Monterey Pop Festival--1967

Woodstock must have had a better press agent.

Seems the little get-together on Max Yasgur’s farm in New York gets the lion's share of attention when one speaks of the seminal musical event of the 60’s.

However, to do so would be to overlook Woodstock’s predecessor a full two years earlier, the Monterey Pop Festival, which reached its climax on this date in 1967.

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who and the Grateful Dead were all established superstars by the time they arrived at Woodstock. At Monterey, all were virtually unknown—and it was THIS festival that launched their rise to fame and fortune.

It was the so-called “Summer of Love”—and over three days, all of the above performed, along with the Mamas and The Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, Canned Heat, Eric Burdon and The Animals, Country Joe & The Fish, The Association, Jefferson Airplane,The Byrds, Otis Redding and Ravi Shankar (the father of current star Norah Jones)

Some 200,000 people attended this groundbreaking musical event. The Scott MacKenzie hit song “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” was written by festival organizer John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas expressly as a promotional tune for Monterey.

The following series of videos chronicle the whole scene:

Part 1



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErrgTVQvzpM

Part 2



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pinIZqqrX80&feature=related

Part 3



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kDeQKOfQds&feature=related

Part 4



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy3gM59_vLQ&feature=related


Part 5



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8IrCso7WLg&feature=related


Part 6



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PSSugXMVJY&feature=related


Part 7



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDDdvl1O32o&feature=related



Part 8



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfVsL0DRpPM&feature=related


Part 9



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8w8J2Fw2uE&feature=related

So, no disrespect to Woodstock, but the weather was lousy, people were running around naked with nowhere to go to the bathroom—and it was overcrowded. Given the choice, I think that I would have preferred the Monterey Pop Festival over Woodstock.

Of course, I attended neither. Being only 9 years old that summer, a trip to the drug store to buy a Coke was about as adventurous as it got.

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com