on us
33:42because we
33:42wouldn't play
33:43C.M. Lee
33:44play
33:44Arnold Lane
33:53in April
33:541967
33:5510,000 people
33:57crammed into
33:58the Alexandra
33:58Palace
33:59for a night
33:59of psychedelic
34:00abandon
34:01a 14-hour
34:03Technicolor
34:03dream
34:04I dropped
34:04a tab
34:05on the way
34:06to the gig
34:07and it started
34:07coming on
34:08as we were
34:08being sort
34:09of directed
34:10in
34:11I was having
34:11to steer
34:12the van
34:13in
34:13through something
34:14very tiny
34:14with lots of
34:15people wandering
34:15around
34:15all absolutely
34:16out of their
34:17crust
34:17I mean
34:17there were
34:18people
34:18climbing over
34:20scaffolding
34:20and it was
34:20an extraordinary
34:21building
34:22with all the
34:23glass in the
34:23alley
34:24pally
34:24you know
34:25as the light
34:25came up
34:26because it was
34:26in the summer
34:27it was light
34:27it was wonderful
34:28you know
34:28it really was
34:30a psychedelic
34:30experience
34:31the whole world
34:32was there
34:33you know
34:33and every band
34:34was playing
34:35and it was
34:36it was a sort
34:37of magical
34:38occasion
34:38you know
34:39but any more
34:40precise recollections
34:41I'm afraid
34:42have been
34:43wiped out
34:47in June
34:48the Beatles
34:48emerged from
34:49Abbey Road Studios
34:50with their new album
34:51Sgt. Pepper's
34:52Lonely Hearts Club Band
34:55two months later
34:56they appeared
34:57on the world's
34:57first satellite broadcast
34:59with an anthem
35:00to the summer of love
35:01love, love, love
35:05love, love, love
35:09love, love, love
35:19nothing you can do
35:21that can't be done
35:23nothing you can sing
35:25that can't be sung
35:28nothing you can say
35:29but you can learn
35:30how to play the game
35:32it's easy
35:34sprouting flowers
35:35and guitars
35:36thousands of young
35:37hopefuls flock
35:38to Haight-Ashbury
35:39looking for peace
35:40love
35:40and LSD
35:41no one you can say
35:43that can't be saved
35:45nothing you can do
35:47but you can learn
35:47how to beat you
35:48in time
35:50it's easy
35:51let's go
35:52let's go
35:52let's go
35:54let's go
35:55but even as the charts
35:56filled up with sycophantic
35:58odes to San Francisco
35:59the Haight-Ashbury scene
36:01began to break up
36:02the psychedelic shop
36:04closed down
36:05and many of the original hippies
36:07moved out
36:07the police were no longer
36:10turning a blind eye
36:11and both the Grateful Dead
36:12and Ken Kesey
36:13found themselves in court
36:14on drug charges
36:18and when Pink Floyd
36:19played San Francisco
36:20in October 1967
36:22there were signs
36:23that their lead singer
36:24had taken too much LSD
36:35by the time we went to America
36:37Sid had gone
36:37by and large
36:39we did the Pat Boone show
36:42and we were taking the show
36:44and we would do
36:45the run through
36:45and Sid would stand there
36:46with his telecaster
36:47with the silver bits
36:48all over it
36:49and mime happily
36:50and then they'd go
36:51okay guys
36:52we're gonna do it now
36:53uh
36:54roll the tape
36:55and play back
36:56and go
36:57and he'd go
37:00and stand there
37:01and knock me with a muscle
37:02and then
37:03cut cut
37:03no we're gonna do it now
37:04he knew of course
37:05perfectly well
37:06what was going on
37:07he was just
37:08being crazy
37:09and they did
37:10four or five takes
37:11like that
37:11eventually I mimed it
37:34but the bands played on
37:36and in 1968
37:37record companies
37:39made record profits
37:40for the first time
37:41album sales
37:42outstripped singles
37:43on both sides
37:44of the Atlantic
37:45the leading groups
37:46were given more
