Woodstock: Spirit of '69 Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Fish

Founded in 1965 with the aim of singing protest songs against the Vietnam War, 'Country Joe and The Fish' quickly established an enthusiastic following. The co-founders were Barry "The Fish" Melton and "Country" Joe McDonald.

Their biggest hit was "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag":
"Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
[Ch:]And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die."

Answer: Janis Joplin

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?"
Janis Joplin was another of those great singers whose potential was cruelly cut short by her dependence on drugs. Born in Texas in 1943, Joplin was a rising star of the music business but was found dead in her hotel room in Los Angeles in 1970. The cause of death was given as "heroin overdose".

Answer: The Who

'Baba O'Riley' is familiar to a whole new generation of people as the theme music from 'CSI: New York".
"Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living.

I don't need to fight
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven.
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"

Formed in England in 1964, the group were still going strong 40 years later. Although they never scored a Number One single in either the UK or the USA in those first 40 years, the band developed a loyal following. At the memorial concert in New York following 9/11, The Who performed "Who Are You", "Baba O'Riley", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Behind Blue Eyes". (The first three were used as themes for the three CSI TV series franchises: For the original Las Vegas-set show it was 'Who Are You', for CSI: NY it was 'Baba O'Riley', and for CSI Miami it was 'Won't Get Fooled Again'.)

Answer: Arlo Guthrie

"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant"
Guthrie's song wasn't just about Alice and her restaurant (the restaurant wasn't called Alice's Restaurant, by the way) but his story of how (allegedly) he avoided the Vietnam draft. He claimed he was deemed unfit for military service because he had a criminal conviction for littering.
"If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes.
I could sing it for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired,"
the lyrics went on.

Answer: Joe Cocker

JJoe Cocker was born in Sheffield, England, in 1944, and entered the music business as lead singer for Vance Arnold and the Avengers in 1961. After a solo single flopped, Cocker formed Joe Cocker's Big Blues, and toured Europe. In 1968 he co-founded The Grease Band.

They had a minor US and UK Number One hit with the McCartney/Lennon song "With A Little Help From My Friends" in 1968. The band soon dissolved and Cocker formed Mad Dogs And Englishmen for a US tour. A busy career followed, but it was not until 1982 that he was to score his biggest chart success when he recorded the duet "Up Where We Belong" with Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of 'An Officer and a Gentleman'.

The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned them a Grammy for 'Best Pop Performance by a Duo'.

Answer: Tim Hardin

"If I were a carpenter
And you were a lady,
Would you marry me anyway?
Would you have my baby? "
Tim Hardin was born in Eugene, Oregon, on December 23rd 1940 and died in Los Angeles on December 29th 1980. He was best known for penning "If I Were A Carpenter", which was widely recorded and was a Number 8 hit in the US for Bobby Darin in 1966. "Reason To Believe" was also a widely covered song, most notably by Rod Stewart who took it to number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993. "Black Sheep Boy" was another Hardin composition.

Answer: Joan Baez

Joan Baez had a long-time relationship with Bob Dylan in the early 1960s, while in the late 70s and 80s she dated Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Baez was born in Staten Island, New York, on January 19, 1941. In the early 1960s, she was the darling of the urban folk revolution, but was known as much for her friendship with Dylan as her songs of commitment. That commitment led to her support for Civi Rights in the USA and her opposition to the Vietnam War.

In later years she embraced environmental issues and also opposed the war in Iraq. 'Diamonds And Rust' was the title track of a 1977 album, and was regarded as one of her best self-penned songs.

Answer: The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead were formed in San Francisco in 1965 and became known for the wide range of their repertoire. After co-founder Jerry Garcia died in 1995, The Grateful Dead, as such, folded, but various members reunited on a number of occasions and the legacy - and the performances- survived his death.

The band used several names after 1995, but to all loyal fans - nicknamed "The Deadheads" - all versions of the band were simply known as "The Dead". 'Hell In A Bucket' was a top ten hit in 1987.

Answer: Jimi Hendrix

"There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief..."
Hendrix recorded 'All Along The Watchtower' and many believed that it was the best ever version of the song - surpassing Dylan's original. Even Dylan was impressed by it. He did not, though, feature 'Watchtower' in his song list that August.
Johnny Allen Hendrix, his real name, was born in Seattle, Washington, on November 27th, 1942 and died in London, England, on September 18th, 1970, He was an innovative and highly skilled guitarist who was held in awe by many of his peers. His band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, had a US No 20 hit with Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" in 1968. In the liner notes of his album "Biograph" (1985), Dylan said: "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way... Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

Answer: The Band

Sometime Bob Dylan collaborators, 'The Band' had their own keen following. Among their best-known songs were "I Shall be Released" and "The Weight". Others who appeared at Bethel, New York State, on those four days from August 15 to 18 1969 included: Richie Havens, The Incredible String Band, Bert Sommer, Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Keef Hartley Band, John Sebastian, Santana, Canned Heat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly & the Family Stone, Canned Heat, and Ten Years After.