Dreams Unreal: The Genesis of the Psychedelic Rock Poster

Dreams Unreal: The Genesis of the Psychedelic Rock Poster is a new book that documents the history of this art form.

The Origins of Psychedelic Rock

The psychedelic rock poster is a product of the 60s counterculture, psychedelia, and the rock music scene. The posters were used to promote rock concerts and festivals and featured mind-bending imagery that often incorporated hallucinations, optical illusions, and other trippy visuals. Psychedelic art was heavily influenced by Eastern traditions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism, and sought to replicate the psychedelic experience through art.

The Acid Tests

The Acid Tests were a series of parties held in the San Francisco area during the mid-1960s, whose purpose was to showcase the new pharmaceutical LSD, raise awareness about its effects, and promote countercultural values. The events were organized by Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and his Merry Pranksters. Initially intended only for those who had already tried LSD, the party quickly evolved into an open invitation for anyone interested in joining the festivities.

The Acid Tests were held in various locations around San Francisco, including Kesey’s own home in La Honda and a warehouse on Haight Street. The parties featured live music from local bands as well as visual and performance art. Attendees often took LSD while at the party, which enhanced their experience of the music and art. In addition to promoting drug use, the Acid Tests also encouraged people to challenge social norms and express their individuality.

The Acid Tests were an important early step in the development of psychedelic rock music and culture. The parties popularized LSD use among young people in San Francisco and helped to create an accepting environment for non-conventional lifestyles. The music played at the events – particularly that of the Grateful Dead – was influential in shaping the sound of psychedelic rock. And finally, the parties themselves were a model for many subsequent large-scale musical events, including Woodstock and Burning Man.

The Summer of Love

In 1967, the “Summer of Love” saw a convergence of young people on the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. This was more than a musical event; it was a social phenomenon which changed the face of American culture. The music which came out of that Summer has come to be known as Psychedelic Rock, and its effects are still being felt today.

Psychedelic Rock is a style of music which draws heavily on the use of feedback, distortion, and other sonic effects to create an “experimental” sound. The genre is also heavily influenced by Eastern music and philosophy, particularly the concept of “Nirvana”. The lyrics and imagery used in Psychedelic Rock often deal with themes of social change, mind expansion, and anti-war sentiment.

The firstPsychedelic Rock band is generally considered to be The Grateful Dead, who were heavily involved in the Haight-Ashbury scene. Other early Psychedelic Rock bands include The Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. These bands were all influential in shaping the sound and style of Psychedelic Rock.

The Designers

Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley met in California in the early 1960s and quickly became friends and business partners. They started creating art for psychedelic rock bands such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. Their work brought them into the world of rock music and helped to create the psychedelic rock poster.

Stanley Mouse

Widely considered one of the best psychedelic rock poster artists, Stanley Mouse was born in 1940 in Detroit, Michigan. He began his career as a commercial artist, but soon found his true calling designing album covers and concert posters for some of the biggest names in rock music, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and the Doors.

Mouse’s instantly recognizable style combines elements of pop art, op art, and surrealism, resulting in vibrant, eye-catching designs that perfectly capture the spirit of the psychedelic era. His work has been hugely influential, and he continues to be one of the most respected and sought-after poster artists working today.

Alton Kelley

Alton Kelley was one of the most influential designers of psychedelic rock posters in the 1960s. Born in California in 1940, Kelley began his career as a sign painter before turning to designing posters for San Francisco’s music scene. His most famous work is the poster for the Grateful Dead’s 1966 concert at the Fillmore Auditorium, which has become an iconic image of the psychedelic era. Kelley went on to design dozens of other influential posters for bands such as The Beatles, The Doors, and Jimi Hendrix. He continued to work as a graphic artist until his death in 2008.

Victor Moscoso

Victor Moscoso was the first of the San Francisco psychedelic poster artists to use color separations in his work. He was also the first to produce posters using the newly available photographic techniques. As a result, his posters have a richness and complexity of color and shape unmatched by any of his contemporaries.

Moscoso’s posters are often compared to Op Art, but there is a fundamental difference between the two styles. While both employ optical illusions, Op Art is concerned with visual disorientation for its own sake, whereas Moscoso’s work uses disorientation as a means to an end. His posters are designed to provoke an altered state of consciousness in the viewer, and it is this technique that has earned him the title “the father of psychedelic poster art.”

The Posters

The first psychedelic rock posters were made in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s. These posters were inspired by the art of the hippie subculture and the psychedelic art movement. They were often brightly colored and featured images of popular bands and musicians.

