Woodstock 1999 Was a Riot
Looking back at all of the shows that I have seen, one stands out above them all. It was summer of 1999…
Woodstock was celebrating its 30th Anniversary. As per the usual aspirations of the show, this concert had the expectation of being embodiment of “peace, love & music” and all of the stereotypical tropes generally associated with the original iteration held at a dairy farm in 1969.
Except, this iteration was held on the hot blacktop of Griffiths air force base, in Rome, NY. It’s line up packed with all of the popular artists of the late 90’s, including metal and rock artists like Kid Rock, Megadeth, Godsmack and Sevendust. With Nu-Metal heavyweights such as Korn and Limp Bizkit headlining, this show was supposed to representative of the new generation, the generation that was soon to be penned “The Millennial” Generation. This was supposed to our time. This was supposed to our show.
And we burned. That fucker. DOWN.
Back then, I was still in high school, and the internet was still in its innocent 1.0 days, meaning when events were “live-streamed”, they were cast on television. Woodstock ’99 was considered such a culturally prolific event back then that most stations aired it during prime time. Which meant anyone and everyone watched. And they did. My fourteen year old self included.
The usual suspects MTV and VH1 aired it live for the whole three days until they HAD to leave due to safety concerns. You see, Woodstock ’99 mirrored the generation perfectly as well as foreshadowed much of what was to come politically and economically in the future.
For the investors and corporate sponsors, Woodstock ‘99 was supposed to be a very consumer driven music celebration, as many music festivals had begun to focus on profit over the art and the fan base. The bottom line dictated this shows success to these parties. Promoter John Scher, who’d lost money on the last Woodstock celebration, was determined not to repeat past mistakes. He told reporters, “You can have a Woodstock, and it can be a safe and secure environment. We’re going to try and make a profit on this one.”
That being said, the average consumer at Woodstock ’99 would encounter $12.00 bottles of water, $15.00 slices of pizza, three days of oppressive heat with little to no respite, and consistent ads and marketing for necessary items that were in short supply (including medical aide). Those were the prices in 1999, for this show. This ruthless profit driven mindset, paired with poor planning by the organizers, set up Woodstock ’99 to burn like the tinderbox it had set itself up to be.
“…This show was supposed to representative of the new generation, the generation that was soon to be penned “The Millennial” Generation. This was supposed to be our time. This was supposed to be our show.”
The first few days of the show, while hot, played out as it was supposed to. Music artists ranging from DMX, Jameriqoui, Bush, Insane Clown Posse, Creed and others all played perfect sets, set to perfectly commercial backgrounds that basically sold this “subversive” popular culture back to the crowd. Vern Troyer, who back then played “Mini me” on the hit film “Austin Powers, the Spy Who Shagged Me” even played emcee on day two. But the days grew hotter, the fans grew restless. The water, food, and supplies were running low. And the music just grew harder as the days and nights progressed.
One aspect of the Millennial generation is that they see right through advertising and can tell when they are being marketed to. By the end of the second day, many revelers were tired, thirsty, and sick of the commercial bullshit being sold AT them. It wasn’t even sold to them, but AT them like they were just dumb consumers. And the music roared.
The music roared on at Woodstock 1999, and most of the artists played their best sets at that show. Megadeth played a consistent, heavy, grating set. Rage Against the Machine hit it hard. For a short, fleeting time in 1999, it looked like metal would have its day in mainstream culture. After over 30 years of being underrepresented, this looked like it was the time. The genre was well represented . Then, day three rolled around. Or, to be more accurate, the evening of day two. Limp Bizkits set was up. Thousand upon thousands of people had hoarded up to the stage. Back in 1999, Limp Bizkit was as popular as any pop group. They had held numerous charts for weeks, the whole summer even. Top 40, Metal, Hip Hop, and they couldn’t stop winning. Until Woodstock ’99.
The official story is that it was Limp Bizkits set that set off the riots. During the hour long cathartic hip hop metal set, the band played all of its most popular tracks, including “Break Stuff”, “Nookie”, and “My Generation”. It was during this set that people began to climb up stage sets, tear apart the stage, and cause general chaos.
Later on, on the final evening of the show, The Red Hot Chili Peppers had planned a candlelight vigil to close out the night. By that time, there was already sporadic fires, as well as reports of rampant looting and rape by bystanders and coordinators. The candles soon became torches, and everything burned to hell.
While this phenomenons cause has been written about ad nauseum, a true examination of it’s nature has not. You see, Woodstock ’99 was a riot. Not just a riot against the rules and restrictions and massively marketed bullshit, but a riot against society at large. By 1999, the tech crash and the first bank crash that headed off the millennium had already occurred. We were at war, Operation Desert Storm and the infamous “Black Hawk Down” attacks were largely unsuccessful. Bill Clinton was a lame duck, and the economic spoils of the raging 90’s surplus were dwindling. And the capitalist class just started to squeeze blood from the stone.
Woodstock ’99 was a microcosm of the tumult to come. At the time I couldn’t see it, but all the signs were there. Everything the government and corporations would do from that point on, would blatantly rip off and disempower the average citizen. Y2K came and went, then 9/11. One steep economic decline after another. And the unrest kept building.
The riots at Woodstock ’99 were the first pangs of anxiety against a system that kept doubling down on it’s own economic terrorism and weaponization of institutions. The next big protests were in 2000, at the DNC during the political campaigns. Rage Against the Machine played a set there. They also played on Wall Street at the crash the prior year.
People were mobilized and inspired by the metal music which was hurled in to the mainstream. I don’t believe that the marketers or the Government were prepared for the people to be energized by this music.
“This profit driven mindset, paired with poor planning by the organizers, set up Woodstock ’99 to burn like the tinderbox it had set itself up to be.”
While Nu-Metal, Alt and many of the other sub-genres of metal were popular in the late 90’s, they were marketed in such way that you wouldn’t realize that you are being sold not just the music, but the lifestyle.
The thing about this particular genre of music and it’s subversive lifestyle, is that it cannot be controlled. You can’t really dress it up, nor the fans in any type of way. Rock and metal have always been known for it’s dark and rebellious attitude. This genre is inherently against the very system, that at the time, was propping it up.
Shortly after Woodstock ’99 the genre faded out of popularity, and back to the underground. Initially I thought it was because of the fall of Roadrunner Records and other large record companies that held stables of metal artists. I was only partially correct.
The genre had been killed by the market forces, digitization of music and likely, the government. By 2002, Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine had left the United States for South America to help the people of his homeland. The initial story for his abrupt departure at the height of his bands growing success was that he, as an artist was suffering an “existential crisis”. Which, he was. There had to be more to it than that, because the unified and energetic anti-war movement had just kicked off.
Since that time, much has happened within the genre. Formerly popular bands have joined smaller record companies, such as Nuclear Blast records or have branched out independently.
Few metal bands survived the early 2000’s, especially those who were on Roadrunner. One such band was Slipknot.
Recently, heavy metal alum Corey Taylor weighed in on why metal will never again be popular as it was back then;
Woodstock ’99 was really the last great American metal festival that was mainstream. And the millennial generation burned it down in a microcosmic revolt of the system. We thrashed against figurative machine, and it burned for two days.
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