Woodstock 1999 Vol. 2 : Blue Album

The 25th anniversary of Woodstock was such a resounding success, both commercially and critically, that it was inevitable that Woodstock 99 would appear on the 30th anniversary of the legendary free rock festival. Woodstock 99 was a different beast than any of its predecessors, however. The promoters designed it as a mercenary event, trying to earn as much money as possible in the course of three days. They picked a massive abandoned Air Force base in Rome, NY, and built plywood fences around the perimeter so they wouldn't have any gatecrashers. They decided not to allow any outside containers ? a common and logical safeguard, but that also meant everyone had to pay for water in the middle of the summer. All this was a prelude to a weekend of mayhem that ended in riots and rape. Some may argue that the riots were a reaction to the greed of the promoters ? and they have a point ? but that doesn't excuse the numerous sexual assaults and rapes that occurred during the festival. Those assaults, the fires, and the aggressively macho alt-metal acts became the legacy of Woodstock 99, and that's probably not what Epic had in mind when they signed a deal to release a double-disc set of highlights in October 1999. Woodstock 99 appeared on time, divided into one disc of metal (The Red Album) and another containing everything else at the festival (The Blue Album). Once the double-disc set ran its course, the album was separated into two individual discs ? The Red Album and The Blue Album ? which made sense, since they each appeal to radically different audiences.