The Family Dog

In 1965, Bob Thomas and Chet Helms started a business together in San Francisco called the Family Dog. Their first project was to put on Bill Graham’s second ever rock concert, with The Great Society and Jefferson Airplane. The show was a success and set the template for the 200 or so concerts that the Family Dog would go on to promote over the next four years, mostly at the Avalon Ballroom. Like Bill Graham, they used artist-designed posters to promote their shows ( Graham actually used some of the early Family Dog posters).

The most famous of these posters was Stanley Mouse’s design for a 1966 show featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. The poster featured an image of a dog superimposed over a photograph of Haight-Ashbury (the neighborhood where the Avalon Ballroom was located), with the words “Family Dog” in psychedelic letters. This poster became so iconic that it was later used as the logo for the band Grateful Dead.

The Avalon Ballroom

In San Francisco in the mid-1960s, multiplying avant-garde bands were playing extended improvisational jams to mind-altered audiences, exploring chord progressions and timbres that had never been heard before. These concerts, held at the Avalon Ballroom, the Fillmore Auditorium, and other venues, were advertised with psychedelic rock posters—loud, colorful works by artists including Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, Wes Wilson, and others—that reflected the energy and style of the music. The Avalon Ballroom posters are among the most coveted of all rock-and-roll memorabilia.

The Fillmore

The Fillmore was a legendary rock club in San Francisco that was the epicenter of the psychedelic rock scene in the 1960s. The club was founded by Bill Graham, who also promoted many of the biggest concerts of the era, including the famous Fillmore East shows with The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, and Jimi Hendrix. The Fillmore’s iconic posters were created by some of the most influential graphic artists of the time, including Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Wes Wilson. These artists created some of the most iconic images in rock history, and their work continues to influence popular culture today.

The Legacy

Psychedelic rock posters originated in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco during the mid-1960s. The posters were often used to promote concerts by bands such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. The vibrant colors and abstract designs of the posters became synonymous with the psychedelic music and culture of the time. Today, these original posters are highly sought after by collectors and fans of the psychedelic era.

The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band is known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, and jazz. They also became one of the most influential bands of the 1960s psychedelic rock scene.

The Dead began their career as The Warlocks, a group of friends who started playing music together in Palo Alto. They soon changed their name to The Grateful Dead and began to play gigs in San Francisco. They quickly developed a following and began to play larger venues. In 1967, they released their debut album, The Grateful Dead.

The Grateful Dead were famous for their live performances, which often featured improvisational jams that could go on for hours. They were also known for their devoted fan base, who were nicknamed “Deadheads.” The band played over 2,300 concerts in their career and released more than 30 albums. They remained active until 1995, when lead singer Jerry Garcia died.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones were one of the most influential bands of the twentieth century. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. The band has sold over 200 million records worldwide.

The Rolling Stones were formed in London in 1962. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, drummer Charlie Watts, and keyboardist Ian Stewart. The band’s early material was heavily influenced by blues and rock and roll.

The Rolling Stones achieved commercial success with their debut album, “The Rolling Stones,” which was released in 1964. The album reached number one on the UK charts and number four on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album included the singles “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back),” “Heart of Stone,” and “Time Is on My Side.”

The Rolling Stones released their second album, “12 x 5,” in 1964. The album reached number three on the US Billboard 200 chart and included the single “It’s All Over Now.”

In 1965, the Rolling Stones released their third album, “Out of Our Heads.” The album reached number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and included the singles “Satisfaction” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

The Rolling Stones’ fourth album, “Aftermath,” was released in 1966. The album reached number one on the UK charts and number two on the US Billboard 200 chart. Aftermath was the first Stones’ album to be entirely composed of original material by Jagger and Richards. It included the singles “Paint It Black” and “Under My Thumb.”

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd was an English rock band formed in London in 1965. They achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially successful and influential groups in popular music history.

The band originally consisted of Syd Barrett on lead vocals and guitar, Nick Mason on drums, Roger Waters on bass and vocals, and Richard Wright on keyboards and vocals. Barrett was replaced by David Gilmour in 1968. Waters left the band in 1985, followed by Wright in 1994.

Pink Floyd released fourteen studio albums, three live albums, eight compilations, thirty-six singles, eleven music videos, four video albums and five box sets. The greatest hits album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd was released in 2001 and became their only album to reach number one in the United States.

The band’s classic lineup was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. By 2013, they had sold more than 250 million records worldwide.