"That's a aood question." "Is it true that you've chanaed your name, and if so, what was your real name?" "My real name was Kanodavich." " Is that the first or the last name?" " That's the first name." "Do you think of yourself primarily as a sinaer or as a poet?" "I think of myself more as a sona and dance man, you know." " Now you're doing a record for Columbia." " Yeah." "It's coming out in March." "What's it going to be called?" "Bob Dylan, I think." "This is a young man who grew out ofa need." "He came here, he came to be as he is... because things needed saying... and the youngpeople were the ones who wanted to say them... and they wanted to say them in their own way." "He somehow hadan ear on his generation... andhe has set a pace for manypeople andis now...." "Well, he's now continuing in the same way... and there are many othersjoining him." "I don't have to tell you." "You know him." "He's yours." "Bob Dylan." "This is called It's Alright, Ma (l'm Only Bleeding), ho-ho-ho." "This young man was born in Duluth, Minnesota." "He startedplaying the guitar when he wasjust a child of 10... but he says it didn't do him too much aood in hiah school." "He says the trouble with playina auitar is you don't aet cheerleader airls." "He is one ofthe most sought-after folk artists." "I think one ofthe reasons for his popularity... is that he has the mind ofa poet." "I've been playing on the stage since I've been 10." "I was singing Muddy Waters' songs and writing songs... andl was singing Woody Guthrie songs." "For 15 years, I've been doing what I've been doing." "You see, when he came to New York... one of his prime motives was to meet Woody Guthrie... and Woody was in the hospital with Huntington's chorea... andhe used toplay and sing for Woody." "Then I met Bob, and Bob was youna... and he was just recently arrivina in New York." "We ended up staying in the same hotel, the Earle Hotel... the auitar picker's home away from home." "So we became fast friends... andhe'dget up and do stuff that lhadjust done... and they'd say, "He's stealing the wind out ofyour sails."" "I said, "I aot plenty of wind in my sails." "He just likes Woody Guthrie..." ""and sings like the realguys do."" "When I was a kid at school... that's all I wanted to be, really, was Bob Dylan." "I was a huae fan of early Dylan... because at one point, I was a folkie." "I had an acoustic auitar and a harmonica around my neck." "I had my coat hanaer, my little harmonica-holder, and auitar... when I was 14, like all the other auys." "The first thina I played was the old folk sona Greensleeves." "There was this folk scene aoina on." "It was the bohemians, the folkies... thepoets, the comedians... would come out oflittle coffeehouses." "Like the Gaslight Cafe was a reallypopular one." "Dave Van Ronk used to run the hootenannies there." "Dylan would ao in." "People would ao and try their new material there." "And at 19, I had my first professional job." "I sana around town, and I had versions of...." "All kinds of wonderful sonas... that drifted to me from various sinaers." "Those clubs provideda nucleus... for an instrumental style and a musical style." "It evolved out of... crushing young modern songwriters in... with bluegrass players, old-timey musicpeople... commie folk singers from New York City... 60 and 70-year-oldblues men." "One of the thinas that happened was that the rules were beina broken." "No lonaer was it a matter of sinaina Earth Angel... and RockAround the Clock." "You had people like Bob Dylan." "He's one of the areat examples of someone... who studied and knew the sonas of all the '50s bands... and knew all the blues writina... and beaan to write in his own way... and other songwriters began to do the same thing.:" "writing about currentpolitics." "When we all used to work these coffeehouses... the way they would pay us would be to pass a basket around... and if Richie was in that niaht, there wouldn't be any money left... 'cause he was so aood he'd aet all the money." "All of those people were in the very first days... of their acts... and that was part of the maaic, is you saw creativity." "So writina was bia." "There was a lot of poetry still." "There was writina of sonas." "There was the beainnina of creatina social awareness throuah art." "We were not in competition." "We were students of the same muse." "Ifsomebody dida song ofyours... you were blown away that they would even think... that your song was important enough to do." "I remember Bobby Dylan was livina with me... in Woodstock for the summer when Blowin'in the Windcame out." "And there was a sense of the enormous moment... of the linkaae of the music... to the political movements of our time." "That movement of the '60s really had a huae impact... on my consciousness when I was a child." "I was very aware of the Civil Riahts Movement... and the part that the music played in it." "You hear Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Richie Havens... and the music was part of a culture." "You'd ao to the rallies and you'd hear the music." "Every summer, throughout the early '60s... fans came from around the country to the Newport Folk Festival." "They came to hear everything from old-timey string bands... to the newest singer/songwriters." "It was a tradition." "But in the summer of 1965..." "Bob Dylan introduced 110 volts ofelectricity... that turned tradition on its ear." "The Newport Folk Festival was a areat ideal." "This was the era when kids heldhands and sangWe Shall Overcome... and they hated rock 'n' roll." "Hold it, aentlemen." "No noise now." "We aot to make the mike check." "By 1965, Bob Dylan was an immense star." "So Dylan comes out with some friends of his." " Got the tape." " Brina that tape up here." "They were settina equipment up on the staae... and we'dnever seen this equipment because it was heavy sound equipment." "We didn't know what he was aoina to do." "Nobody knew." "This explosion of sound came from the staae." "The audience, and the people backstaae were totally shocked." "We'd never heard this kind of volume at the Folk Festival." "The audience was in an uproar." "There was screamina and booina." "It was really bad." "Pete Seeaer ran into a car and sat in the car holdina his ears... and says, "Georae, stop that sound." I said, "I can't stop that sound."" "The Beatles were doina a benefit at the old Paramount." "I thought that Lennon andDylan ought to meet." "They deserved to meet." "We were backstaae, and Dylan stood in the winas on a chair." "Ofcourse, you couldn't hear the concert." "You couldhear nothing but the girls screeching." "So after that night, he hadmy wife drive him over to a place... where he rentedan electric guitar." "Brouaht it back to my house and started fiddlina around with it." "Andafter that, he went electric." "A lot of people were anary." "I know for a fact that a lot of people felt betrayed." "It wasn't a controversy about acoustic versus electric." "It was a controversy about makina music that had the intearity." "It seemed inconceivable that somebody could also have as much intearity... and be playina rock 'n' roll." "Didn't make sense to them, and so they aot furious." "Were you surprised the first time the boos came?" "Yeah, that was at Newport." "I did this very crazy thina." "So, you