Moments that Changed Rock History

For me, one event changed the face of rock n' roll forever. It was the Monterey Pop Festival, held at the fair grounds in Monterey California in 1967. It was the first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival in history, and it paved the way for many other large festivals like Woodstock. It kick started the famous "Summer of Love" bringing the counter culture of hippies and rock n roll to the public spotlight. The Monterey Pop festival was the stage for the first major American performances for Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding. Without the success of the festival, it is very probable that the more famous Woodstock festival would have never taken place. Perhaps the most famous moment of the festival occurred when Jimi Hendrix ended his show with a cover of Wild Thing, where he placed his guitar on the ground, knelt before it, soaked it in lighter fluid and set it aflame, before smashing it onstage. This performance single handedly launched Hendrix's career in America. The festival was also a kind of changing of the guard for British music in America. The Who's performance helped them grow in popularity and take over the crown of lead British group in America from the Beatles.

Talking About Drugs

There are many different viewpoints on drugs, and people can argue for hours about them, but one thing that can be agreed on is that drugs pose a huge presence in college. It is hard to go anywhere without seeing some kind of drug use and abuse. From my experience, the drugs used by the most people in college are alcohol and tobacco. To a lesser extent marijuana is also used, but not in the numbers as either of the two. Alcohol is by far the most accepted drug in my social circle. Tobacco is seen as a bad habit to some and a necessary evil to others and marijuana divides into ardent supporters and detractors. Caffeine is also used by almost everyone I know, but it isn't viewed as a drug by anyone I talk to. Anything "harder" than those drugs is taboo to most of the people I talk to. It is surprising how easy it is to get drugs in college. Someone can get anything from Ritalin to LSD fairly easily and cheaply. To me, drugs seem like a way for people here to escape the stress of college. They work all week and then on the weekend inebriate themselves with their drug of choice to help forget the week. It is hard to tell if this is helping or hurting them.

Music List 4

Best songs to study to:
Mare Mortis - The Appleseed Cast
Arc Lamps, Signal Flares, A Shower of White - Thursday
When Water Comes to Life - Cloud Cult
Water Curses - Animal Collective
Welcome Ghosts - Explosions in the Sky

All these songs are just instrumentals, without lyrics, so they help to give some ambient noise in the background without being too involving to distract me, perfect for studying to.