Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock
Contents
Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock is a compilation album of psychedelic rock music released in 2003.
The Psychedelic Rock Movement
Psychedelic rock, also known as acid rock, is a style of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The style is characterized by a distorted, trippy sound that often includes extended jams and improvisation. The psychedelic rock movement was inspired by psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, and the experience of altered states of consciousness.
The Origins of Psychedelic Rock
Psychedelic rock, also referred to as psychedelia, is a diverse style of rock music that was popularized in the 1960s. The genre is characterized by the use of mind-altering substances, such as LSD, mushrooms, and peyote, in order to experience visual and auditory hallucinations, synesthesia, and altered states of consciousness. Psychedelic rock often incorporates elements of other genres, such as folk music, electronica, and even classical music.
The origins of psychedelic rock can be traced back to the early 1950s with the birth of rock and roll. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a number of factors converged to create the perfect conditions for the emergence of psychedelia. These included the rise of youth culture and counterculture, the spread of mind-altering substances, and advances in technology that allowed for more experimental sounds.
Psychedelic rock reached its peak in the late 1960s with the release of classic albums such as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. However, by the early 1970s, the popularity of psychedelia began to wane as newer genres such as disco and punk rock emerged. Despite this, psychedelic rock has remained an influential force in popular music and has been revived numerous times over the ensuing decades.
The British Invasion
The British Invasion was a musical movement in the mid-1960s when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other parts of the world, including the United States, rose to prominence in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and other English-speaking countries.
The Beatles were the most commercially successful and influential band of the era. They popularized a number of musical styles that had previously been associated with American rock and roll, such as early British blues (done by them in a way that was different than what had been done by Americans), elements of 1960s pop music (such as jangly guitars), Indian classical music (as heard on “Norwegian Wood”), and folk music (such as on “Blackbird”). According to Billboard magazine, they were also responsible for ” ushering in” both surf music and baroque pop.
The Golden Age of Psychedelic Rock
Psychedelic rock, also called acid rock, or psyche rock, is a style of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The style is distinguished by a preoccupation with altered states of consciousness, often produced by extended improvisation, electronic effects, and studio experimentation. Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. In the early 1970s, it was increasingly incorporated into the hard rock genre.
The San Francisco Sound
The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Moby Grape,Country Joe and the Fish –the roster of psychedelic bands associated with San Francisco in the mid- to late 1960s reads like a who’s who of great American rock music. Along with New York’s Velvet Underground and Los Angeles’ Love, these bands pioneered a new sound that came to be known as psychedelic or acid rock.
San Francisco was already a hotbed of countercultural activity when the first wave of psychedelic bands began to emerge in the mid-1960s. The city’s Haight-Ashbury district was home to a large community of hippies, many of whom were drawn to the area by the liberating message of guitarist/singer Joan Baez and folk singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. The boundary-breaking music of these artists inspired many young people to pick up instruments and start their own bands.
By 1966, the San Francisco music scene was buzzing with excitement. Bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company were packing clubs like the Fillmore West and generating a lot of media attention. These bands became known for their extended improvisational jams, innovativestagecraft, and for their use of mind-altering substances like LSD.
The Summer of Love in 1967 further increased mainstream interest in all things psychedelic. Young people from all over America (and beyond) descended on San Francisco in an attempt to experience this new way of life for themselves. This influx proved to be both a blessing and a curse for the city’s musical community. Many established musicians found themselves playing to much larger audiences than they were used to, but this newfound success also led to increased scrutiny from government authorities and the media.
The party came to an abrupt end in early 1968 when police raided a house in Haight-Ashbury during a party hosted by members of the Grateful Dead. This event – known as “the bust” – signaled the beginning of the end for San Francisco’s psychedelic scene. Many musicians moved away from the city, while others turned inward towards more personal forms of expression such as country rock (Gram Parsons) or singer/songwriterism (Joni Mitchell). The era had come to an end, but its legacy would live on in the form of great music that continues to inspire new generations of listeners.
The Summer of Love
It was the summer of love, and for a brief, shining moment, it seemed that anything was possible and that the music reflecting those possibilities would never end. It all began in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, where young people from all over America had flocked in an attempt to create an alternative society based on love, peace, and communal living. The sound of the music emanating from the Haight – a style that would come to be known as psychedelic rock – mirrored the utopian dreams of its creators.
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Psychedelic rock was inspired by the mind-altering experiences brought on by psychoactive drugs such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. The genre often made use of distorted guitars, feedback, and sound effects to create a “trippy” or “acid trip”-like experience.
