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[film reel clicking]
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[dramatic music]
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[rock music]
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[Narrator] In February 1964
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The Beatles brought
optimism to America.
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Only four months later The
Rolling Stones arrived.
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They made themselves
an antithesis, really,
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of what the Beatles
were in terms of image.
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The Beatles may want
to hold your hand,
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but The Stones want to
come and burn your town.
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Rebellious, dangerous, druggy,
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sexy, that is The Stones.
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[Narrator] But as peace and
love spread from California,
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The Stones tougher vision
seemed out of place.
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The Stones are hardened.
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They never fully bit on all
the idealism of the '60s.
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"We can transform
things by smoking pot."
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It was just not realistic.
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In a sense, The Stones'
vision was truer.
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[Narrator] And then,
within months of
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The Summer of Love, the
whole world changed.
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By '68 the darkness that was
associated with The Stones
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definitely chimed with
what was happening
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on the streets of Chicago,
and Paris, and London.
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Blood was running
in the streets.
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The temperatures were
rising, rising really fast.
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It was as if this is their time.
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[Narrator] This film traces
The Stones through this
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turbulent era, all the way to
the Altamont Festival in 1969,
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the concert that brought the
decade to a shocking end.
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Much as there was an
element of The Stones
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that loved chaos, and loved
disorder, they had no idea
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what they'd gotten
into at Altamont.
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This didn't turn out like that.
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You'd see real ugliness,
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savagery right in
front of your eyes.
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The Hell's Angels were horrible.
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It's like a car crash.
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You can't do anything about
it, you're just in it.
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Things just went
from bad to worse,
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and there's no controlling it.
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It was probably, one of the
worst days of my life, ever.
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[dramatic music]
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[Narrator] October 17, 1969.
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After a prolonged break
from live performance,
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The Rolling Stones touched
down in Los Angeles to begin
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preparations for the biggest
concert tour of their career.
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Due to play at 16 arenas
across the country,
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for the booming youth
culture, The Stones' return
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to the American stage
was hugely anticipated.
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It was looked forward
to as a huge event,
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a big event, and a
lot was expected of it.
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People wanted to hear what
The Stones had to say.
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The Rolling Stones hadn't played
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in America for
three years or so.
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Things had changed radically
in that three years.
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When The Rolling Stones
before were playing,
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girls would literally
wet themselves and scream
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the house down, and the
show might last 20 minutes
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before all 10,000
people rushed the stage.
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So The Rolling Stones were
confronted with something which,
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at first, completely
kind of freaked them out.
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Which was audiences that sat
there and wanted to listen.
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[Narrator] Announced as the
greatest rock and roll band
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in the world, despite
a changed environment,
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The Stones' seminal performances
became the stuff of legend.
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Everybody was on fire, you'd
get the energy from a group,
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and you'd get an
energy from the fans.
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I'd love the fact that I
could go and watch them
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every night, and it would be
a little different each time.
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But it was great, the
shows were spectacular.
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The boys knew how to perform.
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* Everywhere I hear the sound
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* of marching charging
feet, boy *
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* 'Cause summer's here
and the time is right *
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* For fighting in
the street, boy *
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In 1969 The Stones were
incredible, they were brilliant.
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I mean those shows were raucous.
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The Stones were the biggest
rock and roll band on the road.
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The Beatles had pulled
back, Dylan had pulled back.
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But The Stones were
out there in 1969.
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And coming to America
in 1969 was no joke.
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The Stones were in the
thick of whatever was
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racketing around in
America at that time.
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America in '69 is in a
state of some turmoil.
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We'd moved on from The
Summer of Love in '67.
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Obviously things have
got a lot darker,
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partly because of the
Vietnam War protests.
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We've had the assassination
of Martin Luther King,
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and Kennedy, so there's a
much darker mood abroad.
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There's still that air
of hippy optimism. '69 is,
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in some ways, the high
water mark of that,
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rather than The
Summer of Love in '67,
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because this is the
summer of Woodstock.
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[Narrator] Held in August 1969,
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with nearly half a
million in attendance,
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the Woodstock Festival
was a momentous four day
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free concert that
stood as a testament
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to the growing strength
of the youth culture.
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In November, late in their
tour, The Stones announced
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their own free concert
on the West Coast.
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Originally to be held at San
Francisco's Golden Gate Park,
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this event would
eventually take place
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00:06:01,829 --> 00:06:05,032
at a remote racetrack
called Altamont.
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Altamont was intended to be
an expression of optimism,
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of the strengths of
the counterculture,
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an event at which all the tribes
could could come together.
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So, on the surface, when
it's first announced,
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this is huge news and and
it's celebratory news.
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The mythology of
free concerts were
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at the absolute height in 1969.
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The whole phrase free
concert was just redolent
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with all these ethics,
and images, and ideas
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that were floating around the
counterculture at the time.
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It could have been
fantastic, everybody assumed
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that they were looking
at a mini Woodstock
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in San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park.
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That's not what it
turned out to be.
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[somber music]
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[Narrator] The event itself
would prove disastrous,
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a tipping point where
the countercultures dream
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00:07:01,388 --> 00:07:04,391
of peaceful solidarity
tragically fell apart.
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And the violence and
chaos that The Stones
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came face to face with
during this concert
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was a far cry from the
seemingly calm America
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they had first encountered
less than 10 years beforehand.
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And the band's own
development across this decade
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interweaved with the
changing currents
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of America's youth culture
during the same period.
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America, 1962, a nation
energized by a period
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of political growth
of prosperity.
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Consumer culture was thriving.
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Advances in technology were
transforming everyday life.
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And many felt that this was
the dawn of a new golden age.
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The American dream alive
and kicking once more.
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Yet an ever present
threat of war
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cast a shadow over this
spirit of optimism.
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And beneath
the confident surface,
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tensions were developing.
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America in the early '60s is
a strange place in many ways.
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In terms of popular culture,
it's rather bland and anodyne.
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At the same time,
politically you've got
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Camelot and the court of JFK.
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And there's a certain
optimism there that
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we've broken with the
immediate post-war generation,
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and this is the start
of a more youthful,
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00:08:26,406 --> 00:08:31,011
more energetic, more forward
looking political life,
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soured to an extent
by the Cold War,
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soured by the Bay of Pigs,
and the situation in Cuba.
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00:08:40,020 --> 00:08:42,522
Almost half of the population in
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00:08:42,556 --> 00:08:45,292
the United States is
under 25 years old.
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00:08:45,325 --> 00:08:46,994
And there was this
sense of an inherited
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00:08:47,027 --> 00:08:49,496
world that had a
lot of problems.
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For the younger generation,
growing up with the Cold War
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and the threat of
nuclear annihilation,
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all the material
prosperity in the world
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didn't really go
to their concerns.
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00:09:01,909 --> 00:09:06,079
Things like community, or
things like social justice,
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00:09:06,113 --> 00:09:08,616
or spirituality, none
of those things could
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00:09:08,649 --> 00:09:11,952
be addressed by a
roaring economy itself.
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[Narrator] And in November 1963,
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the equilibrium of the
nation was shattered.
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00:09:18,892 --> 00:09:21,294
President John F.
Kennedy, for many a symbol
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of optimism and rejuvenation,
was assassinated in Dallas.
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The event stunned America,
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00:09:28,001 --> 00:09:29,970
its youth in
particular traumatized
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by the violence and chaos
it seemed to represent.
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But early the following year,
a voice of hope emerged.
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And it was emanating
from distant shores.
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The Beatles arrived
within a couple of months
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of Kennedy's assassination,
so they walked
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into a nation that was grieving,
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grieving really badly, and
was in a state of shock.
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00:09:51,291 --> 00:09:53,627
And they appeared
on that Ed Sullivan.
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And immediately they put
smiles on people's faces.
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It sounds glib and bland, but
that's really what they did.
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It was medicine,
what the Beatles did.
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You can't stress enough
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just how important
their arrival was.
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[Narrator] And the
sudden stateside success
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of this revolutionary four piece
opened the door for dozens
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of other British bands to
have a go at breaking America.
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Following in the footsteps
of Liverpudlians,
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Gerry and the Pacemakers, The
Searchers and Billy J Kramer,
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00:10:23,924 --> 00:10:27,527
in June 1964 a
London group arrived
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with a very different
image and sound.
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Unlike their fellow countrymen,
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The Rolling Stones
weren't about optimism.
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There wasn't a sense of "the
latest band from England."
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That was the thing, it
was the British Invasion.
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And every week it
was The Searchers,
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and The Dave Clark Five,
and Herman's Hermits,
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00:10:45,979 --> 00:10:47,447
and all this business.
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The Stones were something
totally different.
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It just felt entirely different.
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* Sitting in my bedroom
late last night *
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00:11:00,794 --> 00:11:05,532
* I got into bed and
turned out the light *
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00:11:06,399 --> 00:11:07,968
No one else was really
trying to do what
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The Stones were doing,
they were into the blues.
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They were into black music,
and they imitated it.
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But they imitated it very well,
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00:11:15,475 --> 00:11:18,779
and they got something
of the essence.
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They weren't just
playing on the surface.
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[Narrator] But The Stones',
singer Mick Jagger,
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00:11:23,951 --> 00:11:27,020
guitarists Keith
Richards and Brian Jones,
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00:11:27,054 --> 00:11:30,290
bassist Bill Wyman, and
drummer Charlie Watts,
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00:11:30,323 --> 00:11:32,860
found that their
appeal was limited.
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00:11:32,893 --> 00:11:35,562
And their first US tour
proved a disappointment.
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00:11:36,730 --> 00:11:37,931
When The Rolling
Stones first came to
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the United States in
1964, they were not
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00:11:41,701 --> 00:11:44,037
greeted with tremendous
acclaim, initially.
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00:11:44,071 --> 00:11:46,639
Their records hadn't
hit the radio yet,
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00:11:46,673 --> 00:11:49,810
and they came to Los
Angeles where they appeared
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00:11:49,843 --> 00:11:52,712
on a television show called
The Hollywood Palace.
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00:11:52,746 --> 00:11:56,216
And the host was Dean Martin
and he said, these guys
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00:11:56,249 --> 00:11:59,853
are gonna get in a hair pulling
contest with The Beatles.
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00:12:01,088 --> 00:12:03,056
They were costarring
with two elephants,
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00:12:03,090 --> 00:12:04,992
which kind of tells
you what America
219
00:12:05,025 --> 00:12:07,027
thought of The
Stones to start with.
220
00:12:07,060 --> 00:12:09,162
And Dean Martin, he
laid into The Stones.
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00:12:09,196 --> 00:12:11,364
Well I'm gonna let
you in on something.
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00:12:11,398 --> 00:12:13,066
You know these signing
groups today are under
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00:12:13,100 --> 00:12:16,236
the impression they have
long hair. [scoffing]
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Not true at all, it's
an optical illusion.
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00:12:18,271 --> 00:12:20,573
They just have low
foreheads and high eyebrows.
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00:12:20,607 --> 00:12:21,875
[audience laughing]
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00:12:21,909 --> 00:12:24,978
They had the advanced
publicity, they had the gigs,
228
00:12:25,012 --> 00:12:28,148
but America just did not see in
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00:12:28,181 --> 00:12:30,017
The Rolling Stones what
they wanted to see.
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00:12:30,050 --> 00:12:31,985
They really wanted
a second Beatles.
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00:12:32,019 --> 00:12:34,287
And that's not what they got.
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[Narrator] In contrast,
their rise
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00:12:36,556 --> 00:12:38,926
to the top in the UK
had been meteoric.
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00:12:39,659 --> 00:12:42,996
Having only formed in the
summer of 1962, they quickly
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00:12:43,030 --> 00:12:45,999
made a name for themselves
in the London blues circuit,
236
00:12:46,033 --> 00:12:47,667
and arrived fresh
faced in the British
237
00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:49,236
charts less than a year later.
238
00:12:50,137 --> 00:12:53,073
And where America was
looking for another Beatles,
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00:12:53,106 --> 00:12:56,043
The Stones earlier in their
homeland had been built upon
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00:12:56,076 --> 00:12:59,880
marketing them as the polar
opposite of the Liverpudlians.
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00:12:59,913 --> 00:13:02,049
Their manager,
Andrew Loog Oldham,
242
00:13:02,082 --> 00:13:04,084
carefully crafted this image.
243
00:13:04,117 --> 00:13:06,253
They wouldn't smile in photos,
244
00:13:06,286 --> 00:13:09,056
they would respond
indifferently to interviews.
245
00:13:09,089 --> 00:13:13,226
From the very start, The Stones
were presented as rebels.
246
00:13:13,626 --> 00:13:16,129
They didn't so much have a
defiance as an insolence.
247
00:13:17,064 --> 00:13:21,301
It put The Rolling Stones on
one side, with the youngsters.
248
00:13:21,902 --> 00:13:24,271
And it put the establishment
on the other side.
249
00:13:24,637 --> 00:13:29,276
They were really probably the
first anti-establishment band.
250
00:13:29,309 --> 00:13:31,711
There was a punk attitude,
except we didn't call it
251
00:13:31,744 --> 00:13:33,881
punk at the time, we just
called it loutishness,
252
00:13:33,914 --> 00:13:38,751
or yobbishness, that applied
to the Beatles as well,
253
00:13:38,785 --> 00:13:41,121
and John Lennon in
particular perhaps.
254
00:13:41,154 --> 00:13:45,292
And whereas Brian
Epstein's instinct was then
255
00:13:45,325 --> 00:13:48,561
to tone that down,
put them in suits,
256
00:13:48,595 --> 00:13:51,398
and make them as respectable
as he possibly could
257
00:13:51,431 --> 00:13:53,600
without completely
losing their edge,
258
00:13:53,633 --> 00:13:56,236
Oldham's instinct was
the exact opposite.
259
00:13:56,269 --> 00:13:59,272
He definitely had a
vision of creating a band,
260
00:13:59,306 --> 00:14:03,944
a gang, that was the
opposite of the Beatles gang.
261
00:14:03,977 --> 00:14:06,746
I think they understood
Andrew's vision.
262
00:14:07,314 --> 00:14:13,120
And I think when Andrew said
don't smile, be a bit surly,
263
00:14:14,154 --> 00:14:17,790
you don't have to be,
if Charlie doesn't
264
00:14:17,824 --> 00:14:19,526
want to answer he
doesn't answer.
265
00:14:19,559 --> 00:14:21,929
If he does answer, he
just says yes or no.
266
00:14:21,962 --> 00:14:26,133
And he's sort of
monosyllabic and cool.
267
00:14:26,499 --> 00:14:27,367
What would you say?
268
00:14:31,905 --> 00:14:33,806
Not in this first relationship,
269
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:34,975
It's too late to be made better.
270
00:14:36,476 --> 00:14:40,113
What came out of it was a
high degree of individuality,
271
00:14:40,147 --> 00:14:46,353
coupled with the nous that
Jagger had from the very outset.
272
00:14:47,187 --> 00:14:51,891
The coolness that Keith
had, and the extraordinary
273
00:14:51,925 --> 00:14:57,030
charismatic Brian who was
unlike, at that moment in time,
274
00:14:57,064 --> 00:14:59,566
unlike anybody I
think you'd ever seen.
275
00:15:00,567 --> 00:15:02,169
[Narrator] And
The Stones'' image
276
00:15:02,202 --> 00:15:04,804
perfectly complemented
their music.
277
00:15:04,837 --> 00:15:08,508
After a couple of minor
singles, their 1964 hit
278
00:15:08,541 --> 00:15:10,543
"Not Fade Away"
captured the band's
279
00:15:10,577 --> 00:15:14,547
unique blend of blues
and rock and roll.
280
00:15:14,581 --> 00:15:17,617
The sound that had made them a
sensation on the club circuit
281
00:15:17,650 --> 00:15:21,421
now saw them ascend to the
top of the British charts.
282
00:15:22,089 --> 00:15:23,390
The Stones really were the first
283
00:15:23,423 --> 00:15:25,258
of the R and B bands to emerge.
284
00:15:25,292 --> 00:15:28,595
I mean R and B originally
came out of the jazz
285
00:15:28,628 --> 00:15:30,763
movement in London,
the jazz clubs.
286
00:15:30,797 --> 00:15:32,199
And it was frowned upon a bit,
287
00:15:32,232 --> 00:15:33,733
it was scene as a bit populist.
288
00:15:33,766 --> 00:15:36,103
Whereas the Mersey Beat
bands, obviously the Beatles,
289
00:15:36,136 --> 00:15:38,171
but then you had Billy J Kramer,
290
00:15:38,205 --> 00:15:39,406
you had Freddie
and the Dreamers,
291
00:15:39,439 --> 00:15:40,940
were very much melody driven.
292
00:15:41,941 --> 00:15:45,178
But The Stones had this
dark American vibe.
293
00:15:45,212 --> 00:15:47,214
They didn't look to Mersey
side, they looked across
294
00:15:47,247 --> 00:15:50,050
to the States to Chicago
and the inner cities.
295
00:15:50,083 --> 00:15:54,021
So, it was really a new sound,
there was nothing really
296
00:15:54,054 --> 00:15:56,089
like what The Stones
were doing at all.
297
00:15:57,190 --> 00:16:01,228
* I wanna tell you
how it's gonna be *
298
00:16:01,261 --> 00:16:03,796
* You're gonna give
your love to me *
299
00:16:05,632 --> 00:16:09,369
* I'm gonna love
you night and day *
300
00:16:09,402 --> 00:16:11,604
* Well you know my
love will not fade away *
301
00:16:12,705 --> 00:16:15,108
The Stones' music was
very much a vine.
302
00:16:15,142 --> 00:16:18,945
The hooks were all about
rhythm, whereas I think
303
00:16:18,978 --> 00:16:22,215
the hooks for the Beatles were
yeah yeah yeah and harmonies.
304
00:16:22,249 --> 00:16:24,251
The Stones didn't
really go in for that.
305
00:16:24,751 --> 00:16:26,486
"Not Fade Away" really
crystallized that.
306
00:16:26,519 --> 00:16:28,921
["Not Fade Away" by
The Rolling Stones]
307
00:16:36,263 --> 00:16:40,433
The Stones had that
R and B bluesy edge.
308
00:16:40,467 --> 00:16:42,635
And, of course, in
Jagger they had this
309
00:16:42,669 --> 00:16:46,673
charismatic frontman,
so it was earthier.
310
00:16:46,706 --> 00:16:49,109
Rock and roll had sort
of eradicated it's
311
00:16:49,142 --> 00:16:52,179
black origins, and
tried to make itself
312
00:16:52,212 --> 00:16:55,115
as white as it could
possibly sound.
313
00:16:55,148 --> 00:16:57,750
And, if you like, the
early Stones put
314
00:16:57,784 --> 00:17:00,520
the black back into rock and
roll, even though they were
315
00:17:00,553 --> 00:17:04,657
white, middle class,
suburban English boys.
316
00:17:04,691 --> 00:17:07,194
After that you had the chain
of events that The Stones
317
00:17:07,227 --> 00:17:10,263
were suddenly good copy in
the national newspapers,
318
00:17:10,297 --> 00:17:12,765
this is the dark
version of the Beatles,
319
00:17:12,799 --> 00:17:14,834
they don't wash, all
that kind of stuff.
320
00:17:14,867 --> 00:17:17,504
"Not Fade Away" was the
song that did that.
321
00:17:17,537 --> 00:17:20,307
They were taking us on
this rhythmic journey,
322
00:17:20,340 --> 00:17:24,043
and no one knew where
that was gonna end.
323
00:17:25,212 --> 00:17:27,180
[Narrator] In October 1964,
324
00:17:27,214 --> 00:17:30,383
The Stones headed to
the US once again.
325
00:17:30,417 --> 00:17:32,352
Now with hit
singles behind them,
326
00:17:32,385 --> 00:17:35,054
and a growing reputation
within the youth market,
327
00:17:35,088 --> 00:17:36,989
this time they
were invited on to
328
00:17:37,023 --> 00:17:40,460
Ed Sullivan's television
show, which had helped launch
329
00:17:40,493 --> 00:17:43,796
the Beatles nationwide
at the start of the year.
330
00:17:43,830 --> 00:17:46,466
And the generational divide
that the band had opened up
331
00:17:46,499 --> 00:17:48,201
in their homeland,
was immediately
332
00:17:48,235 --> 00:17:50,603
replicated when they
arrived on screen.
333
00:17:51,171 --> 00:17:54,207
The Stones' appearance
on Ed Sullivan,
334
00:17:54,241 --> 00:17:57,577
in the newspapers everybody
was complaining about
335
00:17:57,610 --> 00:18:00,613
because Mick Jagger walked
on stage in a sweat shirt.
336
00:18:01,714 --> 00:18:04,184
No one did that on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
337
00:18:04,217 --> 00:18:07,354
[audience screaming]
338
00:18:08,455 --> 00:18:11,191
* I said the joint was rocking
339
00:18:11,224 --> 00:18:12,825
* Going round and round
340
00:18:13,025 --> 00:18:14,727
Jagger just walked out on that
341
00:18:14,761 --> 00:18:17,330
stage like he was in a club.
342
00:18:17,364 --> 00:18:22,235
The second you saw him
you knew that this was
343
00:18:22,269 --> 00:18:26,706
crossing the line in
an outrageous way.
