DragonKing Dark: The Altamont Free Concert disaster
We continue with the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history with a look back at what some have described as Woodstock gone wrong.
In 1969, promoters wanted to hold a Woodstock for the west coast headlined by the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Cosby, Stills & Nash, and others. After moving the location several times, it finally ended up at the Altamont Motor Speedway with around 300,000 people on hand.
The security force was led by the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club and things quickly turned deadly with four deaths, lots of injuries, stolen cars, and more.
Karl Stern is a pro wrestling historian specializing in the 1980s and pioneer era (pre-1900) of pro wrestling. He is an author who has written several books on wrestling and independently runs the When It Was Cool retro pop culture website.