The Origin of Psychedelic Rocks Musical Traits
Psychedelic Rock was developed in the United States during the 1960’s, and the musical traits of the genre can be linked to certain social and contextual factors. Turmoil caused by the Counterculture movement and Vietnam War, as well as the mass consumption of marijuana and LSD in California are examples. These factors helped build a demographic of young adults who were resisting societal norms, and these young adults became the fanbase of Psychedelic Rock. Not only did these factors help Psychedelic Rock develop, but they also impacted specific traits of the music. For example, the unique dissonant tones and high dynamics can be linked to the civil unrest felt by young adults due to the Vietnam War. A specific example of this can be seen during Woodstock in 1969, where Jimi Hendrix performed his version of “The Star Spangled Banner” using an electric guitar and excess distortion.
David Szatmary, author of “Rockin’ in Time”, wrote a section of the book about the rise of LSD in the Haight-Ashbury area. He goes on to explain where it originated from as well as the drugs impact on the society around them. The word psychedelic is defined as relating too or denoting drugs that produce hallucinations and apparent expansions of consciousness. Like the definition, psychedelic rock also has ties to mind expanding drugs, especially LSD and marijuana. And the fanbase for psychedelic rock had a strong following in the Haight-Ashbury district of California. Where the flower children were colonized under the guru of LSD, Timothy Leary, who claimed that everyone should be using the drugs. Many young people in the Haight-Ashbury district took Leary’s words to heart, “In 1966, an official from the Food and Drug Administration estimated that more than 10 percent of all college students had ingested LSD and more than 90 percent of youths in the Haight had taken the drug” (Szatmary 2014) . The mass consumption of LSD can be tied to chemist Augustus Owsley Stanley III, it was estimated that Owsley produced and distributed close to 15 million tabs of LSD during the birth of psychedelic rock. While someone is under the influence of LSD or marijuana, the bodies reaction includes intensified feelings and sensory experiences as well as possible hallucinations. For example colors would appear to be brighter and sounds would be sharper. These heightened senses caused the evolution of Psychedelic rocks high dynamics. The high dynamics were very favorable among the genre’s fanbase because the drugs made the music sound better and helped emulate hallucinations similar to that of an LSD trip, only with music. The drugs created a new kind of preference in the sound level, the louder the music the better as far as the fans were concerned.
The Vietnam War is another example of a factor that influenced the traits of Psychedelic Rock. The Vietnam War started off as popular among the American people but as the 1960’s progressed, disapproval for the war increased. This is because Vietnam was the first war to be broadcasted on television back in the United States. After seeing the gruesome reality that is war, the American people began expressing their dislikes through protest and by spreading the idea of peace. Musicians who were against the war similarly took up arms, except they created a genre of music that they would use as their form of protest. This leads to the Woodstock music festival of 1969, whose slogan was “Three days of peace and music”. At the music festival, several thousand fans appeared to cheer on their favorite musicians as well spread the support of peace and distaste for the war. Jimi Hendrix performed on the last day of Woodstock by performing his version of the “Star Spangled Banner”. Alexander Hopkins, author for the Inquiries Journal, wrote an exceptional article about protest rock music during the time of the Vietnam War. He goes in depth about the effects of multiple musicians including Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin. However his focus on Jimi Hendrix and his Woodstock performance was crucial. During his performance, “Hendrix manipulated his guitar’s sound by employing distortion and whammy-bar techniques. The end result was a remarkably realistic imitation of several war sounds, including machine gunfire and explosions” (Hopkins 2012). The distortion that Hendrix used during his performance is an example of how the Vietnam War affected the dissonance of the song. In order to express his distaste for the war, Hendrix had to create a lot of tension using his guitar. And by recreating similar sounds that can be heard in context with war, while performing the American National anthem, Hendrix achieved his goal of expressing his distaste of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. He used two very different approaches when performing at Woodstock. His choice of using two different techniques during his performing has a deeper meaning than just the sound. The heavy electric guitar style paired with its opposite of lighter melody playing represent two clashing ideals coming together in harmony. In one hand you have the patriotic approach to Vietnam, and in the other you have the liberating sound of protest against the war. He took these two polar opposites and put them together, to achieve a performance that represented the turmoil caused by the Vietnam War. Another aspect of the performance that is often looked over, is the racial divide that Hendrix was able to cross via his performance. Even though up until Woodstock Hendrix played with white band members, appealing to a vastly white audience. Hendrix chose to perform with an all black band known as the “Band of Gypsies” for the purpose of conveying his message at Woodstock. Black or white, at the end of the day we are all Americans. And this crossing of the racial divide can be represented by the American National Anthem, which the majority of Americans grew up singing, black or white.
The Counterculture movement became popularized during the 1960’s as a reaction to the Vietnam War. The members of the Counterculture movement were mainly young adults who opposed societal norms as well as the Vietnam War. They promoted the idea of peace, love, and drugs rather than the idea of fighting and war. Psychedelic rock was the music of choice for this movement and the two went hand in hand. The counterculture was a movement of coming together or harmonizing of young adults who had the same opinion about an issue. Melisa Kidari, the author of “The Counterculture of the 1960s in the United States: An “Alternative Consciousness”?”, writes about the impact of the Counterculture movement as well as its development in the United States. She writes, “Indeed, what they wanted was to annihilate the mental frame that governed life in the US and live in the now, in harmony with their body’s needs, desire, and with nature” (Kidari 2012). This idea of harmony also impacted the musical trait of harmony in Psychedelic rock. An example can be seen in the multiple layers used perfectly in Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”. The song features three distinct layers, an electric guitar, a bass guitar, and a drummer. In the Counterculture movement, a multitude of people came together to achieve a certain goal. Similarly in the song “Purple Haze”, these three layers of instruments harmonize properly and increase the effectiveness of one another. While Hendrix on the lead electric guitar claims the songs spotlight, the other two layers are nonetheless important in achieving the songs harmonic quality. This can be linked back to the Counterculture movement because like the electric guitar in “Purple Haze”, some particular individuals in the movement were more prominent and recognized such as Allen Ginsburg along with his fellow Beats. However if it was not for the harmony created by the entirety of every member in the Counterculture movement, the likelihood of the movements success would be dismal. That is how the Counterculture movement impacted the harmony in the song “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix.
Psychedelic Rock has roots in California where the majority of members from the Counterculture movement call home. The young adults who were involved in the movement came together to promote the idea of peace in protest to the ongoing Vietnam War during the 1960’s. The Counterculture movement and Vietnam War, as well as the mass consumption of marijuana and LSD in California are examples of factors that impacted musical traits of Psychedelic Rock. The traits that were influenced include harmony, dissonance, and dynamic. The examples of these influences can be seen in Jimi Hendrix’s performance of “Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock, as well as in his recording of the song “Purple Haze”.
Work’s Cited
Hopkins, Alexander E. 2012. Protest and Rock n’ Roll During the Vietnam War. Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 4 (11), http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=713
Kidari, Mélisa. 2012. The Counterculture of the 1960s in the United States: An ”Alternative Consciousness”?. Literature. 2012. ffdumas-00930240f
Szatmary, David P. 2013. Rockin’ in time: a social history of rock-and-roll.
