Yesterday was the fortieth anniversary of the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, the free concert headlined by the Rolling Stones on December 6, 1969 that ended with the fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old black man named Meredith Hunter by a member of the Hells Angels.
I interviewed Ethan Russell, the official Stones photographer for that tour and author of a book about it called “Let It Bleed,” and Albert Maysles, co-director of the infamous documentary about the show, “Gimme Shelter,” (which was just released on Blu-Ray DVD) for an article for yesterday’s New York Post.
Mick Jagger at Altamont, from the film “GIMME SHELTER.” Courtesy of the Criterion Collection.
The article deals with both the events of the show itself and its eventual impact, as many regard it, having come less than four months after the successful peace and love fest Woodstock, as the end of the sixties — a status I feel, having recently read the riveting book “Helter Skelter,” that it shares at least equally with the Manson murders.
In viewing “Gimme Shelter” for the first time in years, I was struck by how portentous many of the film’s images were. The more you learn about that day, the more the tragedy seemed inevitable, and the more you actually see of the day, the more the myth of the sixties is exposed as an idealism that simply could never have stood the test of time.
Here’s my list of ten remarkable images from the film, along with the times they appear, that reveal more than meets the eye. I’ve left out some of the obvious ones, like the stabbing of Meredith Hunter or the numerous pool cue beating scenes. In fact, the violence during the sets by the Stones and the Jefferson Airplane contained too many incredible images, I felt, to single out. The images included here are less obvious, but no less powerful. They don’t bash you over the head with meaning – they’re more subtle – but within that subtlety they say something profound about the event, the participants, and the nature of the times.
1. Mick Jagger’s self-revelation – 15:50-16:20
In a press conference about the upcoming concert, a female reporter riffs on the Stones’ hit “Satisfaction” by asking Mick if he’s any more satisfied in his life, and Jagger responds “do you mean sexually, or philosophically?” He then says, to the amusement of the assembled media, that he’s “sexually satisfied, and philosophically trying.” The edit then quickly cuts to Jagger, post-Altamont – now older, wiser, and, presumably, philisophically scarred – who solemnly blurts out, “rubbish.” The moment is fleeting, but from someone as iconic (even then) as Mick Jagger, it’s a fairly startling bit of sincerity — a true rock legend, the ultimate celebrity, calling himself out on his own bullshit.
Mick Jagger at Altamont, from the film “GIMME SHELTER.” Courtesy of the Criterion Collection.
