Briana TremblayJose Tejada

Bryanna Plastino-Brothers

Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired by the psychedelic culture. It attempts to replicate and/or enhance the effects of mind-altering drugs. Psychedelic rock has influenced other genres of music, such as heavy metal. It led to a turn and embrace of harsher music.

Major Bands/Artists-Pink Floyd-The Doors

-Janis Joplin-Jefferson Airplane

INTRODUCTION

The psychedelic life-style had developed in California in the mid 1960’s. Particularly in San Francisco because there was an underground LSD factory.

The style of the music was influenced by drugs such as LSD and marijuana. Listening to the music was supposed to take you on a “trip” similar to the effect of hallucinogenic drugs.

THE FACTS

-Longshoreman’s Hall in San Francisco invited bands to come play psychedelic influenced music.

-The first psychedelic rock single to reach the US top 10 in 1966 was “Psychotic Reaction” by Count Five, a band from San Jose, California.

-Pop music incorporated hippie fashions and instrument-altering sounds that were present in the psychedelic scene. Psychedelic rock went on to influence other genres of music such as heavy metal and progressive rock.

-Woodstock 1969 influenced the growth of psychedelic rock because psychedelic artists, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane played at the concert.

MORE FACTS

Woodstock 1969Pink Floyd was a popular psychedelic rock band.

The Doors played psychedelic rock music. Janis Joplin.

Psychedelic Rock attempts to enhance the effects of hallucinogenic drugs.

Pink FloydThe English rock band was founded in 1965.

Pink Floyd produced many psychedelic rock albums, but The Dark Side of the Moon is their most popular and iconic album.

They were regarded to as pioneers of live music and they were known for their lavish stage shows.

The group was originally made up of Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett. David Gilmour joined the band in December of 1967.

Psychedelic Rock declined by the end of the 1960’s, early 1970’s. LSD had been made illegal in the US and the UK in 1966. Charles Manson and his family of followers claimed to be inspired by The Beatles’ psychedelic songs when they murdered Sharon Tate, Leno LaBianca, and Rosemary LaBianca. Icons of the genre also passed away such as Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison (of The Doors), also passed away. Their deaths were all drug-related. These horrible events led to the decline of psychedelic rock.

The Decline of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock influenced current music because it was the first genre to introduce the synthesizing instruments and voices and experimenting with new types of instruments. In current music, you hear a lot of auto-tuning and computer-generated instruments which was influenced by psychedelic rock. It also built the bridge to harsher music, such as heavy metal, which became very popular in the 1980’s.

BIBLIOGRAPHY-Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_rock. 2001. 12/5/12.

-Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd. 2001. 12/7/12.

-New World Encyclopedia. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Psychedelic_rock. 2011. 12/6/12.