Music Almanac | December 6th
December 6, 2016
In 1969, this day birthed one of the most infamous — and catastrophic — music festivals of all time. The Rolling Stones not only decided to play a festival at the Altamont Raceway Park, but they did so for free with the beer-paid security of Hell’s Angels.
As a result of this dreadful plan, Mick Jagger was punched, several fans were assaulted, and four people died. One of them, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed by a Hell’s Angel after revealing a gun. I think we can all agree this was a rather curt and exceptionally violent ending to the hippie peace movement.
As crazy as the modern youth like to think they are, our modern-day Coachellas, Lollapaloozas, and Bannaroos have never seen such tragedy. If you would like to learn more on this historical event, check out the Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter.
Sarah is a senior majoring in Music Education at MSU. She works as Entertainment Editor for the Impact’s Entertainment Team, writing and editing music and art content for the website. In her spare time, she likes to sit and stare at trees and think about how many little bugs have made a life for themselves there.
