Psychedelic Rock: The Jefferson Airplane

Psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane became one of the most popular bands of the 1960s. They were known for their experimental and often improvised music, as well as their political and countercultural views.

What is Psychedelic Rock?

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. Psychedelic rock is characterized by a distorted, often “trippy” sound, as well as by lyrics that often deal with social commentary, drugs, and sex. The Jefferson Airplane was one of the most influential bands in the genre.

Origins

Psychedelic rock, also sometimes called garage rock, is a style of music that was popular in the mid to late 1960s. It is characterized by its use of feedback, distorted guitars, and heavy use of reverb. The style is often seen as a reaction to the shiny, polished pop music of the early to mid 1960s.

Psychedelic rock began in the United States in garage bands such as The Doors and The Grateful Dead. The genre then spread to England, where it was adopted by groups such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. English psychedelic bands often incorporated Indian instrumentation and imagery into their music, which set them apart from their American counterparts.

The pinnacle of psychedelic rock came in 1967 with the release of The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album made extensive use of studio techniques such as multitracking and sound effects, and it remains one of the most popular and influential albums ever made. Psychedelic rock began to decline in popularity in the late 1960s as its audience became more focused on social issues such as civil rights and the Vietnam War. However, the genre has experienced a resurgence in recent years thanks to bands like Tame Impala and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

Characteristics

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It often uses new recording techniques and effects, and sometimes draws on sources such as the ragas and drones of Indian music. Psychedelic rock was a major part of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, particularly in the US and UK, and played an important role in the development of other genres such as punk rock.

Psychedelic rock is characterized by a number of different musical elements, including:
-A focus on extended improvisation
-A use of new recording techniques and effects
-An eclectic range of influences, including Indian music and other world music
-A trippy, mind-altering atmosphere
-Lyrics that explore themes of drug use, mental illness, social alienation, and more

The Jefferson Airplane

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The Jefferson Airplane was one of the most successful and influential psychedelic rock bands of all time. The group’s 1967 album, Surrealistic Pillow, is considered one of the most important psychedelic rock albums ever made.

History

The Jefferson Airplane’s roots lay in the San Francisco folk music scene of the early 1960s. Founder Marty Balin saw a gap in the music being played at the time and envisioned creating a band that would fill it.

Music

The Jefferson Airplane was a rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. The group was one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. They were distinguished by their eclectic repertoire, which encompassed elements of folk music, blues, and pop music, as well as jazz improvisation and Asian music influences.

The band’s original lineup consisted of singer-songwriter-guitarist Paul Kantner, singer Grace Slick (who joined the band after meeting Kantner at a Berkeley Folk Festival concert), drummer Skip Spence, rhythm guitarist Marty Balin, bassist Jack Casady, and keyboardist Spencer Dryden. The band came to prominence with their first hit single,”Somebody to Love”, from their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow.

With the addition of Slick’s former boyfriend Jerry Slick on drums and David Freiberg on bass and vocals after Spence’s departure in 1966, the Airplane released three more studio albums—After Bathing at Baxter’s (1967), Crown of Creation (1968), and Volunteers (1969)—and became a top concert attraction worldwide. Their 1967 record Surrealistic Pillow is regarded as one of the defining works of the counterculture psychedelic musical explosion of that era. Two songs from that album—”Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit”—were added to National Recording Registry in 2014 for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Why Psychedelic Rock is Important

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged during the mid-1960s. This genre is characterized by distorted guitars, drug-induced lyrics, and mind-bending sounds. Psychedelic rock is significant because it was a genre that pushed the boundaries of what was considered to be acceptable in rock music.

Influence on Other Genres

Psychedelic rock, with its distorted guitar sounds and elongated solos, was a major influence on subsequent genres such as hard rock and heavy metal.Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page was an admirer of psychedelic music, and he incorporated some of its elements into Led Zeppelin’s early repertoire. The Who’s Pete Townshend also acknowledged the influence of psychedelia, saying, “It opened my mind… I saw the possibilities in electric guitar playing which had not been explored before.”

Legacy

Psychedelic rock, sometimes called acid rock, began in the mid-1960s as a subgenre within rock music that taxed the limits of lyrical, vocal, and visual expression. In order to achieve sonic excess, artists frequently resorted to feedback, distortion, new sound effects, and other innovative studio techniques. Lyrics became more abstract, and musicians began to explore Eastern religions and philosophy as well as their own expanded consciousness. To enhance the aural and visual experience of their performances, many bands incorporated light shows and experimental film projections.

Psychedelic rock reached its commercial and critical peak with the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles in 1967. Other significant releases included the debut albums The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) by Pink Floyd and Are You Experienced? (1967) by Jimi Hendrix. The Doors’ self-titled debut album (1967), which featured the hit single “Light My Fire”, was also significant for its fusion of psychedelic rock with blues-based hard rock.

In the early 1970s, punk rock reacted against what it saw as the excesses of psychedelic rock. Nevertheless, many artists who had been associated with psychedelic rock continued to release commercially successful albums throughout the 1970s and beyond, including Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon, 1973; Wish You Were Here 1975), Led Zeppelin (Houses of the Holy 1973; Physical Graffiti 1975), Queen (A Night at the Opera 1975), Boston (Boston 1976), Genesis (Trick of the Tail 1976),and ELO (Mr. Blue Sky 1978). In subsequent decades, psychedelic rock was revitalised by new bands such as Spacemen 3 (Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To 1989) Spiritualized (Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space 1997) and Tame Impala (Innerspeaker 2010).