The Woodstock music festival took place 20 years before Plastics News was around. But in the interest of historical research, the PN staff has found a plastics connection to that event, which took place Aug. 15-18, 1969, and is remembered as a defining moment of the era.
Psychedelic rockers Jefferson Airplane closed the second day of the event — or started in the early hours of the third day, it's all a blur — and for the second song played "Plastic Fantastic Lover." That had been the final song on their Surrealistic Pillow album, which shot them to fame thanks to hit singles "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit."
Like most plastic references found in pop culture, the lyrics to "Plastic Fantastic Lover," written and sung by Airplane co-founder Marty Balin, aren't exactly positive. He's mostly free-associating about either the impact of watching TV or about a new stereo that he bought.
"Your rattlin' cough never shuts off … And I realize no one's wise to my plastic fantastic lover."
But given the amount of pharmaceuticals ingested at Woodstock and the fact that there were more than 400,000 people there, it's entirely possible that at least one attendee could have misunderstood the lyrics of the song and instead was inspired to follow a rewarding career in the plastics industry.
Don't trust any resin over 30!