The History of Rock 'n' Roll (TV Mini Series) My Generation (1995) User Reviews

Episode 6: My Generation

[ebiros2 · 7/10 · 24 October 2005]

After the Beatles and Bob Dylan catapulted rock music into mainstream, second wave of British invasion arrives. Music of the late '60s is represented in this episode. Cream, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and Rolling Stones touring America this episode is an all star cast which reads like who's who of rock n roll. American rock scene is healthy too with Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills & Nash, Richie Havens etc.

This all cumulates into the Woodstock generation. Late '60s is probably the most pop time our culture have ever seen and they were the movers and shakers of this period not just in music but in American history.

A must see chapter in history of rock n roll.

Rock's Wild, Crazy & Most Memorable Period

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 15 March 2009]

Fortunately, I don't think most of the rock stars of this psychedelic era (or the present) had that snobbish attitude we hear in the opening minutes of this great episode.

I'm referring to Bono's elitist opening lines: "I think that was the difference with the '60s is that people didn't care to explain themselves," says Bono. "If people didn't get it by then, they weren't invited." As one who went through this "hippie era," this Episode Six sure brings back memories. This was a time like no other time in history. And nowhere, as it is pointed out in this episode, was it more demonstrated than in San Francisco (with London a solid second). San Francisco has maintained its Far Left attitude, too, to this day.

Paul Kantner of The Jefferson Airplane sums up a lot of the atmosphere and culture of the times here, with some interesting observations. He got the most air time among the interviewees, so the producers of this series apparently felt he had the best things to say about his era.

Everyone interviewed here was "anti-establishment." When seen interviewed in the late '60s, they were all actively promoting the use of drugs. "The more people who turn on, the better," says the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh. He's almost straight-looking compared to "Wavy Gravy," one of the Merry Pranksters, who was still around for the later interviews for this Time-Life series. He still looks nuts. (Read Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" to find out who the Pranksters were.)

Sadly, a number of these rock stars overdid the drugs and died. The losers were us, the rock fans. Imagine what unique sounds Jim Hendrix could have given us the last 35 years? In fact, this topic is discussed in the last five minutes of this show. David Crosby admits the messages of the '60s - although a lot of them good - did go wrong regarding drugs. All of them - and us - miss the music talents of people like Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon and others who all overdosed and paid the ultimate price. Jerry Garcia has a number of interviews here, and he's always interesting, too. His guitar sound also is very much missed.

The way people looked and dressed was a shock back then, and still looks a bit outrageous, when you see them as shown here on this DVD. It was a chaotic period, as Kantner notes, but it sure produced some great rock 'n roll music and an extremely colorful era.

I thought I knew most of what went on with all the festivals, beginning with Woodstock,of course, but I admit I did not know of all the hostility at the huge Isle Of Wight concert. That was pretty shocking. Fans booed, hissed, ranted, raved and were mad protesting that the performers, promoters and such were "capitalist pigs" for charging money for the concert. Apparently the mindset among this new culture was that everything was free - free love, free drugs, free concerts, etc. It was odd to see a tearful Joni Mitchell and a few others on stage trying to deal with the hostile crowds.

Overall, it was fascinating to see a lot of these rock icons of the '60s and early '70s reflecting about the era now in these 1994 interviews. What I hated to see was that every one of these singers had a cigarette in his or her hands.

Warning to those people wanting to show their kids this episode: there is quite a bit of nudity and Peter Townsend of the Who gives us a lot of f-bombs.

Snippets of the following songs and performers were seen on this disc: "Somebody to Love" by The Jefferson Airplane; "Tell Mama" by Janis Joplin; "China Cat Sunflowers" by The Grateful Dead; "Foxy Lady" - Jimi Hendrix; "When the Music's Over" - the Doors; "Up on Cripple Creek" - The Band; "Street Fighting Man" -Rolling Stones; "I Feel Free" - Cream; "Baba O'Riley" - The Who.