344
00:18:27,207 --> 00:18:29,242
* And they never
stopped rocking *
345
00:18:29,276 --> 00:18:30,977
* Till the moon went down
346
00:18:31,278 --> 00:18:36,115
Jagger was singing in a kind
of black American accent.
347
00:18:36,149 --> 00:18:37,917
It was very sexual.
348
00:18:37,950 --> 00:18:41,053
And by that point the
Beatles had become sort of
349
00:18:41,087 --> 00:18:43,556
a novelty as far as
parents were concerned.
350
00:18:43,590 --> 00:18:46,459
You got patted on the head
for liking the Beatles.
351
00:18:46,493 --> 00:18:48,094
You didn't get
patted on the head
352
00:18:48,127 --> 00:18:49,896
for liking The Rolling Stones.
353
00:18:50,230 --> 00:18:53,700
The older Americans reacted
with complete dismay,
354
00:18:53,733 --> 00:18:55,868
without understanding
why, although
355
00:18:55,902 --> 00:18:58,405
instinctively they
are completely correct
356
00:18:58,438 --> 00:19:01,474
because the British
were here to replace
357
00:19:01,508 --> 00:19:03,210
old fashioned American
show business,
358
00:19:03,243 --> 00:19:06,979
and that's exactly what they
did, so long Toady Fields.
359
00:19:08,147 --> 00:19:11,284
It presaged what came to be
called the generation gap,
360
00:19:11,318 --> 00:19:15,388
where the American
adult population became
361
00:19:15,422 --> 00:19:19,592
really threatened and
intimidated by their children.
362
00:19:22,329 --> 00:19:24,264
[Narrator] And these
children were impressed
363
00:19:24,297 --> 00:19:25,898
by what they saw on Ed Sullivan.
364
00:19:26,766 --> 00:19:28,768
This time, with the
performance mainlining
365
00:19:28,801 --> 00:19:31,771
the band directly into
homes across the country,
366
00:19:31,804 --> 00:19:33,673
The Stones were
instantly elevated
367
00:19:33,706 --> 00:19:36,443
to the very top of
the music world.
368
00:19:36,476 --> 00:19:39,612
And as their audience grew,
so too did the unruly,
369
00:19:39,646 --> 00:19:42,949
frenzied atmosphere
of their live shows.
370
00:19:42,982 --> 00:19:44,651
More than any of
their contemporaries,
371
00:19:44,684 --> 00:19:47,487
The Rolling Stones
inspired chaos.
372
00:19:48,388 --> 00:19:51,591
There were a lot of riots,
but the riots were more-so
373
00:19:51,624 --> 00:19:54,294
I think the fans trying
to get close to you.
374
00:19:54,327 --> 00:19:57,163
Mick had it controlled usually,
and the minute you knew
375
00:19:57,196 --> 00:19:59,766
they were coming over the
stage, we'd run back to
376
00:19:59,799 --> 00:20:02,369
the dressing rooms
and lock it down.
377
00:20:02,402 --> 00:20:05,438
There was not as much security
but the doors kept it clear,
378
00:20:05,472 --> 00:20:08,308
no kids were pushing
through at that time.
379
00:20:08,341 --> 00:20:09,409
But it was scary.
380
00:20:10,209 --> 00:20:11,544
The Stones appealed
much more towards
381
00:20:11,578 --> 00:20:14,013
the boys than the
Beatles had done.
382
00:20:14,046 --> 00:20:16,649
The Beatles encouraged
the screamers.
383
00:20:16,683 --> 00:20:20,119
The Stones invited the
boys to participate.
384
00:20:20,152 --> 00:20:23,356
There was something a
bit more butch about
385
00:20:23,390 --> 00:20:24,857
The Rolling Stones
than there was
386
00:20:24,891 --> 00:20:26,726
about the Beatles, at that time.
387
00:20:27,394 --> 00:20:29,662
Whether it was the
beat, the rebel look,
388
00:20:29,696 --> 00:20:32,365
young men turned up
at Stones' concerts.
389
00:20:32,399 --> 00:20:34,501
On the continent, for
example Paris and Holland,
390
00:20:34,534 --> 00:20:39,539
there was serious rioting,
male, masculine, macho rioting.
391
00:20:40,006 --> 00:20:41,107
It was just like
rock and roll again,
392
00:20:41,140 --> 00:20:44,344
smashing up the stalls,
fighting with the police.
393
00:20:44,377 --> 00:20:45,578
It wasn't just the fact that
394
00:20:45,612 --> 00:20:48,214
it was the boys
looking for a punch up,
395
00:20:48,247 --> 00:20:51,884
it was the media, to a
large extent, that built up
396
00:20:51,918 --> 00:20:55,254
the expectations of
the gig quite often.
397
00:20:55,988 --> 00:20:59,626
The security people just
didn't know what to expect.
398
00:20:59,659 --> 00:21:02,028
When somebody tells you
that The Rolling Stones
399
00:21:02,061 --> 00:21:05,332
are coming to town,
there's gonna be a riot.
400
00:21:05,365 --> 00:21:08,668
You prepare for that
eventuality just in case.
401
00:21:08,701 --> 00:21:11,338
Security and the audience
was a massive problem,
402
00:21:11,371 --> 00:21:16,443
which I mean ultimately
saw it's nadir in Altamont.
403
00:21:17,610 --> 00:21:19,579
[Narrator] But these
outbreaks of disorder
404
00:21:19,612 --> 00:21:22,849
did not dampen the mood of
optimism back in Britain.
405
00:21:22,882 --> 00:21:26,619
By late in 1964, a cultural
and artistic revolution
406
00:21:26,653 --> 00:21:30,089
was underway, with a change
in political leadership
407
00:21:30,122 --> 00:21:33,360
bringing a new sense of
purpose and vitality.
408
00:21:33,393 --> 00:21:36,429
Youth was in the driving seat,
and the nation's capital,
409
00:21:36,463 --> 00:21:41,200
London, was becoming a hotbed
of creativity and innovation.
410
00:21:41,233 --> 00:21:45,071
After the Beatles, it
was all eyes on Britain,
411
00:21:45,104 --> 00:21:46,539
but particularly
all eyes on London.
412
00:21:47,574 --> 00:21:50,743
Suddenly, filmmakers,
the fashion world
413
00:21:50,777 --> 00:21:53,279
particularly, were
gravitating to London,
414
00:21:53,312 --> 00:21:56,449
and seeing London as
a city of culture.
415
00:21:56,483 --> 00:21:58,418
It was very very different,
the old idea of Britain as
416
00:21:58,451 --> 00:22:01,554
an old fashioned,
almost militaristic,
417
00:22:01,588 --> 00:22:05,492
historical establishment
symbolized by the royal family.
418
00:22:05,525 --> 00:22:07,494
We're having aristocrats now,
419
00:22:07,527 --> 00:22:10,062
and they were from
the lower orders.
420
00:22:10,096 --> 00:22:12,399
You had Julie Christie, Jagger,
421
00:22:12,432 --> 00:22:15,568
Ringo Starr, Michael
Caine, Terence Stamp.
422
00:22:15,602 --> 00:22:18,505
This was London in
1964, '65, it was the place
423
00:22:18,538 --> 00:22:20,640
where everyone
wanted to gravitate.
424
00:22:20,673 --> 00:22:23,075
And it was the place
that was pulsing
425
00:22:23,109 --> 00:22:25,244
more than any other
city on Earth.
426
00:22:26,078 --> 00:22:29,348
[Narrator] In America however,
things were very different.
427
00:22:29,382 --> 00:22:31,117
Although the coming
of the British bands
428
00:22:31,150 --> 00:22:33,152
had energized the
nation's youth,
429
00:22:33,185 --> 00:22:35,588
and revolutionized the
entertainment industry,
430
00:22:35,622 --> 00:22:39,325
the shadow of violent
conflict loomed large.
431
00:22:39,358 --> 00:22:41,428
At the time of John
F. Kennedy's death
432
00:22:41,461 --> 00:22:44,631
there had been a number of
military advisors in Vietnam
433
00:22:44,664 --> 00:22:46,999
aiding the government in
the south of the country
434
00:22:47,033 --> 00:22:49,602
against a communist
insurgency from the North.
435
00:22:51,203 --> 00:22:54,140
Where Kennedy had been keen
to contain this involvement
436
00:22:54,173 --> 00:22:57,610
his successor, President
Lyndon Johnson, escalated
437
00:22:57,644 --> 00:23:02,048
the conflict and committed
US forces to a ground war.
438
00:23:02,081 --> 00:23:05,652
By 1965 thousands of young
American men were being
439
00:23:05,685 --> 00:23:09,055
called up to military
duty and sent to Vietnam.
440
00:23:09,656 --> 00:23:12,158
And the president
immediately emerged as
441
00:23:12,191 --> 00:23:14,160
an enemy of the
growing youth culture.
442
00:23:15,261 --> 00:23:19,532
History did not favor a
single system or belief,
443
00:23:19,566 --> 00:23:23,202
unless force is
used to make it so.
444
00:23:23,235 --> 00:23:25,805
That's why it's been
necessary for us to defend
445
00:23:25,838 --> 00:23:29,576
this basic principle of our
policy, to defend it in Berlin,
446
00:23:29,609 --> 00:23:33,345
and in Korea, and in Cuba,
and tonight in Vietnam.
447
00:23:33,379 --> 00:23:35,147
[audience applauding]
448
00:23:35,181 --> 00:23:37,083
Vietnam certainly did
more than anything else
449
00:23:37,116 --> 00:23:38,685
to politicize the
generation gap.
450
00:23:38,718 --> 00:23:43,490
And the reason he escalated it
when he did was that he made
451
00:23:43,523 --> 00:23:46,726
the terrible mistake of
thinking that Southeast Asia
452
00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:51,731
was a replay of Europe in
1938, and we were reminded
453
00:23:51,764 --> 00:23:54,601
over and over again that we
must never make the mistake
454
00:23:54,634 --> 00:23:57,103
of Munich made by
Neville Chamberlain.
455
00:23:57,136 --> 00:23:59,672
The two things actually had
nothing to do with each other.
456
00:23:59,706 --> 00:24:03,209
But unfortunately
they became an excuse
457
00:24:03,242 --> 00:24:07,079
to send 500,000 American
soldiers to Vietnam
458
00:24:07,113 --> 00:24:09,448
in a completely hopeless cause.
459
00:24:10,116 --> 00:24:12,585
The draft that
supported that war
460
00:24:12,619 --> 00:24:15,555
was incredibly unpopular, again,
461
00:24:15,588 --> 00:24:19,358
90 million Americans
under age 25,
462
00:24:19,391 --> 00:24:23,062
many of them know people
that are are getting drafted,
463
00:24:23,095 --> 00:24:25,865
and serving, and
dying in some cases.
464
00:24:25,898 --> 00:24:28,367
So the war was
extremely controversial.
465
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,703
And there's also
an important point
466
00:24:30,737 --> 00:24:34,206
that young people
were more alert to.
467
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,877
And that was that the
explanations about the war,
468
00:24:37,910 --> 00:24:42,148
its origins, and its
development we're not truthful.
469
00:24:42,181 --> 00:24:45,217
This is much more than
a political issue.
470
00:24:45,251 --> 00:24:47,754
It's an issue of trust.
471
00:24:47,787 --> 00:24:50,256
[Narrator] And as the
war quickly escalated,
472
00:24:50,289 --> 00:24:53,325
protests broke out
across the nation.
473
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:55,662
Young Americans joined
with peace activists
474
00:24:55,695 --> 00:24:58,998
to organize large scale
demonstrations, and marches.
475
00:24:59,031 --> 00:25:01,634
While at academic
institutions, students became
476
00:25:01,668 --> 00:25:05,772
a powerful voice in the
fight against the war.
477
00:25:05,805 --> 00:25:08,474
With the young now actively
involved in a conflict with
478
00:25:08,507 --> 00:25:10,476
an older generation
they perceived
479
00:25:10,509 --> 00:25:12,579
as violent war mongers,
480
00:25:12,612 --> 00:25:15,081
the music that had
reenergized their lives
481
00:25:15,114 --> 00:25:18,250
became bound up
in this struggle.
482
00:25:18,284 --> 00:25:20,953
As people began to
protest the war,
483
00:25:20,987 --> 00:25:24,957
and civil rights protests
were taking place,
484
00:25:24,991 --> 00:25:29,829
rebellion in the cultural arena
began to take on that tinge.
485
00:25:29,862 --> 00:25:32,799
So, what seemed just
like The Rolling Stones
486
00:25:32,832 --> 00:25:37,804
kind of surliness, suddenly
had a political element.
487
00:25:37,837 --> 00:25:41,641
The generation gap, and the
don't trust anyone over 30,
488
00:25:41,674 --> 00:25:45,878
and all of those kind of
ideas became politicized,
489
00:25:46,946 --> 00:25:52,318
so that it wasn't just
the kind of Marlon Brando
490
00:25:52,351 --> 00:25:54,987
what are you rebelling
against, what do you got?
491
00:25:55,021 --> 00:25:57,657
Well, we got plenty, there's
plenty to rebel against.
492
00:25:58,658 --> 00:26:01,127
[Narrator] And in
the summer of 1965,
493
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,495
just as President Johnson
announced he would double
494
00:26:03,529 --> 00:26:07,033
the number young Americans
called up for active duty,
495
00:26:07,066 --> 00:26:09,301
and as race riots
erupted in the Watts
496
00:26:09,335 --> 00:26:12,371
neighborhood in Los
Angeles, The Rolling Stones
497
00:26:12,404 --> 00:26:15,074
released "I Can't
Get no Satisfaction."
498
00:26:15,742 --> 00:26:19,979
The song perfectly captured
the spirit of their generation.
499
00:26:20,012 --> 00:26:23,515
"Satisfaction" really was the
record that they kind of,
500
00:26:23,549 --> 00:26:24,917
they didn't realize
it I think, but it was
501
00:26:24,951 --> 00:26:27,019
the one that they were
working up towards.
502
00:26:27,053 --> 00:26:29,388
It was the one that
embodied their attitude.
503
00:26:29,421 --> 00:26:31,157
It embodied the drive.
504
00:26:31,190 --> 00:26:33,592
And you have to listen
to the rhythm of that.
505
00:26:33,626 --> 00:26:37,563
It was like a marching, almost
a marching pounding beat.
506
00:26:41,133 --> 00:26:46,739
* I can't get no satisfaction
507
00:26:47,606 --> 00:26:53,412
* I can't get no satisfaction
508
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:55,915
And it was the march of youth,
509
00:26:55,948 --> 00:26:58,217
the march of the
younger generation.
510
00:26:58,250 --> 00:27:01,420
And then you add the lyrical
content on top of that.
511
00:27:01,453 --> 00:27:04,590
I can't get no
satisfaction, The Stones,
512
00:27:04,623 --> 00:27:06,225
and that record
particularly was the one
513
00:27:06,258 --> 00:27:10,629
in summer of '65 that
embodied everything that
514
00:27:10,963 --> 00:27:14,033
the young people were
kind of striving for.
515
00:27:14,066 --> 00:27:15,634
"I Can't Get no
Satisfaction" became
516
00:27:15,668 --> 00:27:18,104
a kind of generational anthem.
517
00:27:18,137 --> 00:27:20,139
And it's an amazing performance,
518
00:27:20,172 --> 00:27:22,909
I mean it's a
definitive guitar line.
519
00:27:22,942 --> 00:27:24,911
But also Jagger's performance,
520
00:27:24,944 --> 00:27:26,746
by the time he gets
to that last verse,
521
00:27:26,779 --> 00:27:28,748
I'm riding around the world.
522
00:27:28,781 --> 00:27:32,118
* When I'm riding
around the world *
523
00:27:32,151 --> 00:27:36,055
* And I'm doing this
and I'm signing that *
524
00:27:36,088 --> 00:27:39,225
* And I'm trying
to make some girl *
525
00:27:39,258 --> 00:27:43,229
* Who tells me better maybe
come back maybe next week *
526
00:27:43,262 --> 00:27:46,265
* Can't you see I'm
on a losing streak *
527
00:27:46,298 --> 00:27:48,735
* I can't get no
528
00:27:48,768 --> 00:27:52,004
Jagger is very
underrated as a singer.
529
00:27:52,038 --> 00:27:56,675
But when you isolate
his vocals, and you hear
530
00:27:56,709 --> 00:28:00,813
the kind of commitment that
he brings to his delivery.
531
00:28:00,847 --> 00:28:03,649
There's a reason why
the second you hear
532
00:28:03,682 --> 00:28:06,152
that song you never forget it.
533
00:28:06,185 --> 00:28:09,789
The sense of young people
feeling that kind of
534
00:28:09,822 --> 00:28:14,293
disgruntlement with mainstream
culture, that was very much
535
00:28:14,326 --> 00:28:18,765
in the air right then,
and they gave it voice.
536
00:28:18,798 --> 00:28:19,766
[Narrator] Over the next year,
537
00:28:19,799 --> 00:28:22,101
The Stones' sound would expand.
538
00:28:22,134 --> 00:28:24,536
And the singles following
"Satisfaction" took aim
539
00:28:24,570 --> 00:28:27,840
at the dark underbelly
of British culture.
540
00:28:27,874 --> 00:28:31,143
And at the same time in America,
a new door was beginning,
541
00:28:31,177 --> 00:28:34,814
one that would have an
enormous impact on The Stones,
542
00:28:34,847 --> 00:28:37,216
and all of their contemporaries.
543
00:28:37,249 --> 00:28:40,953
In distant San Francisco
an artistic, spiritual,
544
00:28:40,987 --> 00:28:45,024
and cultural scene had been
growing since the 1950s.
545
00:28:45,057 --> 00:28:48,027
And its introduction of new
music, mind expanding drugs,
546
00:28:48,060 --> 00:28:52,664
and alternative lifestyles
was about to change the world.
547
00:28:53,265 --> 00:28:56,368
San Francisco has
been a home for
548
00:28:56,402 --> 00:28:59,972
the tragically disaffected
since the Catholic
549
00:29:00,006 --> 00:29:03,242
missionaries showed
up here in the 1700s.
550
00:29:03,275 --> 00:29:09,681
Hospitable to radicals,
rebels, mavericks, it attracted
551
00:29:09,715 --> 00:29:12,551
these original sort of
disaffected free thinkers
552
00:29:12,584 --> 00:29:14,887
of the '50s, of
the post war era.
553
00:29:14,921 --> 00:29:16,889
And it was common
knowledge to them
554
00:29:16,923 --> 00:29:19,391
that their parents
didn't understand them.
555
00:29:19,425 --> 00:29:23,662
And one of them was a writer
by the name of Jack Kerouac
556
00:29:23,695 --> 00:29:27,699
who constructed an
epic book, "On the Road",
557
00:29:27,733 --> 00:29:31,737
of two just such
characters making a journey
558
00:29:31,770 --> 00:29:35,441
across the country, and their
destination is San Francisco.
559
00:29:35,474 --> 00:29:38,878
On the Road settled
San Francisco as
560
00:29:38,911 --> 00:29:41,547
the capital of this
kind of thinking.
561
00:29:41,580 --> 00:29:44,884
The main thing that touched
off this kind of activity,
562
00:29:44,917 --> 00:29:48,620
I think, is the
arrival of the beats,
563
00:29:48,654 --> 00:29:51,924
the arrival of Jack
Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.
564
00:29:51,958 --> 00:29:55,061
And then in short order you've
got figures like Ken Kesey.
565
00:29:55,094 --> 00:29:57,930
[Narrator] A decade younger
than the beat writers,
566
00:29:57,964 --> 00:29:59,465
celebrated novelist,
567
00:29:59,498 --> 00:30:01,901
Kesey introduced the
bohemian community
568
00:30:01,934 --> 00:30:05,737
in San Francisco
to a new drug, LSD.
569
00:30:06,172 --> 00:30:08,875
And this would play
a pivotal role in
570
00:30:08,908 --> 00:30:11,210
the cultural scene
that soon developed.
571
00:30:11,911 --> 00:30:13,946
Ken Kesey had made his
money as the author
572
00:30:13,980 --> 00:30:16,115
of One Flew Over
the Cuckoo's Nest.
573
00:30:16,148 --> 00:30:18,951
He'd been introduced
to hallucinogenic drugs
574
00:30:18,985 --> 00:30:24,156
by a government backed
experimental testing program.
575
00:30:24,590 --> 00:30:27,927
And then he becomes
the link really between
576
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,729
The Beat Generation
of Allen Ginsberg
577
00:30:30,762 --> 00:30:33,765
and Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
and the emerging
578
00:30:33,799 --> 00:30:38,804
hippie movement of the mid
1960s, so he's a pivotal figure.
579
00:30:40,106 --> 00:30:42,441
He puts together what came
to be called the acid tests,
580
00:30:42,474 --> 00:30:47,079
which were multicultural
events, experiences,
581
00:30:47,113 --> 00:30:51,850
at which LSD was liberally
and freely circulated,
582
00:30:52,284 --> 00:30:55,321
and at which the Grateful
Dead became the house band.
583
00:30:55,955 --> 00:30:58,925
The Grateful Dead play
there, they become part of
584
00:30:58,958 --> 00:31:01,793
that scene, the house band,
they weren't really concerts.
585
00:31:01,827 --> 00:31:03,595
But the Grateful
Dead were there.
586
00:31:03,629 --> 00:31:07,133
Sometimes they didn't even play,
they were too high to play.
