Worst Band To Play Woodstock 99

idk, I've been catching a lot of feelings lately because I feel that history has ultimately proven me correct with opinions I had 20 years ago like "the Strokes are not interesting or important" and "nu metal had some jams" and the only real $$$ in music journalism right now is parroting 20 year old received wisdom about these things in HBO docs and oral histories. Like the narrative changed but the narrators didn't...

I watched this today and have until now, luckily, never heard Limp Bizkit's music *too* closely.

Now I'm completely fascinated at how Fred's voice was/is so squeaky and feeble when he's rapping, I thought I was hearing things at first.

If Woodstock had happened in ‘67, would we have gotten Woodstock ‘97 with the Cherry Poppin Daddies and Less Than Jake?

Barbara Kopple made a doc called "My Generation" about the similarities between the '69, '94 and '99 Woodstocks. (Iirc Woodstock organizer/corporate overlord Michael Lang was directly involved, as co-producer or something.) I saw its premiere, and I guess what turned out to be a rare screening, due to the cost of music rights, at the Toronto International Film Fest in 2000, and I remember being really put off by how much it glossed over the uglier side of '99 (maybe because it focused more on consumerism?). There was stuff about the rioting and fires and whatnot, but I actually asked Kopple at a Q&A why there was not even a mention of the numerous reported sexual assaults, and at least as I remember it she bristled and gave a pretty boilerplate, toothless answer.

xpost Reel Big Fish, with signature song "Sell Out", which would have been a little 'on the nose'

There was a a Woodstock '97, and it happened in Fort Worth TX

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRXMcYpSMy1ngPAlBBDw42Fl_fNLwqpE7jDRQ&usqp=CAU

hueg

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/rewind-rock-of-ages-1997-rockfest-concert-fort-worth-tms-texas-motor-speedway/287-e5530aa2-235e-46fe-a593-9a618fb7fbe6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsb6UEj6wxk

Ha, I was at Rockfest (alongside half of my 10th grade class). It was hell.

imho a much more defensible lineup despite their lack of street cred

Now I'm completely fascinated at how Fred's voice was/is so squeaky and feeble when he's rapping, I thought I was hearing things at first.

it also gets incrementally squeakier over the course of the first three records

XPS It's pretty wild that before HUGE festivals became a thing in the US, Blockbuster-then at their VHS height-decides to throw a show with 15 or so of the least-offensive major touring Alt-Rock bands of the day*, then giving away all the tickets as point of purchase bonuses at their stores nationwide, and then drawing almost four times the projected attendees to a racetrack in Texas in the Summer.

*No Doubt, Bush, Collective Soul, Wallflowers etc. all then capable of selling out summer sheds on their own.

Rockfest '97 Archived Line-Up:

Counting Crows
the nixons
Jewel
No Doubt
Soak (US)
Sugar Ray
Third Eye Blind
Bush
Collective Soul
Souls
Matchbox Twenty
Paula Cole
The Wallflowers

Some of these bands also appeared at the '90s Woodstocks.

don't make me list the merge 10th anniversary artists

only the third worst time I've had at that racetrack

Strictly speaking, Rockfest wouldn't be Woodstock '97 it would be the Texas International Pop Festival '97 right

Except no act really 'broke' because they were there ala Hendrix/Joplin/Otis.

BTW, was trying to figure out who Soak were, found this article on them, a real interesting look at the Alt-Rock business circa '96-7.

Really if you want imagine what a '97 Woodstock would have looked like, kitbash from Rockfest and whatever was going on that year package tour-wise (Lolla, Warped, H.O.R.D.E. etc.) and add some boomers.

I wanted to watch the Woodstock '99 doc with my friend while we were hanging out last weekend but didn't realize it was on HBO Max, so we ended up on YouTube watching the performances instead. ICP's music is even more annoying than I remembered – like a xerox of a xerox of a xerox of Cypress Hill, only synth sirens and vinyl scratching remain – but they put on a good show!

I don't remember them showing a second of that performance (could be wrong tho), but they do show some juggalos in the audience

Unfortunately (and in contrast to the ample hi-res footage of the weekend's other acts) I could only find this VHS-looking version of the ICP set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKkyR3TRiPM

idk, I've been catching a lot of feelings lately because I feel that history has ultimately proven me correct with opinions I had 20 years ago like "the Strokes are not interesting or important" and "nu metal had some jams" and the only real $$$ in music journalism right now is parroting 20 year old received wisdom about these things in HBO docs and oral histories. Like the narrative changed but the narrators didn't...

