The Top Countries for Psychedelic Rock

A list of the top countries for psychedelic rock music, based on the number of influential bands and musicians originating from each nation.

Psychedelic Rock in the 60s

Psychedelic rock, also known as acid rock, is a type of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The style is characterized by distorted guitars, feedback, and extreme sounds. The lyrics often dealt with drugs, peace, love, and meditation. The psychedelic rock movement was influenced by Eastern philosophy and psychedelia.

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, led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, they came to be perceived as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the counterculture of the 1960s.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London. The first stable line-up consisted of Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Ian Stewart (piano), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums). Jones led the band until his death from drowning in 1969, having reportedly been in a drug-induced coma for two days before his death.

The Rolling Stones were at the forefront of the British tabsr consolidation of psychedelia and hard rock. Their 1966 recordings, Aftermath and Between the Buttons marked a peak in their experimental studio work with Outside Conording R&B hits such as “Paint It, Black” and “19th Nervous Breakdown.” They also wrote songs inspired by the drug experience that would help to define psychedelic rock, such as Brian Jones’s “Under My Thumb”, Keith Richards’s “762”, Jagger/Richards’s “2,000 Light Years from Home”, and their 1967 US No. 1 hit single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.

Jimi Hendrix

American musician Jimi Hendrix is widely considered to be one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of rock music, and one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. Hendrix’s innovative style combined elements of blues, R&B, and rock and roll, and his psychedelic rock in particular was influential on later generations of rock musicians.

Psychedelic Rock in the 70s

Psychedelic rock, also called psych rock, is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. The music is intended to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs, often using swirling, colourful effects and trippy lyrics.

Pink Floyd

Psychedelic rock, often shortened to psyrock or psysrock, is a style of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s and early 1970s. The style is distinguished by distorted guitars, rhythms with an irregular meter, and extended instrumentals.Psychedelic rock was inspired by the mind-altering experiences brought on by drugs such as cannabis, LSD, and psilocybin mushrooms.

Psychedelic rock reached the peak of its popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Yes, King Crimson, Rush, and Genesis. By the late 1970s, punk rock had started to eclipse psychedelic rock in popularity. Nevertheless, many psychedelic bands continued to record and perform throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Led Zeppelin

One of the most influential bands of the 1970s, Led Zeppelin continued the electric blues tradition set by Cream and Jimi Hendrix, but added a hard rock edge that made them one of the most popular bands in the world. Although they are often lumped in with other hard rock bands of the era, Led Zeppelin’s use of Celtic and Eastern influences set them apart from their contemporaries.

The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band is known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock. The band’s extensive use of live improvisation was a defining characteristic of their music.

The Grateful Dead began their career as the Warlocks, a group formed in early 1965 from the remnants of a Palo Alto jug band called Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. The Warlocks’ first show was at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park on May 5, 1965. They changed their name to the Grateful Dead later that month. They played their first official show as the Grateful Dead on December 4, 1965, at an acid test held at San Francisco’s Muir Beach lodge.

Psychedelic Rock Today

Psychedelic rock is a type of rock music that is inspired, or influenced, by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. The genre emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Tame Impala

Hailing from Australia, Tame Impala is a psychedelic rock band that has been around since 2007. The band is fronted by singer-songwriter Kevin Parker, who writes and produces most of the band’s music. Tame Impala’s sound is influenced by a variety of artists, including the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and the Beach Boys. The band has released three studio albums, with their most recent, “Currents,” coming out in 2015.

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Credit: The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983. Since 1987, the group has consisted of Wayne Coyne on lead vocals and guitar, Michael Ivins on bass guitar and keyboards, and Steven Drozd on drums, vocals, occasional lead guitar and keyboard. They are renowned for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections and artificial rain. The band has won three Grammy Awards: two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance – “Do You Realize???” in 2004 and “Origin of the Species” in 2009 – and one for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical – Embryonic in 2010. In 2002 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a performance by Beck.

MGMT

MGMT is an American rock band formed in 2002 at Wesleyan University. The band is composed of Andrew VanWyngarden (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Ben Goldwasser (vocals, keyboards). Originally a duo, they are now accompanied by James Richardson (guitar, bass, keyboards) on their live performances. MGMT is known for their use of unconventional instruments in their songs.

The band began as a Wesleyan student club called “The Management,” where they threw parties and performed live music. They self-released their first EP Time to Pretend in 2005, and it received attention from several blogs and college radio stations. After signing with Columbia Records in 2006, the duo released Oracular Spectacular in 2007. The album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 and received positive reviews from critics. It included the singles “Time to Pretend,” “Kids,” and “Electric Feel,” which were all successful in the alternative rock charts.

In 2010, MGMT released their second album Congratulations. The album was less commercially successful than their debut, but received critical acclaim. It featured the singles “Flash Delirium” and “Siberian Breaks.” In 2013, MGMT released their third album MGMT, which was also well-received by critics but did not match the commercial success of their previous albums. Their fourth album Little Dark Age was released in 2018 to positive reviews.