Book Review: Joel Selvin - Altamont The Rolling Stones the Hells Angels & the Inside Story of Rock’s Darkest Day

So, I happened to watch a movie that, somewhat surprisingly, I had never seen before. It was "Gimme Shelter," which documented the American tour of 1969 by legendary rock band, the Rolling Stones. Much of it, if not most of it, centered around the disastrous Altamont Music Festival, which took place on December 6, 1969. There had been numerous major musical events and festivals in the latter part of the sixties that wound up being for free, and which also have come to be regarded as huge successes. From the Human Be-In in early 1967 which some credit for giving birth to the "Summer of Love," to the Monterey Music Festival later that same year, to the most famous one which towers over all of them, and which stands today as a unique and shining example of the best that sixties idealism and counterculture had to offer, Woodstock. 

Surprisingly, the three largest rock acts of the sixties were absent for Woodstock. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones had all missed out on what proved to be, by and large, the defining cultural moment of the sixties and the counterculture. The Rolling Stones, trying to get back into the forefront of the rock scene while making inroads into the counterculture, and trying to counter stinging criticisms of high ticket prices, and perhaps trying to establish their own defining cultural moment to compete with Woodstock, if you will, pushed for a free concert of their own. This was prematurely called "Woodstock West," and indeed, it would prove to be a free concert, as promised.

That the concert indeed was free turned out to be the only positive thing that held true to all of the glittering promises of what this concert was going to be. One thing was clear beyond any debate or argument: this was no Woodstock of the West, or even anything remotely comparable. In fact, Altamont turned out to be a disaster. If Woodstock had been the shining example of the best that the sixties counterculture had to offer, than the Altamont Music Festival, held less than four months after Woodstock, instead showcased the very worst that the counterculture had to offer. 

Yet, comparatively little is known about Altamont, even though it's impact on the sixties was hugely significant. Perhaps since it was largely regarded as bad news, as a buzzkill of a generation, and literally the scene of at least one outright crime, it was not document and glorified nearly as much as the success story of Woodstock. In fact, it seemed largely to be ignored, which is something that Joel Selvin noticed. 

“Nobody had done a comprehensive account of the debacle since the original report in Rolling Stone,” he says. 

In this book, Joel Selvin examines in detail just what went wrong, and why it went wrong. Not only why it went wrong, but how, in reality, it probably should have at least been pushed back, if not cancelled outright. Everything went wrong with this concert right from the beginning. As Andy Greene states in a 2016 review of the book for Rolling Stone magazine:

Selvin lays out how what was supposed to be the “Woodstock of the West” turned deadly. Blame goes all around: Mick Jagger, occupied with a U.S. tour, was uninterested in “practical realities” like food, water and bathrooms, and left logistics to the less-experienced team of the Grateful Dead. Selvin brings new details to light about the other deaths that received less media attention: a 19-year-old who drowned in a canal while sneaking in, and two men who were run over at a campfire by an unidentified car thief who managed to slip away from police after they questioned him. He also corrects many myths, like the story that three births happened at the fest (in fact, there likely weren’t any). “That myth was probably developed to ameliorate the violent deaths,” says Selvin. “We pieced together a portrait of a disaster that spun out of control almost as soon as the idea entered the ether.”

One thing became clear as I got further and further into this book: Selvin researched this for a very long time. it is very thorough, and is a solid example of fine journalism. He takes an unflinching look at everything and everyone that was involved, and you really feel like you get to understand exactly what went wrong, and why it went wrong. Also, how, in fact, it could and should have been foreseen. Not only is it amazing that this concert actually took place, but frankly, it is almost surprising that it did not turn out even worse than it wound up doing - not that it was so great, obviously. 

