Woodstock legend and anti-war activist Joe McDonald dead at 84

Joe McDonald, pb vocalist and songwriter of Country Joe and the Fish — the set known for its resounding anti-war chant astatine Woodstock — has died. He was 84.

His wife, Kathy McDonald, announced his decease Sunday morning. He died Saturday successful his Berkeley location owed to complications from Parkinson’s disease.

As a formative subordinate of the American counterculture successful the 1960s and ‘70s, McDonald leaves a bequest of bridging modern governmental satire and brazen anti-war sentiments with the aboriginal sounds of acerb rock.

“We’re conscionable truthful arrogant of him. He’s our hero. He instilled successful america that we person to talk up erstwhile we can, connected immoderate level we can, astir issues that we consciousness are important,” said his girl Seven McDonald, a movie producer, euphony manager and writer.

“While helium was a precise serious, earnest activist, helium besides had specified an acute consciousness of cynical wit that is truthful fantastic and was susceptible of scathing satire,” her member Devin added. “He’s astir celebrated for that, but helium besides did truthful galore heartfelt benefits for antithetic causes.”

The siblings, who spent their childhoods connected the roadworthy and successful signaling studios with him, gag that helium was ever doing a payment show.

The instrumentalist was calved connected Jan. 1, 1942, successful Washington to Worden McDonald and activistic Florence (Plotnik) McDonald, who were some members of the Communist Party. The household soon moved to the Southern California metropolis of El Monte, wherever Joe McDonald was raised.

His philharmonic roots scope backmost to erstwhile his begetter taught him to play the guitar astatine 7 years old. But earlier embarking connected his vocation successful music, McDonald enlisted successful the Navy astatine property 17. He served arsenic an aerial postulation controller astatine the Atsugi, Japan, aerial installation for 3 years. Upon coming backmost to the states, helium tried retired assemblage for a abbreviated clip earlier dropping retired and moving to Berkeley.

Before experimenting with an aboriginal saltation of Country Joe and the Fish alongside guitarist Barry Melton successful the mid-1960s, McDonald started a tiny mag called Rag Baby. Once the radical was solidified, they decided to crook their folksy roots electrical and made the determination to San Francisco — conscionable earlier the city’s legendary Summer of Love.

The group, calved retired of the Bay Area psychedelic stone scene, was soon signed by Vanguard Records and successful 1967 released its debut medium “Electric Music for the Mind and Body.” At the clip the band’s statement and shaper were hesitant to fto the musicians afloat explicit their politics, and excluded the soon-to-be-hit anti-war anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” with the catchy chorus that began, “And it’s 1, 2, 3 what are we warring for?”

Instead, they went with tracks similar “Superbird,” a spoof of President Lyndon B. Johnson, which received small to nary backlash. When the 2nd medium came around, the set was allowed to tally with “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” arsenic the rubric track. Trouble started to originate with the anti-Vietnam warfare anthem erstwhile the radical changed the opening chant of F-I-S-H to a much profane 4 missive connection that starts with an “F.”

They performed this altered cheer astatine a gig successful Massachusetts, wherever McDonald received a complaint for inciting an assemblage to lewd behaviour and a $500 fine. With this constabulary run-in, Country Joe and the Fish received a slew of press, riling up the nationalist up of their Woodstock performance.

The infinitesimal the set members began this chant astatine Woodstock became arguably the biggest infinitesimal of their careers, with implicit 400,000 radical joining in. It’s a infinitesimal of protestation that has gone down successful history.

Not agelong aft the festival, the set went their abstracted ways. McDonald continued to merchandise solo euphony that stuck with the akin themes of authorities and the Vietnam War.

“He took the toll for taking the stand,” said Seven. “He was not the biggest popular star, due to the fact that helium conscionable opted to talk his caput and bash his thing.”

In 1986, McDonald released “Vietnam Experience,” an medium afloat of songs analyzing its semipermanent impacts connected his generation. And successful 1995 helium was “the driving force” according to an Associated Press story, down a warfare memorial to grant Berkeley veterans killed successful the Vietnam War.

He told The Times successful 1986 that helium had “an addiction to Vietnam … I’ve been doing enactment with veterans present for 15 years, and I astir apt cognize much astir Vietnam veterans than immoderate different idiosyncratic successful the amusement industry.”

“I’ve ever believed that the veterans are a basal constituent to the knowing of war,” helium added, “and the knowing of warfare is the lone way to peace.”

McDonald is survived by his woman of 43 years, Kathy; his 5 children, Seven, Devin, Ryan, Tara Taylor and Emily; a brother, Billy; and 4 grandchildren.