Psychedelic Rock could well be the most important genre in Rock history. Bred from a 1960’s counterculture centered on taking psychedelic drugs to be able to have a heightened sense of reality through distortions, vibrations, vivid colorizations and lucid dreaming, the culture experimented with replicate LSD effects through vibrant pictures and sounds.
Psychedelic Rock is seen as heavily effected instrumentation. Reverb echoes incessantly, tremolo takes the place of standard lead guitar lines, while distortion buzzes throughout. Lyrics attempted to relay visions and feelings produced through these cosmic inner journeys.
The sound was pioneered with the Beatles, introduced up by such bands because the Yardbirds, Cream, Pink Floyd as well as the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The band primarily attributed to inventing the term Psychedelic Rock could be the Austin, TX based The 13th Floor Elevators.
The movement hit its peak together with the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, Pink Floyd’s The Piper in the Gates of Dawn, all eventually climaxing in 1969 at Woodstock, where psychedelic acts like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Santana played.
Several events caused the decline in rise in popularity of Psychedelic Rock. LSD ended up declared illegal, the link between Sharon Tate’s murder by Chapman and also the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” resulted in a “hippie backlash”. “Acid casualties”, or people negatively impacted by hallucinogens and drugs generally, became posters for avoiding psychedelic experiences: Syd Barrett’s insanity, the deaths of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin led to an even more raw “back to basics” trend in Rock.
However, due to the appeal of Psychedelic Rock, new genres were being formed, including Progressive Rock as well as Metal. Musicians who spent my childhood years listening to Psychedelia still desired to take elements from the movement, and included a common aspects inside their respective sounds.
Inside the late 1970’s, bands primarily in the Post-Punk scene strived to bring back Psychedelia, blending the distortions, reverb and phaser (et al) with the upbeat dance beats of New Wave. Bands such as Siouxsie along with the Banshees, Echo along with the Bunnymen, The Soft Boys, as well as the Church utilized the 60’s nuances to full 80’s effect.Hence, Neo-Psychedelia was.
The popularity of such bands bled in to the 90’s, with all the Shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine along with the Jesus of Mary Chain carrying over from your 80’s, the emergence in the Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols, as well as the Electric 6 Collective like the Apples in Stereo, of Montreal, and Neutral Milk Hotel. Neo-Psychedelia can basically be summed up as any kind of music incorporating Psychedelic elements within its songs.
True Psychedelic Rock is untouchable, having ended using the decline with the counterculture. If one were to write original songs from the Psychedelic Rock style those songs could be Neo-Psychedelic.
Psychedelic Music was so powerful in the statement, primarily through its commitment of experiencing heightened art, which it will continue to dominate our musical trends even now. And I’m ready to bet it will never fizzle out entirely.
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