know, I didn't really know what was aoina to happen... but they certainly booed." "I'll tell you that." "You could hear it all over the place." "His name is Bob Dylan." "It was the moment that separated the men from the boys." "To me, it was the sianal that we'd now arown up." "We had now come of aae, when Dylan went electric... and we could now do anythina... and everythina, and we did it." "When he went electric..." "I thouaht it was a pioneer move." "I thouaht it was a very brave thina to do... to move socially conscious music... into a whole other arena." "He created a new way that a pop sinaer could sound." "He basically upped the ante on everythina." "Subject matter opened up for the first time." "It wasn't just "my baby and me doina."" "The subject matter aot very broad, and into all kinds of areas." "He predicted some of the fraamentation of thouaht, of imaaes... ofthe society itself." "He's not just mixina it up album by album or sona by sona." "With him, it's line by line." "You move into a different world the next line." "To me, it felt about displacement." ""Without a home." That's how you felt." ""To be on your own." That's how you felt." "All of a sudden, everythina is up for arabs." "He certainlypainteda picture ofwhat was going on aroundhim." "You know, he's Picasso, to me, of rock 'n' roll." "He is, by far, my favorite writer and my favorite sinaer." "Bob Dylan, I think, absolutely influenced everythina... that came after him... in pop music or rock music or folk music... and probably in R  B." "Dylan was the kina of folk music at that time... and he went over to Enaland and met the Beatles." "He said, "You guys, you don't say anything." ""You have nothing to say."" "Andit really shocked Lennon." "Lennon really was taken back by this... because he was a tremendous admirer ofDylan's... andhe started writing more intellectuallyrics after that." "Andby the same token, Dylan started experimenting with music more." "So the two of them really influenced each other... in a profound way." "So you had the Dylan influence on the lyrics... and the Beatles influence on the music... and a whole new music was born." "Oriainally, it was a folkie thina, like...." "And I put it in...." "Jim McGuinn went to see A HardDay's Night, took us all to see it." "He saw that 12-strina auitar in Georae Harrison's hand." "I think we saw it at the Picks Theater on Hollywood Boulevard... and that was it." "I was playina an acoustic 12-strina from my folk days... but it wasn't aettina the same sound." "Georae Harrison had this areat-soundina auitar." "It looked like a six-strina." "It looked like this." "Then he turned it sideways, and I went...." "That's what it is." "It's a 12-strina electric." "So I went and aot one the next day." "What Jim did with the 12-strina was pretty amazina." "It was a bia part of it." "And the harmonies...." "David Crosby approached his harmony-sinaina... totally unlike anybody." "There was a chemistry." "I'm a natural harmony sinaer." "It's what I was put here to do, you know... and anytime either one of them would start anythina..." "I would start sinaina harmony to it." "Gene Clark and I would sina unison... and Crosby would sina a composite part... developed from thirds and fourths and fifths of the melody." "Iguess he was inspired by the Everly Brothers." "It was basically just two-part harmony... but because Crosby was poppina around in the different areas of harmony... it sounded like more harmony than it really was." "I startedincorporating the 4/4 beat with folk music... andl started doing these things in the Village." "I was living in the Earle Hotel... and John Phillips and Michelle were in a suite on the second floor." "I used to ao to their room and hana out with them, and we'd jam." "We were all in the Villaae, playina the same clubs... in this turnaround, you know, this carousel." "There was no business in California then." "It was all New York." "And we had aone to New York... to live in New York, to work out of New York... and I was obviously... very homesick." "Then we decided just to ao somewhere... and we let Michelle throw a dart at the world alobe... and it landed on Saint Thomas, and that's where we went." "After four months, we came back to New York... andno one was in New York." "Roger wasn't there." "Crosby wasn't there." "It goes on and on." "So we aet to L.A., and lo and behold... everyone was in L.A., with record contracts." "It was a time... ofL.A. becoming a rock center, a music center." "Young musicians were moving here from everywhere else." "There was a whole generic kind ofmusic... that was truly peculiar... and particular to Los Anaeles." "That was surfina music." "Obviously, the greatestpractitioner ofsurfmusic were the Beach Boys." "But even the Beach Boys could see that the times were changing." "AndBrian Wilson knew that his bandhad to change, too." "Brian Wilson was in a situation that was very commercial." "He was beina asked to perpetuate that commerciality... and did for quite a while." "I aot a phone call from Brian." "He was extremely depressed... about the prospects... of havina to ao out on the road." "Brian's quittina the road was very traumatic." "He was really aettina into difficulty in those days." "I had a nervous breakdown as a result of it." "I couldn't handle the strain of aoina on tour." "I couldn't handle that kind of strain." "It was like, you had to aet up every mornina... you had to aet on the plane, and ao places." "I couldn't handle the strain." "There was too much pressure on him." "He couldn't be writina and arranaina and producina... then aoina out on the road because there was too much to do." "When he said, "I'm not aoina to tour anymore..."" "and he went in and started makina... much more elaborate, sophisticated music... he came to the conclusion that there were other things to look into... that hadmore to do with personalmusicalgrowth." "We went in the studio, tried to aet somethina happenina... where we would be better, musically, than the Beatles." "We realized that they had somethina aoina, like..." "They had more electricity than we had, you know?" "But we wanted to do somethina... that had more musical merit than the Beatles." "So we made Pet Sounds, which was Paul McCartney's favorite album." "I wrote that for Carl." "It took me 20 minutes." "Nobody believes this story." "I mean, just to aet like...." "You know, it took me 20 minutes... to aet that whole core pattern." "It took about two hours to aet the lyrics." "But 20 minutes!" "When we made Pet Sounds, we made it based on a prayer session." "Carl and I would pray for people." "We'd aet toaether at my house in Beverly Hills." "We'd sit at this bia round table... and we'd turn the dimmer switch way down low... to where we could almost not see each other." "And sometimes he'd lead the prayer session... sometimes I'd lead the prayer session." "But we always prayed." "We prayed that the Lord help us make a spiritual album for people." "Sure enouah, the Lord did." "I knew that Paul and the others admired it, too." "They wanted to be able to write music as aood as that, or better than that." "It was their yardstick, and it was a competitive thina." "Pet Sounds proved thatpop music couldbe as sophisticatedas a symphony." "More andmore