Overview
Objectives
- Identify three different intersections of psychedelic rock with other genres of music
- Recall how Jefferson Airplane created a radio-friendly hybrid of folk rock and psychedelic rock
- Recall how Cream integrated psychedelic effects into their blues revival style
- Examine how Jimi Hendrix combined psychedelia, blues, and experimental techniques and effects in his recordings and in his live performances
Introduction
Participants in the countercultural movements of the 1960s were sought to increase their consciousness with music, philosophy, religion, and drugs. Artists such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys shifted from three-minute long popular song formulas toward longer, more experimental music. They incorporated new and experimental instruments and technologies in their recordings. In particular, with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles began focusing less on individual singles on more on an album as a complete musical statement.
In this lesson, we will consider other styles and recordings of psychedelic rock from the late 1960s. As psychedelia and LSD became more popular, many artists began experimenting with psychedelic sounds and effects in their music. Often, the result was a hybrid of psychedelic effects with an existing type of rock music.
"The Human Be-In was a creation from within the San Francisco counterculture," [David] Getz said. "The Summer of Love really was a creation of the national news media that befell San Francisco."