37:46and more room
37:47to experiment
37:47and the Grateful Dead
37:49took full advantage
37:51when we mixed it
37:52we mixed it
37:52for the hallucinations
37:55and we performed the mix
37:57Phil and I performed the mix
37:58we had it
37:58we had it
37:59as though it were
38:00an electronic music
38:01composition
38:02you know
38:02he would do things
38:03and I would do things
38:04we were working over each other
38:05and bringing these faders up
38:06and those down
38:07and switching these things around
38:08it was
38:08it was pretty intense
38:09and we performed
38:10each side
38:11all the way through
38:29I remember Bob wanted to hear
38:31the sound of thick air
38:34and our producer at that time
38:38didn't
38:38didn't understand that
38:40Bob I guess
38:41what Stockhausen would have called
38:43colored silence
38:45but that wasn't a very
38:46that wasn't a
38:48contemporary concept
38:49in those days
38:49and I would really like to watch you ride
38:53and always feel you by my side
38:57I would really like to watch you ride
38:59on the breeze
39:05the Baxter's hour album
39:06the Baxter's hour album
39:07was at a time
39:07where we finally rested
39:08complete control
39:09of the studio
39:10from RCA
39:11after the success
39:13of Surrealistic Pillow
39:14and whereas our first record
39:15took 10 days to make
39:17takes off
39:18it was called
39:18and Surrealistic Pillow
39:20took like 2 weeks to make
39:22Baxter's
39:23took 7 months to make
39:24because we were in the process
39:26of going over
39:27every dial
39:28and the board
39:29on acid half the time
39:30what does this do
39:32what do these two do together
39:33you do that one over there
39:35and we'll see
39:35Jack had the board
39:37smoking at times
39:38give me a nap
39:41give me a U
39:43give me a C
39:44give me a K
39:47what's that spell
39:48what's that spell
39:50what's that spell
39:52what's that spell
39:53in August 1969
39:55studios everywhere
39:57emptied for the swan song
39:58of the 60s
39:59three days of peace and music
40:01at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair
40:04poets, performers
40:05and at least one newborn baby
40:07all took part
40:08in the biggest rock festival
40:09the world had ever seen
40:11the human being
40:12had given birth
40:13to the Woodstock nation
40:15we estimate there were
40:16about a half a million on site
40:19the police estimates
40:20are a million and a half
40:21on the road
40:22they closed the Canadian border
40:24they closed the New York Thruway
40:25they closed every access
40:27that they could
40:29because things were just
40:30bottlenecking and continuing
40:31to bottleneck out
40:34but there
40:35there was an estimate
40:36that two million people
40:37tried to come
40:38tell them who we are
40:39young girls
40:41you just sing
40:41hello
40:42test
40:4249
40:4365
40:43hi
40:46playing their second ever gig
40:48was a new band
40:49with familiar faces
40:50ladies and gentlemen
40:51please welcome with us
40:54Cosby, Stills and Hedges
40:59when it came time for us to play
41:00not only was there this
41:02you know
41:03quarter of a minute
41:04to half a million
41:04worth of people out there
41:06which you can't really conceive of
41:08your mind goes
41:09one, two, three
41:09many
41:12you know
41:14but standing in a circle
41:15around behind us
41:18was just about everybody
41:19we really respected
41:21in music
41:21with the exception of
41:22you know
41:23Dylan
41:26and they were all going
41:28okay
41:28good record
41:29can you do it
41:30love
41:33and we were all going
41:34I don't know
41:35it's getting to the point
41:38where I'm no fun anymore
41:44I'm sorry