587
00:31:07,166 --> 00:31:09,835
And no one would came there
to listen to them anyway.
588
00:31:09,868 --> 00:31:12,104
So it gave them a
fantastic opportunity
589
00:31:12,138 --> 00:31:17,343
to develop their music in
the way that they saw fit.
590
00:31:18,544 --> 00:31:21,981
[Narrator] In early 1966,
this musical offshoot
591
00:31:22,014 --> 00:31:25,484
of the LSD parties began
gathering momentum.
592
00:31:25,517 --> 00:31:28,220
Alongside The Grateful
Dead, bands such as
593
00:31:28,254 --> 00:31:30,289
The Jefferson Airplane,
and Big Brother
594
00:31:30,322 --> 00:31:32,891
and the Holding Company
developed on the local
595
00:31:32,925 --> 00:31:35,894
club circuit, creating
psychedelic sounds
596
00:31:35,928 --> 00:31:39,031
that complimented
the acid experience.
597
00:31:39,065 --> 00:31:41,033
At the premier clubs
the Fillmore West,
598
00:31:41,067 --> 00:31:44,003
and the Avalon Ballroom,
from these experiments
599
00:31:44,036 --> 00:31:47,373
a new musical culture was
born, far from the controlling
600
00:31:47,406 --> 00:31:50,242
hands of the commercial
entertainment industry.
601
00:31:51,410 --> 00:31:54,313
At the Fillmore in Avalon
there were no spotlights.
602
00:31:54,346 --> 00:31:58,017
There was a big light show
that covered the back wall
603
00:31:58,050 --> 00:32:01,087
and the side wall, and
was not an exact science.
604
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,056
It covered parts of the floor
too, and people sitting on it.
605
00:32:04,090 --> 00:32:06,692
It was just this huge
pulsing set of colors
606
00:32:06,725 --> 00:32:10,196
coming out of light
projectors, and film loops.
607
00:32:10,229 --> 00:32:15,234
And there was no spotlight,
there was no band on display,
608
00:32:15,467 --> 00:32:17,569
and the stages were
very low, like 12,
609
00:32:17,603 --> 00:32:21,507
18 inches off the floor,
and these crowds danced.
610
00:32:21,540 --> 00:32:23,109
They danced to the
music, they didn't
611
00:32:23,142 --> 00:32:24,943
sit there and watch
like a concert.
612
00:32:25,978 --> 00:32:28,214
[Narrator] And the culture
that started in the clubs,
613
00:32:28,247 --> 00:32:30,749
soon began to spread out
into the neighborhoods
614
00:32:30,782 --> 00:32:33,252
and public spaces of the city.
615
00:32:33,285 --> 00:32:36,122
With its epicenter in the
Haight Ashbury District,
616
00:32:36,155 --> 00:32:38,357
free concerts were
soon organized,
617
00:32:38,390 --> 00:32:39,258
with The Grateful Dead
618
00:32:39,291 --> 00:32:42,228
and other bands playing
to large crowds,
619
00:32:42,261 --> 00:32:44,530
both on the streets
and in local parks.
620
00:32:45,497 --> 00:32:50,569
By the end of 1966, the hippy
movement was in full flight.
621
00:32:50,602 --> 00:32:52,271
What's happening in San
Francisco is driven by
622
00:32:52,304 --> 00:32:57,243
a very democratic impulse,
but it is not commercial.
623
00:32:57,276 --> 00:32:59,278
So you have the free concerts.
624
00:32:59,311 --> 00:33:03,115
I mean the drugs are
also very very important.
625
00:33:03,149 --> 00:33:06,552
LSD is still legal in
in '66, don't forget.
626
00:33:06,585 --> 00:33:11,257
And it is a tool of
liberation, and suddenly drugs
627
00:33:11,290 --> 00:33:13,759
are not just about
getting out of your head,
628
00:33:13,792 --> 00:33:16,662
they're about expanding your
head, expanding your mind.
629
00:33:16,695 --> 00:33:20,232
And so that goes along I think
with the democratic impulse,
630
00:33:20,266 --> 00:33:25,537
and the love, and peace, and
those sort of pseudo political
631
00:33:25,571 --> 00:33:28,974
philosophical notions that
underpin the hippie movement.
632
00:33:29,875 --> 00:33:32,144
[Narrator] And while the key
concepts of love and peace
633
00:33:32,178 --> 00:33:35,481
were central to this new San
Francisco counterculture,
634
00:33:35,514 --> 00:33:38,784
at the free concerts another
group of non conformists
635
00:33:38,817 --> 00:33:42,588
were often seen rubbing
shoulders with the hippies.
636
00:33:42,621 --> 00:33:45,624
The Hell's Angels, a
Californian biker club,
637
00:33:45,657 --> 00:33:49,595
were similarly looking to
live by their own code.
638
00:33:49,628 --> 00:33:51,797
An outlaw presence
across the state,
639
00:33:51,830 --> 00:33:55,301
viewed by the authorities
as a violent criminal gang,
640
00:33:55,334 --> 00:33:57,603
they had come into
contact with Ken Kesey
641
00:33:57,636 --> 00:33:59,171
and the burgeoning
counterculture
642
00:33:59,205 --> 00:34:01,440
at an early stage.
643
00:34:01,473 --> 00:34:03,775
Kesey tamed The Hell's Angels.
644
00:34:03,809 --> 00:34:08,814
He had them come over to La
Honda, filled them with LSD,
645
00:34:09,381 --> 00:34:11,283
and hung out with
the pranksters.
646
00:34:11,317 --> 00:34:13,452
And they were tamed by
him, they loved him,
647
00:34:13,485 --> 00:34:16,622
they loved LSD, they
got that whole thing.
648
00:34:17,055 --> 00:34:19,225
Pretty soon The Hell's
Angels are fixtures
649
00:34:19,258 --> 00:34:21,059
at the Grateful Dead
shows, and people
650
00:34:21,093 --> 00:34:22,561
start getting used
to seeing them.
651
00:34:22,594 --> 00:34:24,996
And in fact they can
be quite helpful,
652
00:34:25,030 --> 00:34:29,067
sometimes reconnecting lost
children with their parents.
653
00:34:29,101 --> 00:34:33,539
So, it wasn't unusual to see
them at some of these events.
654
00:34:33,572 --> 00:34:38,410
The counterculture and The
Hell's Angels were sort of
655
00:34:38,444 --> 00:34:41,880
decent bedfellows because
sex, drugs, rock and roll.
656
00:34:43,014 --> 00:34:48,019
Living the fast life, living
life on the margins of society.
657
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,756
There's an affiliation
between rebellion
658
00:34:50,789 --> 00:34:53,325
and men on motorbikes
that goes right back
659
00:34:53,359 --> 00:34:55,060
to Marlon Brando
in "The Wild One."
660
00:34:55,093 --> 00:34:57,896
[engines roaring]
661
00:34:59,431 --> 00:35:02,368
[dramatic music]
662
00:35:07,273 --> 00:35:09,241
On their bikes they
expressed freedom,
663
00:35:09,275 --> 00:35:11,210
and up and down the freeway,
this is on the road,
664
00:35:11,243 --> 00:35:15,181
except they're on their
iron horses, so to speak.
665
00:35:15,214 --> 00:35:17,216
But I think there must
have been a wariness,
666
00:35:17,249 --> 00:35:20,352
because the angels lived
kind of a different life.
667
00:35:20,386 --> 00:35:23,555
They didn't subscribe
to love and peace.
668
00:35:25,557 --> 00:35:28,360
[Narrator] For more than a
year this new counterculture,
669
00:35:28,394 --> 00:35:31,363
coexisting with The Angels,
had been able to grow
670
00:35:31,397 --> 00:35:34,300
organically with
little media attention.
671
00:35:34,333 --> 00:35:39,338
But in January 1967 a far larger
free concert was organized.
672
00:35:40,306 --> 00:35:42,941
Known as the Human Be-In,
it featured speeches
673
00:35:42,974 --> 00:35:46,412
from prominent figures Timothy
Leary, and Allen Ginsberg,
674
00:35:46,445 --> 00:35:48,780
alongside musical
performances by
675
00:35:48,814 --> 00:35:51,283
the major new
voices on the scene.
676
00:35:51,317 --> 00:35:53,285
The Human Be-In
was a huge event,
677
00:35:53,319 --> 00:35:57,323
because it was the
first one of its kind.
678
00:35:57,356 --> 00:35:59,291
You hadn't seen this
kind of a huge crowd
679
00:35:59,325 --> 00:36:03,028
of countercultural people
until the Human Be-In.
680
00:36:03,061 --> 00:36:06,232
So, it's example was
extremely important.
681
00:36:06,265 --> 00:36:09,801
It was made for television,
sort of as a signal
682
00:36:09,835 --> 00:36:13,405
to the national media
that something interesting
683
00:36:13,439 --> 00:36:16,775
is going on in San
Francisco's youth culture.
684
00:36:16,808 --> 00:36:19,311
The people who are
onstage and speaking,
685
00:36:19,345 --> 00:36:21,280
are also made for television.
686
00:36:21,313 --> 00:36:24,082
You got Timothy Leary,
and Allen Ginsberg
687
00:36:24,115 --> 00:36:28,320
in these kind of flowing robes,
Leary spreading his message
688
00:36:28,354 --> 00:36:31,122
about the benefits
of psychedelics.
689
00:36:32,057 --> 00:36:33,191
Six words:
690
00:36:34,526 --> 00:36:35,327
Turn on,
691
00:36:36,628 --> 00:36:37,396
tune in,
692
00:36:38,530 --> 00:36:40,332
drop out.
693
00:36:40,566 --> 00:36:42,301
[audience cheering]
694
00:36:42,334 --> 00:36:47,373
I don't think word leaked out
much about what was going on
695
00:36:47,406 --> 00:36:52,043
in San Francisco through
the course of 1966.
696
00:36:52,844 --> 00:36:56,482
But with the Human
Be-In in January of '67,
697
00:36:56,515 --> 00:36:59,318
it just exploded the
beginning of that year.
698
00:36:59,351 --> 00:37:03,121
And the mythology
was instantaneous.
699
00:37:03,154 --> 00:37:07,192
Harry Reasoner showed up,
the American TV journalist
700
00:37:07,225 --> 00:37:09,728
and cluck, cluck, clucked
about the hippies.
701
00:37:09,761 --> 00:37:13,465
They they think there's
some kind of saint.
702
00:37:13,499 --> 00:37:17,636
And in doing that, it
delivered a coded message
703
00:37:17,669 --> 00:37:21,340
to young people everywhere
that it wasn't as repressive,
704
00:37:21,373 --> 00:37:24,876
it wasn't as gray,
that there was hope.
705
00:37:24,910 --> 00:37:26,678
And that you could
go to San Francisco,
706
00:37:26,712 --> 00:37:29,748
grow your hair, and
things would be different.
707
00:37:31,283 --> 00:37:33,585
[Narrator] While across
America, young people flocked
708
00:37:33,619 --> 00:37:36,922
to the Haight Ashbury District
in search of this Utopia.
709
00:37:36,955 --> 00:37:41,860
In Britain too the influence
of San Francisco was soon felt.
710
00:37:41,893 --> 00:37:45,397
Countercultural ideas and
fashions crossed the Atlantic,
711
00:37:45,431 --> 00:37:48,033
while touring musicians,
including The Stones
712
00:37:48,066 --> 00:37:49,401
and The Beatles were introduced
713
00:37:49,435 --> 00:37:53,372
to hallucinogenics by their
American counterparts.
714
00:37:53,405 --> 00:37:56,442
Talk of the new drug, LSD
in particular, led to fears
715
00:37:56,475 --> 00:38:00,078
that popular culture was
getting out of control.
716
00:38:00,111 --> 00:38:02,080
Where only two years beforehand,
717
00:38:02,113 --> 00:38:04,616
the administration of Prime
Minister Harold Wilson
718
00:38:04,650 --> 00:38:07,052
was celebrating the
Beatles and the booming
719
00:38:07,085 --> 00:38:10,722
youth movement, now
a backlash began.
720
00:38:10,756 --> 00:38:13,024
Where once leniency
had prevailed,
721
00:38:13,058 --> 00:38:15,894
now a number of drug
busts were organized.
722
00:38:15,927 --> 00:38:19,731
And in February 1967, the
police arrived in force
723
00:38:19,765 --> 00:38:22,834
at the home of Rolling Stones'
guitarist, Keith Richards.
724
00:38:23,469 --> 00:38:27,105
Pop stars had soft power,
they had cultural power,
725
00:38:27,138 --> 00:38:30,942
and what they were saying
was increasingly disobedient.
726
00:38:30,976 --> 00:38:32,944
But of course the
establishment didn't like that.
727
00:38:32,978 --> 00:38:35,414
And they increasingly
took notice
728
00:38:35,447 --> 00:38:37,583
of pop stars, and
what they were saying.
729
00:38:37,616 --> 00:38:39,250
And The Stones really were ideal
730
00:38:39,284 --> 00:38:41,987
candidates then for drug busts.
731
00:38:42,020 --> 00:38:43,589
When they started
to clamp down hard,
732
00:38:43,622 --> 00:38:47,693
which was February 1967,
The Stones were marked men.
733
00:38:49,761 --> 00:38:52,564
The police were given a tip
off by the news of the world
734
00:38:52,598 --> 00:38:56,802
that a drug party was taking
place at Keith Richards'
735
00:38:56,835 --> 00:39:00,071
home in West
Wittering, in Sussex.
736
00:39:00,105 --> 00:39:04,410
And they raided it on a
Sunday night in February.
737
00:39:04,443 --> 00:39:08,079
This was the famous bust
where Marianne Faithfull
738
00:39:08,113 --> 00:39:11,817
was dressed in
nothing but a fur rug.
739
00:39:11,850 --> 00:39:16,087
All they found was some ash
from marijuana cigarettes
740
00:39:16,121 --> 00:39:18,990
in an ashtray, a
few amphetamines
741
00:39:19,024 --> 00:39:22,961
that were actually, I
believe a prescription.
742
00:39:22,994 --> 00:39:26,498
And the outcome
was that Jagger was
743
00:39:26,532 --> 00:39:30,201
sentenced to three months
in prison for the pills.
744
00:39:30,235 --> 00:39:33,505
And the Keith Richards
got 12 months for allowing
745
00:39:33,539 --> 00:39:38,309
his home to be used for
this nefarious drug taking.
746
00:39:39,144 --> 00:39:42,814
Personally I was upset for
them, and very shocked.
747
00:39:42,848 --> 00:39:45,651
We were all
instructed to be very
748
00:39:45,684 --> 00:39:49,521
very low key, not to
talk to any media.
749
00:39:49,555 --> 00:39:51,690
There was a sort of
blanket instruction
750
00:39:51,723 --> 00:39:57,328
from The Stones' office, to
not do anything to exacerbate,
751
00:39:57,362 --> 00:40:00,098
that this was a
serious situation.
752
00:40:00,131 --> 00:40:04,536
And so we were all, I
mean definitely, upset,
753
00:40:04,570 --> 00:40:07,473
and distressed, and worried,
and worried for them.
754
00:40:08,574 --> 00:40:10,676
[Narrator] While these
arrests further enhanced
755
00:40:10,709 --> 00:40:14,045
The Stones' rebellious
reputation, they also sidelined
756
00:40:14,079 --> 00:40:18,149
the band for much of the
counterculture's watershed year.
757
00:40:18,183 --> 00:40:21,419
While awaiting trial, they
performed a European tour,
758
00:40:21,453 --> 00:40:24,590
their last series of shows
for more than two years.
759
00:40:24,623 --> 00:40:27,759
And in May, Brian Jones was
also the target of a police
760
00:40:27,793 --> 00:40:31,296
raid and he too would stand
trial for drug possession.
761
00:40:32,030 --> 00:40:34,099
On America's West
Coast, however,
762
00:40:34,132 --> 00:40:37,335
the counterculture's influence
spread unobstructed.
763
00:40:37,368 --> 00:40:41,673
And in June 1967, the first
major pop festival took place in
764
00:40:41,707 --> 00:40:46,712
Monterey, a coastal city 100
miles south of San Francisco.
765
00:40:46,978 --> 00:40:49,047
It would prove a
vital showcase for
766
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:50,582
the bands of the Haight Ashbury.
767
00:40:51,983 --> 00:40:54,753
The San Francisco scene
was very excited by this.
768
00:40:54,786 --> 00:40:57,422
We could feel this
was the next wave.
769
00:40:57,455 --> 00:40:59,625
And so we wanted for them,
if you hadn't heard of them,
770
00:40:59,658 --> 00:41:02,227
now's your chance to
see them, now go down
771
00:41:02,260 --> 00:41:05,463
and spend three days
and see them all.
772
00:41:06,765 --> 00:41:10,368
Monterey, incredible
important transition,
773
00:41:10,401 --> 00:41:15,741
catalyst for huge change, and
people came in that weekend
774
00:41:15,774 --> 00:41:20,779
on the top, Mamas and Papas
runs six straight top 10 hits,
775
00:41:20,812 --> 00:41:24,616
The Association,
Simon and Garfunkel.
776
00:41:25,083 --> 00:41:26,785
By the end of the
weekend everybody was
777
00:41:26,818 --> 00:41:31,356
talking about Jimi Hendrix,
Jefferson Airplane,
778
00:41:31,389 --> 00:41:35,627
Otis Redding, Big Brother
and The Holding Company.
779
00:41:35,661 --> 00:41:38,530
And the whole world had
revolved in three days.
780
00:41:39,330 --> 00:41:42,634
Monterey was the first of
the pop music festivals.
781
00:41:42,668 --> 00:41:44,636
And it had a great
feeling around it.
782
00:41:44,670 --> 00:41:47,472
There was a lot of
optimism in the air,
783
00:41:47,505 --> 00:41:49,608
along with the
smell of marijuana.
784
00:41:49,641 --> 00:41:52,911
And for me, watching
that festival,
785
00:41:52,944 --> 00:41:54,646
the highlight was Janis Joplin.
786
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:56,682
Because I'd scene Hendrix,
and I'd seen The Who.
787
00:41:56,715 --> 00:42:00,752
I knew how good they were,
I'd flown out with Hendrix.
788
00:42:00,786 --> 00:42:03,021
But when Janis Joplin
came up on stage
789
00:42:03,054 --> 00:42:06,324
and opened her mouth, I
just took two steps back.
790
00:42:06,357 --> 00:42:09,795
I just had never heard a woman
sing like that in my life.
791
00:42:09,828 --> 00:42:15,500
* Oh whoa whoa tell my why
792
00:42:15,701 --> 00:42:20,706
* Does everything go so wrong *
793
00:42:21,306 --> 00:42:24,810
* I see people honey
all go wrong yeah *
794
00:42:25,543 --> 00:42:29,180
Everyone was there, Derek
Taylor, the Beatles
795
00:42:29,214 --> 00:42:31,116
publicist put this
whole thing together.
796
00:42:31,149 --> 00:42:32,818
And a lot of people were there.
797
00:42:32,851 --> 00:42:35,020
So a lot of people
saw her kill it.
798
00:42:35,053 --> 00:42:37,623
I mean she was great that night.
799
00:42:37,656 --> 00:42:40,291
Rather than being in
a relatively small,
800
00:42:40,325 --> 00:42:43,829
semi-provincial American
city, all of a sudden
801
00:42:43,862 --> 00:42:45,964
San Francisco was
challenging LA.
802
00:42:45,997 --> 00:42:48,399
LA was the West Coast
center of popular music
803
00:42:48,433 --> 00:42:52,638
with the movies, and
all that was all LA.
804
00:42:52,904 --> 00:42:57,575
And San Francisco had
very little part in that.
805
00:42:57,609 --> 00:43:00,411
But now, The Grateful
Dead was San Francisco,
806
00:43:00,445 --> 00:43:02,714
Janis Joplin was San Francisco.
807
00:43:02,748 --> 00:43:06,685
San Francisco, that
summer, became a pop music
808
00:43:06,718 --> 00:43:09,120
capital where it
had not been before.
809
00:43:10,722 --> 00:43:11,857
[Narrator] And in
attendance of this
810
00:43:11,890 --> 00:43:14,292
historic festival
was a Rolling Stone.
811
00:43:16,728 --> 00:43:19,831
Brian Jones, still
awaiting sentencing,
812
00:43:19,865 --> 00:43:21,867
had traveled to the
event, keen to witness
813
00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:25,603
firsthand the fruits of
this new counterculture.
814
00:43:25,637 --> 00:43:28,006
Brian Jones appearing
in the audience at
815
00:43:28,039 --> 00:43:32,110
Monterey Pop, hanging
out with Nico was
816
00:43:32,978 --> 00:43:36,514
important to the scene,
they recognized that as
817
00:43:36,547 --> 00:43:40,719
British rock royalty
anointing the festival.
818
00:43:40,752 --> 00:43:44,289
So The Stones were
represented there.
819
00:43:44,322 --> 00:43:48,694
It would be the underpinnings of
820
00:43:49,795 --> 00:43:53,364
what would lead them
into Altamont because
821
00:43:53,398 --> 00:43:57,568
they felt somewhat separate
from this hip underground
822
00:43:57,602 --> 00:44:00,772
movement and they really
wanted to be part of it.
823
00:44:00,806 --> 00:44:04,275
Jagger especially wanted
that for his band.