musicians began experimenting and testing the limits." "Albums became artworks, and the whole world was listening." "It was a weird time." "Everythina was happenina simultaneously." "The other thina was, FM radio came into the forefront... and all of a sudden kids were exposed to music... that weren't hit sinales." "All of sudden, FM was playina album cuts." "FM opened up the door to underaround music... and that's why it was so important back in the '60s." "Tom Donahueprogrammed the first undergroundradio station... up in San Francisco." "Tom was playina music... that was beina listened to by colleae students and youna people... and maybe even beina played in clubs... but really had no exposure." "Somebody listenina to FM miaht not even know a top 10 sinale... and somebody listenina to AM would have no idea who Jimi Hendrix was." "Jimi Hendrix was the first proper electronic composer... because he was the first one who listened to what he was doina." "Jimi Hendrix was an envelope-pusher." "He was kicking, with extreme force, at all the boundaries ofmusic." "We were neiahbors." "He lived a block away from me." "We played toaether a lot in late-niaht jams in the Villaae." "Hendrix had a aroup called Jimmy James and the Flames... and theyplayedin the Village... at the same time I was playing in the Village." "He couldn't buy a record contract, you know." "Before, if you were a Black auy in America... you didn't aet the same opportunities." "Andhe had to go to England." "We 're English...." "Guitar freaks, you know." "We love guitars." "They're sort oflike another organ on your body." "I remember the first time he played in London." "It was down at a club called the Baa O'Nails." "Everyone was there." "Seeina Jimi Hendrix for the first time, hell of a lot of pain." "Pain, because in his presence... and in the presence of that music, you felt small... and you realizedhow far you had to go." "Eric Clapton suffered with that as well." "We were both really, really shaken by..." ""God, what has happened to us?"" "You know, a tornado called Jimi Hendrix." "I saw Jimi Hendrix, and I said, "I think it's time to quit."" "The underground's erupting... transforming the musical and culturallandscape." "Andin 1967, JimiHendrix returnedhome to a whole new world." "Monterey is very groovy, man." "This is something, man." "This is our generation, man." "We 're all together, man." "Andit's groovy, and dig yourselves 'cause it's really groovy." "What began as a small scene in Greenwich Village... had turnedinto a culturalrevolution." "The suit-and-tie men were notpart ofthat show." "And since there was not a commercial element... it was really up from the people, and that was unprecedented." "We 're going to do a show, andit's not about money or sales... it's for free." "And everybody did work for free, except Ravi Shankar... who came from India with his sitar and had to make $3,000." "Monterey was the first time Hendrix ever played for an American audience." "It was the first time Otis Reddina ever played for a white audience." "The first time the San Francisco groups had everplayed... for an internationalaudience outside the city limits ofSan Francisco." "Woodstock aets the lion's share of the attention... but this was the realgroundbreaker." "It leaitimized rock 'n' roll... as a concert art form." "We tried to find the most talented people who hadn't been exposed." "I first met Janis backstaae at the Fillmore... in San Francisco." "And I'd been told that if I went back... to the backstaae entrance, the artists' entrance... that I would aet in free." "Then the door opened, and Janis was standing there... and said, "Eric, welcome to the Fillmore."" "She shook my hand, and as I pulled my hand away..." "I looked, and there was a hit of LSD in my hand... and I just...." "I was so affected by what hadhappenedat Monterey." "Iknew it was going to herald a socialrevolution." "It was the purest form of love... and peace and carina..." "I had ever witnessed, before or since." "It was, you know, peace, love, and flowers." "I had played with The Who... at Murray the K's Easter Show." "So at the Monterey staffmeetings..." "I would say, "Just know that these auys are aoina to come out..." ""and wreck everythina."" "You know, I would suaaest that they close." "I couldn't deal with the idea that at this critical concert... we might go on after Jimi." "Andhe said to me.:" ""You want to be first up there with the guitar smashing."" "I said, "Jimi, I swear to you, that's not what it's about."" "Jimi started toplay." "He stood on a chair in front ofme, andhe started toplay." "It was just Jimi on a chair, playina at me." "Playina at me like that." "You know, "Don't fuck with me, you little shit."" "Then he snapped out of it, and he put the auitar down... and he said, "Okay, let's toss a coin."" "So we tossed a coin, and we aot to ao on first." "He then went on immediately after us, I think." "I don't think there was anybody in between." "So I went out to sit with Mama Cass to watch Jimi." "As he started doina the stuff with his auitar... she turned around, she said to me:" ""He's stealina your act."" "And I said, "No, he's not stealina my act..." ""he's doina my act."" "The Who and Jimi were determined to outdo each other... and I'm not sure who really won." "I mean, Jimi humped the amp... broke his auitar, burned it up in flames." "The Who blew up the entire staae." "Both acts, both The Who and Hendrix, smashed up equipment... durina their appearance there." "And yet, one is like a violent rape... and the other is like an erotic sacrifice." "We didn't know that you could do that, you know." ""He's liahtina that thina on fire!"" ""How dare they break up a drum set?"" "They obviously hadgotten a new sense oftheatrics... that nobody had even conceived ofpreviously." "You know, what The Who were doina was transcendent in a lot of ways." "But what Jimi was doina was sublimely...." "It was an epiphany." "Right now I'm gonna do a little thing by Bob Dylan." "That's his jammer over there." "It's a little thing called Like a Rollina Stone." "There's nobody like him." "I mean, there really isn't." "I mean, there's Dylan and Hendrix, and, you know, who else?" "There was somethina really important happenina... which was that this areat music that we've discovered... this areat music which is still arowina... this music which now you can write sonas about... what's really happenina deep, deep inside of you... and what's happenina around you in the world... can also sound extraordinary." "That was just a step-by-step proaression... of just expandina the whole idea of "anythina is possible."" "There were no rules, and you can do whatever you want." "Before that, there were rules... and only certain kinds of sonas were deemed capable of succeedina... on the radio or the pop landscape." "But the Beatles broke those rules, and aot away with it... as Bob Dylan did here, in his own early way... as people like The Byrds followed up on." "The Bohemian element that had been a minority became a majority." "It seemed to take over the wholeplanet." "It was a areat sense of..." ""Yeah." "There's a future." ""There's a future for us all."" "Even thouah, you know, the world was in flames... over in Asia." "Subtitles conformed by SOFTITLER" "Enalish" "I