The Rise of Female Psychedelic Rock
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It’s no secret that the music industry has long been a boys’ club. But in recent years, more and more female artists have been making their mark in the world of psychedelic rock. From frontwomen like St. Vincent and Grimes to guitar virtuosos like Marnie Stern, these women are proving that they’re just as talented and influential as their male counterparts.
So what’s behind this rise of female psychedelic rock? It could be that women are finally getting the
The Psychedelic Movement
In the late 1960s, a new musical genre known as psychedelic rock began to emerge. This style of music was influenced by the use of mind-altering drugs such as LSD and was characterized by its trippy, dreamlike sound. While male musicians dominated the psychedelic rock scene, there were also a number of talented female musicians who made their mark on the genre. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most influential female psychedelic rockers of the 1960s.
The Beatles and the Psychedelic Movement
In the mid-1960s, The Beatles became interested in Eastern mysticism and the growing psychedelic movement. This led to their use of psychedelic drugs, most notably LSD. The band’s experimentation with LSD had a profound effect on their music, as evidenced by the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album’s songs reflect The Beatles’ growing interest in Transcendental meditation, Hinduism, and the psychedelic experience.
The Beatles’ use of LSD also had an influence on the larger psychedelic movement. Many young people were introduced to the drug through the band’s music and began experimenting with it themselves. As more people took LSD, the drug became more popular and its use began to spread beyond just the artistic community.
The Psychedelic Movement was a cultural phenomenon that swept through many parts of society in the 1960s. It was characterized by a rejection of traditional values, an embrace of mind-altering experiences, and a fascinated interest in Eastern philosophies and religions. The movement had a profound impact on art, music, fashion, and politics. It also left a lasting mark on those who participated in it.
The Rolling Stones and the Psychedelic Movement
The Rolling Stones were one of the first British Invasion bands to experiment with psychedelic drugs and their influence can be seen in subsequent British bands like Pink Floyd and The Beatles. The Stones’ use of LSD, which was legal in the UK until 1966, was well documented and helped to popularize the drug among young people. The band’s 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request is considered one of the first psychedelic rock albums.
The Psychedelic Movement began in the mid-1960s as a response to the oppression and conformity of mainstream society. Psychedelic drugs like LSD were used as a means of expanding consciousness and exploring new states of mind. The music of the Psychedelic Movement was often used as an aid to achieve these altered states of consciousness. psychedelia!
The Rise of Female Psychedelic Rock
Psychedelic rock music emerged in the 1960s and was characterized by distorted guitars, mind-altering lyrics, and drug-inspired improvisation. The genre was largely dominated by male artists, but a handful of female artists made significant contributions to the psychedelic rock movement. This article will explore the contributions of female psychedelic rock artists and the reasons for their relative obscurity.
Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American psychedelic rock band that was active in the late 1960s. The band was formed in San Francisco in 1965, and they became one of the leading bands of the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco. The band’s most famous member is Janis Joplin, who was the lead singer of the band from 1966 to 1968. After she left the band, she went on to have a successful solo career.
Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane
While the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Grateful Dead defined psychedelic music for a male-dominated audience in the late 1960s, Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane helped to spearhead a more female-centric branch of the genre.
The daughter of an actress and an artist, Slick was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1939. After relocating to San Francisco during the Summer of Love in 1967, she soon became immersed in the city’s burgeoning music scene. In early 1968, she joined Jefferson Airplane as their new lead vocalist, replacing Signe Anderson who had recently left the band.
While Jefferson Airplane were already established as one of the leading lights of the psychedelia movement (their 1966 LP Surrealistic Pillow was a huge critical and commercial success), Slick’s arrival helped to take them to new levels of popularity. A highly talented singer with a powerful voice, she quickly became the band’s dominant creative force, co-writing such classics as ‘Somebody to Love’ and ‘White Rabbit’ with guitarist Marty Balin.
The Doors and Jim Morrison
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965 by members Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore. The band got its name at Morrison’s suggestion from the title of Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception, which itself was a reference to a line in William Blake’s poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
The group was one of the most controversial rock bands of their era. Due to Morrison’s wild, poetic lyrics and charismatic but unpredictable stage persona, they are named by many as one of the primary progenitors of the psychedelic rock genre. They were also one of the first American hard rock groups to achieve widespread commercial success despite almost exclusively negative critical reviews.
The band released eight studio albums before disbanding in 1973. Morrison died two years later at the age of 27 in what was officially ruled a accidental heroin overdose but many suspect foul play was involved.
Despite their limited output, The Doors have exerted a considerable influence on popular culture and were ranked number 41 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.