41:48sometimes it hurts
41:50so badly
41:52I must cry out loud
41:56I'm lonely
41:58I'm yours
42:01you are mine
42:03you are what you are
42:06you make it
42:07a little less bottom end
42:10on the guitar
42:11please
42:12you know
42:13it was mind-boggling
42:14that whole experience
42:16we went by helicopter
42:19it was impossible
42:20to reach there
42:20by car anyway
42:21what I saw
42:22reminded me
42:24in India
42:25when we traveled
42:25on the road
42:26you know
42:26by car
42:27there are a lot of ponds
42:29and
42:30meadows
42:31and
42:32dirty water
42:33rain water
42:34and there we see
42:36a lot of
42:37buffaloes
42:38they love water
42:39and this
42:40in that mud
42:41you know
42:41it reminded me of that
42:43I don't know why
42:44because I saw
42:45nearly half a million
42:46of people
42:47I was told
42:48they were just
42:49you know
42:49having a great picnic
42:51and I felt that
42:53the music was like
42:54incidental music
42:55you know
42:58it looks like
42:59we're going to get
43:00a little bit of rain
43:00so you better cover up
43:02with the Grateful Dead
43:03we were planning
43:04on having a light show
43:06and
43:07this is a stormy
43:09doggone night
43:10going on
43:11they lower this
43:14flagship
43:15of screens
43:16it is the hugest
43:18screen you've ever seen
43:19for the purposes of doing
43:21a liquid projection
43:22light show on it
43:23a gust of wind
43:24comes up
43:25here's this monster stage
43:26it fills up
43:29it balloons up
43:30like a sail
43:30and the stage
43:31starts to
43:33shudder down the hill
43:34it actually starts moving
43:36all of us leap
43:38pull our buck knives
43:40out of our pockets
43:40and whatever we got
43:41and start rending
43:43huge holes in it
43:44to let the air
43:45pass through
43:46so the stage
43:47won't go down the hill
43:48and
43:49we save that
43:50stage
43:51but this is
43:52the
43:52Garcia's looking
43:53over his shoulder
43:54what's going on
43:55he feels it
43:56then
43:56the stage
43:58started to sink
43:58on one side
44:00so it became
44:01a little lopsided
44:02then the PA went off
44:05then we start
44:06then we were supposed
44:06to play
44:07and meanwhile
44:08there's 500,000 people
44:09out there
44:09in the dark
44:10there's no lights
44:12with no sound
44:13and it's raining
44:14and then finally
44:15they say
44:15okay the PA is fixed
44:16and we start to play
44:18and then
44:19the Air Force radio
44:20starts coming out
44:21of my bass amplifier
44:24I can't read you
44:25I'm overflying
44:27at 400 feet
44:35Woodstock signaled
44:36the end
44:36of the ballroom
44:37and theater circuit
44:38for rock and roll
44:39paving the way
44:40for stadium rock
44:41and the huge
44:42outdoor festivals
44:43of the 70s
44:46Monday morning
44:47after the event
44:48I remember
44:50leaving
44:51the site
44:52around 11 o'clock
44:53or 12 o'clock
44:53and the last helicopter
44:54was just
44:55leaving
44:56and the guy offered me
44:57a lift
44:58and I remember
44:59getting in
44:59and it's the first time
45:00I had a chance
45:00to see the place
45:01from the air
45:01kids were dragging
45:02these
45:04these bags of garbage
45:05and pieces of clothing
45:07to this one area
45:09and as we rose up
45:10over the site
45:10I could see
45:10that they had made
45:11this huge peace symbol
45:12out of the garbage
45:14and that was
45:15my last image
45:15of the site
45:22but before the 60s
45:23ended
45:24another huge concert
45:25would send out
45:26a very different signal
45:27I read it
45:27one of the papers
45:28that you'll be giving
45:29a free concert
45:30in San Francisco
45:31I'm doing a free concert
45:33in San Francisco
45:33when?