think that was the difference with the '60s... is that people didn't care to explain themselves." "If people didn't aet it, they weren't invited." "The last chance you had to shock people just by the way you looked... just by the way you were." "You didn't even have to think about it, or work at it at all." "You could just walk down the street, and people ao, "Oh, my God."" "That was fun." "Marty just asked, "Hey, do you wanna start a band?" to a total stranaer." "I said, "Sure." Seemed to be the thina to do at the time." "Here music is blaring forth from the open windows... ofan apartment on the corner ofHaight andAshbury." "While in the street below, a crowd ofhippies celebrates the sunny day." "Traffic stops." "The crowdgrows." "Finally, thepolice roll in with paddy wagons andnightsticks." "We were much too busy beina in the middle of the '60s... to wonder, even to this day, why San Francisco?" "San Francisco's always been a border town, borderlandkind oftown... where all the strangepeople come to do strange things." "Stranger than most things." "Drugs, social experimentation, sexual experimentation... anti-authoritarian, ifyou will, experimentation." "It was antiestablishment." "It was the first openly antiestablishment musical scene." "There really was no audience, you know, to speak of." "There was no entertainer-entertained thina." "Everybody was entertaining." "Everything there was entertaining." "Every event, everything that happened was entertaining." "The experience was communal in the sense that..." "Santana, the GratefuIDead, Big Brother  the Holding Company...." "Weplayedmany gigs together, benefits, strange gatherings... ofwhat they call "the tribes " for lack ofa better word." "It was very paaan, and a celebration of human events." "It was a celebration of humanity around you... enjoying thepeople that you were with to the nth degree... enjoying the herbs and vegetables that Godgave to us." "I'm out of druas." "I don't have any on me." "Ask across the room." "Do you have any druas?" "Excuse us, you have druas?" "We were just another sianal that thinas are chanaina." "Basic institutions are crumbling about you... andit's chaos." "The incidents are so bad... so contrary to our standards of human behavior... that I couldn't possibly recite them to you here from this platform in detail." "Three rock 'n'rollbands were in the center ofthe gymnasium... playing simultaneously all during the dance... andmovies were shown on two screens." "These movies were the only lights in the gym proper." "They consisted ofcolor sequences that gave the appearance... ofdifferent-coloredliquids spreading across the screen... followedby shots ofmen and women on occasion." "Shots where the men and women's nude torsos twistedandgyrated... in provocative and sensual fashion." "So music was like thepiedpiper... that led kids off the asphalt and out of the suburbs... andinto some other kind ofreality." "So we began creating free stores... where the goods were free and the rolls were free." "Free food, crash pads, free medical clinics." " Are you a musician lookina for a band?" " Doina what?" "Bass auitar, lead auitar, drums, anythina." " Do they need a sinaer?" " No." "I don't think anybody needs a sinaer." "And by some fluke or an accident..." "I discovered I had this incredibly loud voice." "I started sinaina blues because that was always what I liked." "And you know, I aot in a bluearass band." "Played hillbilly music for free beer." "I first saw Janis Joplin when she sat in with Big Brother at the A valon Ballroom." "Weplayed together at the Family Dog and started falling in love... and lived toaether for 4,5,6 months, I auess... at a couple of different locations in the Haiaht." "The Janis that lknew was not theperformer... thepublic was familiar with." "She was very relaxed, very intelligent, very creative... ambitious, but not overly ambitious, and very into her family... and enjoying the community ofthe Haight-Ashbury... which was very small and very affectionate at that time." "What do you think youngpeople are looking for today?" "Sincerity and a aood time." "Are they findina it?" "I don't know about you, daddy...." "I'm fine." "At least I'm havina a aood time." "They're lookina for people not to lie to them." "Kids today aren't aonna accept what's laid down by the older aeneration." "They only want you to arow up, aet an education, raise children, and die." "There's a whole sense of freedom in San Francisco riaht now." "And when you have a city that's free and the youth are free... they'll ao in every direction they can." "After the first thing called the Human Be-ln... it was like, yeah, there is all thesepeople, there is a community." "There is this whole, big community." "We're all those people who are the weird ones." "All of a sudden you discovered all these people who are like you." "And they were allpeople who were influencedby the beatniks." "The beats were into their authentic expression." "They were into livina authentic lives that were based on their real feelinas... not their conditioned feelings." "Andl think they stoodas a kind ofbeacon topersonalintegrity, in that way." "So you add psychedelics to that, and you've aot the Haiaht-Ashbury." "The hippies are capable ofextremely hard work." "This is the house ofa popular localband which plays hardrock music." "They call themselves the GratefuIDead." "They live together comfortably in what couldbe calledaffluence." "There are many other similar houses or apartments in Haight-Ashbury... maintainedby hippies who work in places... where employers do not mind bizarre dress or long hair." "Their concept ofa new style oflife unites them." "We would all like to be able to live an uncluttered life... a simple life, a aood life, you know, and, like... think about movina the whole human race ahead a step... or a few steps." "Yeah, or half a step." "Most of the people who are hippies now came to it throuah druas." " Yeah, but it's not a dope movement." " We're not pushina dope." "I think, personally... that the more people turn on, a better world this could be." "This traveling road show with the GratefuIDeadand the Pranksters... came swirling through called.:" "Can You Pass the Acid Test?" "So I was all for that." "I'm looking to always expand my horizons andperipheries... and saw them offifpossible." "Acidbecame a bigpart ofthe thing while it was stiIllegal." "As soon as they saw thatpeople were having fun... they, ofcourse, made it illegal." "Common hallucinogenic experiences were like tribalharvest festivals... and the Sadie Ha wkins Day." "Totalabandon." "Rejectina everythina and lookina for somethina positive and new... a total sexualabandon, drug abandon, dancing abandon." "We hadan opportunity to visit highly experimentalplaces... under the influence ofhighly experimental chemicals... before a hiahly experimental audience." "It was ideal." "It's an interactive event, the GratefuIDead." "We've become one big entity tiedat the heart." "That's what it's about." "We're not the whole event, but we're an important part." "We're what the event sounds like, and we offer a space to ritualize." "So these were, like, mass excuses for lettina yourself ao... without beina the spotliaht of anythina." "Even the bands...." "Grace used to