LSD and the '60s Music Scene Essay

Into the 2nd half of the decade came the arrival of The Rolling Stones and The Who. These continued along the Blues Rock path pioneered by Cream and Zeppelin, and both had great success. It was these acts that led to the nickname, ‘the swinging 60’s’. 1966 saw the beginning of psychedelic music. It was The Beatles who first began to experiment like this. Adding new

For thousands of years people have spoke of all types of visions. Whether the visions were from religious groups, Indian tribes, or self proclaimed prophets; all types of people have seen things. This was more than likely occurring with the help of different types of hallucinogens. Hallucinogens have been around since the beginning of time. Some mushrooms, cactus flowers, and even different types of mold are all able to produce hallucinogenic effects. However, it was only within the last century that man actually started to produce his own. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide-25, is a relatively new substance in society. All known effects show LSD, or acid, as the harmful drug most people know it as. There are people who believe

Rock and roll helped break many people out of the pre-war mindset and into a new, fresh one. Although many adults detested rock, the younger generation felt that it symbolized a break from the war and the “age of anxiety” that the previous World War had caused. In addition, it promoted a promiscuous lifestyle that celebrated sex and drugs. Rock and roll seemed to be associated with this because many of the “rock stars” endorsed in a loose and laidback standard of living. Because many of the performers practiced recreational drug use, followers felt compelled to do so as well, feeling that that way of life was acceptable. Rock and roll was thought to be outlandish, primarily because of the performers’ gyrating and grinding of their hips, their suggestive lyrics, and rebellious undertones that provoked erotic senses in teenagers and upset parents. Rock and roll was said to establish a sense of identity and power in teenagers, mostly because of the new energy that came from the new style of music. Rock music was seen as satanic by the older generation because it seemed to lead to the

     From the sounds of Elvis many other important bands of the sixties were inspired, even people a thousand miles away from America. One of these important bands was the Beatles. The Beatles took the rock sound and added more lyrical and musical complexity to the sound. The Beatles were the starters of the “British Invasion” in 1963 when they released “I want to Hold Your Hand” (Kallen, 2012, 31). After their first single they had immense success with other hits such as “She Loves You” and “Woooo!” The Beatles continued to reinvent their music on the various other albums throughout the sixties delving into complex, heavy existential concepts and psychedelic elements, becoming the most relevant influence for modern rock.

Drugs were used as a means to escape reality. Drug use was already running rampant in the ghettos but was minimal among middle class white youth. Music helped popularize the use of drugs on college campuses.10 The use of marijuana peaked in 1967 with the release of the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" whose cover has marijuana leaves on it.11 The use of drugs by mainstream teens can be compared to the way a society accepts a new type of music or a new hairstyle. Using drugs was

The beginning of Pink Floyd was something Britain had never seen, and really shined light on this band. Of course, they did not invent psychedelic rock by any means but did begin their own twist within this genre. There was several bands in the US that had played this genre before Pink Floyd in the late 1960’s. Their first official non-live album was Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which Britain considers this album a prime example of psychedelic rock. On August 4, 1967 this album was released. The album showed avant music, such as whimsical rock all the way to melancholic rock. Pink Floyd was not loyal to one specific genre, but ventured out beyond

American musicians responded to the British musical stimulus by experimenting with new forms, technologies, and stylistic influences. (Encarta) Rock music Diversified even further in the late sixties, it combined new music styles with the mainstream of American popular music. In 1967 the Beatles released the first rock concept album titled; sgnt Pepper’s lonely hearts club band. This album established new standards for studio recording and helped to portray rock musicians as creative artists.

Music in the 1960’s took a major turn. Psychedelic drugs began to influence bands and songwriters, resulting in a wide variety of new genres. Some of the popular bands included Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Beatles. In 1969, the small town of Woodstock in upstate New York hosted a three day event known throughout the world as The Woodstock Festival: An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music. Thirty two artists performed in front of an audience of 500,000 people. This event was highly influential and considered by many as one of the greatest moments in music history. Throughout three days, the bands listed above, and more played and young hippies gathered, listening to the music, experiencing sexual and drug influenced days.

Psychedelics, and drugs in general became such an important part of life during the 60’s that it’s influence was inescapable. Nowhere can this fact be seen more clearly than in the music of the time. The most obvious influence drugs had on music can bee seen in the lyrics. Drug references abound, be it Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” of marijuana smoke, or the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, obviously referring to LSD. Even the names of the bands were drug inspired, as Garofalo points out in reference to the Doors: “The group took it’s name from Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, a book about the liberating aspects of drug use.” Even the music itself was influenced by drugs. Take for example much of the music by the Doors. Their song “the End” is a psychedelic journey in to the world of LSD. The slow beat and “trippy” music in the song was probably created with the use of drugs and hence is better appreciated when heard while on drugs. This is also true of the music of the Grateful Dead, although this can be much more clearly seen in their live performances as opposed to their studio work. Much of their music is geared specifically toward those in the audience who are on drugs. Hearing one of their 30 minute jams is a much different experience on drugs, and that is the experience that they intended the audience to have. While drugs were very much connected to the music of the sixties,

