The Best Psychedelic Rock Bands from 1967

The top psychedelic rock bands of 1967 were The Beatles, The Doors, and The Grateful Dead. All three bands released influential albums that year that would go on to change the course of rock music.

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles’ album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, is often cited as the best psychedelic rock album of all time. Released in 1967, the album features some of the band’s most famous songs, including “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “With a Little Help from My Friends.” The album’s iconic cover art, which features the band members dressed as Victorian-era gentlemen, is also considered to be one of the most defining images of the psychedelic era.

The Beach Boys – Smile

The Beach Boys are one of the most successful and influential bands of all time, and their 1967 album Smile is considered by many to be one of the best psychedelic rock albums ever made. The album was originally intended to be a follow-up to their highly successful 1966 album Pet Sounds, but due to creative differences between band members, the project was shelved and not released until 2011. Smile is a complex and ambitious work that features some of the Beach Boys’ most experimental music, and it is considered by many to be one of the greatest albums of all time.

Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Pink Floyd was an English rock band formed in London in 1965. They achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music.

Pink Floyd’s debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), was recorded under the leadership of founder member Syd Barrett and marked the beginning of the band’s development into one of the most successful and influential acts in popular music history.

The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground’s debut album is one of the most influential and important records ever made. It’s a perfect marriage of avant-garde music and pop sensibilities, and it perfectly captured the feeling of an underground subculture that was just beginning to make its presence felt. The album features some of the band’s best-known songs, including “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Heroin,” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties.”

Love – Forever Changes

If you’re looking for an album that embodies the psychedelic experience, then Forever Changes by Love is the one for you. Released in 1967, this classic record features some of the most beautiful and mind-bending melodies ever written, along with lyrics that explore themes of love, loss, and change. While many other bands of the era were experimenting with drugs and discussing politics, Love focused on more personal themes, creating an album that feels both timeless and incredibly relevant even 50 years later.

Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced

Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced was one of the first psychedelic rock albums and is still one of the best. Released in 1967, it features some of Hendrix’s most iconic songs, including “Purple Haze” and “Fire.”

The Doors – The Doors

The Doors were one of the most popular and influential American rock bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in Los Angeles in 1965, the band consisted of singer Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. The band took its name from Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception (1954), which itself was a reference to a line from William Blake’s poem “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” (1793): “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite.”

The Doors achieved national prominence with their debut album, The Doors (1967), which sold more than three million copies in the United States. The album includes the band’s best-known songs, “Light My Fire” and “Break On Through (To the Other Side)”. The singles “Hello, I Love You”, “People Are Strange”, and “Touch Me” were also hits.

The band’s second album, Strange Days (1967), was also successful, reaching number two on the Billboard 200 chart. It included the hit singles “People Are Strange” and “Love Me Two Times”. The third album, Waiting for the Sun (1968), reached number one on the Billboard 200 and included the hit singles “Hello, I Love You” and “Touch Me”.

The fourth album, The Soft Parade (1969), was less successful than its predecessors; it peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and generated only two hit singles: “Tell All the People” and “Touch Me”. Meanwhile, Morrison became increasingly self-destructive; his alcohol and drug abuse caused him to be arrested for disorderly conduct several times. He also had run-ins with police officers offstage; in one incident, he punched a policeman who was trying to separate him from a female fan.

Because of Morrison’s behavior, other members of the band began to distance themselves from him; Krieger and Densmore even considered firing him from the band. Nonetheless, they continued to record together; their fifth album, Morrison Hotel (1970), reached number four on the Billboard 200 chart. It included two hit singles: “Roadhouse Blues” and “Waiting for the Sun”.

Shortly thereafter, Morrison moved to Paris with his girlfriend Pam Courson; he died there on July 3, 1971 at age 27. Although various coroner’s reports have been issued over the years—including one that listed Morrison’s cause of death as heart failure—the exact cause remains unknown as no autopsy was performed. Following his death, Manzarek assumed lead vocal duties for several years until his own death in 2013; Krieger is still active with touring versions of The Doors.

The Grateful Dead – Anthem of the Sun

The Grateful Dead formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was initially known as The Warlocks, but they changed their name to The Grateful Dead in 1967. The band is well-known for their live performances and their unique style of psychedelic rock.

The Grateful Dead released their debut album, Anthem of the Sun, in 1968. The album was produced by Jerry Garcia and featured contributions from all of the band members. Anthem of the Sun was a critical and commercial success, reaching #13 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The Grateful Dead continued to release successful albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including American Beauty (1970), Wake of the Flood (1973), and From the Mars Hotel (1974). In 1987, the band released In the Dark, which became their highest-charting album, reaching #6 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995 following the death of Jerry Garcia. However, the band has continued to perform live concerts with various lineups over the years.

Cream – Disraeli Gears

Cream was a British rock supergroup formed in London in 1966. The group consisted of bassist/singer Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker, and guitarist/singer Eric Clapton. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and ranked number 16 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

The group’s third album,Disraeli Gears (1967), is credited with popularizing the “power trio” format, which would come to dominate rock music for the rest of the century. It reached number one in the UK and number five in the US, where it delivered Cream’s only top-40 single, “Sunshine of Your Love”. Disraeli Gears was certified platinum by the RIAA in 1998.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was one of the most influential and popular psychedelic rock bands of their time. Formed in 1967, the band released their debut album, Are You Experienced, the following year to critical and commercial acclaim. Their second album, Electric Ladyland, is widely regarded as one of the greatest psychedelic rock albums ever made. The band’s unique blend of blues, soul, and hard rock made them one of the most popular bands of their era and they continue to be highly influential to this day.