There are times when Selvin inserts his opinions and judgement values. This felt a bit too much, at times, and it was distracting, such as his skeptical attitude towards Woodstock, when he dismissed the idea that it was the symbol of peace and love and non-violence. He cited some examples of how it was not, such as people burning down a hot dog stand because of overly high prices. He might have a point there, but then he talked about people getting high and traffic jams, and how then Governor Rockefeller of New York almost called in the National Guard, and how this would have altered the popular image and legacy of Woodstock. Maybe, but he seems reluctant to give Woodstock any credit. The fact of the matter is that we do not know what would have happened had the National Guard gone in, because they were not actually called in. And even mainstream establishment news sources at the time marveled that a crowd of half a million people could assemble so relatively peacefully and without too many major incidents. There was one accidental death that had nothing to do with the crowd, but rather happened when a farmer on a tractor trailer ran over a kid sleeping on his field. It felt that Selvin glossed over the largely successful story of Woodstock, and seemed set instead on undermining the rather glowing reputation of the famous, even legendary music festival that in some respects has come to symbolize the sixties themselves.

In the end, Selvin lays blame at the feet of numerous people, including the Hell's Angels, who came across looking like brutes and thugs, as well as the Grateful Dead, who first recommended the Hell's Angels to the band who was the driving force behind the concert: the Rolling Stones. It is the Stones who Selvin ultimately holds most responsible for the disaster at Altamont, and in this, truth be told, I think that he makes a strong case. I know that some people in some reviews of the book took exception to this. Even my own brother recently suggested that the Stones were more innocent bystanders than active participants in how Altamont ultimately turned out to be a disaster. 

Here is one person who kind of typifies this feeling. She reviewed the book, and expressed her dislike of Selvin laying most of the blame for Altamont at the feet of the Stones (see link for Kate's Review below):

My one qualm that I had with this book is that Selvin, while trying to ease blame off of the usual suspects and showing it as a perfect storm of nonsense, kind of throws the Stones under the bus a little bit. Do I think that the Stones were idiots to agree to this entire thing given how shoddily planned it was? Totally. Do I think that Jagger was disingenuous in his dealings with the press when asked about pricing for their tickets? Yes indeed. But Jagger was twenty six. Richards was twenty five. Grown men, yes, but young, and they had been surrounded by yes men for a few years whose jobs were to shield them from this stuff. It’s not fair to humanize the Hells Angels, who were stabbing, beating, and roughing up concertgoers, and then imply that the Stones were to blame for all the violence. I call bullshit on that. And I also wonder how witnessing this traumatic event, liability in question or not, affected the members of the band. After all, shortly thereafter at least Richards starting doing heavier drugs than he usually experimented with. It may not be connected but it did raise some questions.

Yes, the Stones were young, and probably did not fully realize all of the ramifications of their actions. But youth and naïveté cannot completely vindicate or exonerate them in this case. Plenty of people as young or younger than the Stones were then have been held rightly accountable for their actions when it is deemed necessary, and the Stones should have been, too. More on why they were largely responsible shortly. Also surely, this reviewer is not the only one who took exception to the humanizing of the Hell's Angels. However, the Hell's Angels, for all the deserved criticism that has been leveled at them for their role in Altamont, are, of course, human beings. We do not have to like their actions, but we need to understand their motivations if we are too understand how and why Altamont turned out so badly. And that means actually listening to what the Hell's Angels have said, and understanding their point of view regarding this event. 

After reading Selvin's book, however, some things became very clear. I will elaborate on them in a later blog entry, which I hope to publish as soon as tomorrow. However, there are certain things that, when taken as a whole, become undeniable, and point to the Rolling Stones as the main targets of why the concert went so horribly wrong. These include but are not necessarily limited to the fact that the Rolling Stones, wanting very much to be a part of the sixties counterculture yet sensitive to criticisms that they were charging too much for tickets to their concerts, the Stones - and Mick Jagger in particular - insisted on holding a free concert as their answer to these criticisms. Indeed, off the chart expensive ticket prices for Stones shows in 1969, which set all sorts of records for just how expensive they wound up being, proved to be the beginning of what turned out to be a trend for the Stones, as they have consistently faced criticism for high ticket prices ever since. And while the show was indeed free for those who wanted to attend, the Stones themselves were getting paid because a movie was being made documenting their tour, something that would turn out to be a factor in why Altamont, specifically, proved to be such a disaster. 

