Seeing Sounds and Listening Colors: A Short Introduction to Psychedelic Rock
by Joshua D.S. Girsang for Le Citoyen
Psychedelic rock is a genre of music that grew popular back in the late 1960s. It grew so popular that it created waves of hippies that followed and lived a new kind of lifestyle that derived from psychedelic rock music/bands.
Psychedelic rock has some unique characteristics in terms of song structure, lyrics, instruments, and much more unique elements that produces a so-called “psychedelic” sound. It often uses soft and meaningful lyrics, heartwarming solos and complex melodies and song structures. They make use of electric guitars, keyboard, especially mellotron, organs, and harpsichords. They also make use of studio effects such as the backward tapes, planning and phasing and they associate their music with ‘non-western’ style and Indian Music. Plenty of people still associate psychedelic music with the usage of narcotics, psychotropics, or substances to that effect; this sort of opinion comes with the thought of the musicians intending to express mind-altering experiences with hallucinogenic drugs through their music and lyrics. Perhaps under the influence of such drugs for example ‘LSD’ (Lysergic acid diethylamide), cannabis, and other hallucinogenic drugs, these musicians were able to create music that were truly powerful and influential. *Nevertheless*, psychedelic music is still, to my opinion, truly enjoyable even without a dose of said drugs.
The musical movement started in 1965 when a youth of counterculture had begun to emerge, following up the ‘public-service’ type generations in the time of the Golden Generation of World War II, most likely, in the American sense of things, in a wide counter-movement to the escalation of the Vietnam War. These young people began experimenting in the usage of drugs such as marijuana, psilocybin, and LSD. It was a little over a decade since the term “rock and roll” was coined, when a band named 13th Floor Elevators emerged on the Austin (Austin, Texas?) music scene. A year later, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators was released, its liner notes and album art explicitly advocating the use of LSD as a means of freeing the soul and expanding the mind. 13th Floor members Roky Erickson, referred to as the “godfather of psychedelic rock” and Tommy Hall were credited with coining the term “psychedelic rock”. Hall’s use of the electric jug in particular is a key element of reproducing the feel of an acid trip in music, emulating a bending of reality and a trance-like state. The lyrics also incite a distant, out-of-body feeling, from lyrics about “liquid distant castles” to “living on monkey island.”
Another pioneering album that brought out psychedelic rock to a whole other surface in society was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club by The Beatles. The idea of Sgt. Pepper came from Paul McCartney when he suggested that the Beatles should record an entire album that would represent a performance by the fictional band. This alter ego group would give them the freedom to experiment musically. He explained: “I thought, let’s not be ourselves. Let’s develop alter egos.” and thus, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club emerged.
Last but not least, one of the most influential psychedelic bands are Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett, lead singer and composer of early Pink Floyd, enthusiastically pursued the acid rock ethics of musical exploration and experimentation on his band’s first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967), which later tragically collapsed him into a troubled and schizophrenic mental state. As an ode to troubled Syd Barrett that was eventually removed from the band and replaced by David Gilmour, Pink Floyd created The Dark Side of the Moon. The Dark Side of the Moon contains themes of greed, conflict, time, and puts a spotlight focus on mental illness. The album is about how these ideas of greed, conflict and time can cause mental instability/madness. The album also includes ideas on death and the multiple stages of life (the album begins and ends with the sounds of heartbeats). With its unique and eccentric characteristics in tones, musical elements, song structures, and beautifully-writen lyrics, The Dark Side of the Moon earned its place as one of the most influential conceptual albums of all time.
While few psychedelic bands lasted longer than one or two albums, the impact of the genre was huge, revolutionizing fashion, poster art, and live performance. It also greatly influenced offshoots like heavy metal, art rock (many progressive and art rock bands grew out of psychedelic groups — e.g., Emerson, Lake and Palmer from the Nice), Kraut-rock (the experimental electronic music by German bands such as Can, Neu!, and Tangerine Dream), and the space-age funk of Parliament-Funkadelic (which, along with Jimi Hendrix, proved to be a key connection between black funk and psychedelia). Moreover, psychedelic rock’s influence was evident in later genres, from punk to rap to trip-hop, a 1990s mixture of hip-hop and contemporary psychedelia.
In the mid-2000s, there were several breakthroughs that came into the mainstream with hits such as “Electric Feel” by MGMT and “Do You Realize??” by the Flaming Lips. As the indie scene began to take on a particularly large role with youth in 2010-onward, so did psychedelic and its influences. Today, we see the development of subgenres like acid house and trance music developing from the once again rising psychedelic rock scene. Many musicians like Mac DeMarco and Tame Impala uses elements of psychedelic music in their own ways to create modern and unique style of music. Whether a lifelong fans or a listeners, perhaps it’s time to give psychedelic music a shot to listen to.
