The Psychedelic Background of Contemporary Rock Music

Many people are unaware of the strong connection between rock music and psychedelia. In this blog post, we explore the history of how these two genres have influenced each other over the years.

Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music characterized by hypnotic or dreamlike textures and extended experimentation. It was inspired by the experimental attitude of early British and American rock and roll, and grew out of the experience of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin.

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. They became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential act of the rock era. Rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later utilised several genres, ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic rock, often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways. In 1963, their enormous popularity first emerged as “Beatlemania”; as the group’s music grew in sophistication under the direction of producer George Martin, they came to be perceived by many fans and cultural observers as an emblem of the era’s sociocultural movements.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle on November 27, 1942, and was originally named James Marshall Hendrix. His mother, Lucille Jeter Hendrix, was only seventeen years old at the time of his birth, and his father, Al Hendrix, was twenty. Lucille and Al married soon after Jimi’s birth, but their marriage was short-lived. Lucille left Al when Jimi was just eighteen months old, taking her son with her. For the next several years, she moved around constantly, often leaving Jimi with relatives for long periods of time while she worked to support herself and her son. As a result of this instability, Jimi did not form any close relationships with either his mother or father during his childhood. In fact, he would later say that he felt more like an outsider than a member of his own family.

As a child, Jimi showed little interest in music. This began to change when he was eleven years old and received his first electric guitar as a Christmas present from his father. From that point on, music became an important part of Jimi’s life. He taught himself how to play the guitar and quickly developed a style that merged blues, rock, and R&B influences. He also began experimenting with feedback and other effects to create new sounds on the instrument.

In 1961, at the age of eighteen, Jimi left Seattle and moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music. He found work as a session musician, playing on recordings by such artists as Ronnie Hawkins and Ike & Tina Turner. He also began playing gigs with his own band, known first as Jimmy James & The Blue Flames and later as The Experience. In 1964, The Experience traveled to England to play at the London club scene. It was there that they caught the attention of Chas Chandler of The Animals, who agreed to become their manager and help them secure a recording contract with EMİ Records

The Doors

The Doors were one of the most influential and controversial rock bands of the 1960s. They were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by singer Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. The band was unique for its time in its combination of rock, blues, and jazz influences, as well as Morrison’s poetic lyrics and dark, brooding persona. The band became one of the most popular live acts of the 1960s thanks to their intense live shows, which often featured Morrison’s improvised ” enigmatic” stage antics. The band also released a string of successful albums, including their 1967 debut album “The Doors”, which went to number one on the US Billboard 200 chart.

The band’s popularity waned in the 1970s following Morrison’s death in 1971, but they have continued to be popular among classic rock fans. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and their 1967 hit “Light My Fire” was included on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

Contemporary Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic music emerged in the 1960s as a result of the countercultural movement that was sweeping the nation. At its core, psychedelic music is about pushing boundaries and expanding the mind. It’s about challenging the status quo and breaking down barriers. Today, psychedelic music is more popular than ever. Thanks to the internet, Psychedelic Rock has been able to find a global audience.

Tame Impala

Tame Impala is an Australian band that has been at the forefront of the contemporary psychedelic rock movement. The band’s sound is heavily indebted to 1960s and 1970s psychedelic music, and they have often been compared to classic bands like Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead. Tame Impala’s music is infused with elements of dream pop, shoegaze, and electronica, creating a unique and innovative sound. The band has released three studio albums, all of which have received critical acclaim. In 2016, Tame Impala was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Best Album of the Year.

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1983. Instrumentally, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic arrangements, drawing on diverse genres including 1960s pop, country, garage rock, and eleventh album Soft Bulletin (1999), saw them move into experimental rock. The Flaming Lips have had thirteen Gold and Platinum-certified albums. In February 2007, they were nominated for a Brit Award for “Best International Act”.

MGMT

MGMT is an American rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It currently consists of multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Originally a duo, they are now joined by drummer Will Berman. The band’s style draws heavily from 1960s psychedelic music and 1970s glam rock.

The success of the band’s 2007 debut album Oracular Spectacular led to their signing with Columbia Records in 2008. The duo’s subsequent studio albums Congratulations (2010) and MGMT (2013) were highly acclaimed, but failed to match the commercial success of their debut. In May 2019, the band released Little Dark Age, its fourth studio album, to positive reviews.