The world of rock music was reaching a high-water mark in 1969. More than half a decade on from Beatlemania, the 1960s counterculture, flower power, and psychedelia had utterly transformed the genre, which was now open to greater sonic experimentalism and a wider tonal palette.

But the end of the 1960s also saw the hippie movement turn in on itself. The legendary Woodstock festival was messed up in many ways , and disasters such as Altamont and the realization that some corners of the counterculture, such as the Hells Angels motorcycle club and the Manson Family cult, were inhabited by truly dangerous criminals was reflected in the music of the era, which grew increasingly sour in the years that followed. The Vietnam War continued to claim the lives of thousands of young Americans and

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