In this breathtaking cultural history filled
with exclusive, never-before-revealed details, celebrated rock
journalist Joel Selvin tells the definitive story of the Rolling Stones’
infamous Altamont concert, the disastrous historic event that marked
the end of the idealistic 1960s.
In the annals of rock history,
the Altamont Speedway Free Festival on December 6, 1969, has long been
seen as the distorted twin of Woodstock—the day that shattered the
Sixties’ promise of peace and love when a concertgoer was killed by a
member of the Hells Angels, the notorious biker club acting as security.
While most people know of the events from the film Gimme Shelter, the whole story has remained buried in varied accounts, rumor, and myth—until now.
Altamont
explores rock’s darkest day, a fiasco that began well before the
climactic death of Meredith Hunter and continued beyond that infamous
December night. Joel Selvin probes every aspect of the show—from the
Stones’ hastily planned tour preceding the concert to the bad acid that
swept through the audience to other deaths that also occurred that
evening—to capture the full scope of the tragedy and its aftermath. He
also provides an in-depth look at the Grateful Dead’s role in the events
leading to Altamont, examining the band’s behind-the-scenes presence in
both arranging the show and hiring the Hells Angels as security.
The
product of twenty years of exhaustive research and dozens of interviews
with many key players, including medical staff, Hells Angels members,
the stage crew, and the musicians who were there, and featuring sixteen
pages of color photos, Altamont is the ultimate account of the final event in rock’s formative and most turbulent decade.
with exclusive, never-before-revealed details, celebrated rock
journalist Joel Selvin tells the definitive story of the Rolling Stones’
infamous Altamont concert, the disastrous historic event that marked
the end of the idealistic 1960s.
In the annals of rock history,
the Altamont Speedway Free Festival on December 6, 1969, has long been
seen as the distorted twin of Woodstock—the day that shattered the
Sixties’ promise of peace and love when a concertgoer was killed by a
member of the Hells Angels, the notorious biker club acting as security.
While most people know of the events from the film Gimme Shelter, the whole story has remained buried in varied accounts, rumor, and myth—until now.
Altamont
explores rock’s darkest day, a fiasco that began well before the
climactic death of Meredith Hunter and continued beyond that infamous
December night. Joel Selvin probes every aspect of the show—from the
Stones’ hastily planned tour preceding the concert to the bad acid that
swept through the audience to other deaths that also occurred that
evening—to capture the full scope of the tragedy and its aftermath. He
also provides an in-depth look at the Grateful Dead’s role in the events
leading to Altamont, examining the band’s behind-the-scenes presence in
both arranging the show and hiring the Hells Angels as security.
The
product of twenty years of exhaustive research and dozens of interviews
with many key players, including medical staff, Hells Angels members,
the stage crew, and the musicians who were there, and featuring sixteen
pages of color photos, Altamont is the ultimate account of the final event in rock’s formative and most turbulent decade.
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