“Psychedelic” is much more than a description of ’60s rock.  In the 1960s, proponents of ‘psychedelic rock’ created their own sub-genre that challenged the boundaries of Pop music and transformed Rock n Roll into a high Art.  Accordingly, Psychedelic rockers and their music have been included in the Rock Canon as experimental pioneers.  Let’s look at some reasons why…

In Sixties Rock, Michael Hicks describes “Psychedelic” as the music that mimics the three effects of the psychedelic experience: dechronization, depersonalization, and dynamization.  Dechronization permits drug users to move outside of conventional perceptions of time. Depersonalization allows the user to ‘lose the self’ and gain awareness of unity. Dynamization makes everything bend (physically).  ’Psycheledelic’ rockers attempted to mimic these effects in many ways that forever changed Rock music.

1. Jamming/Improvisation.  Psychedelic ‘Jamming’ features the loss of time restraints and a strong emphasis on group improvisation.  Rockers attempted to mimic Jazz improv, and lead guitarists attempted to mimic prolonged solos of John Coltrane.  These early Jams are the first examples of changing tempos and wide-scale improvisation in Rock music.  The pioneers of Jamming are a little band called The Grateful Dead, who played extended versions of their tunes at LSD freakouts called Acid tests.  

Check out this interview/clips from the Grateful Dead at the Acid Tests.

2. The Cohesive Album. In an attempt to create musical pieces with Dechronization, rock bands put an emphasis on creating a cohesive album.  Whereas Rock albums of the ’50s and early ’60s focused on singles, the albums of the mid to late ’60s became multi-movement pieces joined together with instrumental segues and often focused on a theme.  Musicians juxtaposed various songs and sounds, and the ‘album’ became a whole.  The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” was one of the first of these albums.  This also lead to the development of the Concept Album, an album revolving around a specific story or theme.  Many notable non-psychedelic rock artists (including David Bowie, The Who, Peter Gabriel, Iron Maiden, and Green Day) adopted the Concept Album to create unified, cohesive works of art in the form of an LP.

3. FX.  A direct effect of psychedelic drugs was the musicians’ experimentation with sonic effects.  Rock musicians wanted to go beyond the ‘limits’ of sonic capabilities available in their instruments, and attempted to use various types of Effects to mimic the psychedelic experience.  The Whammy Bar and Wa-Wa pedal were adopted by guitarists to create a glissando effect.  In the studio, Reverberation, Panning, and other Tape effects were adopted by sound engineers to create a ‘trippy’ sound.  In 1966, George Martin reversed the The Beatles’ vocals on their single “Rain”.  Needless to say, many many musicians have copied the Reverse effect. 

Check out Mew’s “New Terrain”, a recent song that utilizes the Reverse effect.