The Summer of Love refers to the summer of 1967, when an unprecedented number of young people converged on San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district in search of love, peace, and communal living. The Summer of Love was a watershed moment for psychedelic rock, as the music emanating from the Haight came to reflect the utopian dreams of its creators.
The Golden Age of Psychedelic Rock is generally considered to have lasted from 1966 to 1971. This was a time when psychedelic rock reached its artistic peak, with bands such as The Beatles, The Doors, and Pink Floyd creating some of the most timeless and influential music in history.
The Psychedelic Rock Revival
Psychedelic rock’s moment in the sun might have been the late 1960s, but the style’s impact has been felt in each succeeding decade. This is particularly true of the 21st century, where artists as diverse as Beck, Tame Impala, and Portugal. The Man have all found ways to turn on their minds and explore new sonic territory. In this article, we’ll look at some of the key players in the psychedelic rock revival.
The Neo-Psychedelia Movement
In the early-1980s, a new generation of musicians inspired by the original psychedelic era began to emerge. This new movement was dubbed “neo-psychedelia” and saw bands like The Flaming Lips, Spacemen 3, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre taking the sounds and spirit of ’60s psychedelia and bringing them into the modern age.
Today, neo-psychedelia is as popular as ever, with bands like Tame Impala, The Growlers, and Allah-Las carrying the torch for a new generation of music lovers. If you’re looking to explore this fascinating genre, we’ve put together a list of essential neo-psychedelic albums that are sure to blow your mind.
The Post-Punk and New Wave Movements
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of bands influenced by psychedelia emerged from the British post-punk and new wave movements. These included theCreation, whose song “Making Time” was included in the soundtrack to the 1967 film Blowup; Siouxsie and the Banshees, who combined elements of garage rock and psychedelia in songs such as “Hong Kong Garden”; Television, whose song “Marquee Moon” was described by musician Tom Verlaine as “psychedelic punk”; and the Psychedelic Furs, who combined elements of punk with psychedelic pop.
The Legacy of Psychedelic Rock
Psychedelic rock, also known as acid rock, is a style of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The style is characterized by a distorted, bluesy sound and lyrics that often deal with mental or emotional states. Psychedelic rock often makes use of extended guitar solos and improvised jams.
The Influence of Psychedelic Rock on Popular Music
Psychedelic rock, also referred to as simply psychedelic music or “psychedelia”, is a style of rock music that originated in the early to mid-1960s and experienced a peak of popularity between 1967 and 1969. The style is marked by highly distorted electric guitars, trippy sound effects, feedback, and use of audio editing techniques such as reverse tape loops and ring modulation. Psychedelic music often aim to replicate or enhance the experience of LSD, mushrooms, and other psychedelic drugs.
Psychedelic rock’s influence on popular music was vast, but not without its critics. Many artists who were influenced by psychedelia later disavowed the style, claiming that it was too self-indulgent and gimmicky. Nevertheless, the impact of psychedelic rock can be heard in everything from arena rock to punk; from glam to prog; from new wave to metal. Here are just some of the ways in which psychedelic rock has shaped popular music over the past four decades.
The Influence of Psychedelic Rock on Culture and Society
Psychedelic rock, also leave room for readers to find and explore new music on their own. At its core, psychedelic rock is based on the principle that music can be used as a tool for expanding consciousness. This view was first popularized in the West by Aldous Huxley in his book The Doors of Perception, which explored the use of hallucinogenic drugs as a means of achieving religious experiences.
Psychedelic music began to be made in the early 1960s, when artists like Bob Dylan and the Beatles began experimenting with mind-altering drugs like LSD. This new style of music quickly caught on with young people across America and Europe, who were drawn to its improvisational nature and trippy sound effects. By the end of the decade, psychedelic rock had become one of the most popular genres in the world, with artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Grateful Dead becoming household names.
Despite its widespread popularity, psychedelic rock was met with resistance from conservatives who saw it as a threat to traditional values. In 1967, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district became the epicenter of America’s counterculture movement, and LSD use became rampant. This led to a series of high-profile drug busts that effectively ended the psychedelic scene in San Francisco.
Despite this setback, psychedelic rock continued to evolve throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as artists like David Bowie and Pink Floyd experimented with electronic sounds and synthesizers. By the 1990s, the genre had splintered into many different subgenres, including space rock, stoner rock, neo-psychedelia, and post-psychedelia. While it is no longer as commercially successful as it once was, psychedelic rock remains an influential force in popular music today.
