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Psychedelic rock

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A term which describes much music of the 1960s (and later) which is creatively oriented towards the use of mind affecting drugs such as mescaline and LSD. In the USA the term psychotic is also attached to this style of pop music.

In the United States, this sound was particularly characteristic of the West Coast sound, with bands such as the Grateful Dead, Vanilla Fudge, Tommy James and the Shondells and Jefferson Airplane in the vanguard. There were also less well known psychedelic bands in outlying regions, such as the 13th Floor Elevators and Bubble Puppy working out of Texas.

In Great Britain, although the psychedelic revolution occurred later, the impact was nonetheless profound within the British music scene. Established artists such as Eric Burdon, The Who and The Beatles produced a number of highly psychedelic tunes. In the case of the Beatles, this was especially the case on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album (which contains the track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", the initials of which spell out LSD, although this is apparently a coincidence). They also released "Blue Jay Way", another pschedelic tune, on an EP. However, neither The Animals, Beatles nor The Who could be classified as a psychedelic band. The music of Cream and of early Pink Floyd is much more representative of British psychedelia. Independent record producer Joe Meek has been credited with inventing the phasing sound publicised most notably on the first UK hit of the band Status Quo entitled "Pictures of Matchstick Men" but also heard on hits such as Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play", the Lemon Pipers' "Green Tamborine" and Hawkwind's "Silver Machine". "I Can See for Miles" and "Pictures of Lilly" by the Who, "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles and "We Love You" by the Rolling Stones are arguably the best examples of English psychedelic pop.

Recently the group Kula Shaker under Crispian Mills, created much Indian-influenced psychedelic music such as their most recent album 'Peasants, pigs and Astronauts'.

British band Anomie are standard-bearers for British garage psychedelia, citing Pink Floyd and Hawkwind as their musical influences. Some music now termed "ambient" or "trance" would have fallen within the category of psychedelia in the 1966 to 1990 period. Stoner rock acts like Kyuss and their successors also carry forward the flag of explicitly psychedelic music into the present day.

List of musicians associated with psychedelic music:


See also:

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