What City Was the Focal Point of Psychedelic Rock Music?

The Psychedelic Rock music scene of the late 1960’s was centered in San Francisco.

San Francisco

Psychedelic rock, sometimes called just psychedelia, emerged in the mid-’60s and reached the height of its popularity in the ’60s and ’70s. The genre is characterized by distorted guitars, trippy sounds, and mind-bending lyrics. The birthplace of psychedelic rock is often considered to be San Francisco.

The Summer of Love

The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions and behaviors, converged in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Although hippies also gathered in many other places in the U.S., Canada and Europe, San Francisco was at that time the most publicized location for thevery latest in hippie fashion, music and drug use. The Summer of Love became a defining moment of the 1960s, exemplifying the counterculture’s values and experimentation.

The Haight-Ashbury Scene

The Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco was the epicenter of psychedelic rock in the 1960s. The neighborhood was a magnet for young people from all over the country who came in search of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The music scene in Haight-Ashbury was defined by bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin. The summer of 1967, known as the “Summer of Love,” was when the hippie movement reached its peak. Despite its reputation as a haven for debauchery, the Haight-Ashbury scene was also responsible for some of the most influential music of the 20th century.

Los Angeles

Psychedelic rock music flourished in the city of Los Angeles in the late 1960s. The city was the perfect breeding ground for this type of music with its laid back lifestyle and its many clubs and concert venues. The music scene in Los Angeles was also very diverse which allowed for the psychedelic rock genre to thrive.

The Sunset Strip

The Sunset Strip is the name for the mile-and-a-half (2.4 km) stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It is known for its concentration of nightclubs, restaurants, rock music venues, and array of huge, colorful billboards. The Strip is also home to many of the most popular tourist attractions in Los Angeles, including the Hollywood Sign, Universal Studios Hollywood, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium, and the TCL Chinese Theatre.

The Doors

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. Psychedelic rock is often centered around a distorted electric guitar sound, used to produce a “wall of sound” and to give the listener the feeling of being under the influence of powerful psychoactive drugs. The style often incorporates Indian and Eastern influences, such as sitars and tablas.

The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were one of the most popular and influential bands of their era, and are best known for their 1967 album Strange Days, which included the hit singles “People Are Strange” and “Light My Fire”.

New York City

The mid-to-late 1960s saw the counterculture movement in full swing, and Psychedelic Rock music was at the forefront. New York City was the epicenter for this style of music, with bands like The Velvet Underground, The Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane performing in clubs like The Fillmore East. The music scene in NYC was unlike anything that had come before, and it set the stage for the Psychedelic Rock explosion of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The East Village

Psychedelic rock, also referred to as psychedelia, is a style of rock music characterized by distorted melodies, rhythms, and vocals, and experimentation with sound effects and feedback. It emerged in the mid-1960s as artists began to experiment with psychoactive drugs such as LSD. The East Village was the center of the psychedelic rock music scene in New York City during the 1960s.

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground was a rock band formed in New York City in 1964 by Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Angus MacLise. The band was initially active until 1973 and is widely considered one of the most important and influential groups of the era. They were nicknamed “the house band of the counterculture” and their music dealt with topics like drugs, prostitution and sexual deviancy. The Velvet Underground’s unique sound and experimental approach to songwriting would go on to inspire generations of musicians.