From the famous Woodstock concert, we see footage of "Handsome Johnny" by Richie Havens; "Fixin' to Die Rag" by Country Joe and the Fish; "Soul Sacrifice" - Santana and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" - Crosby, Stills & Nash; "Down By the River" - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; "Big Yellow Taxi" - Joni Mitchell; "Voodoo Chile" - Jimi Hendrix and "Touch of Grey" - The Grateful Dead.

Overall, this is a very intense part of this 10-disc series and probably the most entertaining of the lot.

The Best Chapter in the Series

[Sargebri · 19 February 2004]

Even though this was part of a mini-series, this chapter stands out on its own due to the fact that it covers the decade when rock and roll grew up and became recognized as an art form. You pretty much look at how the Beatles and Bob Dylan pretty much changed rock and forced other artists to write songs with more of a depth than they had been previously. However, the only negative criticism I have is that even though they cover Woodstock, there is no mention of Altamont, the event that pretty much ended that decade. Instead they end it with Joni Mitchell's recollections of the 1970 Isle of Wight festival which pretty much was the British version of Altamont. All in all it still is a great documentary.

the high point

[postmanwhoalwaysringstwice · 10/10 · 16 April 2007]

The ten episode series of documentaries, "The History of Rock & Roll" strolls through pot smoke and past flower children into arguably the most significant period in rock music with the sixth chapter: "My Generation". As the cultural turmoil that began to brew several years earlier hit a full boil as civil rights, women's rights, Vietnam, and youth activism collided with socially conscious, drug-addled artists at their creative peeks. This is the time of Sgt. Pepper, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Woodstock, Monterey, and any number of other buzzwords for when music was more important, prolific, and otherwise at an all-time high. This installment shows what can now be seen as dashed hopes of a culture wanting more that to this day seems unattainable, and that alone makes this the most affecting episode in the series.

"Woodstock was the top of the mountain, the plateau." - Richie Havens

[classicsoncall · 10/10 · 22 September 2017]

Whereas the third chapter of this series focused on The British Invasion and the American musical response during the early 1960's, this one takes up a good part of the latter half of that tumultuous decade. It begins in the Haight-Asbury section of San Francisco, the dubious home of the counter culture's embrace of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. In regard to the era's music and lifestyle, it was psychedelics meeting The Beat Generation, which in turn produced the hippie culture. Bill Graham, impresario of the Filmore's East and West described it as such - "It was a fantasy, but it was nice, and it was healthy".

Well, maybe not so healthy. From the vantage point of present day, many of the old time rockers came to realize that free drugs and free sex didn't do much to improve humanity. Joni Mitchell admits that the free sex aspect wasn't viable in the long run, and David Crosby laments the loss of music's icons as a result of drug abuse - Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Keith Moon, all gone shortly after The Sixties turned the corner into The Seventies.

But before the Sixties ended, there was the high water mark known as Woodstock, taking place in the Sullivan County town of Bethel, New York in August of 1969. Woodstock 'showed the world how it could be run if we ran the show' according to self styled promoter and leader of The Hog Farm - Wavy Gravy. It's true that Woodstock became the symbol of peace, love and happiness, and for a while, it looked like "It was the nation coming together" as stated by Richie Havens. But the sentiment quickly turned sour with The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, bigger than Woodstock and having an angry tone.

The Isle of Wight segment revealed some things I wasn't aware of even up till now, almost a half century later. The fans attending, conditioned to the theme of free sex and free drugs, now turned their attention to free music, and excoriated the performers for charging admission. Joni Mitchell attempted to solicit some respect from the unruly audience, while Jerry Garcia looked like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, with a stunned look that seemed to be asking himself if he was a hypocrite or if he actually had a right to make a living with his music.

But as we all know, and as Jerry Garcia once sang - "We will survive", and survive we did, from the love and peace vibes of Woodstock right through the tumultuous rumblings of the present day. As for the music, there's still a lot of ground to cover, with the next chapter in "The History of Rock 'n' Roll looking at the invention of the electric guitar, and the musicians who made them talk and sing.