On this edition of Parallax Views, Jason Myles of the THIS IS REVOLUTION podcast and the metal band Bitter Lake joins the program to discuss his Sublation Magazine article “Remembering Woodstock ‘99”. Analysis and commentary of the Woodstock ’99 music festival, which famously ended in riots and sexual assaults, has resurfaced in 2022 thanks to new documentaries: Netflix’s Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 and HBO Max’s Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage. These documentaries make the case the the aggressive music of Generation X, particularly bands like Korn and Limp Bitzkit, and crass commercialism were in large part to blame for the Woodstock ’99 fiasco and, furthermore, that all of this betrayed the hippie peace and love ethos of the original Woodstock. Jason, who has experience working music festivals, argues that this doesn’t really strike the root of the issues that led to Woodstock ’99. Specifically, Jason takes a materialist perspective on the matter that looks at relationship between capitalism and not only Woodstock ’99 but the original Woodstock music festival of 1969 as well. In doing so h de-mythologizes the romanticized narrative around the original Woodstock festival and questions the nostalgia around the 60s counterculture. All of this and much more covered on this edition of Parallax Views!