In an interview hosted by CNN, author Ken Johnson stated: “I think any work of art encourages you to imagine your way into a state of consciousness that may not be your normal state, so you kind of suspend disbelief and allow yourself to be imaginatively seduced into a different way of relating to the world so that you study things more carefully, you think about how things are affecting you.” Johnson also stated, “but they start thinking about how our perceptions work and how interesting it is the way we think about the world, so we think about our thinking.” This proves that in the 60’s many people discovered that drugs, such as LSD, were a way to see the deeper meaning behind things because it rearranged the whole way your brain may have thought. Another reason that psychedelic art was so popular in the 60’s was because all of the art pieces, more specifically rock concert posters, they “tried to visually express the feeling of tripping out.” (visualartsdepartment.wordpress.com) An article on arthistory.net titled “Psychedelic Art,” says that many of these art pieces were also popular because of their “visually captivating styles.” Obviously, many people enjoyed these feelings because they could avoid mainstream thinking without having to actually use said drugs. The 60’s were a period of experimenting, not only with art, but with things like fashion to music

"The zeitgeist of the time was the final collapse of a certain kind of thinking. The seeds were sown for feminism, for the whole notion of cyberspace, ecology, and the whole philosophy of Gaia." Suzy Hopkins, formerly Suzy Creamcheese, a dancer and inspirational figure on the underground scene in Los Angeles and London, remembers the visceral way psychedelic culture affected the senses. "There's a difference between a drug and a psychedelic. Drugs make you drugged and psychedelics enhance your ability to see the truth or reality," she says. For her, LSD and music created a kind of alchemy. "When I start to dance, at a certain point, the dance takes over and the music is dancing me. Dancing is this electric enhancement of your spine by sound." Many psychedelic bands explored this sense of abandonment in their music, moving away from standard rock rhythms and instrumentation. The Grateful Dead of San Francisco, for instance, created an improvisatory mix of country rock, blues, and acid R&B on albums like The Grateful Dead (1967) and Anthem of the Sun (1968), while another 'Frisco band, Jefferson Airplane (fronted by the striking vocalist Grace Slick), sang of the childlike hallucinatory delights of an acid trip in the 1967 Top Ten hit "White Rabbit." In Los Angeles the multiracial band Love played whimsical,

Let It Be, Strawberry Fields Forever, Revolution, and many other songs by the British rock band, The Beatles, helped shape the counterculture movement. Many songs by The Beatles supported the ideas of rebellion, freedom and drug use. The Beatles were the most popular musical group in the 1960s, and they were loved and idolized by many. They are still considered to be one of the greatest, if not the, greatest musical group ever. Although the Beatles were the most popular and influential rock group of the time, eclectic groups and singers of all different genres helped shape the music scene in the 1960s, such as: Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Who. Music by all of these artists “reflected the new sexual permissiveness and drug trends” (The American Experience 2). In 1969, a music festival called “Woodstock” was put together. It lasted for over three days and around 500,000 people came to listen to the music. Artists like the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. The majority of the people that attended the festival were hippies. Hippies wore loose clothing, for the most part advocated drug use, and promoted peace and love. Woodstock showcased a moment in time where an entire generation became empowered and realized that they needed to break away from the status quo. Music had a huge influence on the baby-boomer generation and the counterculture of the 1960s as a whole.

In 1967, The Beatles released and the album that would change the way people looked at them as a band and as music as a whole. ‘ 'Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band ' ' was The Beatles eighth studio album and took them 5 months to complete. At the time of the release, hippie culture was prevailing and this year is widely remembered as the summer of love. Long hair, recreational drug use, and psychedelic rock music come to mind when quizzed on stereotypes of the decade, but was it all flowers and peace – or did the ‘Summer of Love ' have a dark side? The group battled with inquisitions about their usage of the drug LSD, which seemed

Drugs played a role in the recording of Sgt. Pepper's. The group was notoriously known to experiment with the drugs LSD and Marijuana. The entire album has debatable drug references, but the one thing that can not be argued is that the entire group was high on these drugs throughout the recording process. The record has many sounds that will be used later in the psychedelic

For thousands of years, music has been influencing people in extraordinary ways. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band should not be mistaken as an ordinary album. Without a doubt, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, an incredibly innovative album, stands as the most influential album of all time; it stands as a true masterpiece. People all around, especially artists, were influenced greatly by the innovations the album brought to the world of music. Many people have said that from the moment they heard the first track of the album, it was life changing. Like the first falling domino tile of a domino show, June 1, 1967, would mark the start of the influence of many generations of music to come. The album helped popularize concept albums, in which songs are connected to a theme, which would inspire many musicians to do the same. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a psychedelic rock album; a manifestation of life in the 1960’s. This genre of rock is home to the work of numerous artists who were influenced by the album’s use of this style of rock. The hours of work put into by the Beatles to create this album surpassed those of any of their albums. Not only that, it altered the way music was recorded by creating their own recording techniques. Surely, these recording techniques and tactics were used by future artists in their work which then led to the creation of legendary music. Sgt. Pepper’s opened the gate to innovation; an album whose impact on