45:34on December 6th
45:36I mean originally
45:37the idea was
45:38nobody would say anything
45:40we would sneak
45:41the Rolling Stones
45:41into the park
45:42or something like that
45:43play for
45:44you know
45:44a half hour
45:45or 40 minutes
45:45or something like that
45:46and then beat it
45:47and it would be
45:47you know
45:48low level
45:48but they
45:50they saw it
45:51as a
45:53they were making
45:54the documentary
45:55at the time
45:55they saw it
45:56as an opportunity
45:56a kind of
45:57you know
45:57like a photo op
45:59two weeks
46:00before Mick Jagger
46:02announced
46:02here in New York City
46:04with Alan Klein
46:05sitting next to him
46:06and Ronnie Schneider
46:08announced
46:08that they're doing
46:09a free show
46:09in Golden Gate Park
46:10and that was it
46:12I tell you
46:13within
46:14half an hour
46:15of that announcement
46:15I got a call
46:16from the park
46:16saying we couldn't do it
46:18consequently
46:19we had to find a place
46:20really quickly
46:20to do it
46:21because everybody
46:22knew that they were
46:22going to
46:23they just made
46:23an announcement
46:24in New York City
46:24that they were going
46:25to play for free
46:25in San Francisco
46:26that everybody's
46:26like heading there
46:27with barely 48 hours
46:29to go
46:29a site was finally
46:30found
46:31at a run-down
46:31speedway
46:32on the outskirts
46:33of San Francisco
46:35topping the bill
46:36were the Rolling Stones
46:37the Grateful Dead
46:38and the Jefferson
46:39Airplane
46:40with security
46:41to be provided
46:42by a group
46:42of Hell's Angels
46:44it was billed
46:45as Woodstock
46:46on the West Coast
46:47but the 500,000
46:49fans who trekked
46:50to Altamont
46:50witnessed an event
46:52sorely lacking
46:52in peace and love
47:16Altamont
47:17was just a screw-up
47:19the Hell's Angels
47:20were out of control
47:21because their leaders
47:22weren't there
47:23so it was like
47:24a lot of young
47:24neophytes
47:27and it was not
47:28a good experience
47:30hey man
47:31I'd like to mention
47:32that the Hell's Angels
47:33just smashed
47:34Marty Ballin in the face
47:35and knocked him out
47:36for a bit
47:37I'd like to thank you
47:38for that
47:39as other ways
47:42wait
47:42you are
47:43is this on?
47:44you're talking to me
47:45I'm going to talk
47:46to you
47:46I'm not talking to you man
47:47I'm talking to the people
47:47that hit my lead singer
47:48in the head
47:49you're talking to my people
47:49let me tell you
47:50what's happening
47:52you
47:59oh that's what
48:00the story is here
48:01oh bummer
48:02really man
48:03I mean like it's scary
48:04who's doing all the beating
48:06Hell's Angels
48:06Hell's Angels are doing
48:07beating on musicians
48:08Marty got beat up
48:09getting the fight on the stage
48:11doesn't seem right
48:12it's really weird man
48:14it's really weird
48:15it was like hell
48:16you know
48:16it was like a nice afternoon
48:17in hell
48:22I mean really
48:23the light
48:24and everything
48:24it was just so weird
48:25it was just the weirdest
48:26thing
48:26the light was just
48:27kind of
48:27this kind of
48:29kind of
48:29you know
48:30uh
48:32baleful
48:33red
48:33kind of dusk
48:35you know
48:35kind of particulate
48:36air
48:37you know
48:37there's kind of like
48:38the thing of like
48:38uh
48:39piles of smoking tires
48:41you know
48:41maybe
48:42fire
48:42you know
48:43like
48:43little
48:43fire
48:44you know
48:44it was like
48:45the smell of sulfur
48:47you know
48:47geez it was horrible
48:48I mean it was so hellish
48:50we felt that it would not
48:51have done any good
48:51for us to play
48:52and it would only have
48:54prolonged the agony
48:55unfortunately
48:57uh
48:57the Rolling Stones
48:58apparently were waiting
48:59for sundown
49:00so they could make a film
49:01and that's why
49:02it went on and on
49:04so it turns out
49:06that it probably
49:07would have been better
49:07for us to play
