Psychedelic Rock: A Very Broad Genre

Psychedelic rock is a very broad genre. It can be difficult to pigeonhole a song or artist into this genre. This blog post will explore what makes a song or artist psychedelic.

What is Psychedelic Rock?

Psychedelic rock is a very broad genre that can encompass a wide range of subgenres. It is generally characterized by distorted guitars, mind-altering lyrics, and trippy sound effects. Psychedelic rock began to emerge in the mid-1960s and reached its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some of the most famous psychedelic rock bands include The Beatles, The Doors, and Pink Floyd.

Origins

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s which was inspired by psychedelic culture, and sought to replicate its hallucinations visually in the form of extended instrumentation and mosaicked sound. The genre often made use of heavily distorted electric guitars, sometimes playing simple power chords or single notes with heavy distortion, and extended feedback. Psychedelic rock also incorporated elements from other genres including the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which added sound effects such as bleating sheep and a closing door during the song “Within You, Without You”, as well as sitar on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”.

Characteristics

Psychedelic rock is a musical genre that emerged in the mid-1960s. The sound of psychedelic rock is often characterized by distorted guitars, feedback, heavy use of effects such as reverberation and echo, and drug-induced or surreal lyrics. Psychedelic rock is typically used to refer to music made between 1965 and 1975, though some scholars have pushed the boundaries of the genre to include music made as late as the 1980s.

Notable Psychedelic Rock Bands

Psychedelic rock is a very broad genre that includes a wide range of subgenres. It is characterized by distorted guitars, mind-altering lyrics, and extended improvisation. The genre evolved in the 1960s and 1970s and was influential on many subsequent genres, including punk rock, new wave, and heavy metal.

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 genres, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements 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, the band were integral to pop music’s evolution into an art form and to the development of the counterculture of the 1960s.

Psychedelic rock is a diverse style of rock music inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centred around perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music is intended to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. Psychedelic rock emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the United States and Britain. It arose as a reaction to both earlier British Invasion bands such as The Kinks—whose musical style was grounded in traditional blues structures—and American garage rock bands such as The Standells and The Seeds—whose raw energy disdained any attempt at prettiness or polish.

The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965 by singer Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts of the 1960s and became widely known for their unconventional showmanship and Morrison’s lyrics which were infused with elements of philosophy, fantasy, poetry, occultism, and sexual ecstasy. Due to the band’s constant drug use and Morrison’s erratic behavior during live performances, they quickly earned a reputation as one of the most entertaining yet unpredictable rock bands of their era.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter who is widely considered to be the greatest electric guitar player of all time. Although his mainstream career only spanned four years, he is posthumously celebrated as one of the most influential musicians of his generation and one of the greatest musicians of all time. Hendrix pioneered the use of feedback and wah-wah pedals in rock guitar playing. He was also the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. His distinctive compositional style combined elements of blues, jazz, rock, and R&B.

The Influence of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock, popularized in the 1960s, is a genre 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 height of the counterculture of the 1960s and reached its apotheosis with the Summer of Love in 1967, when tens of thousands of young people gathers in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco to celebrate peace and love.

On Other Genres

Psychedelic rock, also referred to as psychedelia, is a diverse style of rock music that was inspired, in part, by hallucinogenic drugs. The genre is characterized by liberal use of feedback, extended guitar solos, and complex studio effects. Psychedelic rock reached the height of its popularity in the late 1960s but continued to be influential in subsequent decades.

Psychedelic rock had a significant impact on other genres of music, including punk rock, metal, and jam bands. Punk rock was partially a reaction against the perceived excesses of psychedelic rock; many early punk bands eschewed the elaborate studio techniques and drug references of their predecessors. Metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin drew on the dark and chaotic elements of psychedelic rock to help create their own distinctive sound. The experimental improvisational style of psychedelic rock was an important influence on jam bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish.

On Popular Culture

Psychedelic rock, also referred to as psyrock, is a broad genre of popular music that originated in the 1960s. It is characterized by a heavy use of distorted electric guitars, bass guitars, drums, and often swirls of sound effects such as feedback. Psychedelic rock music often uses sitars and tablas to create an “exotic” sounding atmosphere. On popular culture, psychedelic rock had a significant influence. It was often used in commercials and movies to describe a particular time or place. For example, the 1968 film Barbarella featured psychedelic rock music throughout its soundtrack.