Monterey Pop Festival, 1967

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A piece doesn’t get any more historically significant than this rare and sought-after piece.

Bands: Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin with Big Brother, Otis Redding, Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, Simon and Garfunkel, Steve Miller, The Animals, Booker T and the MGs, The Association, Lou Rawls, the Byrds, Canned Heat, Electric Flag, Johnny Rivers, Laura Nyro, Moby Grape, Steve Miller, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Hugh Masekala, and The Mamas and Papas

Monterey Pop was the first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival, attracting an estimated 90,000 people present at the event's peak at midnight on Sunday. The event was produced in just seven weeks by John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas and producer Lou Adler. The song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" written by Phillips and sung by Scott McKenzie, was released in May 1967, to promote the event. The documentary, Monterey Pop, by D.A. Pennebaker, was released in 1968 and, along with Gimme Shelter and the Woodstock film, form the triad of top rock festival documentaries.

Monterey Pop featured the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix and The Who, and one of the first major public performances by Janis Joplin. The influence of the Monterey Pop Festival is unquestioned, embodying the themes of California as a focal point for the counterculture and is generally regarded as one of the beginnings of the "Summer of Love" in 1967. The Who smashed their instruments amid smoke bombs, Jimi Hendrix burned his guitar, and Janis Joplin mesmerized the audience including a famously open-mouthed Mama Cass in the documentary. According to Hendrix: "I decided to destroy my guitar at the end of a song as a sacrifice. You sacrifice things you love. I love my guitar."

There were two original printings of these posters, a very large one which was stapled to boarding and phone poles and sold at the concert and the smaller one (Type 1), used in storefronts. The foil paper used for the production of these posters is highly susceptible to damage and most copies have creasing and other problems. Maud Allan, pictured in this poster, was a pianist-turned-actress, dancer and choreographer who is remembered for her "impressionistic mood settings". Here, she is pictured as Salome, in costume in 1908, for the play (which she wrote), Visions of Salome, where her version of the Dance of the Seven Veils became quite famous back in the day.