Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom. It often used new recording techniques and effects and drew on non-Western sources such the ragas and drones of Indian music. Psychedelic rock bridged the transition from early blues- and folk music-based rock to progressive rock, glam rock, hard rock and as a result influenced the development of sub-genres such as heavy metal. Since the late 1970s it has been revived in various forms of neo-psychedelia.
Development in the USA
The San Francisco music scene continued to develop as the Fillmore, the Avalon Ballroom, and The Matrix
began booking local rock bands on a nightly basis. The first Trips
Festival, held at the Longshoremen's Hall in January 1966, saw The
Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company play to an
audience of 10,000, giving many their first encounter with both acid rock, with its long instrumentals and unstructured jams, and LSD.[23] Also from San Francisco, Blue Cheer played psychedelic-influenced rock in a blues-rock style.[24][25][26]
Although San Francisco was the centre of American psychedelic music
scene, many other American cities contributed significantly to the new
genre. Los Angeles boasted dozens of important psychedelic bands, beside The Byrds, these included Iron Butterfly, Love, Spirit, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, The United States of America, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and the Electric Prunes;[27] perhaps the most commercially successful were The Doors.[28] The Beach Boys concept album Pet Sounds
helped herald the psychedelia movement in America, with its artful
experiments, psychedelic lyrics based on emotional longings and
self-doubts, elaborate sound effects and new sounds on both conventional
and unconventional instruments.[29][30][31] New York City produced its share of psychedelic bands, such as folk pioneers The Fugs, The Godz, and Pearls Before Swine, beside the Blues Magoos, the Blues Project,[32] Lothar and the Hand People[33] and the blues influenced Vanilla Fudge.[34] The Detroit area gave rise to psychedelic bands the Amboy Dukes, and the SRC,[35] and Chicago produced H. P. Lovecraft.[36] Texas (particularly Austin) is often cited for its contributions to psychedelic music: beside the 13th Floor Elevators it produced acts including Bubble Puppy, Lost and Found, The Golden Dawn, The Zakary Thaks, and Red Crayola.[37]Frank Zappa and his group The Mothers of Invention began to incorporate psychedelic influences in their first two albums Freak Out! and Absolutely Free
Development in the UK
In the UK before 1967 media outlets for psychedelic culture were limited to stations like Radio Luxembourg and pirate radio like Radio London, particularly the programmes hosted by DJ John Peel.[39] The growth of underground culture was facilitated by the emergence of alternative weekly publications like IT (International Times) and OZ magazine
which featured psychedelic and progressive music together with the
counter culture lifestyle, which involved long hair, and the wearing of
wild shirts from shops like Mr Fish, Granny Takes a Trip and old military uniforms from Carnaby Street (Soho) and Kings Road (Chelsea) boutiques, Britain's hippies comported themselves in stark contrast to the slick, tailored Teddyboys or the drab, conventional dress of most teenagers prior to that.[40] Soon psychedelic rock clubs like the UFO Club in Tottenham Court Road, Middle Earth Club in Covent Garden, The Roundhouse
in Chalk Farm, the Country Club (Swiss Cottage) and the Art Lab (also
in Covent Garden) were drawing capacity audiences with psychedelic rock
and ground-breaking liquid light shows.[41]
British psychedelic rock, like its American counterpart, had roots in
the folk scene. Blues, drugs, jazz and eastern influences had featured
since 1964 in the work of Davy Graham and Bert Jansch.[42] However, the largest strand was a series of bands that emerged from 1966 from the British blues scene, but influenced by folk, jazz and psychedelia, including Pink Floyd, Traffic, Soft Machine, Cream, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience (led by an American, but initially produced and managed in Britain by Chas Chandler of The Animals).[22] The Crazy World of Arthur Brown added surreal theatrical touches to its dark psychedelic sounds, such as the singer's flaming headdress.[43] Existing British Invasion acts now joined the psychedelic revolution, including Eric Burdon (previously of The Animals), and The Small Faces and The Who whose The Who Sell Out (1967) included psychedelic influenced tracks "I Can See for Miles" and "Armenia City in the Sky".[44] The Rolling Stones had drug references and psychedelic hints in their 1966 singles "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Paint It, Black", the latter featuring drones and sitar.
Peak years
Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release the double A-side "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", opening a strain of British "pastoral"[45] or "nostalgic"[9] psychedelia, followed by the release of what is often seen as their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, including the controversial track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".[46] They continued the psychedelic theme later in the year with the EP Magical Mystery Tour and the number one single "Hello, Goodbye" with its B-side "I Am The Walrus".[47] Also enigmatic and surreal was one of the most influential records of 1967, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum, which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks.[48] The Rolling Stones responded to Sgt Pepper later in the year with Their Satanic Majesties Request, and Pink Floyd produced what is usually seen as their best psychedelic work The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.[9][49] In 1967 the Incredible String Band's The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion developed their folk music into full blown psychedelia.[50] From 1967 Fairport Convention
became a mainstay of the London Underground scene, producing their
eponymous first album of American-inspired folk rock the following year.
No comments:
Post a Comment