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Rejection of mainstream culture was best embodied in the new genres of psychedelic rock music, pop-art and new explorations in spirituality.

Musicians who exemplified this era include The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Cream, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, and, in their early years, Chicago.

New forms of musical presentation also played a key role in spreading the counterculture, with large outdoor rock festivals being the most noteworthy.

The climactic live statement on this occurred from August 15 – 18, 1969, with the Woodstock Music Festival held in Bethel, New York — with 32 of rock's and psychedelic rock's most popular acts performing live outdoors during the sometimes rainy weekend to an audience of half a million people.

( Michael Lang stated 400, 000 attended, half of which did not have a ticket.

) It is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history — with Rolling Stone calling it one of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.

According to Bill Mankin, “ It seems fitting … that one of the most enduring labels for the entire generation of that era was derived from a rock festival: the ‘ Woodstock Generation ’.”