The 1979 Beach Boys song Iggy Pop was scared of: “This guy is nuts”
Scarred for life.
Psychedelic
Psychedelic music is a broad musical movement inspired by the counterculture of the 1960s, characterised by experimental sounds, surreal lyrics and a desire to recreate or evoke altered states of consciousness.
Emerging alongside the psychedelic movement, the genre encompasses psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, psychedelic folk, acid rock and later offshoots including neo-psychedelia. Artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The 13th Floor Elevators and Love helped define the style through innovative songwriting, studio experimentation and genre-defying compositions.
Its influence continues to resonate across rock, indie, electronic and alternative music, making psychedelia one of the most enduring and inventive movements in modern music.
Temples – ‘Bliss’ album review: Forget what you know, and suffer the consequences
Anything but blissful.
The 1974 movie Gaspar Noé is surprisingly obsessed with: “Could watch it seven consecutive days”
An unexpected influence.
Communism, concrète, and The United States of America: The most underrated electro-pioneers of the counterculture age
“People thought us snooty, loud, and obnoxious…”
Big Long Sun – ‘love songs and spiritual recollections’ album review: Another rapid-fire expansion of a promising repertoire
A band that can seemingly do it all.
How the assassination of two American icons created psychedelic rock
Music and politics are often hand in hand.
Cromagnon’s ‘Orgasm’: How random people plucked off the streets of New York helped create an album that invented three genres
A 1969 experiment as ambitious as the moon landing.
More About Psychedelic
Psychedelic music is a style of music that emerged during the 1960s, using experimental instrumentation, studio effects, unconventional song structures and surreal lyrics to create immersive, mind-expanding listening experiences.
Among the genre's most influential artists are The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Love, The 13th Floor Elevators, Cream, Grateful Dead and The Velvet Underground.
Psychedelic music is an umbrella term encompassing a variety of styles—including psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, psychedelic folk and neo-psychedelia—whereas psychedelic rock specifically refers to the rock-based branch of the movement.