say, the only reason she enjoyed beina on staae at these thinas... was because the staae was the least crowded place at the party." "And you could see up over everybody and see what was aoina on everywhere." "One time I hitchhiked from Austin to San Francisco with this auy." "His name is Chet Helms." "Later, he aot involved in promotina the dances in San Francisco." "I loved the acoustic drapina in the Avalon... which aave it a wonderful warm interior... womb-like sound." "I loved the spruna dance floor, which... if you aot 300 or 400 people dancina on the floor at one time... the floor would rise to meet you and lift you even hiaher." "The Avalon and such similar institutions... are the few socializina institutions... which teach people how to live andbe with one another." "They were experimentina with beina loose at the beainnina." "It's like, "Oh, my God, it's safe here." ""And I can eat my chocolate ciaarettes without anybody catchina me." ""I can hug a girl, or I can putpaint on my face..." ""I can put on Goodwill clothes." "I can act out cavalierism."" "There was a very nice feelina of open-airness even thouah it was indoors." "Well, Chet was the mellow guy." "Bill was the bully." "So Chet did it in a nice, homespun way... and Bill was really aaaressive... and really wanted to make a home for rock 'n' roll." "He had bia plans." "There was a jam session." "Michael Murphey was playina a Hammond oraan... and Jerry Garcia was playing guitar." "PauIKantner was playing guitar." "I waited for Jerry to finish his solo... and then they said, "Go ahead," so ljumped on it... and when I finished, Bill came over and said:" ""That's pretty aood." "You aot a band?"" "I said, "Yeah, I aot a band."" ""Okay." "I want you to come on over and open up..." ""for The Loadina Zone and The Who."" "At that time everybody was playing blues." "JimiHendrix, Cream, John Mayall." "Just louder, and maybe a little more adventuresome chord... but it was still the blues." "We came out with some blues... but the foundation was Afro-Cuban music." "So all ofa sudden, the women could dance." "It wasn't this, "Wanna dance, honey?"" ""My name is Georae." "What's yours?" "Charlotte?"" ""Out of siaht, Charlotte."" "They would walk in, and if 10 people were dancina... they'd join the circle." "Or they'd see one airl standina there... and they would just move." "They may not say anything to each other allnight... or they may leave together." "But if they didn't leave together, there was a thank you." "Okay." "It was a fantasy, but it was nice, andit was healthy." "Andnobody lost." "And the key to those years for me was that everybody won... and nobody lost." "The musicians had a aood time." "The producer had a aood time." "The public had a aood time." "Taking their social cue... from the idea ofendless summer and California culture... all of a sudden, almost overniaht... people were arowina their hair lona... takina lots of druas... and tryina their darnedest to all screw each other freely." "Sexuality became less important... oddly enouah." "In the sense that, you didn't have to spend this lona courtina time... of the boy always fiaurina out a way to aet inside the airl's pants." "There were no pants." "It was the '60s." "Thank you very much." "I'll be doina one of those other thinas." "A thina dedicated to that little airl over there called Hartley." "Thina called Foxey Lady, look out!" "I aot woken up at 7:00 in the mornina, and I'm really sleepy." "But then I open the door and see somebody that appeals to me." "First of all, I think, "What in the world is she doina here?"" "And she says, "Maybe, can I come in?"" "And I'm standina there and really diaaina her." "She's really nice-lookina." "It's the honest-to-God truth." "She's about 19 or 20, or beyond the aae of so-and-so." "And I say, "Oh," and I probably stand there and then...." "Physical desire is very normal, andit happens... and there's nothing wrong with it." "I think that sex is just much aroovier when there is love." "There's a lot more happenina... but there's nothina wrona with just sex for sex." "I remember Eric Burdon sayina about... the difference between the way..." "I smashed up a auitar, played a auitar, ate a auitar, or set fire to a auitar... and JimiHendrix was that... with Jimi Hendrix it was erotic, and with me it was rape." "If you always ao to a movie, and there's a little screen... and then all of a sudden they aive you Cinemascope... and that was the music of Jimi Hendrix." "Even on blues chanaes, his music was very wide." "When I feel like playina with my teeth, I do it 'cause I feel like it." "When I'm on staae, I'm a complete natural... more so than talkina to a aroup of people or somethina." "Jimi Hendrix... had this kind of role of exorcist." "He put Vietnam into that amplifier." "He's the areat instrumental aenius of rock 'n' roll." "There wasn't necessarilyjust one way that the world was gonna be... whether it was spiritual power, emotional power, sexual power, or physical power." "Hendrix, allpeople whojust came in andknockedall those doors down." "His auitar-playina spoke of some deep ecstasy that could be had." "Around '66, it was more of the psychedelic." "People would aet more experimental..." "like Hendrix and the Doors." "I thouaht it was very dark music when I heard it." "I thouaht it was kind of mysterious and dark." "I didn't know what to make ofit." "I thouaht the words were really aood." "You could tell riaht away that we aot a writer here." "Jim Morrison was a post-Beat writer." "He was absolutely influenced by Kerouac, Ginsbera:" "Allen Ginsbera, Jack Kerouac." "We tried to find that freedom in art, poetry, andmusic... whereas the Beats were all into literature and poetry and jazz." "We tried to combine poetry and music, poetry and rock 'n' roll." "The creation ofthe Doors, it happened to be in California." "But obviously what was going on was... a psychedelic revolution was happenina in all of the major cities... and then into the minor small-town colleae towns all across America." "It was happenina in New York and Chicaao and San Francisco... and Seattle and Portland." "I was a perfect aae... to aet the full effect of psychedelia." "I was, like, 16 years old, watching JimiHendrixplay... andgoing to Hyde Park to see The Rolling Stones... andlistening to all the American psychedelic bands... the sort of San Franciscans, sort of odd bunch... but also the Velvet Underground and the Doors." "Thepsychedelic craze was in." "We wanted to ao aaainst the arain... as far as the flavor of music at that time." "We turned it back and went more blues... and more roots music-oriented." "So when weplayed for Bill Graham at Fillmore East... that was one ofour requests, to turn the light show way down... ifnot completely off." "Bob Dylan aot us to Woodstock." "We played with Bob for some shows throuah the United States and Canada." "We followedBob up to the country... and startedgetting together in the afternoons... and tried to come up with tunes." "Bob andRichard used to have a typewriter... that sat on the coffee table there in the living room... and the two of them would ao by and type little notes to each other... and one would read what the other one wrote... put a couple lines in under that." "A lot oftimes, by the end ofthe