Origin and Evolution of Psychedelic Music
The origin of Psychedelic music dates back to the 1960s. Following the discovery of LSD in 1930s, also known as the catalyst for psychedelic culture, the use of drugs to ‘alter the state of consciousness’ became a common practice. However, despite the use of psychedelic drugs being a part of the popular culture, many people did not support the idea of drug intake. Hence, other forms of art including music, adopted the psychedelic culture to become a part of the popular culture of 1960s.
It is evident in the history that the 1960s was the era of “The Hippie Movement”. Although, this movement had its roots in the social movements of the 19th century Europe, it was a new wave of social recognition and rebel against system and norms of society. The fundamental idea of this movement was to create and follow the “Counterculture”, hence gaining the title of “Counterculture of the 1960s”. The protest and rebellion towards the standard culture of 1960s revolved around the phenomenon of ‘experimentation’ and ‘freedom’ regarding social norms and living standards. This idea of experimentation was also expressed in the form of art and music. As the use of psychedelic drugs had generally become popular in that era, it widely became a source of expression of freedom for the hippie movement as well. As the result of experimentation, rebellion and expression of social power, the Psychedelic music was born. Undoubtedly, the Psychedelic music might have been influenced by the drug use, but on a bigger perspective, the drug intake was itself a form of protest in the 1960s. Consequently, it would not be completely deceitful to claim that the Psychedelic music was the product of the inception of a new culture.
In present, the main purpose of this Psychedelic music is to create the state of ‘trance’ or ‘rapture’ with intense and high notes of music to alter the state of human consciousness. For those who do not agree with the idea of drug intake, the goal is to create the effects of drugs without the actual use of drugs. At the beginning, many rock artists started composing records of psychedelic nature and soon psychedelic-rock became a popular genre in 1960s. Summer of Love, John Lennon, The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones were the most famous musicians and bands that introduced psychedelia into the rock music.
The obsession with psychedelia was far spreading and by the 1970s other genres of music also got infused with the wave of psychedelic culture. As a result, multiple sub-genres of Psychedelic music kept emerging including; psychedelic pop, psychedelic funk, psychedelic soul, chillwave, hypnagogic pop and many other standard genres imbued with the traces of psychedelia.
On the other hand, science had been studying Psychedelic drugs over the years and contrary to the popular belief, the Psychedelic drugs are not completely innocuous. The abuse of such drugs can cause a negative impact on the human body. Beside some severe physiological harm, research claims that these drugs can cause some extreme psychological disorders, such as; Addiction, Toxic Psychosis and Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, to name a few. Nevertheless, some researches justify the use of such drugs given that the use in limited and controlled.
The duality of beliefs among researchers and biologists leads to the dilemma concerning the use of these drugs. As a result, many people continually try to find the replacements or alternative methods to alter their consciousness. These methods include; meditation, art and music. This rising obsession with psychedelia, in turn, invokes the rise of psychedelic music and gives birth to even more sub-genres.
In the 1990s the electronic music was also impacted by the psychedelic culture which resulted in the inception of Psychedelic Trance, Acid Techno, Acid house and Rave genres of music. Irrespective of other genres, the Psychedelic rock or Psych-rock was the most prominent genre of psychedelic music until the end of 20th century.
In the 21st century, ‘Neo-hippies’-the descendants of 1960s hippies, introduced new forms of arts and music still following the phenomenon of counterculture. Most musical bands of this era are eccentric and fusions of more than one genre. A 2005 rock band, “The War on Drugs”, for instance, is a combination of neo-psychedelia, indie rock, heartland rock and Americana. Another emerging band “Revolushn” found in 2014, is a fusion of psychedelic rock and hard rock. The band perfectly portrays its influence of the rebellious and unconventional music of 1960s. However, it manages to maintain the balance by incorporating the more conventional form of hard rock music into its new album called “Further”.
The music of this generation has evolved into multiple genres to the point where it get confusing and hard to discriminate. However, the fusion of different genres of music is undoubtedly fascinating and serves a greater cause of freedom of expression and experimentation to this day.