824
00:44:05,643 --> 00:44:07,245
[Narrator] But it was
neither The Stones,
825
00:44:07,278 --> 00:44:09,748
nor the West Coast acts that
would provide the definitive
826
00:44:09,781 --> 00:44:13,418
musical statement of this new
countercultural mindset.
827
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,756
In a remarkable creative
surge, with the LP
828
00:44:17,789 --> 00:44:20,291
Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band,
829
00:44:20,325 --> 00:44:23,829
and the single All You Need
is Love, it was the Beatles
830
00:44:23,862 --> 00:44:26,798
that captured the spirit
of the summer of love.
831
00:44:26,832 --> 00:44:30,736
1967 really was
owned by the Beatles.
832
00:44:30,769 --> 00:44:31,536
There was all
this thing happening
833
00:44:31,569 --> 00:44:33,238
over on the West Coast.
834
00:44:33,271 --> 00:44:36,842
But "All You Need is Love", it
was so right for its time.
835
00:44:36,875 --> 00:44:40,779
A summer of love that was,
like all the best flowers,
836
00:44:40,812 --> 00:44:43,414
they just die off after
a couple of months.
837
00:44:43,448 --> 00:44:45,283
But "All You Need is
Love" was the song,
838
00:44:45,316 --> 00:44:47,753
the single song that
symbolized that.
839
00:44:47,786 --> 00:44:49,955
They also had Sergeant Pepper
on the album market which,
840
00:44:49,988 --> 00:44:54,025
even reviewers in the Times
saying this is genuine art.
841
00:44:54,059 --> 00:44:56,161
This isn't pop
music, this is art.
842
00:44:56,194 --> 00:44:57,963
In my whole career
of following music,
843
00:44:57,996 --> 00:45:02,633
and now it's 50, 60 years,
there was nothing ever
844
00:45:02,667 --> 00:45:05,470
and hasn't been since
something like Sergeant Pepper.
845
00:45:05,503 --> 00:45:09,941
This was big, Sergeant
Pepper blew everybody's mind.
846
00:45:09,975 --> 00:45:12,277
Everybody found
something to like.
847
00:45:12,310 --> 00:45:15,380
It was just powerful,
powerful music.
848
00:45:16,815 --> 00:45:18,884
[Narrator] In late July,
Jagger and Richards
849
00:45:18,917 --> 00:45:21,719
successfully appealed
against their convictions.
850
00:45:21,753 --> 00:45:24,655
And the pair were
free men once again.
851
00:45:24,689 --> 00:45:26,858
Determined to keep
up with the Beatles,
852
00:45:26,892 --> 00:45:28,794
The Stones quickly
reassembled and issued
853
00:45:28,827 --> 00:45:32,630
their own contributions
to the summer of love.
854
00:45:32,663 --> 00:45:35,700
But the single We Love You,
and the album that followed,
855
00:45:35,733 --> 00:45:38,904
the much maligned Satanic
Majesties Request,
856
00:45:38,937 --> 00:45:41,973
offered a less celebratory
vision of the times,
857
00:45:42,007 --> 00:45:45,811
and failed to chime with
the utopian mood of the era.
858
00:45:45,844 --> 00:45:47,178
The Rolling Stones,
and peace and love
859
00:45:47,212 --> 00:45:50,248
might seem unlikely bedfellows.
860
00:45:50,281 --> 00:45:52,818
But Jagger and
Richards were there
861
00:45:52,851 --> 00:45:55,486
at the recording of
All You Need is Love.
862
00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:59,257
And in fact their single
which follows that,
863
00:45:59,290 --> 00:46:02,861
"We Love You", I think
is a masterpiece.
864
00:46:02,894 --> 00:46:04,830
The Rolling Stones are,
and Jagger and Richards
865
00:46:04,863 --> 00:46:09,935
in particular are, right in
the firing line at this point.
866
00:46:09,968 --> 00:46:13,604
So, peace and love
with with an edge,
867
00:46:13,638 --> 00:46:17,742
because they are being
targeted and victimized.
868
00:46:18,643 --> 00:46:25,150
* We love you
869
00:46:27,886 --> 00:46:34,125
* We love you
870
00:46:37,062 --> 00:46:38,029
* And we hold
871
00:46:38,063 --> 00:46:40,131
It wasn't anything like
"All You Need is Love".
872
00:46:40,165 --> 00:46:42,600
It was sardonic.
873
00:46:42,633 --> 00:46:45,470
It was ironic, almost,
the way they sang that
874
00:46:45,503 --> 00:46:47,873
It wasn't inclusive, and upbeat,
875
00:46:47,906 --> 00:46:50,608
and playful, and fun,
and international.
876
00:46:50,641 --> 00:46:52,911
So The Stones weren't
really playing ball.
877
00:46:52,944 --> 00:46:54,913
The Stones are hardened.
878
00:46:54,946 --> 00:46:58,816
They never fully bit on all
the idealism of the '60s.
879
00:46:58,850 --> 00:47:01,920
They were tougher, it was
like a London thing in part.
880
00:47:01,953 --> 00:47:04,055
They were city kids.
881
00:47:04,089 --> 00:47:06,091
So all of this get
back to the land,
882
00:47:06,124 --> 00:47:08,326
and wear flowers in your
hair, and all that business,
883
00:47:08,359 --> 00:47:11,829
that didn't really
work for them so well.
884
00:47:11,863 --> 00:47:14,165
They didn't think because
you went to the park
885
00:47:14,199 --> 00:47:15,967
with your friends and
waved a flag around
886
00:47:16,001 --> 00:47:19,737
that anybody was gonna
give up anything important.
887
00:47:19,770 --> 00:47:23,641
They totally understood that
that was never going to happen.
888
00:47:24,842 --> 00:47:26,477
[Narrator] And The
Stones reluctance
889
00:47:26,511 --> 00:47:28,413
to join in with the
prevailing optimism,
890
00:47:28,446 --> 00:47:30,949
was borne out by the
more disturbing events
891
00:47:30,982 --> 00:47:33,919
that occurred during
the summer of love.
892
00:47:33,952 --> 00:47:39,090
In June 1967, 10,000 peace
marchers were violently attacked
893
00:47:39,124 --> 00:47:42,493
by police during a
demonstration in Los Angeles.
894
00:47:42,527 --> 00:47:45,997
While the following month,
race riots erupted in Detroit
895
00:47:46,031 --> 00:47:50,101
leaving dozens killed
and hundreds injured.
896
00:47:50,135 --> 00:47:52,603
Even as the summer of
love was proffering this
897
00:47:52,637 --> 00:47:55,106
kind of vision of a a new world,
898
00:47:55,140 --> 00:47:57,108
there were plenty of problems.
899
00:47:57,142 --> 00:48:02,147
Everything didn't disappear
because you took a pill one day.
900
00:48:02,547 --> 00:48:05,616
"We can transform
things by smoking pot."
901
00:48:05,650 --> 00:48:07,986
It was just not realistic.
902
00:48:08,019 --> 00:48:12,157
And soon everyone learned
how unrealistic it was.
903
00:48:13,191 --> 00:48:16,161
The growth of the
counterculture occurs at exactly
904
00:48:16,194 --> 00:48:21,032
the same time as the black
ghetto is rising up in force,
905
00:48:21,066 --> 00:48:23,969
in Detroit, and in
many other places.
906
00:48:24,002 --> 00:48:27,072
So, you have these
two simultaneous,
907
00:48:27,105 --> 00:48:31,076
not exactly related
movements, but both of them
908
00:48:31,109 --> 00:48:35,846
give you a feeling that
everything is changing.
909
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:37,983
And a lot of things
are under siege
910
00:48:38,016 --> 00:48:40,418
in a way they never were before.
911
00:48:40,451 --> 00:48:42,887
But certainly the riots
in the black ghettos are
912
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:46,524
the most destabilizing
force in the country,
913
00:48:46,557 --> 00:48:49,827
and the one that terrifies
white people the most,
914
00:48:49,860 --> 00:48:52,397
even more than long haired
rock and rollers, clearly.
915
00:48:53,965 --> 00:48:57,002
[Narrator] The stage was set
for harder times to follow.
916
00:48:57,035 --> 00:49:00,371
And at the very start of
1968 the counterculture's
917
00:49:00,405 --> 00:49:04,842
faith in the authorities
crumbled even further.
918
00:49:04,875 --> 00:49:08,746
Victory in Vietnam was always
presented as a certainty,
919
00:49:08,779 --> 00:49:11,949
the inevitable end
to a just crusade.
920
00:49:11,983 --> 00:49:12,984
But the news reports
921
00:49:13,018 --> 00:49:15,086
that broadcast during
the Tet Offensive
922
00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:19,690
offered all of America a very
different vision of the war.
923
00:49:19,924 --> 00:49:22,560
William Westmoreland, who's
the Commanding Army General
924
00:49:22,593 --> 00:49:25,263
for the United States in
Vietnam has come home to America
925
00:49:25,296 --> 00:49:32,770
in the fall of 1967 and said
that the war is being won,
926
00:49:33,004 --> 00:49:35,140
and that we have
nothing to worry about,
927
00:49:35,173 --> 00:49:38,776
and that we're about to turn
the corner, and of course,
928
00:49:38,809 --> 00:49:42,280
famously there is light
at the end of the tunnel.
929
00:49:42,313 --> 00:49:45,750
And then at the end of
January of 1968 you have
930
00:49:45,783 --> 00:49:49,054
every major city in
South Vietnam,
931
00:49:49,087 --> 00:49:52,390
and every major military outpost
932
00:49:52,423 --> 00:49:57,362
attacked simultaneously
in honor of the Tet Holiday.
933
00:49:57,928 --> 00:50:01,299
And you have Vietnamese,
including some who
934
00:50:01,332 --> 00:50:03,834
had worked before
the American Embassy,
935
00:50:03,868 --> 00:50:07,272
inside the American
Embassy attacking it.
936
00:50:07,305 --> 00:50:11,109
And those images of people
inside the Embassy Compound,
937
00:50:11,142 --> 00:50:14,245
as well as the general
mayhem around the country,
938
00:50:14,279 --> 00:50:18,116
have a very dramatic
and immediate effect.
939
00:50:18,849 --> 00:50:21,586
It was very clear that the
light at the end of the tunnel
940
00:50:21,619 --> 00:50:26,191
just really didn't
exist, that was a fantasy
941
00:50:26,224 --> 00:50:28,593
that was being sold
to the American people
942
00:50:28,626 --> 00:50:32,163
to justify their sons going
over to fight this war.
943
00:50:32,197 --> 00:50:34,665
Once that became part of
people's awareness of what
944
00:50:34,699 --> 00:50:39,304
was going on in Vietnam,
yeah, the tide began to turn.
945
00:50:39,337 --> 00:50:41,806
But yeah there was
resistance to that.
946
00:50:41,839 --> 00:50:43,141
My country, right or wrong.
947
00:50:43,174 --> 00:50:46,977
That was something you heard
all the time back then.
948
00:50:47,011 --> 00:50:49,280
Even if Vietnam was not
justifiable you had to
949
00:50:49,314 --> 00:50:52,883
get behind it, and young
people who were kind of
950
00:50:52,917 --> 00:50:54,985
expected to go fight
that war we're thinking,
951
00:50:55,019 --> 00:50:57,488
well I don't think so,
I don't see it that way.
952
00:50:57,522 --> 00:50:59,290
The battle was on.
953
00:50:59,324 --> 00:51:00,491
[Narrator] And
this battle was not
954
00:51:00,525 --> 00:51:03,194
restricted to
America's home turf.
955
00:51:03,228 --> 00:51:06,831
The youth and peace movements
were active internationally.
956
00:51:06,864 --> 00:51:09,200
And in Europe large
demonstrations were
957
00:51:09,234 --> 00:51:12,337
organized to oppose
the Vietnam War.
958
00:51:12,370 --> 00:51:14,405
And although Britain had
seen peaceful marches
959
00:51:14,439 --> 00:51:17,575
for nuclear disarmament since
the start of the decade,
960
00:51:17,608 --> 00:51:22,347
in March 1968 outside
the US Embassy in London,
961
00:51:22,380 --> 00:51:25,082
the protests descended
into violence.
962
00:51:25,683 --> 00:51:29,320
After the flowers had wilted
there was a reality check.
963
00:51:29,354 --> 00:51:32,557
And the reality check,
Vietnam was becoming an issue
964
00:51:32,590 --> 00:51:36,994
that spread amongst young
people right around the world.
965
00:51:37,027 --> 00:51:40,498
It was the Cold War really
getting out of control, Vietnam.
966
00:51:40,531 --> 00:51:43,168
Young lives are being lost and
people are asking questions
967
00:51:43,201 --> 00:51:46,737
as to why Britain wasn't
sending the forces over,
968
00:51:46,771 --> 00:51:50,341
but there was some tacit
support of the USA.
969
00:51:51,142 --> 00:51:52,677
[Narrator] And amongst
the protesters,
970
00:51:52,710 --> 00:51:55,713
observing as the police and
the demonstrators clashed,
971
00:51:55,746 --> 00:51:58,183
was Mick Jagger himself.
972
00:51:58,216 --> 00:52:00,351
Since his trial
the frontman's role
973
00:52:00,385 --> 00:52:02,753
in the counterculture
had been transformed,
974
00:52:02,787 --> 00:52:06,357
and he now positioned
himself on the front lines.
975
00:52:06,391 --> 00:52:09,627
Jagger's very interesting
in terms of his role
976
00:52:09,660 --> 00:52:14,232
in the counterculture because
there is this instinctive
977
00:52:14,265 --> 00:52:18,436
desire just to be yobbish
and put your two fingers up.
978
00:52:18,469 --> 00:52:21,506
But he's also got
this LSE education.
979
00:52:22,139 --> 00:52:25,376
He is attracted by some
of the intellectual ideas
980
00:52:25,410 --> 00:52:28,213
that are underpinning
these notions
981
00:52:28,246 --> 00:52:31,816
of different ways of
organizing society.
982
00:52:31,849 --> 00:52:35,586
And he starts
appearing on British TV
983
00:52:35,620 --> 00:52:38,423
debating with Malcolm
Muggeridge, and Mary Whitehouse,
984
00:52:38,456 --> 00:52:40,758
and these figures
who represented
985
00:52:40,791 --> 00:52:45,162
a really reactionary
attitude at the time.
986
00:52:45,196 --> 00:52:50,668
The opportunity to go on
TV and debate why he felt
987
00:52:50,701 --> 00:52:54,505
society was being organized
on the wrong lines
988
00:52:55,706 --> 00:53:00,144
was very attractive to
him, and then it becomes
989
00:53:00,177 --> 00:53:02,280
part of his songwriting as well.
990
00:53:02,313 --> 00:53:04,815
[upbeat music]
991
00:53:10,355 --> 00:53:13,157
[Narrator] And this would
come at a perfect time.
992
00:53:13,190 --> 00:53:16,327
The confrontational mood in
Europe was further escalated
993
00:53:16,361 --> 00:53:20,298
in May when student
riots erupted in Paris.
994
00:53:20,331 --> 00:53:23,534
The resistance soon spread to
the French workers themselves.
995
00:53:23,568 --> 00:53:25,703
And the streets
became a battleground,
996
00:53:25,736 --> 00:53:28,673
with protesters calling
for a revolution.
997
00:53:28,706 --> 00:53:31,276
Into this turbulence
came The Rolling Stones
998
00:53:31,309 --> 00:53:33,878
new single,
"Jumping Jack Flash".
999
00:53:34,379 --> 00:53:36,481
You had Grosvenor
Square, but you also
1000
00:53:36,514 --> 00:53:39,484
had activism in
Berlin, in Paris.
1001
00:53:39,517 --> 00:53:42,853
And youth was becoming
an international force,
1002
00:53:42,887 --> 00:53:45,390
in a way like that, and
The Stones, when they
1003
00:53:45,423 --> 00:53:49,294
got there kinda mojo back,
back to the tough R and B,
1004
00:53:49,327 --> 00:53:52,330
They were a great
symbol for that.
1005
00:53:52,363 --> 00:53:54,565
So when you had
the Beatles in '67,
1006
00:53:54,599 --> 00:53:57,001
embodying everything
that was happening then,
1007
00:53:57,034 --> 00:54:01,171
The Stones were poised,
really, to embody the
1008
00:54:01,205 --> 00:54:05,543
darker energies that were
kind of unfolding during '68.
1009
00:54:05,576 --> 00:54:10,581
* I was born in a
cross fire hurricane *
1010
00:54:12,783 --> 00:54:17,688
* And I howled at the
morning driving rain *
1011
00:54:20,425 --> 00:54:22,059
* But it's all --
1012
00:54:22,092 --> 00:54:24,995
I remember the first time
I heard Jumping Jack Flash.
1013
00:54:25,029 --> 00:54:26,831
I was thinking like wow,
The Stones are back.
1014
00:54:27,665 --> 00:54:29,900
* But it's all right
1015
00:54:29,934 --> 00:54:32,102
Driven by a riff, and driven by
1016
00:54:32,136 --> 00:54:36,574
a kind of rebellious
message, it was exactly
1017
00:54:36,607 --> 00:54:38,509
what that moment
seemed to call for.
1018
00:54:38,543 --> 00:54:40,010
That started them off and kicked
1019
00:54:40,044 --> 00:54:42,212
everything off with
the "Jumping Jack Flash".
1020
00:54:42,246 --> 00:54:44,615
I mean, born in a
cross fire hurricane,
1021
00:54:44,649 --> 00:54:47,251
and all of the language
that was in that thing,
1022
00:54:47,284 --> 00:54:50,187
it was like identifying
for all those people
1023
00:54:50,220 --> 00:54:54,892
felt like life was crazy,
you had all the Vietnam,
1024
00:54:54,925 --> 00:54:57,462
all these other things
going on so yes,
1025
00:54:57,495 --> 00:55:01,065
born in a crossfire re-kicked
everything, it rekindled it.
1026
00:55:01,098 --> 00:55:03,100
[somber music]
1027
00:55:03,133 --> 00:55:04,535
[Narrator] But where
The Stones were being
1028
00:55:04,569 --> 00:55:07,505
revitalized, the American
political landscape
1029
00:55:07,538 --> 00:55:09,440
was reeling from
further tragedies.
1030
00:55:10,808 --> 00:55:13,911
In April, civil rights
leader Martin Luther King
1031
00:55:13,944 --> 00:55:16,581
had been assassinated
sparking off riots
1032
00:55:16,614 --> 00:55:21,085
in more than 110 cities, the
greatest wave of social unrest
1033
00:55:21,118 --> 00:55:25,456
the country had experienced
since the Civil War.
1034
00:55:25,490 --> 00:55:27,492
Despite the turbulence,
there was one
1035
00:55:27,525 --> 00:55:30,661
political figure
who offered hope.
1036
00:55:30,695 --> 00:55:33,163
Robert Kennedy, the
younger brother of slain
1037
00:55:33,197 --> 00:55:35,933
president John, was a
leading candidate for
1038
00:55:35,966 --> 00:55:39,003
the Democratic Party to
succeed Lyndon Johnson.
1039
00:55:40,204 --> 00:55:43,173
An advocate of human
rights, and social justice,
1040
00:55:43,207 --> 00:55:45,610
and an opponent of
the Vietnam War,
1041
00:55:45,643 --> 00:55:47,912
he suggested that
change could occur
1042
00:55:47,945 --> 00:55:50,948
from within the
political system.
1043
00:55:50,981 --> 00:55:54,819
Yet on June 5, 1968,
shortly after winning
1044
00:55:54,852 --> 00:55:58,989
the Californian primary,
he too was assassinated.
1045
00:56:00,858 --> 00:56:03,461
He did represent hope, and
even the people who hadn't
1046
00:56:03,494 --> 00:56:07,998
necessarily invested in it,
they knew him to be that.
1047
00:56:08,032 --> 00:56:13,438
And the robbery was
felt very strongly
1048
00:56:13,471 --> 00:56:15,706
throughout the youth culture.
1049
00:56:15,740 --> 00:56:18,308
Those two assassinations
did more to destroy
1050
00:56:18,342 --> 00:56:22,212
optimism than anything
else in my lifetime.
1051
00:56:22,246 --> 00:56:25,850
And of course, really, it
was three assassinations
1052
00:56:25,883 --> 00:56:28,619
in the minds of us who
came of age in the '60s,
1053
00:56:28,653 --> 00:56:30,655
because it was John Kennedy,
and then it was King,
1054
00:56:30,688 --> 00:56:36,260
and then it was Bobby Kennedy,
so those were the three most
1055
00:56:36,561 --> 00:56:39,263
horrifying events of my youth.
1056
00:56:39,664 --> 00:56:41,632
The main thing I think when
you think back on that period
1057
00:56:41,666 --> 00:56:46,370
was just how saturated with
violence the culture was.
1058
00:56:47,304 --> 00:56:50,908
The idea of putting any kind
of hope in any of these figures
1059
00:56:50,941 --> 00:56:54,178
was beginning to look
faintly ridiculous.
1060
00:56:54,211 --> 00:56:57,482
Because so many of
them were being killed,
1061
00:56:57,515 --> 00:57:00,685
violently, in front of our eyes.
1062
00:57:02,720 --> 00:57:04,655
[Narrator] And for the
counterculture the idea
1063
00:57:04,689 --> 00:57:07,391
of peace and love
lost its allure,
1064
00:57:07,424 --> 00:57:10,928
and revolution became
their rallying cry.