day... we'dhave a couple or threepages out ofthat." "Sex, druas, rock 'n' roll... those are the thinas that they're usina to sell rock 'n' roll... which seems a damn shame, when you aet down to it." "The music is certainly capable of doina that on its own." "The Stones eroticizedit." "Made it wild, made it danaerous... made it revolutionary, made it druaay." "The Beatles were takina druas but nobody knew." "You only knew if you huna out with them." "But the Stones took druas in public, on staae." "Yeah, my buddy, old Lucifer." "It went like this." "Maybe we are, I don't know." "It was a lark." "Five auitar players." "We're aonna overthrow the country... and they start to treat us like revolutionaries." "Christ, just smokina a little dope, you know." "And then you aot half of Scotland Yard workina full time on you." "Surely you've aot better thinas to do, boy." "Keith did his homework very carefully." "Jaaaer did his homework carefully." "He'd seen Tina Turner." "He'd seen Little Richard." "He learned from the best." "Most areat artists watch the best person out there... and they emulate that person... and then after a while, it arows into their own particular style." "This little break kind of sexually charaed the whole thina, really." "I'm just the same as a stripper." "Igo out and do the same thing.:" "bumps andgrinds to music... and take off lots of my clothes." "There's not really much difference between strippina and beina a rock sinaer." "America was a fairyland, andall the best music came from there... and they had the best cars, and the chicks looked better." "So it was like throwina a load of demons into heaven... andletting them loose." "The television is borina me." "Let's make sure there ain't nobody there." "Okay, just tell us when." "Okay, now." "I've done worse, I've done far more." "The Beatles and the Stones, obviously." "Cream came over with real challenaina musical landscapes... and pushina what the Beatles opened up... beyond the three-chord, four-chord kind of sonas... making anythingpossible." "Cream:" "Ginaer Baker, Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton." "Great aroup." "One niaht, Jerry and I went into the Winterland... andl thought, "This is the best banding the world."" "I said, "Is this the best band in the world?" He said, "Toniaht, they are."" "Cream, The Who, JimiHendrix... but today, you don't have a handful of bands... that are so unique in their own riaht." "Jamming was very important." "This was the residue ofJimiHendrix and Cream." "That approach involvedmuch more virtuosity as an instrumentalist." "Less emphasis on sona structures... and simple pop structures and thinas like that... and much more emphasis on prowess as a musician." "Time when Cream came out, and we were in school... and we heard the sona Spoonful." "So okay, we could fiaure that two-note riff:" "So we could fiaure that far, and then Clapton just aoes:" "For me, I went:" ""We'll never aet that."" "At the time that I started playina... most auitar players were tryina... to follow other white players." "I was much more racial about it." "I wanted to be like a Black auitar player." "Ginaer Baker was scary back then, he was so aood." "For three pieces, I'd never heard three pieces that were better." "Ginaer Baker, Keith Moon." "Keith Moon's another drummer that everybody overlooks." "He was an incredible drummer." "Keith, what's your opinion of your public imaae?" "I think it varies with every record I put out." "I think, sometimes...." "Could you aet on with it?" "Will you keep it toaether?" "No, I think I'm very reliant on my manaaement... and my public relations people." "Everybody's tryina to be unique and innovative... but few really achieve that." "Like, the Beatles hada distinct sound." "The Stones hada distinct sound." "When you hear them, you know it's them." "The GratefuIDead, The Who." "When you start smashing your guitar on a stage in Germany... it happened in parts of the States... a policeman would walk on the staae, put a aun to my head, and say:" ""Stop, or I'll shoot you."" "Andl wouldkind oflook at him andgo.:" ""Hold on a minute." "This is a auitar, not a human beina, remember?"" "It became hugely important because it was actuallyperceived to be... a social statement... to attack the country in which we'dgrown up." "We say, we love our country, but it's decayina." "It's aoina." "There's a new world ahead of us." "Rock 'n' roll was the beainnina of the brand new world... in terms of a aeneration... brinaina on its own consciousness throuah music... to other aenerations." "Looking out at Woodstock... something I expected shouldand didhappen." "That was our national celebration... ofmulticultural community." "Woodstock was the top of the mountain, the plateau." "We aot up there." "We were now able to walk across." "We hadactually reacheda point in time andplace... which could never be erased from the history of the world." "It's really amazina." "It's like some kind of Biblical, epochal... unbelievable scene." "Suddenly the whole world was indeed watchina us... and we had a chance to show the world what it would be like... topull ourselves up by our collective bootstraps... andlet them see how it wouldbe ifwe ran the show." "Iremember being up in a helicopter with the state cops." "One cop said to the other, "Those hippies are smokina dope there."" "And the other said, "I ain't aonna do anythina about it." "Are you?"" "The other one said...." "We were just flyina in and I suddenly realized:" "We could do anythina we want." "There's just more ofus than them." "There were many messaaes that we wanted to convey to people... about civil riahts, about pacifism." "But there seemed to be no entry to mass media at all... and alona came the Beatles and The Rollina Stones... and suddenly we all snapped." "These messaaes can be put in the form of rock 'n' roll." "We were the rock 'n' rollers who became those radical... or radicalizedkids ofthe '60s." "Woodstock was not sex, drugs, androck 'n'roll." "It was civil rights." "It was Vietnam War." "It was youth power." "It was the nation coming together." "It started in the '50s as part of the Civil Riahts Movement." "In other words... the aains that were made for most Americans... were not made for all Americans." "How are we gonna tellpeople in Vietnam how to live... ifwe can't treat our own people right over here?" "And what about sendingpeople there who are too young to vote on it?" "Why is it somebody could ao over and aet shot for their country... and can't ao and have a beer for their country?" "You want a 15-year-old airl sleepina in the field in a tent?" "Are you out of your mind?" "Never should have happened." "You feel bad about the kids who were killed in Vietnam?" " This has nothina to do" " It's the same thina." "Nothina to do with it." "There's no comparison." "People aot more excited about the kids in Monticello than they do about" "It never should've happened." "Unlike a lot of protest, antiwar sonas... of that whole entire decade..." "Fixin' To Die Raa was embraced... by militarypersonnelin Vietnam, much to my surprise." "You see how they function on their own." "Without cops, without auns, without clubs, without hassles." "Everybodypools together and everybody helps each other." "It works." "It's been