Essay on Pink Floyd

From that moment on rock was there to stay. With an almost empty genre of music, the creative opportunity was infinite, which large scores of bands that took advantage of. Alongside The Beatles, other popular rock bands of the time were The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, all of whom were British. While British-rock bands dominated the scene of rock-and-roll, American bands began making many variations of the genre, which became known as the aforementioned subgenres. Arguably the most popular in the states was psychedelic-rock, headed by many artists such as The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and The Doors. Other mainstream sub genre artists included folk-rock Bob Dylan, blues-rock Santana, and surf-rock The Beach

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

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

In the sixties, the psychedelic music scene was at its prime and the world was full of hippie musicians that loved to drop acid and create some of the most interesting and innovative music known to man. During this time, drugs were a very popular part of the hippie culture and the prevalence of LSD helped to create the distinct genre of psychedelic music known as psychedelic or acid rock. Many bands and artists such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, and The Byrds were heavily influenced by LSD, which led to the creation of some very popular music. This decade was full of adventure, music, sex, and drugs, and it was all made possible due to this powerfully trippy drug.

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.

The Grateful Dead was a band that toured continuously for 30 years until the death of lead man Jerry Garcia. They were known for free flowing jams and bluegrass roots. Phish is a band that has toured consistently for the last 17 years and has in time made themselves into stealth multi-millionaires. Both are very talented bands, who have and in the Dead's case, had, created big names for themselves. Many people make wrongful association with these two groups of musicians. It is said that Phish is trying to be the Dead of this generation. This statement is very untrue. Phish is not a Grateful Dead take-off. Phish and the Dead have much more differences than similarities. There are of course a few similarities between

on a fishing trip, Garcia saw his father swept to his death by a California

     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.

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,

The Woodstock Music Festival is the most famous 1960s rock concerts, made by four promoters who did not know what exactly they were doing. Even with no experience they still managed to create an impressive masterpiece of a concert that truly captured the feel of the 1960s, with acts by Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.

In 1967 the Beatles were in Abbey Road Studios putting the finishing touches on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. At one point Paul McCartney wandered down the corridor and heard what was then a new young band called Pink Floyd working on their hypnotic debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. He listened for a moment, then came rushing back. "Hey guys," he reputedly said, "There's a new band in there and they're gonna steal our thunder." With their mix of blues, music hall influences, Lewis Carroll references, and dissonant experimentation, Pink Floyd was one of the key bands of the 1960s psychedelic revolution, a pop culture movement that emerged with American and British rock,

"Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," recorded in 1967, is to date the number one Rock and Roll album ever recorded. Sgt. Pepper's is considered to be the first concept album. There are many things that brought about the creation of The Beatles most influential album. Before The Beatles began the recording process of Sgt. Pepper's they had retired from touring. This gave the group ample time to experiment with different instruments, recording techniques and drugs. The album cover also sparked a revolution in itself. Many bands took notice of the creative elements of Sgt. Pepper's and learned from them.

Each new music genre introduces the counterculture or opposition of previous generation’s values. Led Zeppelin sparked the beginning of the heavy metal culture-- the counterculture to psychedelic rock. The anti-war movement was also prevalent in this counterculture. Led Zeppelin and the Vietnam War influenced the new, darker, generation of rock: heavy metal.

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

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