Psychedelic Rock could well be the main genre in Rock history. Bred from the 1960’s counterculture aimed at taking psychedelic drugs in order to experience a heightened a sense reality through distortions, vibrations, vivid colorizations and lucid dreaming, the culture attempted to replicate LSD effects through vibrant pictures and sounds.
Psychedelic Rock is seen as a heavily effected instrumentation. Reverb echoes incessantly, tremolo takes the place of standard lead guitar lines, while distortion buzzes throughout. Lyrics attempted to relay visions and feelings produced through these cosmic inner journeys.
The sound was pioneered through the Beatles, introduced up by such bands because the Yardbirds, Cream, Pink Floyd and also the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The group primarily attributed to inventing the word Psychedelic Rock could be the Austin, TX based The 13th Floor Elevators.
The movement hit its peak with all the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, all eventually climaxing in 1969 at Woodstock, where psychedelic acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Santana played.
Several events contributed to the loss of availability of Psychedelic Rock. LSD had been declared illegal, the link between Sharon Tate’s murder by Charles Manson as well as the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” led to a “hippie backlash”. “Acid casualties”, or people negatively impacted by hallucinogens and medicines generally speaking, became posters for avoiding psychedelic experiences: Syd Barrett’s insanity, the deaths of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin led to a more raw “back to basics” trend in Rock.
However, due to the good thing about Psychedelic Rock, new genres appeared to be formed, including Progressive Rock and high Metal. Musicians who grew up playing Psychedelia still wanted to take aspects of the movement, and included a common aspects within their respective sounds.
From the late 1970’s, bands primarily in the Post-Punk scene strived to recover Psychedelia, blending the distortions, reverb and phaser (et al) together with the upbeat dance beats of recent Wave. Bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Echo along with the Bunnymen, The Soft Boys, as well as the Church utilized the 60’s nuances to full 80’s effect.Hence, Neo-Psychedelia was.
The popularity of these bands bled to the 90’s, using the Shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine along with the Jesus of Mary Chain carrying over from the 80’s, the emergence from the Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols, and also the Electric 6 Collective like the Apples in Stereo, of Montreal, and Neutral Milk Hotel. Neo-Psychedelia can basically be summed up as any form of music incorporating Psychedelic elements within its songs.
True Psychedelic Rock is untouchable, having ended together with the decline from the counterculture. If someone were to write original songs in the Psychedelic Rock style those songs would be Neo-Psychedelic.
Psychedelic Music was so powerful rolling around in its statement, primarily through its commitment of experiencing heightened art, which it will continue to dominate our musical trends today. And i am prepared to bet that it will never fizzle out entirely.
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