working since we got here." "Andit's gonna continue working." "When they go back to the city, this thing is happening." "Itproves that it can happen." "Janis Joplin saidit best when she was on stage, she said.:" ""If you have any food left, share it with your brother and your sister." ""And that's the person on your riaht and the person on your left."" "One of the thinas that beaan to happen with the Be-ln, with Woodstock... was a kind of verification... that there were substantialnumbers ofpeople... interestedin new ways ofliving anda new culture... and sometimes getting them all together in a big group... where you can see each other, is the best way to support them." "Jamming is playing hooky." "It's really that simple." "When I was in the Mission High School, lplayeda lot ofhooky." "We didn't know what the hell a bridae was or a chorus was or a verse was." "We couldn't care less." "We just wanted to play what we heard." "Ifyou stay in your heart, you willalways be inspired... andifyou're inspired, you willalways be enthusiastic." "There is nothina more contaaious on this planet than enthusiasm." "The songs become incidental." "Whatpeople receive is yourjoy." "If you wanna arab somebody from their lapels... and you wanna make them, like, "listen to me," you ao...." "You're hittina two notes at the same time instead of...." "Sounds tame, but if you ao...." "You have to have real deep convictions before you hit that note." "Most of the time, people ao, "Damn!"" "Because whether it's Ry Cooder or whoever... they hit one note... every hair on your body's aoina to stand up." "And you feel like you just made love or you just touched God's feet... or both at the same time, you know." "That's when music is really good." "That's what llearned from Coltrane, Bob Marley, and JimiHendrix... is that music is a complete ocean." "Music is the whole thina, man." "It's an expression of the younaer aeneration." "We have the power, we have the tolerance... we can ao in front of the television camera... we can ao on the air and we can say with definition... that Hitler was wrona, that people who hate Nearoes are wrona." "We can aet up there and shout it to the world." "When rock 'n' roll came alona, it aave power to the kids on the street." "It aave them somethina to do." "It aave them a feelina that there was somethina that was theirs... that was not a part of their parents' world, and it was beloved because of that." "I was hanging out with Stephen." "They had thrown me out ofthe Byrds." "I was singing harmony with him because he hadgreat songs." "We draaaed Nash off someplace and sana with him." "It was an astoundina thina, what he did." "How do he do that?" "We knew what we wanted to do then." "You got to understand." "Here's three guys that hadbeen andhadbadrelationships in bands." "David was thrown out ofthe Byrds." "The Buffalo Springfieldhadbroken up." "The Hollies were less than desiredby me." "We didn't want to be in a band aaain, ever." "And we realized that we would have to be in a band... because we wanted this sound." "We wanted to do it." "That's all we wanted to do." "How was the festival in aeneral?" "Would you consider it a success?" "It was incredible." "It was probably the stranaest thina that's ever happened in the world." "I still have my mud." "About two niahts aao, that place up there was the second biaaest city in New York." "People would beain to follow the festivals not so much for the tunes... but to aet toaether and create these instant cities... to do this life support, to figure out the food, the garbage... the whole deal, and to live this... positive, creative anarchy... that I think eventually beaan to terrify the powers that be." "Well, all I can say, I dua it." "It was a aood festival." "I've been to four festivals now... and it's about the second best one I've been to." "My favorite was Kickapoo." "It was the worst drua oray that was ever held in the United States." "This wasn't just campina out..." "like sportsmen do... or even outdoor enthusiasts." "This was wallowina." "You bathe like this often?" "I just...." "No this is the first time since I've been here." "Do you feel the festival had some motivation... in the fact that you're bathina nude?" "Definitely." "I wouldn't be bathina nude if other people weren't bathina nude, too." "It's in the spirit of the whole festival." "You know, people sharina the water." "We had this incredibly tiaht harmony sound... and where was room for somebody else here?" "He wasjust so musicaland so good... that we thought, maybe cramming four... into a space that's only bia enouah for three will be explosive." "Neil was something else." "What a piece ofwork he was." "Neil was sharina a room with a aerbil." "Actually, two bush babies." "He was." "Harriet and Speedy." "In the Caravan Lodae motel in San Francisco." "You'd walk in and these thinas would ricochet past your face." "They'd ao...." " He'd say, "Don't let them out!"" " I'm not kiddina." " I'm not kiddina." " Insane." "Harriet and Speedy, the bush babies." "Of course, Neil is the auy with 300 chickens in his basement... because he'd been aiven a present of two chickens and couldn't kill them." "Neil has had an incredible career." "The aodfather of arunae and all that, whatever they're callina him now." "I was into the rock 'n' roll and the whole hippie concept." "To me, it ended with Woodstock... and a lot of people thouaht it was just beainnina... but my interpretation was you're going to have somejive in it." "It used to be "Share this, share that."" "That hadits own kind ofprotection... 'cause it was all done, weird as it sounds, out of love, whatever they was doina." "There was a moment there where there was a vision." "There was a very clear, wonderful vision... but it had to do with everybody actina in aood faith." "It had to do with everybody behaving right." "Okay." "Everybody knows there's somethina funny aoina on." "Your money in your pocket!" " Want to make more money, you prick?" " Turn it up!" "Man, you aot your money!" "Come on!" "Let them in!" "You're in the revolution, man." "Let them in!" "The question of kids now wantina everythina to be free is hard to handle... because it's hard to talk to those kids." " Even you?" " Even me, what?" "Hard to talk?" " Yeah." " Of course." "Because... to them, I represent, amona other thinas, somebody who has money... and that makes them anary." "The Isle of Wiaht Festival was the "hate the performer" festival." "It was bigger than Woodstock, andit was international." "It was surrounded by a aalvanized fence which went all the way around it." "The audience was rouah and unruly... and they booed and hissed and yelled, "You sold out." ""The music belongs to thepeople." ""Let's bring the walls down." ""We 're sitting here in our own shit and you're back there in your Rolls Royce."" "None of this capitalist shit!" "Open the door." "The music isn't revolutionary at all." "It's called bia business." "It's a bia business trip, that's all." "And if you've come to this country... at our invitation... and we have to charae you, throuah no choice of our own..." "If you don't wanna pay it, don't fuckina well come!" "Listen a minute, will you?" "Will you listen a minute?" "Now, listen." "A lot of people who aet up here and sina...." "I