![]() There’s likely a kernel of truth to each of these theories, but what they lack is any sense of cohesion and synthesis, and most of the people who are interviewed over the course of the film have too much distance from the event to provide the necessary emotional texture. A series of theories are thrown at the wall and stick with varying degrees of success: some people suggest that the overwhelmingly white and male composition of the festival’s attendees made it a ticking time bomb of testosterone, some blame the media for pushing overly sexualized images of women over the course of the decade, some blame the Y2K panic. But where it starts to run into problems, and where the critics have started to chime in, is in describing the why. ![]() In other words, this film is very good at giving you the who, what, where, and when. Merely creating a coherent chronology of events that were defined by their disorder is a journalistic feat, and director Garret Price does a good job of bringing you into the middle of the chaos, contrasting the misery on the ground with some of the thrilling performances that took place on stage (even the most hardened nu metal hater has to respect “ Blind,” Korn’s thrilling set opener). Sporting a lineup of some of the biggest bands of the era (the aforementioned Limp Bizkit, Korn, Metallica, Kid Rock, Rage Against the Machine, Sheryl Crow, DMX, Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many, many others), a dedicated rave tent, and wall to wall coverage on MTV, the festival deteriorated quickly - temperatures spiked above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, festival goers balked at overpriced concessions (including $4 water bottles), port-a-potties overflowed, numerous instances of sexual assault were reported, and attendees physically destroyed some of the festival’s structures before setting off a series of fires that prompted a response from the New York State Troopers. The four day festival was conceived after the largely successful Woodstock ‘94 by original Woodstock founder Michael Lang and producer John Scher, and held at the site of an abandoned Air Force base (and Superfund site) in Rome, New York. Ndoggle before becoming a legitimate disaster scene. My sympathies largely lie with them (I gave the film a 4.0 myself) Woodstock ‘99 is a compelling film about an event that began as a standard issue boo On the pro-side, there’s the general public, who have given the documentary a respectable 3.4 rating on Letterboxd (it also has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). The documentary, which includes heaps of archival footage from the event, as well as interviews with journalists, critics, organizers, attendees, and artists, has become surprisingly polarizing. It’s a good question, and, sadly, one that Woodstock ‘99 doesn’t answer, at least not with much success. “But is Limp Bizkit really why we did it?” ![]() ![]() Instead, Harvilla suggests that Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst is being made into a “generational patsy.” “We all know why Limp Bizkit did it,” Harvilla continues. The irony of the episode, though, is that it doesn’t entirely buy into the film’s premise that nu metal - the much maligned mishmash of rap and metal that reached commercial heights in the late 90s and early 2000s but has become a critical whipping boy ever since - is partially responsible for the vandalism, arson, and sexual assault that took place at the ill-fated festival. This episode, in which, contrary to the prior quote, Harvilla focuses on Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie,” also acts as a quasi-commercial for Woodstock ‘99: Peace, Love, and Rage, the first part in the six-film, Bill Simmons-produced, Ringer-affiliated Music Box series. “Are Limp Bizkit responsible for whatever you do when this beat drops? Are Limp Bizkit responsible for anything anybody breaks during the song ‘Break Stuff’?” “Do I like ‘Break Stuff’ because it makes me want to break stuff, or do I like ‘Break Stuff’ because it articulates my pre-existing desire to break stuff?,’” asks Rob Harvilla in an episode of his podcast 60 Songs that Explain the 90s.
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