The Rise of Desert Progressive Psychedelic Rock

The last few years have seen a rise in popularity for a new subgenre of psychedelic rock, often referred to as “desert rock.” This music is characterized by a laid-back, groove-oriented sound, and often incorporates elements of Middle Eastern and North African music.

The Roots of the Genre

The origins of Progressive Psychedelic Rock can be found in the 60s British Psychedelic and Prog Rock scenes. By the late 60s and early 70s, US West Coast bands like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane began to experiment with extended improvisational jams, laying the foundations for the genre.

The Birth of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock, also referred to as acid rock, is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. Though it was initially limited to a small number of artists, Psychedelic Rock quickly began to influence a wider range of musical styles.

The term “psychedelic” is derived from the Greek word for “mind-revealing.” Psychedelic rock was characterized by its use of distorted guitars, feedback, and extreme volume levels that tended to create an altered state of consciousness in the listener. The genre was also known for its frequent use of drug references and experimental song structures.

Psychedelic rock began to decline in popularity in the early 1970s, but has experienced a resurgence in recent years.

The Development of Progressive Psychedelic Rock

Desert rock is a type of rock music that originated in the deserts of California, Nevada, and Arizona in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The style is characterized by heavy use of reverb, distortion, and echoing guitars, as well as drumming that emphasizes beats rather than traditional rhythms. Desert rock often contains elements of other genres such as psychedelic rock, stoner rock, and doom metal.

The genre first emerged in the late 1980s with the formation of bands such as Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. These bands blended heavy metal with psychedelic rock and other influences to create a sound that was both hard-hitting and atmospheric. Kyuss’ 1992 album Blues for the Red Sun is often considered the desert rock genre’s defining release.

In the years since Kyuss’ breakup, desert rock has continued to evolve and grow in popularity. Bands like Fu Manchu, Eagles of Death Metal, and The Black Keys have all helped to keep the genre alive and thriving.

The Key Players

In the 1960s, a new sound began to emerge from the desert Southwest of the United States. It was a sound that would come to be known as desert rock, and it would have a profound influence on the course of rock music. The desert rock sound was created by a handful of key players, chief among them being Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman.

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential music band in history. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several musical styles, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. In 1963, their enormous popularity first emerged as “Beatlemania”; as the group’s music grew in sophistication under the creative leadership of Lennon and McCartney they came to be perceived as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the dominated youth of the 1960s.

The Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act that achieved mainstream success in Britain and America from 1962 onwards with their debut album Please Please Me (1963) leading to international stardom.

As their popularity grew into mass hysteria during Beatlemania (1964–66), Capitol Records frustratedly released Healing The Beatles catalogue out of sequence with United States market demand peaking on December 26th 1965 with the release of Rubber Soul which actually charted 5 months earlier on July 17th than its Official US Release date. Rubber Soul topped the US charts on January 8th 1966 for 6 non-consecutive weeks becoming their sixth US number one album.

Pink Floyd

From their humble beginnings as an experimental art school band, Pink Floyd rose to prominence as one of the most groundbreaking and popular groups in rock history. With their innovative blend of psychedelic rock, classical influences, and expansive, concept-driven songwriting, the band created a series of landmark albums that helped define the genre and shaped the sound of popular music for years to come. Over the course of their career, Pink Floyd released fourteen studio albums, sold over 200 million records worldwide, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The Grateful Dead

Forming in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965, the Grateful Dead were one of the most influential bands of their time. They were known for their eclectic style, which blended elements of folk, blues, country, and jazz. The Dead also experimented with psychedelia, and their live shows often included lengthy improvisational passages. Over the course of their 30-year career, the band released more than two dozen albums and became one of the most popular touring acts in the world.

Jimi Hendrix

The man who needs no introduction, Hendrix was a self-taught lefty guitar virtuoso who would change the course of rock guitar forever. His highly original style blended elements of rock, blues, R&B, pop, and even classical music into a revolutionary whole that was immediately recognizable as something new and uniquely his own. Though his career was cut tragically short by his untimely death at the age of 27, Hendrix left behind a legacy as one of the most influential and important musicians in rock history.

The Legacy

In the late 1960s, a new sound began to emerge from the desert of Southern California. This sound would come to be known as desert rock or more accurately, desert progressive psychedelic rock. The sound was a unique blend of the heavy, distorted guitars of psychedelic rock with the extended jamming and improvisation of progressive rock. The desert progressive psychedelic rock sound would go on to have a lasting impact on rock music for decades to come.

The Impact of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock, also referred to as “acid rock”, is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Rooted in the work of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, psychedelic rock is characterized by its use of different sound effects, studio techniques, and expansive song structures. Psychedelic rock also often features electric guitars played with feedback and wah-wah pedals, as well as other Loudness War-era production values.

While the genre is most often associated with the British Invasion band The Beatles and their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, psychedelic rock did not reach its commercial peak until the mid-1970s with bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac. In terms of influence, however, psychedelic rock has had a much more far-reaching impact, helping to shape the sound of subsequent genres such as punk rock, new wave, heavy metal, and alternative rock.

The Influence of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock, also referred to as acid rock or simply psychedelic rock, is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The genre is generally defined by distorted guitars, bass lines, and drums, as well as weirder effects such as sitars and electronic instruments. Psychedelic rock bands often incorporated Eastern influences and experimented with new recording techniques. The goal was usually to create music that was both trippy and fun to listen to.

While the term “psych” has been used to describe just about any type of experimental or avant-garde music over the years, it’s generally agreed that the first wave of psychedelic rock occurred between 1965 and 1967. The style reached its commercial peak between 1967 and 1969, when bands like The Beatles, The Doors, and The Grateful Dead released some of their most famous work.

Despite being one of the most influential genres in music history, psychedelic rock has largely faded from the mainstream in recent decades. Nevertheless, the influence of psychedlic rock can still be heard in a wide variety of today’s popular music genres, from neo-psychedelia and garage rock revival to indie pop and synth-pop.