Several musical movements are associated either directly or indirectly with a specific recreational drug or drugs; psychedelic rock went a step further, and was practically borne out of LSD or acid, as well as other hallucinogens including peyote, mescaline and even marijuana. Much psychedelic rock attempts to recreate the mind expanding and awareness-enlarging sensations of an acid trip ...
to experiment with less familiar concepts and instruments. In the 1960s, German bands Neu, Can and Faust, as well as seminal US outfit The Velvet Underground and psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream, fused conventional rock instruments with sound effects, tapes and synthesizers, questioning and changing the nature of the ‘traditional’ band. By the ...
, many record buyers regarded pop as a tame and dated form of escapism for oldies and prepubescent teens. Rock, by comparison, diverted some of its listeners through psychedelic, acid-drenched terrain, yet it also provided a heavy dose of realism, serving as an introspective outlet for a growing number of composer-performers, while expressing the concerns ...
Lateralus (2001) and 10,000 Days (2006) took the band in not so easily classifiable directions that have been described as art rock, alternative metal, progressive metal and psychedelic metal. The use of unpredictable time signatures, of which ‘Schism’ from Lateralus is a prime example, and their commitment to experimentation, have resulted in Tool being hailed ...
Louisiana and Texas, reaching mostly black audiences. He crossed over to the mainstream in the late 1960s, when he moved to California and was adopted by San Francisco’s psychedelic rock scene. Nonetheless, he achieved his greatest popularity after signing with Chicago-based Alligator Records in 1978, playing the Montreux Jazz Festival and winning a Grammy for 1985’s Showdown ...
saxophonist John Coltrane, whose ‘sheets of sound’ approach would have a profound and lasting effect on the guitarist. Holdsworth’s first professional recording came in 1969, with a mildly psychedelic jazz-pop outing titled ’Igginbottom’s Wrench, on which Holdsworth was already developing many of what would become his signature phrasing and improvisational tools. He then spent time in the Cream-inspired ...
soul and R&B outfit that became a regular fixture on London’s Soho scene. In 1967 the band changed its name to Dantalion’s Chariot, and its sound to a more psychedelic one, in accord with the changing musical landscape of the era. He would also play with Soft Machine and in a revamped version of The Animals during this time. ...
with Norman Whitfield included ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, and led Motown’s forays into more socially aware territory with hits like Edwin Starr’s ‘War’ and many of The Temptations’ psychedelic soul outings. Strong won a 1972 Grammy for their ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’, but quit Motown when they abandoned Detroit for LA that year. Styles & Forms | Sixties ...
and fiery soloing, created on his 1959 Gibson Les Paul, named ‘Miss Pearly Gates’. Gibbons grew up in Houston, Texas. In the 1960s, he formed the psychedelic group The Moving Sidewalks, which recorded Flash (1968), and opened for the Jimi Hendrix Experience during the Texas leg of Hendrix’s first American tour. He formed ZZ Top in ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1965–70) One of the more doctrinal psychedelic groups that flourished in flower-power San Francisco featured Country Joe McDonald (vocals) and Barry ‘Fish’ Melton (guitar). Both Electric Music For The Mind And Body and Together made the US album Top 40, and ‘I Feel Like I’m Fixing To Die Rag’ was taken up as an anti-Vietnam war anthem. ...
, on Dr. John’s Gumbo, he garnered more attention by interpreting New Orleans standards, including ‘Iko Iko’ and ‘Junko Partner’, which had wider public appeal than his prior psychedelic fusions. The following year he broke out on to the mass market with an unlikely hit; on ‘Right Place, Wrong Time’, Dr. John was backed by the Meters, ...
years, Clapton favoured Gibson guitars, starting with a Les Paul Sunburst, and followed by a Gibson Firebird, a Gibson ES-335 and a Gibson SG (painted in psychedelic colours), before moving to Fender Stratocasters in 1969. His most famous Stratocaster, ‘Blackie’, was sold at auction for $959,500 in 2004 to raise money for his Crossroads Centre ...
1965 when he first encountered Rossi. The pair struck up a friendship and Parfitt was invited to join Status Quo as rhythm guitarist to Rossi’s lead shortly before the fashionably psychedelic ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’ became their first British (and only American) hit early in 1968. Two years later, the single ‘Down The Dustpipe’ heralded an abrupt change of direction ...
1967 American Top 20 single ‘(I Wanna) Testify’. Contractual difficulties over the group’s name prompted Clinton to record with The Parliaments’ backing band, newly christened Funkadelic to reflect their psychedelic side. Clinton then set up the collective of musicians that operated under the banner of Parliament/Funkadelic in the 1970s. Onstage, as lead singer of Parliament, Clinton was a ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1969–78, 1979–present) Purveyors of space rock since the late 1960s, Hawkwind were formed in the hippy community of London’s Ladbroke Grove. The band’s line-up has rarely remained stable for long but at the time of the surprise UK No. 3 ‘Silver Machine’ in 1972, the core members were ever-present founder Dave Brock (guitar, vocals), ...
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