― my Least Favorite Writer (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 23 August 2021 16:43 (yesterday) link

I had these opinions at the time too but no platform. In fact for many years I've had this imaginary all-numetal dj party set forming in my head (I don't dj) which prominently features the LB cover of Faith, and also involves a very long segment of looping and playing with the breakdown from Down

TBF though critisphere making a huge deal out of some artist or band that no one cares about anymore in five years was more the rule than the exception in the late 90s/early 00s.

same as it ever was

Yeah for sure, but that time period really felt like the crest of a big internet music criticism wave.

The critics' tide will turn with the 2025 John Mayer Smack It Around nu-metal LP.

Waiting on the World to Bleed

I'm as far as you can get from a Limp Bizkit fan, but watching their performance of "Break Stuff" in the Woodstock doc, it was like – they sure "brought it" (for better or worse). That band was clearly in their element on that stage, feeding off (and nurturing) the vibe. The contrast was especially striking after the clips of Alanis et al. wandering the stage, seemingly uncomfortable and obv not at their best.

Nü Süch Thing

Except no act really 'broke' because they were there ala Hendrix/Joplin/Otis.

Texas International Pop Festival, not Monterey.

The TIPF was a good lineup (Janis was there, Sam & Dave, etc.) but a notable step down from the legendary festivals.

The only performance in the HBO thing that exceeded my low expectations was Korn, as well as Jonathan Davis' commentary. The performances by established acts all felt overripe (like the Alanis and RHCP) and I can totally see that Limp Bizkit brought it, and they were the very center of the mood of popular rock in 99, but I can't believe that glaring Dominos delivery guys were eye of the storm. Nearly the entire bill is a narcissism of small differences as to my taste. I've got G Love, Brian Setzer and Offspring records I doubt I'll ever spin again. I tried to like the music of the era in the era, but the late 90s were a dead zone for me. So much clawing for fusions that never successfully fused. The answer to rap and hard rock fusing was downloading both from Napster, not trying to fit both sounds on the Judgment Night soundtrack. Even revisiting I haven't found much outside of what played on MTV Amp that I continue to like. Even in that subzone, Moby is less than the sum of his parts.

Hey, John Entwistle played the Emerging Artist stage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFOkeK-4_Xw

wait, so there was one band at Rock Fest called "Soak" and another just called "Souls"

Idk who Souls were. Soak was a real band from Austin that had just put out a debut on Interscope.

huge LOL at John Entwhistle's 1st spoken line in that video, not what I was expecting him to say at all

Soak seem like the quintessential replacement level 90s band. Despite the hype, the Interscope album seemed to get no traction anywhere, and they are apparently dropped despite the two-album deal. They move on to another major label for their even less buzzed-about second album. Their final album is self-released in 1999. Next stop, breakup.

Soak was just the name of the water station. You know, where you cool off by walking under a hose spraying out mist?

Souls was the same, although with the incorporeal spirits of human beings.

Ugh, Entwistle had such shit bands in the '80s-'90s. But all he wanted to do was play live, and when the Who weren't touring, he financed all his solo tours out-of-pocket. He'd go $1 million into debt, the Who would tour to bail him out, he'd do more solo tours, go into debt, do another Who bailout tour, rinse and repeat.

funny to think that the Who member onstage emoting the least was the one enjoying it the most

Has anybody seen Trainwreck: Woodstock 99 yet? Because apparently one shitty Woodstock 99 documentary that blames the bands instead of greedy concert promoters wasn’t enough.

I didn't watch the HBO one, but this one def blames the greedy concert promoters

Well that’s good! Maybe I’ll check it out then.

Yeah, there's like fans of the music and everything!

oh maybe I'll finish this. John Scher being interviewed did not inspire confidence.

HBO one was dreadful

Korn 0
Jewel 0

should've teamed up

G. Love was robbed

No bizkit fan here but they’re not even in the top 20 worst bands on that list

If we re-polled this today, surely Kid Rock would take it

Rusted Root are to blame for the fires. How else we're we supposed to send them on their way

LMAO OLEANDER?

Yeah, the latest documentary lays the blame pretty squarely at the promoter's door and John Scher especially hoists his own ass way over the horizon at regular points and comes across as a completely reprehensible piece of shit.

In fact, right at the end he basically says that in a situation of 200,000 people gathered together for a few days, a few rapes here and there are probably to be expected and didn't cause any 'on-site issues'.