49:08just to fill up that time
49:10but when we saw
49:11uh
49:12when
49:12when music was happening
49:14the crowd would surge
49:14towards the stage
49:15and the security
49:16would beat them back
49:18so we didn't want
49:19to be part of that
49:19we didn't want
49:20to contribute to that
49:42I can't do any more
49:43than just ask you
49:44to beg you
49:46just to keep it together
49:47when the Rolling Stones
49:48came on
49:49the violence increased
49:50culminating in the death
49:52of a spectator
49:53just yards from the stage
49:54I don't want him to die
49:56I don't know
49:57I'm sorry
49:58he won't die
50:01no
50:02they're gonna do
50:03everything in their own
50:04but they can't hear us hard
50:07the Altamont ended
50:09ended the 60s
50:11ended the
50:11it was December of 69
50:13after all
50:14I mean
50:15the astrologers
50:17will tell you
50:17how the signs were
50:19and it was bad
50:20it was really bad
50:21and that was
50:22the end of
50:23peace love generation
50:24for sure
50:49as the new decade arrived
50:51the psychedelic era
50:52seemed to be drawing
50:53to a close
50:55people were no longer
50:57tuning in
50:57and turning up
50:58in Haight-Ashbury
50:59the bands moved on
51:01the community splintered
51:03and a new sound emerged
51:04that moved away
51:05from the experimentation
51:06of the psychedelic era
51:09once again
51:10the birds had anticipated
51:11the trend
51:12with their 1968 album
51:14Sweetheart of the Rodeo
51:16we'd already known
51:18that country influence
51:19could work
51:20in pop music
51:20we'd heard the Beatles
51:21song Act Naturally
51:22and I'd written
51:24Mr. Spaceman
51:25which was a
51:26two-four
51:28hey
51:29Mr. Spaceman
51:31won't you please
51:32take me along
51:34I won't do anything wrong
51:36kind of a countryish sound
51:37and so we started
51:39going in that direction
51:40and we decided
51:41to do an album
51:41in Nashville
51:42and hired some
51:44country guys
51:45to come and help us out
52:12the birds even appeared
52:13on the stage
52:14of the Grand Ole Opry
52:15in Nashville
52:16we went to
52:17the stage
52:18and we got out there
52:19and we played
52:19a couple of songs
52:20and people would yell
52:21get a haircut
52:22what's the matter
52:23did your barber die
52:26even the Grateful Dead
52:27went back to their roots
52:28to reveal a very different side
52:30of the kings of acid rock
52:34the time was just right
52:35for us
52:36to move
52:37from what we'd been doing
52:38to try and learn how
52:40to make concise songs
52:42concise statements
52:43the times they were a changing
52:44it was clear that
52:45it was clear even
52:46before Altamont
52:47that
52:49in fact
52:49way back in 67
52:50in the so-called
52:51summer of love
52:51that it couldn't continue
52:52the way it was
52:53because people
52:55people were getting crazy
52:56people were getting hurt
53:01in the 70s
53:02in the 70s
53:03country rock
53:03would slide effortlessly
53:04into the laid-back
53:05west coast sound
53:06while introspective
53:08singer-songwriters
53:09explored the fallout
53:10of the 60s
53:12the trip was over
53:13the flashbacks
53:15yet to come
53:15the be-ins
53:17and happenings
53:17faded into legend
53:38next time on rock and roll
53:40people thought we were being
53:42very negative
53:44bleak
53:45the darker side of life
53:47starts creeping into rock music
53:48we were like the stakes
53:50right through the heart
53:51because we were right at the end
53:52of peace and love
53:53the velvet underground
53:55David Bowie
53:55Iggy Pop
53:56and the Doors
53:58well I'm running down the road
54:00trying to loosen my load
54:02I got seven women
54:03on my mind
54:05oh they're gonna own me
54:07two
54:08they're gonna stole me
54:09one
54:10said she's a friend of mine
54:11take it easy
54:15take it easy
54:19don't let the sound of you
54:21on the wheel
54:23a production of WGBH Boston
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