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PSYCH IN THE USA - A Brief Primer
The History of Psychedelia
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| The programme will be available to hear again for seven days after transmission.
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The Acid Test
When Ken Kesey took the proceeds from his best selling One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and set out across America on his Magic Bus armed with gallons of LSD, it was the first sign that something strange was afoot. America, like an ocean going supertanker, was slow to respond to the 60s, but once it started it set in motion a chain of events which would have irrevocable results.
The first mass manifestation of psychedelia came from The Byrds, who had initially made their name playing folk rock. Eight Miles High, released in late 1966, was a truly astonishing record. Impressionistic lyrics, swooning harmonies and Roger McGuinn's jazz influenced, heavily amplified Rickenbacker 12 String combined in an assault on the senses. The band denied any drug connotations, saying it was merely a description of a visit to London, but it was widely assumed they were on a different trip altogether.
By the mid 60s a scene was developing in San Francisco around the bohemian enclave of Haight Ashbury. Fuelled by LSD (then still legal), groups like The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane were assimilating folk, blues and rock into the perfect soundtrack for exploring one's mind. The Grateful Dead had provided the music for Ken Kesey's Electric Kool Aid Acid Tests, parties where LSD was taken in liberal quantities with almost religious fervour. The Dead regularly stretched their songs out into long rambling jams which provided the perfect launch pad for LSD excursions.
Feed Your Head
The Dead never really translated their live show into hit singles, but their Anthem of the Sun album perfectly encapsulates the temporal and sensory distortions of the acid trip. Not surprising, since the band were tripping when they mixed it. Jefferson Airplane was an altogether different prospect. Fronted by the photogenic Grace Slick, their seminal White Rabbit single was an attack on the hypocrisy of the 'straights' who didn't understand the drug culture.
In Los Angeles, The Byrds remained at the vanguard of the scene, before turning their back on it all and going country in 1968. Love recorded one of the classic albums of the era in Forever Changes, although its acid paranoia and sense of psychic dislocation was too much for popular tastes. The Doors achieved the greatest success, although they also dabbled in the dark side of the hippy dream. Other bands, such as The Seeds and The Chocolate Watch Band, remained close to their roots in garage punk, albeit with a newly lysergic flavour.
Across the states, local scenes sprang up with their own peculiar brands of psychedelia. One of the strangest bands to emerge was the 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. Their debut, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, was a masterpiece of LSD evangelism and skewed philosophy, lent a surreal edge by their use of an electric jug. Their leader Roky Erikson was later committed to a mental hospital, where prolonged exposure to Electric Shock Therapy damaged his brain more than the drugs ever did.
The Paisley Underground
By the end of the 60s the hippy dream was turning sour as politics became more radical and the spectre of Charles Manson loomed. Rock either retreated into the soothing harmonies of the likes of Crosby Stills and Nash and the burgeoning singer-songwriter movement or became heavier and more politicised. Drugs began to take a toll on many, and the seedy depravity of the 70s rock scene replaced the good humoured free love vibe.
But the music remained influential. In the 80s, a new generation of bands emerged who took their lead from early psych. Bands like The Rain Parade, REM and The Dream Syndicate happily referenced the jingle jangle sounds of the mid sixties, adding hints of psychedelic swirl. De La Soul even created a psychedelic version of hip hop with their seminal Three Feet High and Rising album, which drew heavily on samples from the 60s.
By the 90s, grunge ruled the airwaves, although many of the bands were happy to admit their affinity to 60s garage music and psychedelia, albeit with heavier guitars. The psychedelic influence can also be detected in latter day 'Stoner Rock' bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, while Lenny Kravitz continues to shamelessly plunder the 60s.
In 2003, interest has never been higher, with many classic 60s bands ploughing the reformation circuit, including The Doors (with The Cult's Ian Astbury standing in the for Jim), The Electric Prunes and Love .
Mick Fitzsimmons
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