1065
00:57:10,961 --> 00:57:13,263
Many of those involved
in the youth movement
1066
00:57:13,297 --> 00:57:15,533
solely for the sex,
drugs, and rock and roll
1067
00:57:15,566 --> 00:57:18,503
now became politically active.
1068
00:57:18,536 --> 00:57:21,572
And this reached its boiling
point at a mass demonstration
1069
00:57:21,606 --> 00:57:25,976
at the Democratic National
Convention in August, 1968.
1070
00:57:27,645 --> 00:57:29,847
Well, the Democratic National
Convention in Chicago
1071
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:32,883
shaped up to be a coronation
of Hubert Humphrey,
1072
00:57:32,917 --> 00:57:35,419
Johnson's vice president
and hand picked
1073
00:57:35,452 --> 00:57:39,056
successor nobody
cared one whit about.
1074
00:57:39,089 --> 00:57:45,162
And the sort of National
Council of unaffiliated hippies
1075
00:57:45,195 --> 00:57:47,397
who called themselves
the yippies,
1076
00:57:47,431 --> 00:57:51,702
determined to create
a diversion, a strike,
1077
00:57:51,736 --> 00:57:56,473
a demonstration outside the
convention headquarters.
1078
00:57:56,507 --> 00:57:58,242
And they called
on youth all over
1079
00:57:58,275 --> 00:58:00,878
the country to
descend on Chicago.
1080
00:58:00,911 --> 00:58:03,948
The fact is Chicago
was run by a Mayor,
1081
00:58:03,981 --> 00:58:06,450
tough guy named Richard Daley.
1082
00:58:06,483 --> 00:58:08,886
And he just didn't see
any reason these kids
1083
00:58:08,919 --> 00:58:11,421
should be allowed to do
anything, so it was a battle
1084
00:58:11,455 --> 00:58:14,258
in the streets outside
the Democratic convention.
1085
00:58:14,291 --> 00:58:17,562
There were thousands of
kids getting clobbered,
1086
00:58:17,595 --> 00:58:20,765
and tear gassed, and hauled
off to jail by the Chicago
1087
00:58:20,798 --> 00:58:24,969
Police who were acting, for
all intents and purposes,
1088
00:58:25,002 --> 00:58:28,005
like the Nazi Police
Festival in the '30s.
1089
00:58:29,306 --> 00:58:32,409
The police riots at the
Democratic National Convention
1090
00:58:32,442 --> 00:58:35,613
in Chicago in 1968 were
absolutely a dividing line.
1091
00:58:35,646 --> 00:58:39,684
It would totally
radicalized youth culture.
1092
00:58:39,717 --> 00:58:42,286
One of the chants
of the protesters at
1093
00:58:42,319 --> 00:58:46,857
the Chicago Convention was
the whole world is watching.
1094
00:58:46,891 --> 00:58:50,628
And that there was that sense
of once you've seen this
1095
00:58:50,661 --> 00:58:54,765
you can't look away you can't
unsee it, you can't pretend.
1096
00:58:54,799 --> 00:58:57,868
You had to line up on
one side or another.
1097
00:58:59,637 --> 00:59:01,105
[Narrator] Just as
these images of vicious
1098
00:59:01,138 --> 00:59:04,642
police brutality were
being broadcast worldwide,
1099
00:59:04,675 --> 00:59:08,012
The Rolling Stones released
the single "Street Fighting Man"
1100
00:59:08,045 --> 00:59:11,348
inspired by the Grosvenor
Square riots earlier that year.
1101
00:59:12,883 --> 00:59:16,020
Declared a subversive record,
it was instantly banned
1102
00:59:16,053 --> 00:59:18,989
by radio stations in
Chicago and reinforced
1103
00:59:19,023 --> 00:59:22,359
the group's anti
establishment credentials.
1104
00:59:22,392 --> 00:59:24,028
Street Fighting Man
captured the feeling
1105
00:59:24,061 --> 00:59:26,697
of the time both in
America and here.
1106
00:59:26,731 --> 00:59:29,700
But Jagger was always
good at sensing that.
1107
00:59:29,734 --> 00:59:31,702
And he always had that ability.
1108
00:59:31,736 --> 00:59:33,704
It was one of his
strengths as a song writer.
1109
00:59:35,205 --> 00:59:42,212
* Everywhere I hear the sound
of marching charging feet boy *
1110
00:59:44,448 --> 00:59:48,518
* 'Cause summer's here
and the time is right *
1111
00:59:48,552 --> 00:59:53,390
* For fighting in
the street boy *
1112
00:59:54,692 --> 00:59:56,727
Blood was running
in the streets.
1113
00:59:56,761 --> 01:00:00,230
The temperatures were
rising, rising really fast.
1114
01:00:00,264 --> 01:00:04,334
It had changed so
much in that year from
1115
01:00:04,368 --> 01:00:08,305
"All You Need is Love" in 1967,
"Street Fighting Man" in 1968.
1116
01:00:08,706 --> 01:00:12,710
Timing is everything and
to have that song come out
1117
01:00:12,743 --> 01:00:15,880
at that moment made them
right at the center of
1118
01:00:15,913 --> 01:00:17,748
the zeitgeist in a
way that they probably
1119
01:00:17,782 --> 01:00:20,751
hadn't been for
several years before.
1120
01:00:20,785 --> 01:00:26,556
And it's true that the
absolute peak of the Beatles
1121
01:00:26,590 --> 01:00:29,927
was with "Sergeant Pepper's"
in 1967, although we have
1122
01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:34,732
to remember that "Hey Jude"
was also in 1968 and Dylan's
1123
01:00:34,765 --> 01:00:39,770
most powerful political stuff
was, by 1968, behind him.
1124
01:00:40,537 --> 01:00:42,439
So yeah, I would say
that The Rolling Stones,
1125
01:00:42,472 --> 01:00:45,642
at that moment, were
probably the most powerful
1126
01:00:45,676 --> 01:00:48,746
political force in the
rock and roll scene.
1127
01:00:49,646 --> 01:00:52,049
[Narrator] And The Stones
resurgence was confirmed
1128
01:00:52,082 --> 01:00:55,886
at the close of the year with
the album "Beggars Banquet".
1129
01:00:55,920 --> 01:00:57,888
Promoted with a
drunken press party,
1130
01:00:57,922 --> 01:01:00,758
it was a time for
celebration, with not only
1131
01:01:00,791 --> 01:01:03,593
Jagger and Richards,
but also Brian Jones,
1132
01:01:03,627 --> 01:01:07,732
having narrowly avoided prison
time during a difficult year.
1133
01:01:07,765 --> 01:01:11,902
Yet the wider counterculture
was not feeling so celebratory,
1134
01:01:11,936 --> 01:01:14,839
with the presidential election
of Republican candidate
1135
01:01:14,872 --> 01:01:18,408
Richard Nixon in November,
pouring salt on the wounds
1136
01:01:18,442 --> 01:01:21,946
that had been
inflicted during 1968.
1137
01:01:21,979 --> 01:01:25,783
The Stones' new LP, and its
standout opening track,
1138
01:01:25,816 --> 01:01:28,318
"Sympathy for The Devil",
demonstrated
1139
01:01:28,352 --> 01:01:30,054
their continued relevance
1140
01:01:30,087 --> 01:01:32,957
and resistance to
the existing order.
1141
01:01:33,423 --> 01:01:35,292
Anyone who had doubts
about what The Stones
1142
01:01:35,325 --> 01:01:37,394
were up to after "Satanic
Majesties Request"
1143
01:01:37,427 --> 01:01:40,865
had those doubts erased
by Beggars Banquet.
1144
01:01:40,898 --> 01:01:42,599
If you watch the
footage of the movie
1145
01:01:42,632 --> 01:01:45,069
they made with Jean-Luc Godard,
1146
01:01:45,102 --> 01:01:47,271
they're recording
"Sympathy For the Devil".
1147
01:01:47,304 --> 01:01:50,207
And in the course
of making the movie,
1148
01:01:50,240 --> 01:01:54,544
you see Jagger having to
change the lyrics from
1149
01:01:54,578 --> 01:01:57,314
I shouted out who
killed Kennedy to
1150
01:01:57,347 --> 01:02:00,017
I shouted out who
killed the Kennedys?
1151
01:02:00,050 --> 01:02:02,686
* I watched with glee while
your kings and queens *
1152
01:02:02,719 --> 01:02:07,557
* Fought for ten decades
for the gods they made *
1153
01:02:07,591 --> 01:02:11,161
* I shouted out who
killed the Kennedys *
1154
01:02:11,195 --> 01:02:15,499
* When after all
it was you and me *
1155
01:02:16,166 --> 01:02:18,502
When you have to make
a revision like that,
1156
01:02:18,535 --> 01:02:20,838
you know that you're
operating right on
1157
01:02:20,871 --> 01:02:23,407
the cutting edge
of what's going on.
1158
01:02:23,440 --> 01:02:26,510
As the track that
announced Beggars Banquet,
1159
01:02:26,543 --> 01:02:29,914
it couldn't possibly have
been a stronger statement.
1160
01:02:30,280 --> 01:02:32,082
* Pleased to meet you *
1161
01:02:32,116 --> 01:02:37,054
* Hope you guessed
my name oh yeah *
1162
01:02:37,087 --> 01:02:41,091
Jagger married a
hedonism to
1163
01:02:41,125 --> 01:02:46,296
an enjoyment of that sort of
Lord of Misrule role.
1164
01:02:47,264 --> 01:02:48,565
That's what comes across
1165
01:02:48,598 --> 01:02:51,601
in songs like
"Sympathy For the Devil".
1166
01:02:51,635 --> 01:02:54,939
He falls in love, I think,
with this role of the Lord
1167
01:02:54,972 --> 01:03:00,144
of Misrule bringing chaos
and turbulence in its wake.
1168
01:03:00,177 --> 01:03:03,680
And it's very
attractive but equally
1169
01:03:03,713 --> 01:03:05,482
rather dangerous
at the same time.
1170
01:03:06,050 --> 01:03:07,417
[contemplative music]
1171
01:03:07,451 --> 01:03:10,154
[Narrator] While The Stones were
busy reestablishing themselves
1172
01:03:10,187 --> 01:03:12,522
in this anarchic
role, another scene
1173
01:03:12,556 --> 01:03:16,126
had developed in Britain
over the past two years.
1174
01:03:16,160 --> 01:03:19,529
Inspired by the San
Francisco psychedelic acts,
1175
01:03:19,563 --> 01:03:22,266
the bands of the underground
had also experimented
1176
01:03:22,299 --> 01:03:25,235
with light shows, and
elongated soul forms
1177
01:03:25,269 --> 01:03:28,238
at the circuit's main club, UFO.
1178
01:03:28,272 --> 01:03:31,976
In 1968 the scene's leading
lights, The Pink Floyd
1179
01:03:32,009 --> 01:03:34,744
headlined the first
major free concert
1180
01:03:34,778 --> 01:03:39,083
in London's Hyde Park, organized
by Blackhill Enterprises.
1181
01:03:39,116 --> 01:03:41,785
And following the success
of the first show,
1182
01:03:41,818 --> 01:03:46,056
in June 1969 they staged
an even larger event,
1183
01:03:46,090 --> 01:03:49,927
featuring the
supergroup Blind Faith.
1184
01:03:49,960 --> 01:03:51,828
Pink Floyd show was
seminal because it was
1185
01:03:51,862 --> 01:03:55,799
a whole lot of people at it,
but it was kind of small key,
1186
01:03:55,832 --> 01:03:59,503
We didn't promote it
viciously, as it were.
1187
01:03:59,536 --> 01:04:04,108
But the Blind Faith show
was seminal insofar as
1188
01:04:04,141 --> 01:04:07,912
they were kind of amalgam
of Cream and Traffic,
1189
01:04:07,945 --> 01:04:12,316
that were two huge bands,
so they played in Hyde Park.
1190
01:04:12,349 --> 01:04:14,919
There was 150,000
people at that.
1191
01:04:14,952 --> 01:04:18,088
Nobody got arrested,
there are no fights,
1192
01:04:18,122 --> 01:04:20,357
it was a beautiful day,
it was very kind of
1193
01:04:20,390 --> 01:04:24,461
Fae and woodland in a
kind of English way.
1194
01:04:24,494 --> 01:04:25,930
[Narrator] And and Sam Cutler
1195
01:04:25,963 --> 01:04:28,765
was then contacted by
The Rolling Stones.
1196
01:04:28,798 --> 01:04:29,967
Riding high after their
1197
01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:31,969
commercial success
the previous year,
1198
01:04:32,002 --> 01:04:34,604
they felt that a large
free concert with added
1199
01:04:34,638 --> 01:04:37,107
underground kudos
would offer a suitably
1200
01:04:37,141 --> 01:04:39,977
high profile return
to the live arena.
1201
01:04:40,010 --> 01:04:43,647
In May, they had also fired
the unreliable Brian Jones,
1202
01:04:43,680 --> 01:04:46,683
and had a new guitarist in
tow, Mick Taylor, for whom
1203
01:04:46,716 --> 01:04:49,987
this concert would provide
the perfect introduction.
1204
01:04:50,020 --> 01:04:51,788
A date was set for July,
1205
01:04:51,821 --> 01:04:54,291
anticipation running
high for the event.
1206
01:04:55,059 --> 01:04:57,561
And then, two days
before the show,
1207
01:04:57,594 --> 01:05:01,098
they received news that
Jones had been found dead.
1208
01:05:01,898 --> 01:05:04,234
A few days before
the show, Brian died.
1209
01:05:04,268 --> 01:05:07,137
So the question, of
course, immediately becomes
1210
01:05:07,171 --> 01:05:09,673
in situations like that,
well what do you do?
1211
01:05:09,706 --> 01:05:12,809
Well, there is of course
in the music business,
1212
01:05:12,842 --> 01:05:16,146
like all theatrical enterprises,
1213
01:05:16,180 --> 01:05:18,983
there's a the show
must go on thing.
1214
01:05:19,016 --> 01:05:22,219
Mick and Keith
basically, felt that
1215
01:05:22,252 --> 01:05:25,022
it should be held as
a memorial to Brian.
1216
01:05:25,055 --> 01:05:27,424
[calm music]
1217
01:05:33,530 --> 01:05:36,366
Blackhill Enterprises
started off with very much
1218
01:05:36,400 --> 01:05:39,369
the hippie bands playing;
Pink Floyd, Tyrannosaurus Rex,
1219
01:05:39,403 --> 01:05:40,937
and then Blind
Faith a bit later.
1220
01:05:40,971 --> 01:05:42,272
The Stones is a
different thing again
1221
01:05:42,306 --> 01:05:44,608
because they hadn't played
for a couple of years,
1222
01:05:44,641 --> 01:05:48,212
not since the busts,
so much had happened.
1223
01:05:49,146 --> 01:05:51,081
And they came out they
released the butterflies
1224
01:05:51,115 --> 01:05:54,118
which promptly died,
not great omen.
1225
01:05:55,119 --> 01:06:00,090
* I'm free to sing my song
any old time *
1226
01:06:05,729 --> 01:06:10,734
* So love me hold me
1227
01:06:11,435 --> 01:06:16,106
* Love me hold me
1228
01:06:17,007 --> 01:06:19,776
* Cause I'm free
to sing my song *
1229
01:06:19,809 --> 01:06:21,278
I thought it was one of
the most awful concerts
1230
01:06:21,311 --> 01:06:23,447
I've seen The Rolling
Stones perform.
1231
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:26,416
They were under rehearsed.
1232
01:06:26,450 --> 01:06:27,951
Mick Taylor just
didn't know whether
1233
01:06:27,984 --> 01:06:30,620
he was coming or going
all the way through it.
1234
01:06:30,654 --> 01:06:33,290
Jagger dancing on the dead
butterflies was probably
1235
01:06:33,323 --> 01:06:37,161
the most awfully comedic
thing I've ever seen.
1236
01:06:37,194 --> 01:06:40,264
And they were just
so terribly sad.
1237
01:06:40,297 --> 01:06:43,767
Shame they felt
they had to do it.
1238
01:06:45,169 --> 01:06:47,371
[Narrator] Outside of
the performance itself,
1239
01:06:47,404 --> 01:06:49,806
the concert was a major
event bringing together
1240
01:06:49,839 --> 01:06:52,008
an audience of over a
quarter of a million,
1241
01:06:52,042 --> 01:06:55,845
who were oblivious to The
Stones' failings on stage.
1242
01:06:55,879 --> 01:06:59,249
In its communal atmosphere,
it echoed the peaceful unity
1243
01:06:59,283 --> 01:07:02,119
of the San Francisco events
it was emulating.
1244
01:07:02,952 --> 01:07:05,122
And in an homage to the renowned
1245
01:07:05,155 --> 01:07:08,658
Golden Gate Park shows,
security was overseen
1246
01:07:08,692 --> 01:07:11,695
by a very British version
of The Hell's Angels.
1247
01:07:12,762 --> 01:07:17,301
Everyone was impeccably behaved,
nobody went to hospital,
1248
01:07:17,334 --> 01:07:19,869
no one was stabbed, no
one was shot, any of that.
1249
01:07:19,903 --> 01:07:25,642
And there were these guys
that rode BSA 125 motorcycles,
1250
01:07:25,975 --> 01:07:28,212
which would like one
step up from the scooter,
1251
01:07:28,245 --> 01:07:31,648
who called themselves Hell's
Angels, and of course had
1252
01:07:31,681 --> 01:07:36,153
nothing whatsoever to do with
the American Hell's Angels.
1253
01:07:36,186 --> 01:07:37,454
The Hell's Angels in England,
1254
01:07:37,487 --> 01:07:40,657
they weren't California
Hell's Angels.
1255
01:07:40,690 --> 01:07:45,695
They had their colors drawn
on their leathers in chalk.
1256
01:07:46,930 --> 01:07:49,499
And they were backstage
at the Hyde Park concert
1257
01:07:49,533 --> 01:07:53,503
serving tea, so if that's
what the Rolling Stones
1258
01:07:53,537 --> 01:07:55,405
thought The Hell's Angels were,
1259
01:07:55,439 --> 01:07:58,942
they were in for quite
a severe surprise.
1260
01:08:00,277 --> 01:08:01,645
[Narrator] And soon
The Stones would come
1261
01:08:01,678 --> 01:08:04,281
face to face with the
real Hell's Angels.
1262
01:08:05,149 --> 01:08:06,716
Following the Hyde Park concert,
1263
01:08:06,750 --> 01:08:09,319
the band were making
plans for a new tour,
1264
01:08:09,353 --> 01:08:11,188
something they desperately
needed to organize.
1265
01:08:12,222 --> 01:08:14,724
Despite their resurgence
in the mainstream,
1266
01:08:14,758 --> 01:08:17,661
the band members
themselves were broke.
1267
01:08:17,694 --> 01:08:21,931
Back in 1965, manager
Andrew Oldham had brought
1268
01:08:21,965 --> 01:08:26,069
New York accountant, Allen
Klein into The Stones' team.
1269
01:08:26,102 --> 01:08:28,705
And overtime this
tough negotiator
1270
01:08:28,738 --> 01:08:31,341
had proven his
worth to the band.
1271
01:08:31,375 --> 01:08:34,378
Soon muscling Oldham
out of the picture,
1272
01:08:34,411 --> 01:08:38,282
by 1968 he was the
band's sole manager.
1273
01:08:38,315 --> 01:08:41,017
And his company Abkco,
had control over
1274
01:08:41,050 --> 01:08:44,421
their financial affairs and
their collective bank accounts.
1275
01:08:45,088 --> 01:08:47,291
And getting Klein to
release their funds
1276
01:08:47,324 --> 01:08:49,726
was proving
increasingly difficult.
1277
01:08:50,093 --> 01:08:52,262
They were fed up with
Allen Klein because they
1278
01:08:52,296 --> 01:08:53,763
could never get any
money out of Allen.
1279
01:08:53,797 --> 01:08:56,065
So here they were this
world famous band,
1280
01:08:56,099 --> 01:09:01,104
virtually starving, and they
had to do a tour of America.
1281
01:09:01,571 --> 01:09:03,273
Basically they knew
that if they did it
1282
01:09:03,307 --> 01:09:05,475
with Allen Klein, Allen
Klein would end up
1283
01:09:05,509 --> 01:09:07,611
with the lion's share
of the receipts.
1284
01:09:07,644 --> 01:09:10,380
And they do this huge
tour and have no money.
1285
01:09:10,414 --> 01:09:13,283
So they managed, I
don't know quite how,
1286
01:09:13,317 --> 01:09:16,653
to seduce Allen Klein's
nephew Ronnie Schneider
1287
01:09:16,686 --> 01:09:20,390
away from his uncle's
company, Abkco,
1288
01:09:20,424 --> 01:09:23,393
to come and work for The
Stones and do that tour.
1289
01:09:23,793 --> 01:09:25,662
In August, I left my uncle.
1290
01:09:25,695 --> 01:09:28,432
A few weeks after that
I got a phone call from
1291
01:09:28,465 --> 01:09:31,635
Mick Jagger saying we
want you to do this tour.
1292
01:09:31,668 --> 01:09:33,837
And I told them that
I had left Abkco.
1293
01:09:33,870 --> 01:09:35,439
And they said well we know.