know it's fun, you know." "It's fun for me." "I aet my feelinas off throuah my music." "But listen, you aot your life wrapped up in it... and it's very difficult to come out here and lay somethina down when people...." "I think that you're actina like tourists, man." "Give us some respect." "I believe this is my festival!" " If I had been allowed to ao onstaae..." " Listen to me." "...we may have discovered I'm one of the most coherent people around..." "Settle down." ""We are stardust We are aolden" ""We've aot to aet ourselves Back to the Garden"" "It was really a moment, it was like a breath there for a moment." "It was like an open door, it was like, "Look!"" "Then, bam, it slammed shut aaain immediately." "Whereas I was a ham on a small scale andlliked the small clubs... the bigger the stage got, the more isolated you were." "I'd been in the street too lona, aoina anywhere I wanted to by myself... too lona to aive it up, you know." "So the idea of beina protected and sheltered... it was excruciatingly depressing to me, the change." "Ihadno designs to be a star." "Nobody wants to be in the center ofthe spotlight." "Not in your life." "Maybe in your work, but not in your life." "You read about yourself in the papers... and people that you're supposed to have slept with... hotels that you're supposed to have burned to the ground... and at first, you feel kind of violated, and then you realize..." ""Hell, this character is much more interestina than I am." ""I should run with it."" "This whole success thina... it hasn't yet really compromised... the position that I took a lona time aao in Texas, that was... to be true to myself, to be the person... that was on the inside of me, and not play aames." "That's what I'm tryina to do, mostly... in the whole world, is to not bullshit myself." "Janis was the money maanet, and I know because I spoke to her." "I knew the pressures that she was under to be a salable commodity... andpart ofthat commodity was what killedher... because it had to be this tougher, boozy... two-fistedbroad who always went home alone." "And she was a lonely girl." "She had a problem of aettina off-staae... and unpluaaina from the business." "So she began using downers andalcohol... to deal with her loneliness." "She was without the community and without her friends... and with strangers, essentially." "Passing around this Dutch counterpart to Southern Comfort... everybody held the last swallow and simultaneously spat into the fire." "There was this blast of liaht... and I heard this cackle comina throuah the smoke flaps... and I think that was Janis sayina aoodbye." "It's an absolute tragedy." "He was a brilliantpoet." "John, Robby, andllovedhim like he was our brother." "All four ofus were brothers." "We were conquering the universe together." "We were bringing a message oflove... and stranaeness to the universe." "He's aone, and it's a real traaedy for me... a real sadness." "When people talk to me about Keith Moon, you know, the fans... they have no conception... of how much I hate him for killina himself." "Ilove him, but I'm so angry with him for wasting his life." "That's why a lot ofpeople died... because a whole lot ofus, having been so disappointed... in what life turned out supposedly to be, just turned our backs on it... and went lookina at the other aaenda... the unapproved aaendas." "Some killed people, as in any exploration." "We had nothina to explore but ourselves." "With the mass acceptance comes a tremendous fear of subversion... either from the outside or from the inside... and virtually allrock musicians... came from the outside of society in some fashion." "All of a sudden, you're the bia insider." "Anybody can protest... and anybody can write beautiful sonas and all that." "If you have a talent or if people are noticina you enouah... then you should really try to do as much as you possibly can with it." "Like, what we're aoina to do now is chop down the words... and try to make it really tiaht... and what we're sayina is not protestina but aivina the answers... or some kind of solution... instead of aoina towards the neaative." "Jimi was quite an interestina man... completely different than his public imaae." "He was supposed to be this wildman, when in fact he was very gentle... very introspective, very bright man." "One ofthe greatest musicians I'll ever have thepleasure ofknowing." "Our last aia toaether was the Isle of Wiaht riaht before he died... which I had a bia conversation with him then, too... about the problems he was havina in the business then... andl was saying, "Don't worry about it." "It's no big deal." ""We 'llget together." "We 'll talk about it." "I'llbe in London."" "Andhe never showed up." "Jimi was a areat auitar player." "I thouaht he was the best." "I thouaht he had a really oriainal act, and that's all, man." "I don't know nothina about his business, whether he was a casualty." "I wish he was still here." "Thank you very much and aood niaht." "I'd like to say peace." "Yeah, and happiness." "How well wouldHendrix beplaying by now?" "What would Janis be singing like by now?" "We're talkina major stuff here." "Genius that got dropped on the floor... andgroundinto the dirt." "Look at my life." "Look at my aeneration." "How did that work?" "Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon... the list is endless." "They're dead people." "My life is full of dead people." "My friends are dead." "My friends!" "They miaht be your fuckina icons, they're my fuckina friends!" "They're dead." "Janis and Jimi didn't have a family, nothing to go home to... a family, a aroup that could really tell them what's really aoina on." "Here's what you really look like, not what you think you look like." "If you look at the Dead and The Band... there's two examples." "They're still together and we're not." "'Cause they ended up keeping their own counsel... and they ended up keepina their family toaether." "In the last three years, I think... the Grateful Dead have been the laraest-arossina live act in the world." "Amazina." "It's more fulfillina to be a person than a personality." "Most personalities that I've seen..." "Iimousines and suites...." "You know, that stuff cannot hua you." "We were riaht about civil riahts." "We were riaht in that love is better than hate." "We were riaht in that peace is better than war." "We, it turns out... weren't riaht about druas." "Free sexuality was an interestina experiment... that failed." "But when I think about the '60s, I think of the antiwar movement... the Civil Riahts Movement, the women's movement." "I call it the "under-the-counter culture"... and the thina is that we're comina out from under the counter." "There's a buzz aoina on these days called new volunteerism... where people are feelina... they aet to the bottom of their second BMW... and they find it wantina." "That was the point of rock 'n' roll... to become a new tribe, to brina America... into a cleaner, purer realm of existence." "You were raisina your flaa... and you were screamina aloud and toaether." "We thouaht there were millions." "There were only hundreds or maybe thousands of us." "But you can't stop a aood idea or a feelina... and that's what we had." "For, like, two weeks in the middle of 1967 summer... it was perfect."