Features:
Electric guitars with effects such as feedback, phaser and wah wah
Studio effects such as panning, backwards tapes etc
Non-traditional rock instrumentations such as sitars
Strong keyboard arrangements
Extended instrumentals, jamming and solo's
Complex musical structures
Primitive synthesizers or theremins
Surreal, drug influenced lyrics
Origins:
Psychedelic Rock had its origins in Jazz and Blues where musicians from the Folk and Rock scenes were influenced to take drugs, also literary figures from the Beat Generation like Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouack along with people who encouraged "mind expansion" such as Timothy Leary. The First group to call themselves Psychedelic Rock were 13th Floor Elevators and the genre was mentioned in print for the first in 1966 in Austin American Statesman.
When Bob Dylan introduced The Beatles to cannabis in the mid-sixties they soon began experimenting with LSD and on their album Rubber Soul had a sitar on Norweigan Wood and explicit drug references on Tomorrow Never Knows".
Peak:
In 1967 at the height of the Summer of Love The Beatles released Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band which was highly influential with its production and songwriting, the same year The Rolling Stones released their answer to Sgt. Pepper with Their Satanic Magesties Request which, along with Pink Floyds seminal Piper at the Gates of Dawn, both were highly influential to he later development of "Space Rock" with tracks like Astronome Domine and 2000 Light Years From Home. Jimi Hendrix released two albums that year Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold as Love that showed a more heavier side and an increasing experimentalism in the music scene, which pointed the way towards the later Heavy Metal genre. The Who also released a Psychedelic album "The Who Sell Out" with songs like "I Can See For Miles". In America the Doors had a hit with Light My Fire and their 2nd album "Strange Days" though not as successful showed a more darker side to the movement, not in touch with the Flower Power of the day. Also in the States, were the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention with the albums Anthem of the Sun and Absolutely Free respectedly, however the most important US Psychedelic album was Pet Sounds by The Beach Boy's which without that, the Beatles would never have released Sgt Pepper. The festivals at Monterey and Woodstock showed the absolute peak of the Hippy Movement and Psychedelic Rock in general, however things soon began to change.
The End:
Bob Dylan would later release the albums Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and Nashville Skyline which pointed towards a "back to basics" sound, this was followed by The Birds, who had been known for their Psychedelic songs like "Eight Miles High" released more Country influenced music, and later bands like The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival and even The Beatles starting with "The Beatles" and ending with "Let it Be" the Rolling Stones also returned to their Blues roots with Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Mainstreet.
Influence:
Despite it's decline, Psychedelic Rock influenced the Progressive Rock movement, with Pink Floyd, members of Yes finding huge success with ths brand of rock, and it also heavily influenced Heavy Metal. A later revival in the 1970s/80s with bands like XTC who had a side project the Dukes of Stratosphere, Spacemen 3 and the probably the most successful, The Flaming Lips. It's influence can be found even in bands like Blur and Oasis, and in later 21st Century bands like MGMT.
Electric guitars with effects such as feedback, phaser and wah wah
Studio effects such as panning, backwards tapes etc
Non-traditional rock instrumentations such as sitars
Strong keyboard arrangements
Extended instrumentals, jamming and solo's
Complex musical structures
Primitive synthesizers or theremins
Surreal, drug influenced lyrics
Origins:
Psychedelic Rock had its origins in Jazz and Blues where musicians from the Folk and Rock scenes were influenced to take drugs, also literary figures from the Beat Generation like Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouack along with people who encouraged "mind expansion" such as Timothy Leary. The First group to call themselves Psychedelic Rock were 13th Floor Elevators and the genre was mentioned in print for the first in 1966 in Austin American Statesman.
When Bob Dylan introduced The Beatles to cannabis in the mid-sixties they soon began experimenting with LSD and on their album Rubber Soul had a sitar on Norweigan Wood and explicit drug references on Tomorrow Never Knows".
Peak:
In 1967 at the height of the Summer of Love The Beatles released Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band which was highly influential with its production and songwriting, the same year The Rolling Stones released their answer to Sgt. Pepper with Their Satanic Magesties Request which, along with Pink Floyds seminal Piper at the Gates of Dawn, both were highly influential to he later development of "Space Rock" with tracks like Astronome Domine and 2000 Light Years From Home. Jimi Hendrix released two albums that year Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold as Love that showed a more heavier side and an increasing experimentalism in the music scene, which pointed the way towards the later Heavy Metal genre. The Who also released a Psychedelic album "The Who Sell Out" with songs like "I Can See For Miles". In America the Doors had a hit with Light My Fire and their 2nd album "Strange Days" though not as successful showed a more darker side to the movement, not in touch with the Flower Power of the day. Also in the States, were the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention with the albums Anthem of the Sun and Absolutely Free respectedly, however the most important US Psychedelic album was Pet Sounds by The Beach Boy's which without that, the Beatles would never have released Sgt Pepper. The festivals at Monterey and Woodstock showed the absolute peak of the Hippy Movement and Psychedelic Rock in general, however things soon began to change.
The End:
Bob Dylan would later release the albums Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and Nashville Skyline which pointed towards a "back to basics" sound, this was followed by The Birds, who had been known for their Psychedelic songs like "Eight Miles High" released more Country influenced music, and later bands like The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival and even The Beatles starting with "The Beatles" and ending with "Let it Be" the Rolling Stones also returned to their Blues roots with Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Mainstreet.
Influence:
Despite it's decline, Psychedelic Rock influenced the Progressive Rock movement, with Pink Floyd, members of Yes finding huge success with ths brand of rock, and it also heavily influenced Heavy Metal. A later revival in the 1970s/80s with bands like XTC who had a side project the Dukes of Stratosphere, Spacemen 3 and the probably the most successful, The Flaming Lips. It's influence can be found even in bands like Blur and Oasis, and in later 21st Century bands like MGMT.
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