1294
01:09:35,472 --> 01:09:37,441
And I said you have to get
my uncle's permission so that
1295
01:09:37,474 --> 01:09:40,810
I can go, I don't want to
have a family problem here.
1296
01:09:40,844 --> 01:09:42,746
So they said they would
get his permission.
1297
01:09:42,779 --> 01:09:45,181
And what they actually did
was, that was the first time
1298
01:09:45,215 --> 01:09:46,983
I heard from Sam Cutler,
what they did was
1299
01:09:47,016 --> 01:09:49,319
they flew him over to
the UK and fired him.
1300
01:09:50,287 --> 01:09:52,756
[Narrator] In firing
Klein, the band's assets
1301
01:09:52,789 --> 01:09:55,625
were immediately frozen, and
the run of American shows
1302
01:09:55,659 --> 01:09:59,463
became even more crucial for
their financial survival.
1303
01:09:59,496 --> 01:10:01,931
And at the end of the
summer, while preparations
1304
01:10:01,965 --> 01:10:04,868
for the tour were underway,
a major figure from
1305
01:10:04,901 --> 01:10:08,104
the West Coast scene
arrived in London.
1306
01:10:08,137 --> 01:10:11,207
And from here the seeds of
the free concert were sown.
1307
01:10:12,476 --> 01:10:13,677
What happened was
that the manager,
1308
01:10:13,710 --> 01:10:15,612
well one of the managers
of The Grateful Dead
1309
01:10:15,645 --> 01:10:18,181
was a guy called Rock
Scully, lovely man.
1310
01:10:18,214 --> 01:10:22,452
He came to London, and a dear
friend of his was the head
1311
01:10:22,486 --> 01:10:25,855
of Epic Records, of guy called
Chesley Millikin in London.
1312
01:10:25,889 --> 01:10:28,358
And Chesley Millikin,
in turn was good friends
1313
01:10:28,392 --> 01:10:31,728
with Keith and Mick, so
he introduced Rock Scully
1314
01:10:31,761 --> 01:10:34,464
from The Grateful Dead
to Keith and Mick.
1315
01:10:34,498 --> 01:10:37,701
And Rock basically was
a great proselytizer
1316
01:10:37,734 --> 01:10:40,670
for the benefits of free
concerts, how wonderful it was,
1317
01:10:40,704 --> 01:10:43,039
what was going on
in San Francisco.
1318
01:10:43,072 --> 01:10:45,141
Rock is summoned over
to Keith Richards house.
1319
01:10:45,174 --> 01:10:47,311
And Rock says you
guys are coming over
1320
01:10:47,344 --> 01:10:48,512
to the United States,
1321
01:10:48,545 --> 01:10:50,314
you need to play the free
concert in the Golden Gate Park.
1322
01:10:50,347 --> 01:10:53,383
I know exactly how to do
that, I can fix you up.
1323
01:10:53,417 --> 01:10:55,385
But then they also talk
about how The Stones should
1324
01:10:55,419 --> 01:11:01,358
play the Taj Mahal, and all
kinds of crazy ideas come up.
1325
01:11:01,391 --> 01:11:04,528
And Rock leaves there
without really thinking that
1326
01:11:04,561 --> 01:11:07,030
he had just offered to
set up a concert for
1327
01:11:07,063 --> 01:11:12,235
The Rolling Stones in San
Francisco, But Keith remembered.
1328
01:11:12,268 --> 01:11:13,437
[Narrator] And the
prospect of headlining
1329
01:11:13,470 --> 01:11:16,506
another free concert
in the heartland of
1330
01:11:16,540 --> 01:11:20,243
the counterculture soon
became even more appealing.
1331
01:11:20,276 --> 01:11:23,747
In the middle of August, the
three day Woodstock Festival
1332
01:11:23,780 --> 01:11:25,715
became a landmark event,
1333
01:11:25,749 --> 01:11:28,352
bringing together
32 musical acts,
1334
01:11:28,385 --> 01:11:30,954
and an audience of
nearly half a million.
1335
01:11:32,221 --> 01:11:34,023
Despite the previous
year's struggles,
1336
01:11:34,057 --> 01:11:36,125
and the election
of Richard Nixon,
1337
01:11:36,159 --> 01:11:39,396
this peaceful harmonious
event proved that
1338
01:11:39,429 --> 01:11:42,732
the counterculture was
united and thriving.
1339
01:11:42,766 --> 01:11:48,938
The counterculture was in very
healthy condition in 1969.
1340
01:11:48,972 --> 01:11:54,711
And Woodstock was the
high tide, in a way.
1341
01:11:54,911 --> 01:11:59,849
I think in 1969 we genuinely
thought we were winning.
1342
01:11:59,883 --> 01:12:02,852
We thought we were growing,
1343
01:12:03,887 --> 01:12:06,456
and we were an
unstoppable force.
1344
01:12:06,990 --> 01:12:09,659
I was a teenager at the time,
and that's certainly how
1345
01:12:09,693 --> 01:12:14,330
I felt, however naive
that may sound today.
1346
01:12:14,764 --> 01:12:18,267
But I think the view that
I held was one that was
1347
01:12:18,301 --> 01:12:23,473
widely held, that we were
going to change the world.
1348
01:12:23,507 --> 01:12:25,575
We genuinely believed that.
1349
01:12:25,609 --> 01:12:29,813
And in 1969 we didn't think
anything could stop us.
1350
01:12:31,114 --> 01:12:33,316
[Narrator] In late October, 1969
1351
01:12:33,349 --> 01:12:35,852
The Stones' team
arrived in Los Angeles
1352
01:12:35,885 --> 01:12:40,023
looking to secure at least 15
venues for the upcoming tour,
1353
01:12:40,056 --> 01:12:43,627
but with no plans whatsoever
for a free concert.
1354
01:12:43,660 --> 01:12:46,663
on November seventh, at
Colorado State University
1355
01:12:46,696 --> 01:12:49,032
the band took to
an American stage
1356
01:12:49,065 --> 01:12:52,602
for the first time
in three years.
1357
01:12:52,636 --> 01:12:54,471
But as with the Hyde Park show,
1358
01:12:54,504 --> 01:12:56,640
as a live group they
were still rusty.
1359
01:12:57,173 --> 01:13:00,009
It showed up in
their first show,
1360
01:13:00,043 --> 01:13:04,648
how woefully ill-prepared
they were for the tour.
1361
01:13:04,681 --> 01:13:07,951
And just before that show, I
was asked to introduce them.
1362
01:13:10,019 --> 01:13:12,221
I didn't even think about
what I was gonna say.
1363
01:13:12,255 --> 01:13:15,191
But a minute before the
show, I rushed on stage
1364
01:13:15,224 --> 01:13:17,494
and went "the greatest
rock and roll band
1365
01:13:17,527 --> 01:13:19,796
in the world, The
Rolling Stones!"
1366
01:13:19,829 --> 01:13:22,165
Everyone cheered, the
band came out and played.
1367
01:13:22,198 --> 01:13:24,501
At the end of the show
Mick came off stage,
1368
01:13:24,534 --> 01:13:27,003
and as he walked
off stage and passed me,
1369
01:13:27,036 --> 01:13:31,007
he went "I wanna talk to
you," not looking very happy.
1370
01:13:31,040 --> 01:13:34,310
So we went into the dressing
room all on our own,
1371
01:13:34,343 --> 01:13:37,647
and he looked at he said "man,
don't call us the greatest
1372
01:13:37,681 --> 01:13:41,050
"rock and roll band in the
world, it's embarrassing."
1373
01:13:42,452 --> 01:13:45,889
To which I replied "well
either you are or you ain't."
1374
01:13:45,922 --> 01:13:47,924
They immediately went
back into rehearsal.
1375
01:13:47,957 --> 01:13:51,495
They got the sound stage for
"They Shoot Horses Don't They",
1376
01:13:51,528 --> 01:13:54,698
that film on Warner
Brothers lot in Burbank
1377
01:13:54,731 --> 01:13:58,367
in California, and
they rehearsed solidly.
1378
01:13:59,636 --> 01:14:01,270
[Narrator] And from
the next show onwards,
1379
01:14:01,304 --> 01:14:03,339
The Stones proved that they were
1380
01:14:03,372 --> 01:14:05,642
the greatest rock and
roll band in the world.
1381
01:14:06,510 --> 01:14:09,278
As they moved west from
Los Angeles to Texas,
1382
01:14:09,312 --> 01:14:11,748
Alabama to New York's
Madison Square Garden,
1383
01:14:11,781 --> 01:14:15,051
they improved with every show.
1384
01:14:15,084 --> 01:14:17,220
Alongside the writer
Stanley Booth,
1385
01:14:17,253 --> 01:14:19,556
who was one of The
Stones' inner circle,
1386
01:14:19,589 --> 01:14:22,125
New York Times journalist
Michael Lydon was able
1387
01:14:22,158 --> 01:14:25,394
to witness firsthand the
band's remarkable ascension.
1388
01:14:26,462 --> 01:14:29,432
I was embedded in the tour, I
never paid for a hotel room,
1389
01:14:29,465 --> 01:14:30,534
I never paid for
an airplane ticket,
1390
01:14:30,567 --> 01:14:33,269
I was just part
of the entourage.
1391
01:14:33,302 --> 01:14:36,906
And, as you can imagine
this was a plum assignment.
1392
01:14:36,940 --> 01:14:39,108
This was extremely groovy.
1393
01:14:39,142 --> 01:14:41,745
I remember thinking, Stanley
and I would look at each other
1394
01:14:41,778 --> 01:14:44,614
while The Stones were on stage,
and we were behind the amps.
1395
01:14:44,648 --> 01:14:47,450
And we go like, funny
luck between each other,
1396
01:14:47,483 --> 01:14:51,087
realizing where we
are right now is where
1397
01:14:51,120 --> 01:14:54,724
every hippie anywhere in
the world wants to be,
1398
01:14:54,758 --> 01:14:57,827
right in the band with
The Rolling Stones.
1399
01:14:57,861 --> 01:15:00,229
And it was great fun.
1400
01:15:00,263 --> 01:15:02,999
They were red hot, and they
were crossing the the country.
1401
01:15:03,032 --> 01:15:06,169
And they had been getting
better, and better, and better.
1402
01:15:06,502 --> 01:15:09,472
In 1969 The Stones
were incredible.
1403
01:15:09,505 --> 01:15:11,708
I mean they were just masterful.
1404
01:15:12,776 --> 01:15:16,646
I remember when the lights
were down, and all you can see
1405
01:15:16,680 --> 01:15:18,648
were the red lights
on their amplifiers.
1406
01:15:18,682 --> 01:15:21,217
and Madison Square
Garden in the dark.
1407
01:15:21,250 --> 01:15:23,620
And I remember thinking
God, in just a few seconds
1408
01:15:23,653 --> 01:15:26,623
The Rolling Stones are gonna
be performing right here.
1409
01:15:26,656 --> 01:15:29,993
I remember how
thrilling that felt.
1410
01:15:30,026 --> 01:15:33,196
And they were great.
1411
01:15:35,031 --> 01:15:38,501
* Yeah yeah yeah
1412
01:15:38,534 --> 01:15:43,539
* The honky tonk woman
1413
01:15:46,142 --> 01:15:50,914
* Gimme gimme gimme
the honky tonk blues *
1414
01:15:54,317 --> 01:15:59,055
I saw The Stones on that tour
at the Los Angeles Forum.
1415
01:15:59,088 --> 01:16:01,357
I had tickets for
the second show,
1416
01:16:01,390 --> 01:16:04,493
which was supposed to start
at 11, it started at two.
1417
01:16:04,527 --> 01:16:09,532
The Stones got onstage at
four, and they then proceeded
1418
01:16:09,565 --> 01:16:13,336
to put on what was the
greatest rock and roll show
1419
01:16:13,369 --> 01:16:15,304
I had ever seen at
that point in my life.
1420
01:16:15,338 --> 01:16:21,310
And to this day, 50 years later,
remains one of the greatest
1421
01:16:21,344 --> 01:16:24,147
rock and roll shows I've ever
seen, they were unbelievable.
1422
01:16:25,915 --> 01:16:27,416
[Narrator] But while
they were putting on
1423
01:16:27,450 --> 01:16:31,187
one explosive show after
another, behind the scenes
1424
01:16:31,220 --> 01:16:34,157
plans were developing for
a West Coast free concert.
1425
01:16:35,191 --> 01:16:37,761
We played in Oakland,
and all the Grateful Dead
1426
01:16:37,794 --> 01:16:41,264
people showed up at that
show, and that kind of
1427
01:16:41,297 --> 01:16:44,367
ball that had been started
in London about "wouldn't it
1428
01:16:44,400 --> 01:16:46,736
"be great if you
guys played a free concert
1429
01:16:46,770 --> 01:16:51,407
"with the Grateful Dead,"
slowly kind of accelerated.
1430
01:16:51,440 --> 01:16:54,711
And it became, it became
the case that somebody from
1431
01:16:54,744 --> 01:16:58,347
The Rolling Stones had
to go out to California
1432
01:16:58,381 --> 01:17:00,784
and meet with the people
from the Grateful Dead
1433
01:17:00,817 --> 01:17:03,920
and get serious about
whether this was possible.
1434
01:17:03,953 --> 01:17:05,989
So, I was chosen to go there.
1435
01:17:06,622 --> 01:17:10,326
Rock Scully's original
plan was to get a permit
1436
01:17:10,359 --> 01:17:12,228
for a concert by the
Jefferson Airplane,
1437
01:17:12,261 --> 01:17:15,598
and the Grateful Dead
and then 24 hours before
1438
01:17:15,631 --> 01:17:18,067
the show announce we've
got a special guest.
1439
01:17:18,634 --> 01:17:21,137
And they talked about
having The Hell's Angels
1440
01:17:21,170 --> 01:17:23,272
create a escort guard
and bring The Stones
1441
01:17:23,306 --> 01:17:26,876
from the airport into the
concert, that was the idea.
1442
01:17:26,910 --> 01:17:32,048
It could have been fantastic,
The Rolling Stones, right?
1443
01:17:32,882 --> 01:17:35,118
But, the people in charge
of The Rolling Stones
1444
01:17:35,151 --> 01:17:38,554
business strategies
began to think
1445
01:17:38,587 --> 01:17:43,159
this is getting to be too
valuable an opportunity.
1446
01:17:43,192 --> 01:17:45,795
Rather quickly The
Rolling Stones' management,
1447
01:17:45,829 --> 01:17:49,265
in the form of Ronnie
Schneider and a strange guy
1448
01:17:49,298 --> 01:17:52,902
named John James who attached
himself to The Stones,
1449
01:17:52,936 --> 01:17:56,740
they took control of the
situation, "we'll handle this."
1450
01:17:56,773 --> 01:17:58,908
And contacted the
mayor of San Francisco,
1451
01:17:58,942 --> 01:18:02,645
and that was not a good
idea, that ended any prospect
1452
01:18:02,678 --> 01:18:05,248
of getting that concert
in San Francisco.
1453
01:18:07,050 --> 01:18:08,317
[Narrator] Applying
directly for permits
1454
01:18:08,351 --> 01:18:11,454
for a concert in Golden
Gate Park, the Stones' team
1455
01:18:11,487 --> 01:18:14,357
set alarm bells ringing
in the mayor's office.
1456
01:18:14,390 --> 01:18:16,492
The Grateful Dead had
an envisioned a less
1457
01:18:16,525 --> 01:18:20,129
high profile event, with
deals made behind the scenes.
1458
01:18:20,163 --> 01:18:23,800
But the idea of 300,000
Stones fans descending
1459
01:18:23,833 --> 01:18:25,668
on a city ill-equipped for such
1460
01:18:25,701 --> 01:18:29,773
a large festival immediately
shut the idea down.
1461
01:18:29,806 --> 01:18:31,808
Now a new location was needed,
1462
01:18:31,841 --> 01:18:34,377
with little time to arrange it.
1463
01:18:34,410 --> 01:18:36,512
And while alternatives
were being considered,
1464
01:18:36,545 --> 01:18:40,716
the involvement of the Hell's
Angels became official.
1465
01:18:40,750 --> 01:18:46,689
Rock told me we'd need the
Angels to guard the generators.
1466
01:18:46,722 --> 01:18:48,792
There's no electricity there,
so what you did was you had to
1467
01:18:48,825 --> 01:18:52,128
hire in big generators to
produce enough electricity
1468
01:18:52,161 --> 01:18:54,998
to do the sound, and
lights, and all that stuff.
1469
01:18:55,031 --> 01:18:57,000
And I went to meet
The Hell's Angels.
1470
01:18:57,033 --> 01:19:00,003
And The Hell's Angels
went to some lengths
1471
01:19:00,036 --> 01:19:02,138
to explain that
they weren't cops.
1472
01:19:02,171 --> 01:19:04,841
Basically, they were happy
to sit by the generators
1473
01:19:04,874 --> 01:19:07,811
and stop people messing with
the generators for sure.
1474
01:19:07,844 --> 01:19:09,212
Because they love music too.
1475
01:19:09,245 --> 01:19:11,915
The idea initially was
that they would park
1476
01:19:11,948 --> 01:19:14,818
their bikes in
front of the stage.
1477
01:19:14,851 --> 01:19:17,854
The beauty of that would
be that no one would
1478
01:19:17,887 --> 01:19:19,856
rush the stage, or
that was the theory.
1479
01:19:20,189 --> 01:19:21,858
[upbeat music]
1480
01:19:21,891 --> 01:19:23,326
[Narrator] While
these plans developed,
1481
01:19:23,359 --> 01:19:26,662
renowned documentary
filmmakers The Maysles Brothers
1482
01:19:26,695 --> 01:19:28,597
were brought on board
the tour to capture
1483
01:19:28,631 --> 01:19:30,766
the Madison Square Garden shows,
1484
01:19:30,800 --> 01:19:33,736
and the subsequent free concert.
1485
01:19:33,769 --> 01:19:36,873
And during their New York
leg, The Stones themselves
1486
01:19:36,906 --> 01:19:38,875
made a return to the
show in which they had
1487
01:19:38,908 --> 01:19:42,211
so famously shocked
America back in 1964.
1488
01:19:43,579 --> 01:19:45,748
They had gone full circle.
1489
01:19:45,781 --> 01:19:48,017
Yet as a voice of
their generation,
1490
01:19:48,051 --> 01:19:50,353
they were more
relevant than ever.
1491
01:19:50,386 --> 01:19:53,189
They appeared on Ed Sullivan's
Show five years after
1492
01:19:53,222 --> 01:19:56,059
the first appearance,
what a difference.
1493
01:19:56,092 --> 01:19:58,594
They're playing "Gimme
Shelter", this song that
1494
01:19:58,627 --> 01:20:02,498
really symbolizes so
much of what was going on
1495
01:20:02,531 --> 01:20:05,634
at that time, the
tumult in the culture.
1496
01:20:06,235 --> 01:20:08,071
They got such great
reach, they're a pop band,
1497
01:20:08,104 --> 01:20:10,339
they're a rock band,
they're on Ed Sullivan
1498
01:20:10,373 --> 01:20:11,607
doing "Gimme Shelter" which is
1499
01:20:11,640 --> 01:20:15,011
a very subversive,
angry, dark song.
1500
01:20:15,544 --> 01:20:22,551
* Oh, a storm is threatening
my very life today *
1501
01:20:23,953 --> 01:20:30,960
* If I don't get some shelter
yeah I'm gonna fade away *
1502
01:20:32,628 --> 01:20:38,367
* War, children, it's
just a shot away *
1503
01:20:38,935 --> 01:20:40,904
* It's just a shot away
1504
01:20:40,937 --> 01:20:42,838
Rape, murder, it's
just a shot way.
1505
01:20:42,872 --> 01:20:44,473
What is round the corner?
1506
01:20:44,507 --> 01:20:46,142
We're coming to the
end of the decade.
1507
01:20:46,175 --> 01:20:49,946
Things are looking
pretty bleak socially.
1508
01:20:50,513 --> 01:20:54,350
Musically, they were probably
reaching a new kind of peak.
1509
01:20:54,383 --> 01:20:57,120
Have The Stones done a better
song than "Gimme Shelter"?
1510
01:20:57,153 --> 01:20:59,522
I'm not sure, it's
an amazing piece.
1511
01:20:59,555 --> 01:21:01,824
This isn't pop as we know it.
1512
01:21:01,857 --> 01:21:04,127
That's The Stones really on top.
1513
01:21:06,062 --> 01:21:09,265
[Narrator] On November 28,
riding high on the critical
1514
01:21:09,298 --> 01:21:11,534
acclaim for their
performances, and aware that
1515
01:21:11,567 --> 01:21:14,703
in the music world, they were
the biggest news in America,
1516
01:21:14,737 --> 01:21:17,006
they held a press
conference to publicly
1517
01:21:17,040 --> 01:21:19,542
announce the upcoming
free concert.
1518
01:21:19,808 --> 01:21:21,510
[Reporter] I read in
one of the papers that
1519
01:21:21,544 --> 01:21:24,013
you'll be giving a free
concert in San Francisco.
1520
01:21:24,047 --> 01:21:27,516
We are doing a free
concert in San Francisco
1521
01:21:27,550 --> 01:21:33,689
on December sixth, and
the location is not
1522
01:21:33,722 --> 01:21:35,824
Golden Gate Park, unfortunately,
but it's somewhere
1523
01:21:35,858 --> 01:21:37,893
adjacent to it,
just a bit larger.
