Gimme Some Shelter
Gimme Some Shelter
By Nick Wehunt
What started as the Rolling Stones’ plan to do something for their fans, celebrating the love generation, the peace movement, and mind altering substances turned into the historical moment that experts point out as the end of the love generation. When their should have only been multi-colored lights dancing over the crowd of three hundred thousand, the unwise to decision to utilize the Hell’s Angels as security unleashed a cloud of darkness.
When Mick Jagger sang to the audience he was pleased to meet them and he hoped they knew his name, he did not realize the devil was already in the crowd at the foot of the stage. The devil was already in the details. Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead casually suggested that the Angels had done a very good job of security on more than one occasion in California. Jagger was thinking of the peaceful Hells’ Angels biker gang from London, and was unaware of the American gang with the exact same name. Jagger decided that a nod from the Dead was just as good as a wink. Wild man Keith Richards (The lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones) agreed and so it was done.
In order to understand the events that unfolded at the show, one must first understand the Angels. The biker gang was established in Fontana, California in 1948. This group of arrogant and rebellious tough guys was no ordinary bike gang; they were large in numbers and very physical. They had a very close bond with each other and even to this day keep their oaths silent. The darkest side of the Angels is their criminal enterprise, which no one knows much about except the Angels. Hunter S. Thomson published a book about the Hells Angels and rode with them for a year. Seeing that Thomson was making money; the Angels demanded their cut, but he wouldn’t give it to them and for that he received a “stomping.” That’s the closest anyone has ever gotten to the Angels and their secrets.
In the beginning it all seemed so perfect, and everything was going as planned (Of course they didn’t plain much at all) until the crowd got a little out of hand while Jefferson Airplane was playing. Many fans got whelped by the end of pool sticks and Jefferson Airplane’s singer Marty Balin got knocked out by one of the members of the Angels. The Angels were being no Angels at all. They were drunk and high on who knows what kind of speed. After that, one could see the weird, scary, uncomfortable vibe glowing on everyone’s faces. Everyone was looking around wondering what could happen next.
The night rolls on and the Rolling Stones come to finish out the show. The crowd goes wild; the main attraction is finally on stage. A minute into “Sympathy for the Devil” a man named Meredith Hunter tried to get on stage and was thrown back by an Angel. Then Hunter pulled out a black handgun and shot once at the stage; a split second later, a fellow Angel stabbed Hunter in the back three times and once behind the ear. I believe that was the vibe everyone was feeling before in the crowd that day.
On that fateful day, four people died. On the other hand four love generation babies were born. The event itself, as the events that unfolded have shown us, was ultimately an experiment out of control. We must take this as a learning experience; never to let good and evil mingle at a celebration for peace. Any mother would have told Mick not to make deals with the devil, but they also would have told their children not to listen to the Rolling Stones.
The movie Gimme Shelter has been called the greatest rock-n-roll documentary of all time. The fact of the matter is that in 2008 it’s even better than it was when those claims were made in the 1970s. The DVD comes loaded with hours of additional band interviews and fan conversation. The Grateful Dead explained why they wouldn’t take the stage that day -- before the killing even started. Historically speaking, the event marked the end of a golden era, yet at the same time it celebrated that era and the wonderful art it produced.
By Nick Wehunt
What started as the Rolling Stones’ plan to do something for their fans, celebrating the love generation, the peace movement, and mind altering substances turned into the historical moment that experts point out as the end of the love generation. When their should have only been multi-colored lights dancing over the crowd of three hundred thousand, the unwise to decision to utilize the Hell’s Angels as security unleashed a cloud of darkness.
When Mick Jagger sang to the audience he was pleased to meet them and he hoped they knew his name, he did not realize the devil was already in the crowd at the foot of the stage. The devil was already in the details. Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead casually suggested that the Angels had done a very good job of security on more than one occasion in California. Jagger was thinking of the peaceful Hells’ Angels biker gang from London, and was unaware of the American gang with the exact same name. Jagger decided that a nod from the Dead was just as good as a wink. Wild man Keith Richards (The lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones) agreed and so it was done.
In order to understand the events that unfolded at the show, one must first understand the Angels. The biker gang was established in Fontana, California in 1948. This group of arrogant and rebellious tough guys was no ordinary bike gang; they were large in numbers and very physical. They had a very close bond with each other and even to this day keep their oaths silent. The darkest side of the Angels is their criminal enterprise, which no one knows much about except the Angels. Hunter S. Thomson published a book about the Hells Angels and rode with them for a year. Seeing that Thomson was making money; the Angels demanded their cut, but he wouldn’t give it to them and for that he received a “stomping.” That’s the closest anyone has ever gotten to the Angels and their secrets.
In the beginning it all seemed so perfect, and everything was going as planned (Of course they didn’t plain much at all) until the crowd got a little out of hand while Jefferson Airplane was playing. Many fans got whelped by the end of pool sticks and Jefferson Airplane’s singer Marty Balin got knocked out by one of the members of the Angels. The Angels were being no Angels at all. They were drunk and high on who knows what kind of speed. After that, one could see the weird, scary, uncomfortable vibe glowing on everyone’s faces. Everyone was looking around wondering what could happen next.
The night rolls on and the Rolling Stones come to finish out the show. The crowd goes wild; the main attraction is finally on stage. A minute into “Sympathy for the Devil” a man named Meredith Hunter tried to get on stage and was thrown back by an Angel. Then Hunter pulled out a black handgun and shot once at the stage; a split second later, a fellow Angel stabbed Hunter in the back three times and once behind the ear. I believe that was the vibe everyone was feeling before in the crowd that day.
On that fateful day, four people died. On the other hand four love generation babies were born. The event itself, as the events that unfolded have shown us, was ultimately an experiment out of control. We must take this as a learning experience; never to let good and evil mingle at a celebration for peace. Any mother would have told Mick not to make deals with the devil, but they also would have told their children not to listen to the Rolling Stones.
The movie Gimme Shelter has been called the greatest rock-n-roll documentary of all time. The fact of the matter is that in 2008 it’s even better than it was when those claims were made in the 1970s. The DVD comes loaded with hours of additional band interviews and fan conversation. The Grateful Dead explained why they wouldn’t take the stage that day -- before the killing even started. Historically speaking, the event marked the end of a golden era, yet at the same time it celebrated that era and the wonderful art it produced.
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