Why?

Because the site of the concert itself proved to be so chaotic, that it made Woodstock seem very well-organized and stable by way of comparison. It is well-known, of course, that Woodstock had to change the site of the concert with just four weeks left. But the "Woodstock West" concert was supposed to be held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park initially, site of numerous other free concerts in the sixties. When could not happen, it was supposed to be elsewhere in the city. When San Francisco itself proved impossible, it was then moved to another location not too far out of the city, and indeed, everything was being prepared for the concert, until the owners of that venue received word that the Stones were making the movie and were going to be paid for it, and so they wanted a piece of the pie. The Stones, not wanting to share any of the money, decided to move the site of the concert yet again. With just days to go before the concert was supposed to take place, the Stones desperately went looking for another site.

When Dick Carter, the owner of the Altamont Freeway, offered his site to host the concert just for the publicity, hoping to get his speedway on the map for possible future events, the Rolling Stones were desperate. After checking the site, many thought it would not be suitable. Also, there was not much time left before the concert was set to take place. But the Stones insisted that the concert needed to take place, and they also were adamant about not sharing any profits from their movie. So despite some warning signs that things were not going well, they jumped on the opportunity and moved the show to Altamont. There were some minor details, like security, and inadequate parking, medical and bathroom facilities, but the Stones outright said that they would worry about little details like that later, even though the concert was set to take place in less than two days time. The official announcement for the change of venue went out, and with less than forty hours to go, helicopters and a crew of busy workers rushed like mad to get everything off of the prior venue and set everything up at Altamont. Despite all of the warnings - and there were no shortage of signs that everything was going wrong, and that the concert itself could prove to be disastrous - the Stones were the ones who insisted, and got their way. The concert was to go on as planned, despite a lack of plans to actually make the concert work. 

The Hell's Angels were hired as a de facto security force, because Mick Jagger hated cops, and absolutely insisted that he wanted not one single police officer there. This, despite the Hell's Angels themselves warning that they had no intention of doing security work, much less acting as some kind of police force. So a deal was arranged that the Hell's Angels would protect the stage, and would receive $500 worth of free alcohol as compensation. In retrospect, this seems like a disaster waiting to happen, but that was the arrangement at the time. And indeed, a disaster is what the event turned into. In fact, after reading Selvin's book, what struck me is that things did not turn out even worse than they actually did, as bad as that was nevertheless.

In the end, it is difficult not to believe that the Stones, having missed the seminal cultural moment of the era, wanted to recreate another Woodstock, and to be highly regarded by the counterculture of that time, while also conveniently keeping every cent of profit from the tour, the movie, and Altamont. But it clearly was no Woodstock, and the Stones were able to let go their inability to be fully accepted or trusted by the counterculture. However, they indeed kept all of the profits, to a ridiculous extent. Again, more on that in my later blog entry about Altamont.

As for this book review, if you want to learn more specifics about the Altamont Music Festival and why it went wrong, you could hardly do better than this book by Joel Selvin. Highly recommended!

All of the quotes used above were taken from the following two articles (see links):

Why Altamont Was Doomed New book tells full story of rock’s most notorious fest by Andy Greene,  August 4, 2016: 

https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/why-altamont-was-doomed-248469/

Kate’s Review: “Altamont”

https://thelibraryladies.com/2016/12/20/kates-review-altamont/

https://www.librarything.com/work/17879185/reviews/179724809

I added the titles of Youtube videos that are related to this book, and about Altamont and the sixties counterculture more generally. Enjoy!

Jeanne Rose on the Altamont Speedway Free Music Festival

Joel Selvin: Altamont And The End Of The 1960S?

KSAN's Post-Altamont Broadcast

MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL--40 YEARS AGO DOCUMENTARY