1524
01:21:38,694 --> 01:21:41,330
[Narrator] Not just a Stones
show, the lineup included
1525
01:21:41,364 --> 01:21:44,067
the biggest names from
the West Coast scene.
1526
01:21:44,100 --> 01:21:46,335
From The Grateful Dead,
and the Jefferson Airplane,
1527
01:21:46,369 --> 01:21:48,537
to Crosby, Stills,
Nash, and Young.
1528
01:21:49,572 --> 01:21:52,208
Yet a location was
still not confirmed,
1529
01:21:52,241 --> 01:21:54,577
with Dick Saint John's
Sears Point Raceway
1530
01:21:54,610 --> 01:21:57,981
the most likely alternative
to Golden Gate Park.
1531
01:21:59,015 --> 01:22:00,849
They said Ron would you
come out and negotiate
1532
01:22:00,883 --> 01:22:02,485
a deal with Sears Point Raceway?
1533
01:22:02,518 --> 01:22:04,520
So I flew out to San Francisco,
1534
01:22:04,553 --> 01:22:09,058
I sat down with Dick Saint
John, and he basically said
1535
01:22:09,092 --> 01:22:11,860
"well your free concert
we need $100,000
1536
01:22:11,894 --> 01:22:15,031
"to clean everything
up, we need $100,000
1537
01:22:15,064 --> 01:22:19,335
"to cover a 10 million dollar
insurance policy.
1538
01:22:19,368 --> 01:22:21,504
They gave me another
why they needed money.
1539
01:22:21,537 --> 01:22:23,872
And then also we need
any rights to a film.
1540
01:22:24,640 --> 01:22:26,842
So I said first of all,
it's a free concert.
1541
01:22:26,875 --> 01:22:31,047
We're not paying you $300,000,
so that deal blew up.
1542
01:22:32,281 --> 01:22:34,583
[Narrator] It was two
days before the event,
1543
01:22:34,617 --> 01:22:36,819
and The Stones' team
was now desperate.
1544
01:22:37,120 --> 01:22:40,123
And at that point, a new
location was offered to them.
1545
01:22:41,090 --> 01:22:44,860
The Altamont Speedway, 60
miles east of San Francisco
1546
01:22:44,893 --> 01:22:46,695
was a remote racetrack
located amidst
1547
01:22:46,729 --> 01:22:49,798
the rolling hills
of Alameda County.
1548
01:22:49,832 --> 01:22:53,069
Owned by ex-racing
driver, Dick Carter it was
1549
01:22:53,102 --> 01:22:56,105
an unlikely candidate for
a major rock festival.
1550
01:22:56,139 --> 01:23:00,443
Dick Carter, his biggest
audience ever before
1551
01:23:00,476 --> 01:23:04,380
was he had 6,000 people show
up for a demolition derby.
1552
01:23:04,413 --> 01:23:09,118
It's Thursday afternoon,
and The Stones' people
1553
01:23:09,152 --> 01:23:12,388
don't know exactly what to
do, but they got a look at it.
1554
01:23:12,421 --> 01:23:15,158
So they get a traffic
helicopter from one of the local
1555
01:23:15,191 --> 01:23:17,893
radio stations and
they take Rock Scully,
1556
01:23:17,926 --> 01:23:20,363
and Michael Lange, the
producer of Woodstock
1557
01:23:20,396 --> 01:23:23,732
who showed up for
some reason, what not.
1558
01:23:23,766 --> 01:23:26,835
And they fly over to Altamont.
1559
01:23:26,869 --> 01:23:30,839
Rock looks out and he
sees oil stained asphalt,
1560
01:23:30,873 --> 01:23:37,680
broken glass everywhere,
just this horrible panorama.
1561
01:23:37,713 --> 01:23:40,783
And he's looking out
there going what the heck?
1562
01:23:40,816 --> 01:23:43,619
And he hears Michael
Lange go this is perfect.
1563
01:23:43,652 --> 01:23:45,221
We can do this here.
1564
01:23:46,855 --> 01:23:50,793
[Narrator] And like that
Altamont had a green light.
1565
01:23:50,826 --> 01:23:53,196
With only a day to
prepare the venue,
1566
01:23:53,229 --> 01:23:56,799
the road crew rushed to
set up this new site.
1567
01:23:56,832 --> 01:23:59,802
The Stones' team had already
begun building the stage
1568
01:23:59,835 --> 01:24:02,338
and organizing the lighting
rig at Sears Point.
1569
01:24:02,371 --> 01:24:06,709
And this was simply dismantled
and re-erected at Altamont.
1570
01:24:06,742 --> 01:24:09,044
There was no time
to properly evaluate
1571
01:24:09,078 --> 01:24:12,915
or rethink the original plans,
although upon his arrival
1572
01:24:12,948 --> 01:24:16,419
tour manager Sam Cutler
immediately had concerns.
1573
01:24:17,553 --> 01:24:21,390
The major, major problem
was that the stage
1574
01:24:21,424 --> 01:24:24,493
that had been perfect
for Sears Point,
1575
01:24:24,527 --> 01:24:26,395
because it was gonna be
on the side of the hill,
1576
01:24:26,429 --> 01:24:28,897
was now at the bottom of a hill.
1577
01:24:28,931 --> 01:24:32,201
And the stage was
knee high, so it was
1578
01:24:32,235 --> 01:24:35,971
effortlessly easy for
people to get on it.
1579
01:24:36,004 --> 01:24:39,842
The show was on a Saturday,
I saw the place midday
1580
01:24:39,875 --> 01:24:43,212
on Friday for the first
time and was horrified.
1581
01:24:43,246 --> 01:24:48,184
And there was already
100,000 odd people on site.
1582
01:24:49,285 --> 01:24:53,556
And this stage was isolated
in the middle of them.
1583
01:24:53,589 --> 01:24:56,325
So we tried to make
barricades of trucks and stuff
1584
01:24:56,359 --> 01:24:59,195
around it and get
set up for a show.
1585
01:24:59,228 --> 01:25:03,632
And I knew on the
Friday this was gonna be
1586
01:25:03,666 --> 01:25:07,770
a massive, massive
public order problem.
1587
01:25:10,806 --> 01:25:13,276
[Narrator] The show went ahead,
1588
01:25:13,309 --> 01:25:17,846
with no food or water stands,
no amenities of any kind,
1589
01:25:17,880 --> 01:25:20,716
and only basic medical
services on site.
1590
01:25:20,749 --> 01:25:24,086
The 300,000 concert goers
who flocked to the venue
1591
01:25:24,119 --> 01:25:27,356
had no idea what
was awaiting them.
1592
01:25:27,390 --> 01:25:31,394
It was the very end of the
'60s, the last mass congregation
1593
01:25:31,427 --> 01:25:35,231
of the counterculture
before a new decade began.
1594
01:25:35,264 --> 01:25:37,200
This should have
been a celebration.
1595
01:25:38,401 --> 01:25:40,969
The sun came up,
it was a great day.
1596
01:25:41,003 --> 01:25:44,373
And then at some point they
officially let people in,
1597
01:25:44,407 --> 01:25:47,610
and this mob of young
people came rushing down
1598
01:25:47,643 --> 01:25:50,413
the hill with the
blankets, and trying
1599
01:25:50,446 --> 01:25:54,250
to grab themselves a
tiny little space to sit.
1600
01:25:55,818 --> 01:25:59,255
And the mood was definitely
cheerful, and fun, and like
1601
01:25:59,288 --> 01:26:01,457
yes this is gonna be like
Woodstock, this is groovy.
1602
01:26:01,490 --> 01:26:03,492
I couldn't make it to
Woodstock but I'm here.
1603
01:26:04,760 --> 01:26:06,229
[Narrator] But it
did not take long
1604
01:26:06,262 --> 01:26:08,531
for the atmosphere to change.
1605
01:26:10,299 --> 01:26:12,335
The problem was there
was a lot of LSD,
1606
01:26:12,368 --> 01:26:16,405
bad acid, bad drugs,
lots of cheap booze.
1607
01:26:16,439 --> 01:26:20,709
So, by the time the show
opened midday on the Saturday,
1608
01:26:20,743 --> 01:26:24,413
you had three, 400,000
people completely out of it.
1609
01:26:24,447 --> 01:26:28,984
And the fights began, and it
just degenerated from there.
1610
01:26:30,085 --> 01:26:31,320
[Narrator] With
The Hell's Angels,
1611
01:26:31,354 --> 01:26:33,322
a visible presence
around the stage
1612
01:26:33,356 --> 01:26:35,358
and throughout the
festival grounds,
1613
01:26:35,391 --> 01:26:38,761
at midday the first
act appeared, Santana.
1614
01:26:39,395 --> 01:26:43,198
Halfway through the performance
San Francisco peace activist
1615
01:26:43,232 --> 01:26:47,202
and promoter, Bert Kanegson
was the first of many victims
1616
01:26:47,236 --> 01:26:52,241
to face the wrath of the
concerts brutal security force.
1617
01:26:52,641 --> 01:26:57,346
This overweight Latino,
stark naked, whipped out of
1618
01:26:57,380 --> 01:27:00,549
his brains on LSD that
was probably laced
1619
01:27:00,583 --> 01:27:04,520
with methedrine, and
guzzling Red Mountain wine.
1620
01:27:04,553 --> 01:27:06,555
He wanders down the
hill into the front
1621
01:27:06,589 --> 01:27:08,624
of the stage where
The Hell's Angels are.
1622
01:27:08,657 --> 01:27:11,460
And this is just like
bad news right away.
1623
01:27:11,494 --> 01:27:15,163
And Bert sees this
happening, and he jumps down.
1624
01:27:15,197 --> 01:27:18,701
And he starts in on this
all men are brothers,
1625
01:27:18,734 --> 01:27:21,837
and begging the Angels
not to beat this guy.
1626
01:27:22,838 --> 01:27:27,543
They turn on Bert, and
they rain pool cues down.
1627
01:27:28,611 --> 01:27:33,549
They bust him up so good, he
has 60 stitches in his head.
1628
01:27:34,883 --> 01:27:36,752
[Narrator] It was
just the beginning.
1629
01:27:36,785 --> 01:27:38,354
The Angels' presence
on the stage
1630
01:27:38,387 --> 01:27:40,989
and at the front of
the audience increased.
1631
01:27:41,023 --> 01:27:42,591
And as The Jefferson
Airplane took
1632
01:27:42,625 --> 01:27:44,427
their places for the
second performance,
1633
01:27:44,460 --> 01:27:48,497
it was hard to distinguish
the band from the bikers.
1634
01:27:48,531 --> 01:27:51,500
More of the crowd were
singled out for beatings.
1635
01:27:51,534 --> 01:27:53,902
And when the Airplane's
lead singer Marty Balin
1636
01:27:53,936 --> 01:27:57,340
tried to intervene,
he too was attacked.
1637
01:27:57,373 --> 01:27:59,708
These guys were the
real thing, they weren't
1638
01:27:59,742 --> 01:28:02,745
the little biking club
that they had at Hyde Park.
1639
01:28:02,778 --> 01:28:06,549
They've got psychopaths,
and murderers, ex cons,
1640
01:28:06,582 --> 01:28:09,552
and God knows what in
there, they're bad news.
1641
01:28:10,486 --> 01:28:13,188
[Grace] It's all right,
it's kind of weird up here.
1642
01:28:13,221 --> 01:28:15,891
Hey man, I'd like to mention
that The Hell's Angels
1643
01:28:15,924 --> 01:28:18,126
just smashed Marty
Balin in the face,
1644
01:28:18,160 --> 01:28:20,262
and knocked him out for a bit.
1645
01:28:20,295 --> 01:28:22,030
I'd like to thank you for that.
1646
01:28:22,064 --> 01:28:23,699
[Grace] There's other ways.
1647
01:28:23,732 --> 01:28:26,935
[Hell's Angel] Hey
wait, is this on?
1648
01:28:28,136 --> 01:28:29,472
If you're talking to me,
I'm gonna talk to you.
1649
01:28:29,505 --> 01:28:30,539
I'm not talking to you
man, I'm talking to
1650
01:28:30,573 --> 01:28:31,940
the people that hit my
lead singer in the head.
1651
01:28:31,974 --> 01:28:33,275
You're talking to my people.
1652
01:28:33,308 --> 01:28:35,277
So let me tell you
what's happening.
1653
01:28:35,310 --> 01:28:37,413
You are what's happening.
1654
01:28:38,414 --> 01:28:40,148
Hey, oh!
1655
01:28:40,182 --> 01:28:41,917
[Grace] No.
1656
01:28:41,950 --> 01:28:43,519
[Hell's Angel] Buster
hold it, hold it.
1657
01:28:44,387 --> 01:28:46,955
This was scary, this was scary.
1658
01:28:47,222 --> 01:28:51,860
Sort of rationally scary,
we weren't inventing anything.
1659
01:28:51,894 --> 01:28:58,100
We'd seen real ugliness and
1660
01:28:58,133 --> 01:28:59,368
hurtfulness and
1661
01:29:00,769 --> 01:29:03,238
savagery right in
front of our eyes.
1662
01:29:04,573 --> 01:29:06,942
The Hell's Angels were horrible.
1663
01:29:07,209 --> 01:29:10,846
And it seemed almost more so
because over the past decade
1664
01:29:10,879 --> 01:29:13,416
there had been a kind of a
myth about how cool they were.
1665
01:29:13,449 --> 01:29:16,184
Really important to understand,
1666
01:29:16,218 --> 01:29:18,487
the San Francisco chapter
of The Hell's Angels
1667
01:29:18,521 --> 01:29:20,255
was located in the
Haight Ashbury.
1668
01:29:20,288 --> 01:29:23,125
They were well known
backstage at Grateful Dead
1669
01:29:23,158 --> 01:29:24,427
and Jefferson Airplane concerts.
1670
01:29:24,460 --> 01:29:26,429
They rode bikes
with the road crews.
1671
01:29:26,462 --> 01:29:31,099
They were an entirely different
group of Hell's Angels
1672
01:29:31,133 --> 01:29:34,503
than say the home
office over in Oakland.
1673
01:29:34,537 --> 01:29:36,839
The problems with The
Hell's Angels at the
1674
01:29:36,872 --> 01:29:39,808
eventual site of the
concert at Altamont
1675
01:29:39,842 --> 01:29:42,177
were all in front of the stage.
1676
01:29:42,210 --> 01:29:44,647
And they were almost
entirely caused
1677
01:29:44,680 --> 01:29:47,315
by members of the
San Jose Chapter.
1678
01:29:47,349 --> 01:29:51,053
And the San Jose Chapter
was entirely different.
1679
01:29:51,086 --> 01:29:54,490
That's an hour away from San
Francisco, they're not hippies.
1680
01:29:54,523 --> 01:29:56,124
They're not used to
going to the Filmore,
1681
01:29:56,158 --> 01:29:59,327
they're not backstage presences,
they are old fashioned
1682
01:29:59,361 --> 01:30:01,797
California thugs, and
those were the guys
1683
01:30:01,830 --> 01:30:04,399
in front of the stage
with the pool cues.
1684
01:30:05,734 --> 01:30:06,702
[Narrator] Although
they were there
1685
01:30:06,735 --> 01:30:09,605
to capture a positive
end to the Stones tour,
1686
01:30:09,638 --> 01:30:11,707
The Maysles Brothers
and their cameramen were
1687
01:30:11,740 --> 01:30:14,376
now documenting the
escalating chaos.
1688
01:30:15,110 --> 01:30:17,045
And it was The
Stones' tour manager,
1689
01:30:17,079 --> 01:30:20,415
Sam Cutler, who attempted
to restore order.
1690
01:30:20,683 --> 01:30:23,586
In many ways I felt
essentially helpless.
1691
01:30:23,619 --> 01:30:26,221
In the face of people who
were determined to fight
1692
01:30:26,254 --> 01:30:30,025
one another, what can a
skinny little Englishman do?
1693
01:30:30,058 --> 01:30:33,295
And as the day progressed,
and the violence
1694
01:30:33,328 --> 01:30:37,399
got worse, I was faced
with this dreadful
1695
01:30:37,432 --> 01:30:40,869
realization that my
band was gonna come.
1696
01:30:41,604 --> 01:30:43,606
The Rolling Stones
were gonna come,
1697
01:30:43,639 --> 01:30:44,940
and we're gonna
have to appear here.
1698
01:30:46,208 --> 01:30:47,743
[Narrator] And in
the early afternoon
1699
01:30:47,776 --> 01:30:49,344
as The Flying Burrito Brothers
1700
01:30:49,377 --> 01:30:51,747
began the third set
of the festival,
1701
01:30:51,780 --> 01:30:55,851
The Stones arrived on the
speedway track by helicopter.
1702
01:30:55,884 --> 01:30:59,454
And almost immediately they
were met with violence.
1703
01:31:00,455 --> 01:31:04,627
Mick arrived, and the rest of
The Stones, minus Bill Wyman
1704
01:31:04,660 --> 01:31:05,928
and the first thing
that happened was
1705
01:31:05,961 --> 01:31:07,530
he stepped out of
the helicopter,
1706
01:31:07,563 --> 01:31:11,166
and some deranged kid
on acid punched him.
1707
01:31:12,100 --> 01:31:14,603
[calm music]
1708
01:31:15,003 --> 01:31:16,271
[Camera Man] They hit
Mick, somebody hit him.
1709
01:31:18,440 --> 01:31:20,709
So that was frightening.
1710
01:31:20,743 --> 01:31:25,447
And Mick arrived and
got reports from people
1711
01:31:25,480 --> 01:31:28,450
about how dreadful
the whole thing was.
1712
01:31:28,483 --> 01:31:30,553
We were all put in
a little trailer.
1713
01:31:30,586 --> 01:31:32,888
So, at the beginning
I'm sure we got stories
1714
01:31:32,921 --> 01:31:34,623
that some violence,
but we didn't see
1715
01:31:34,657 --> 01:31:36,659
any of it and know
what was going on.
1716
01:31:36,692 --> 01:31:39,427
But you can sense it,
there was--
1717
01:31:39,461 --> 01:31:41,564
I don't know about
situations other places,
1718
01:31:41,597 --> 01:31:43,566
but you can feel it in the air.
1719
01:31:44,499 --> 01:31:46,068
[Narrator] And this
ominous mood was enough
1720
01:31:46,101 --> 01:31:49,004
to convince local
headliners, The Grateful Dead
1721
01:31:49,037 --> 01:31:51,439
to abandon the
concert altogether.
1722
01:31:51,974 --> 01:31:54,276
Arriving soon after The Stones,
1723
01:31:54,309 --> 01:31:56,344
only to discover that
members of their road crew
1724
01:31:56,378 --> 01:32:01,383
had already been assaulted by
Angels, they decided to bail.
1725
01:32:01,650 --> 01:32:03,986
The band who had
pioneered the very idea of
1726
01:32:04,019 --> 01:32:07,956
the free concert, wanted
no part of this event.
1727
01:32:07,990 --> 01:32:11,159
The bottom line was
The Grateful Dead ran.
1728
01:32:11,193 --> 01:32:14,630
They backed out of it, they saw
there was too much violence.
1729
01:32:14,663 --> 01:32:16,098
If they would have
performed I think
1730
01:32:16,131 --> 01:32:18,033
it might have been a
whole different ballgame
1731
01:32:18,066 --> 01:32:19,635
as opposed to saying
oh The Stones--
1732
01:32:19,668 --> 01:32:21,637
If The Grateful Dead had
performed there two or three
1733
01:32:21,670 --> 01:32:24,339
hour set I'm sure it would
have mellowed everybody,
1734
01:32:24,372 --> 01:32:25,808
It might put everybody
to sleep eventually.
1735
01:32:25,841 --> 01:32:28,043
They were doing all
the drugs and all that.
1736
01:32:28,076 --> 01:32:30,445
But the end result was they ran.
1737
01:32:30,478 --> 01:32:33,716
So now you had that lag time
before The Stones came out.
1738
01:32:33,749 --> 01:32:35,150
And all the bad
drugs, the violence,
1739
01:32:35,183 --> 01:32:37,519
and all that stuff going
on there but The Stones
1740
01:32:37,552 --> 01:32:40,055
still came out and
performed, they didn't run.
1741
01:32:41,223 --> 01:32:42,991
[Narrator] Following
The Dead's departure
1742
01:32:43,025 --> 01:32:45,127
Crosby, Stills, Nash,
and Young played
1743
01:32:45,160 --> 01:32:47,796
as brief as set as they
could manage, the beatings
1744
01:32:47,830 --> 01:32:50,866
by the Angels continuing
throughout their performance.
1745
01:32:52,267 --> 01:32:54,136
After only half an hour,
they quickly exited
1746
01:32:54,169 --> 01:32:58,306
the stage and immediately
fled Altamont.
1747
01:32:58,340 --> 01:33:01,176
Now there was only The
Stones left to play.
1748
01:33:01,209 --> 01:33:03,545
And in the absence
of The Grateful Dead,
1749
01:33:03,578 --> 01:33:06,815
their headline set wasn't
due to start for hours.
1750
01:33:07,382 --> 01:33:10,853
The crowd just sits there,
they've been there all day.
1751
01:33:10,886 --> 01:33:14,723
There's no water, or
bathrooms, no food.
1752
01:33:14,757 --> 01:33:19,094
They're jammed in hip to
hip, shoulder to shoulder.
1753
01:33:19,127 --> 01:33:21,063
And they're there for more than
1754
01:33:21,096 --> 01:33:24,532
two hours with nothing going on.
1755
01:33:24,566 --> 01:33:26,969
Just as the sun
starts to go down
1756
01:33:27,002 --> 01:33:29,237
Sonny Barger, and the
Oakland chapter shows up.
1757
01:33:29,271 --> 01:33:31,206
They'd had a meeting
that afternoon.
1758
01:33:31,239 --> 01:33:35,210
And they literally did just
drive right through the crowd
1759
01:33:35,243 --> 01:33:37,512
down to the front of
the stage, get off,
1760
01:33:37,545 --> 01:33:41,116
park their bikes, get
off and sat on the stage.
1761
01:33:41,149 --> 01:33:43,085
It was an amazing display.
1762
01:33:44,753 --> 01:33:46,755
[Narrator] And once
darkness had fallen,
1763
01:33:46,789 --> 01:33:49,858
The Stones finally
took to the stage,
1764
01:33:49,892 --> 01:33:53,061
outnumbered by the hordes
of Angels all around them.
1765
01:33:53,095 --> 01:33:54,797
As they kicked off
their set they managed
1766
01:33:54,830 --> 01:33:58,566
to rise above the
unsettling atmosphere.
1767
01:33:58,600 --> 01:34:00,736
The Stones played
out of their skin,
1768
01:34:00,769 --> 01:34:03,471
and quite probably out of fear.
1769
01:34:04,339 --> 01:34:07,710
Because by this time,
The Hell's Angels
1770
01:34:07,743 --> 01:34:11,714
are all over the stage,
and if they stopped playing
1771
01:34:11,747 --> 01:34:14,616
they might not even
have got out alive.
1772
01:34:14,649 --> 01:34:19,621
And under duress, and with
that kind of adrenaline flowing
1773
01:34:19,654 --> 01:34:21,824
they put on one hell
of a performance.
1774
01:34:22,791 --> 01:34:27,195
* Pleased to meet you, I hope
you guess my name *
1775
01:34:30,465 --> 01:34:36,338
* But what's puzzling you
is the nature of my game *
1776
01:34:39,474 --> 01:34:42,644
It was just phenomenal,
just Charlie and Wyman
1777
01:34:42,677 --> 01:34:47,783
had the bottom locked down,
the guitars were going off
1778
01:34:47,816 --> 01:34:51,920
like sparks, and Jagger was
singing like he meant it,
1779
01:34:51,954 --> 01:34:55,023
like none of that sort
of loopy caricature
1780
01:34:55,057 --> 01:34:59,161
the he tends to go, he
was real about this thing.
1781
01:35:00,628 --> 01:35:02,497
[Narrator] But this
impressive performance
1782
01:35:02,530 --> 01:35:04,499
could not suppress the brutality
1783
01:35:04,532 --> 01:35:06,869
that would soon
disrupt their set.
1784
01:35:06,902 --> 01:35:08,670
And although later some
of the band claimed
1785
01:35:08,703 --> 01:35:12,808
they were unable to see the
full extent of the violence,
1786
01:35:12,841 --> 01:35:16,111
the cameras filming the
events on and around the stage
1787
01:35:16,144 --> 01:35:19,247
captured a concert
descending into chaos.
1788
01:35:20,248 --> 01:35:22,117
Things just went
from bad to worse.
1789
01:35:22,150 --> 01:35:25,788
And really there's
no controlling it.
1790
01:35:25,821 --> 01:35:29,391
There's fights everywhere,
people rushing the stage,
1791
01:35:29,424 --> 01:35:32,527
being thrown off the stage,
fights in front of the stage.
1792
01:35:32,560 --> 01:35:35,998
We were more than aware
of what was going on.
1793
01:35:36,731 --> 01:35:38,566
All the light was back light,
1794
01:35:38,600 --> 01:35:42,304
50,000 watts of backlight,
bright is your living room.
1795
01:35:42,337 --> 01:35:44,807
So all this stuff about The
Rolling Stones didn't know
1796
01:35:44,840 --> 01:35:46,842
it was happening, and didn't
see what was happening
1797
01:35:46,875 --> 01:35:49,011
is complete and utter bullshit.
1798
01:35:49,044 --> 01:35:51,046
And you can see in the
movie where Jagger's
1799
01:35:51,079 --> 01:35:54,817
dancing around and his eyes
happen out in the audience.
1800
01:35:54,850 --> 01:35:57,419
Ae sees somebody take up
a blow from a pool cue,
1801
01:35:57,452 --> 01:36:00,588
and he just goes bomb
and stops dancing.
1802
01:36:00,622 --> 01:36:02,925
Jagger has so much
command as a performer.
1803
01:36:02,958 --> 01:36:08,897
And to see him struggling,
it's terrifying.
1804
01:36:08,931 --> 01:36:11,266
Let's get it together,
I can't do any more
1805
01:36:11,299 --> 01:36:15,838
than just ask you, just beg
you just to keep it together.
1806
01:36:15,871 --> 01:36:18,874
You can do it, it's within
your power, everyone.
1807
01:36:18,907 --> 01:36:21,776
Everyone, Hell's
Angels, everybody.
1808
01:36:23,045 --> 01:36:25,613
At that point certainly, bands
like the Jefferson Airplane
1809
01:36:25,647 --> 01:36:30,252
and The Rolling Stones they
were avatars, they were gods.
1810
01:36:31,319 --> 01:36:34,857
And to see them
desperate to try to stop
1811
01:36:34,890 --> 01:36:37,425
this violence happening
right in front of them,
1812
01:36:37,459 --> 01:36:41,196
and failing, it's unforgettable.
1813
01:36:41,629 --> 01:36:43,365
You could see it itched
in people's faces
1814
01:36:43,398 --> 01:36:46,935
at the front of the stage,
just looking at Jagger
1815
01:36:46,969 --> 01:36:49,604
and saying please
stop, help us out.
1816
01:36:49,637 --> 01:36:53,041
This is, we're watching
everything dying here.
1817
01:36:53,075 --> 01:36:56,611
And in between the songs you
had these deathly silences.
1818
01:36:56,644 --> 01:36:57,913
And then sort of then
[imitates cracking]
1819
01:36:57,946 --> 01:37:01,649
sort of the sound
of cracked heads and
1820
01:37:01,683 --> 01:37:03,051
people shouting "no" and
1821
01:37:04,686 --> 01:37:06,621
wanting everything to stop.
1822
01:37:06,654 --> 01:37:10,592
The brotherhood of man thing,
which was the hippie dream,
1823
01:37:10,625 --> 01:37:14,496
it was all coming really
unstuck there, very very badly.
1824
01:37:14,529 --> 01:37:18,566
I was right behind the
amps, so I could see,
1825
01:37:18,600 --> 01:37:20,102
I could only see
what I could see.
1826
01:37:20,435 --> 01:37:23,405
But at some point
Keith, just like Marty Balin,
1827
01:37:23,438 --> 01:37:26,674
Keith stops and says hey,
you can't do this here.
1828
01:37:26,708 --> 01:37:28,476
And the music stopped.
1829
01:37:30,012 --> 01:37:33,982
[Keith] Look cat, that guy
there if he doesn't stop it.
1830
01:37:36,218 --> 01:37:39,387
Listen, either those cats
cool it man or we don't play.
1831
01:37:43,558 --> 01:37:45,760
But then there was some
kind of, another one of
1832
01:37:45,793 --> 01:37:48,964
these attacks and you could
tell it was just awful.
1833
01:37:48,997 --> 01:37:50,165
And people were,
1834
01:37:51,466 --> 01:37:55,637
they look liked if you
were fish in a bowl
1835
01:37:56,004 --> 01:37:58,640
and you dropped a pebble
in, and all the fish
1836
01:37:58,673 --> 01:38:00,775
would scurry as
fast as they could.
1837
01:38:00,808 --> 01:38:02,344
That was like there
was a center place,
1838
01:38:02,377 --> 01:38:04,112
where something really
ugly was happening.
1839
01:38:04,146 --> 01:38:06,648
And people would
just try to get away
1840
01:38:06,681 --> 01:38:09,284
as fast as they possibly could.
1841
01:38:09,317 --> 01:38:13,555
I left, I just
walked, left the stage
1842
01:38:13,588 --> 01:38:15,790
and sort of walked away
up the little hill.
1843
01:38:15,823 --> 01:38:19,194
Then I realized I'm not coming
to any more of these things
1844
01:38:19,227 --> 01:38:21,863
I'm not gonna sort of
believe the Woodstock,
1845
01:38:21,896 --> 01:38:25,667
Monterey Pop, human
being myth anymore.
1846
01:38:25,700 --> 01:38:28,003
The Hell's Angels
were a huge mistake.
1847
01:38:28,036 --> 01:38:30,472
We're just not all
brothers and sisters.
1848
01:38:30,505 --> 01:38:33,041
There's just
elements of ugliness,
1849
01:38:33,075 --> 01:38:36,011
and viciousness,
and hurtfulness,
1850
01:38:38,213 --> 01:38:40,415
that are too powerful for that.
1851
01:38:41,916 --> 01:38:43,218
[Narrator] And the
viciousness unleashed
1852
01:38:43,251 --> 01:38:46,254
at the concert
culminated in murder.
1853
01:38:47,422 --> 01:38:49,491
18 year old student
Meredith Hunter,
1854
01:38:49,524 --> 01:38:53,228
caught up in a brawl with the
Angels in front of the stage
1855
01:38:53,261 --> 01:38:56,764
made the mistake of pulling
a gun on his assailants.
1856
01:38:56,798 --> 01:39:00,035
He would not live to see
the end of The Stones' set.
1857
01:39:01,136 --> 01:39:03,105
Finally they're
doing "Under my Thumb",
1858
01:39:03,138 --> 01:39:07,375
and a guy pulled out a
gun, got two shots off,
1859
01:39:07,409 --> 01:39:10,412
maybe 60 feet in
front of the stage,
1860
01:39:10,445 --> 01:39:13,315
and was stabbed to death by
one of the Hell's Angels.
1861
01:39:14,716 --> 01:39:16,151
The band stopped.
1862
01:39:16,718 --> 01:39:18,220
All of a sudden
I got told "Ron, Ron
1863
01:39:18,253 --> 01:39:20,688
we need the ambulance,
a guy's been stabbed."
1864
01:39:20,722 --> 01:39:22,724
So that's what I was
told, so I started running
1865
01:39:22,757 --> 01:39:25,893
to go to the side of the
stage to get the ambulance.
1866
01:39:25,927 --> 01:39:27,862
And as I'm running
along there, I get to it
1867
01:39:27,895 --> 01:39:30,465
and there's no driver,
typical situation.
1868
01:39:30,498 --> 01:39:32,534
I'm screaming for the driver,
and I'm running along there.
1869
01:39:32,567 --> 01:39:35,803
Where's the driver to the
ambulance, to get him for them.
1870
01:39:35,837 --> 01:39:37,439
And a cop says hey, wait wait.
1871
01:39:37,472 --> 01:39:39,041
Are you about that
guy that got stabbed?
1872
01:39:39,074 --> 01:39:42,277
I said yes, he said you
don't have to run, he's dead.
1873
01:39:42,310 --> 01:39:47,182
And that was like a gut, that
was just so bad at the time.
1874
01:39:48,983 --> 01:39:51,119
[Narrator] And although the
footage was never released
1875
01:39:51,153 --> 01:39:54,256
in The Maysles Brothers
film, "Gimme Shelter",
1876
01:39:54,289 --> 01:39:55,657
in the years
following the event,
1877
01:39:55,690 --> 01:39:58,960
eyewitness accounts
reported that Hunter's body
1878
01:39:58,993 --> 01:40:01,629
was brought to the stage
by members of the audience
1879
01:40:01,663 --> 01:40:05,233
in an attempt to end
the Angels' violence.
1880
01:40:05,267 --> 01:40:07,769
I talked to the guys
that carried his body
1881
01:40:07,802 --> 01:40:09,837
to the stage, and I talked
to the guy who carried
1882
01:40:09,871 --> 01:40:12,274
his body from the
stage backstage.
1883
01:40:12,307 --> 01:40:15,110
And they put it on the
stage, right in front
1884
01:40:15,143 --> 01:40:17,145
of Keith Richards
and the Hell's Angels
1885
01:40:17,179 --> 01:40:20,148
swarmed over and just
pushed it back off.
1886
01:40:20,182 --> 01:40:21,983
There's a photograph of that.
1887
01:40:22,016 --> 01:40:24,352
There's a photograph of
Mick Jagger looking away
1888
01:40:24,386 --> 01:40:27,522
with his hand over his face
like this, and a bunch of
1889
01:40:27,555 --> 01:40:31,293
Hell's Angels bent over
mysteriously in the corner.
1890
01:40:32,194 --> 01:40:33,695
Yeah they just
dropped a dead body
1891
01:40:33,728 --> 01:40:36,531
on your stage, and
they're pushing it off.
1892
01:40:36,564 --> 01:40:38,300
What are you gonna
do about that fellas?
1893
01:40:38,633 --> 01:40:42,670
They're gonna stay on stage
for another hour...
1894
01:40:44,439 --> 01:40:45,440
terrified.
1895
01:40:46,141 --> 01:40:50,312
I whispered to Mick, "the
guy's been killed man,
1896
01:40:50,345 --> 01:40:53,615
you gotta get off
stage right now", right?.
1897
01:40:53,648 --> 01:40:55,817
"He had a gun, you
gotta get off stage,"
1898
01:40:55,850 --> 01:41:00,588
to which Mick replied,
and kudos to the man,
1899
01:41:00,622 --> 01:41:02,824
and I've always
admired him for it.
1900
01:41:02,857 --> 01:41:05,793
"We can't get off
stage, we can't leave,
1901
01:41:05,827 --> 01:41:08,596
"we have to finish the show."
1902
01:41:09,897 --> 01:41:12,134
[Narrator] When The Stones
eventually boarded a helicopter
1903
01:41:12,167 --> 01:41:14,802
and left Altamont, they
were shell shocked.
1904
01:41:15,703 --> 01:41:19,341
Due to fly out for a number
of European shows the next day
1905
01:41:19,374 --> 01:41:21,743
their schedule didn't allow
them time to fully grasp
1906
01:41:21,776 --> 01:41:26,314
the magnitude of the event
they had just experienced.
1907
01:41:26,348 --> 01:41:28,983
In the days that followed,
where some news reports
1908
01:41:29,016 --> 01:41:31,153
glossed over the
violence of the festival,
1909
01:41:31,186 --> 01:41:34,055
slowly the facts
began to emerge.
1910
01:41:34,722 --> 01:41:37,592
And alongside the arrests of
cult leader Charles Manson
1911
01:41:37,625 --> 01:41:41,196
and his murderous followers
only days beforehand,
1912
01:41:41,229 --> 01:41:44,031
soon Altamont was
being identified as an
1913
01:41:44,065 --> 01:41:47,068
event of real
historical significance.
1914
01:41:47,635 --> 01:41:49,437
Well Altamont is always
the thing that's cited
1915
01:41:49,471 --> 01:41:55,443
as being the end of the flower
power era, the hippie era.
1916
01:41:55,477 --> 01:41:58,580
And I think, it's
certainly a signpost.
1917
01:41:59,681 --> 01:42:03,585
I think it was downhill
all the way after that.
1918
01:42:05,387 --> 01:42:08,256
Murder does tend to
concentrate the mind a little.
1919
01:42:09,591 --> 01:42:15,497
I don't think The Stones
realized the significance,
1920
01:42:15,530 --> 01:42:19,201
or the impact of Altamont
until long after.
1921
01:42:19,234 --> 01:42:20,968
I think most of us didn't.
1922
01:42:21,603 --> 01:42:26,140
This is the famous Zhou Enlai
thing when, asked in about 1950
1923
01:42:26,174 --> 01:42:28,710
about the impact of the French
Revolution on the subsequent
1924
01:42:28,743 --> 01:42:31,413
course of history, and he
said it was too early to say.
1925
01:42:31,446 --> 01:42:33,815
So, ultimately the sort of
rock and roll equivalent
1926
01:42:33,848 --> 01:42:38,320
of that in a way, no
one knew in December '69
1927
01:42:38,353 --> 01:42:42,757
or even by summer
1970 that it was gonna
1928
01:42:42,790 --> 01:42:48,263
go down in rock history
as this seminal moment,
1929
01:42:48,296 --> 01:42:50,598
this turning point,
this tipping point.
1930
01:42:52,267 --> 01:42:57,505
The hard truths that
those events represent
1931
01:42:57,539 --> 01:43:03,711
about how hard change
is to achieve, and what
1932
01:43:04,346 --> 01:43:07,515
violence in American
culture represents,
1933
01:43:07,549 --> 01:43:13,020
and how it can manifest
itself even in contexts where
1934
01:43:13,054 --> 01:43:18,159
you would think would be the
last place it would occur,
1935
01:43:18,192 --> 01:43:19,927
those were important lessons.
1936
01:43:19,961 --> 01:43:22,797
And those were
lessons that signaled,
1937
01:43:22,830 --> 01:43:25,800
guess what we're not
going back to The Garden.
1938
01:43:25,833 --> 01:43:29,504
That became pretty apparent.
1939
01:43:30,071 --> 01:43:31,706
I don't think anybody
was walking around
1940
01:43:31,739 --> 01:43:33,641
with flowers in their
hair after all that.
1941
01:43:34,409 --> 01:43:37,545
A new equilibrium was
found, and actually
1942
01:43:37,579 --> 01:43:40,515
very quickly people
almost thought,
1943
01:43:40,548 --> 01:43:44,352
did that late '60s what happen
then, what really happened?
1944
01:43:44,386 --> 01:43:49,391
The negative out punched the
good there, unfortunately.
1945
01:43:49,691 --> 01:43:52,193
And people wanted to distance
themselves from that.
1946
01:43:52,226 --> 01:43:54,462
So the '70s there was
kind of a marked break.
1947
01:43:54,496 --> 01:43:57,198
The flower stuff seemed
just an absolute joke.
1948
01:43:57,231 --> 01:44:01,168
I saw Monetary Pop in 1975,
and the audience laughed,
1949
01:44:01,202 --> 01:44:03,838
they laughed at the look,
the sound, everything.
1950
01:44:03,871 --> 01:44:06,374
I was horrified by
that, it's the '60s.
1951
01:44:06,408 --> 01:44:10,044
To me, I hung onto the
good part of the '60s.
1952
01:44:10,878 --> 01:44:13,381
It had really been put
to bed, that period.
1953
01:44:13,415 --> 01:44:16,518
People didn't want
to know, you know.
1954
01:44:17,885 --> 01:44:20,488
It kind of quickly became
the forgotten zone.
1955
01:44:20,522 --> 01:44:23,525
And Altamont, and
the Manson murders
1956
01:44:24,526 --> 01:44:28,396
were instrumental, really,
in closing that door.
1957
01:44:29,163 --> 01:44:30,532
[Narrator] And although
The Stones moved
1958
01:44:30,565 --> 01:44:32,567
ever onwards with their career,
1959
01:44:32,600 --> 01:44:36,170
the event also closed
the door for them too.
1960
01:44:36,203 --> 01:44:38,340
The bad boys of the
British Invasion would
1961
01:44:38,373 --> 01:44:41,443
never again be at the
center of the culture,
1962
01:44:41,476 --> 01:44:44,211
politics and social
commentary notably absent from
1963
01:44:44,245 --> 01:44:47,549
their subsequent work,
they're remarkable reign
1964
01:44:47,582 --> 01:44:50,885
as the voice of a
generation was over.
1965
01:44:51,453 --> 01:44:53,421
There's The Rolling
Stones before Altamont,
1966
01:44:53,455 --> 01:44:55,423
and there's The Rolling
Stones after Altamont.
1967
01:44:55,457 --> 01:44:57,559
Their just two separate things.
1968
01:44:57,592 --> 01:45:02,229
All that stuff about the
dark guys, and the bad boys,
1969
01:45:02,263 --> 01:45:05,367
and the sympathy for
the Devil had played out
1970
01:45:05,400 --> 01:45:11,038
to this absolute,
real example of evil.
1971
01:45:11,639 --> 01:45:15,410
And having faced that
that could never go back
1972
01:45:15,443 --> 01:45:18,580
to their little pretend kingdom.
1973
01:45:18,613 --> 01:45:21,383
And you can see that in
the "Sticky Fingers" album.
1974
01:45:21,816 --> 01:45:24,552
The three songs recorded
before Altamont,
1975
01:45:24,586 --> 01:45:28,590
"Brown Sugar", "Wild Horses",
and "You Got to Move"
1976
01:45:28,623 --> 01:45:31,158
are completely
different type of music
1977
01:45:31,192 --> 01:45:32,427
than the rest of that album.
1978
01:45:32,460 --> 01:45:35,497
Whatever happened at Altamont
to the Rolling Stones
1979
01:45:35,530 --> 01:45:38,433
it changed them forever, and
their music was never the same,
1980
01:45:38,466 --> 01:45:39,767
their shows were never the same,
1981
01:45:39,801 --> 01:45:42,069
their personal relations
were never the same,
1982
01:45:42,103 --> 01:45:46,508
nothing about their lives
went on the way it was before.
1983
01:45:46,541 --> 01:45:49,644
[contemplative music]
159510
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