Psychedelic pop

Psychedelic pop is a psychedelic musical style inspired by the sounds of psychedelic folk and psychedelic rock, but applied to a pop music setting. It reached its peak during the late 1960s, declining rapidly in the early 1970s.

History

Origins and characteristics

The origins of psychedelic music were in folk and rock music of the mid-1960s, particularly the work of The Beatles, The Byrds, The Yardbirds, and The Grateful Dead.^[1] As psychedelia emerged as a mainstream and commercial force it began to influence pop music, which incorporated hippie fashions, drug references, as well as the sounds of sitars, fuzz guitars, and tape effects, but often using the close harmonies of the California sound and applying these elements to concise and catchy pop songs.^[2]

Development

Electric Prunes in 1966

The Beatles were the most important commercial force during the psychedelic era; with albums such as Revolver (1966),^[2] The Beach Boys under the leadership of Brian Wilson also began to experiment with psychedelia, with records such as Pet Sounds (1966) and the single "Good Vibrations", which made use of a Tannerin (an easier to manipulate version of a Theremin).^[3] American vocal group The Mamas & the Papas were also influenced by psychedelic music.^[4]

American pop-oriented rock bands that followed in this vein included Electric Prunes, Blues Magoos and Strawberry Alarm Clock; with their first and most famous hit "Incense and Peppermints".^[5][6][7] Pink Floyd's "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", both written by Syd Barrett, helped set the pattern for psychedelic pop in Britain.^[8][9] The Small Faces also began to embrace the genre with songs such as "Itchycoo Park" and "Lazy Sunday".^[10] Some sunshine pop bands like The Association^[11] and The Grass Roots with "Lets Live for Today" (1967) moved in a psychedelic direction.^[12] The Beatles early 1967 single "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" became a prototype for psychedelic pop and has been regarded as one of the greatest double A-side ever released.^[13] Garage rock groups with pop leanings also moved into this territory, like The Beau Brummels with their album Triangle (1967)^[14] and Tommy James and the Shondells with their number one "Crimson and Clover" (1969).^[15] Psychedelic sounds were also incorporated into the output of early bubblegum pop acts like The Monkees, particularly on their album Head (1968) and The Lemon Pipers with their number one "Green Tambourine" (1968).^[16]

Scottish folk singer Donovan's transformation to 'electric' music gave him a series of pop hits, beginning with "Sunshine Superman", which reached number one in both Britain and the US, to be followed by "Mellow Yellow" (1966) and "Atlantis" (1968).^[1][17] Most British pop in this vein was less successful internationally, with manufactured group The Flower Pot Men with "Let's Go To San Francisco" and The Move with "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" and "Flowers in the Rain", all reaching the top five in the UK in 1967, but making little impact elsewhere.^[18] The Zombies produced some of the most highly regarded work in the genre with their album Odessey and Oracle (1968), but had already disbanded before one of the tracks, "Time of the Season", gave them their biggest hit in 1969, reaching number three in the Billboard 100.^[19]

International expansion

The Easybeats in 1967

Pop orientated psychedelia was popular among the emerging bands in Australia and New Zealand, including The Easybeats, formed in Sydney but who recorded their international hit "Friday on My Mind" (1966) in London and remained there for their forays into psychedelic-tinged pop until they disbanded in 1970.^[20] A similar path was pursued by the Bee Gees, formed in Brisbane, but whose first album Bee Gees 1st (1967), recorded in London, gave them three major hit singles and contained folk, rock and psychedelic elements, heavy influenced by the Beatles.^[21] The Twilights, formed in Adelaide, also made to trip to London, recording a series of minor hits, absorbing the psychedelic scene, to return home to produce covers of Beatles' songs, complete with sitar, and the concept album Once Upon a Twilight (1968).^[22] The most successful New Zealand band, The La De Das, produced the psychedelic pop concept album The Happy Prince (1968), based on the Oscar Wilde children's classic, but failed to break through in Britain and the wider world.^[23]

Decline and revivals

By the end of the 1960s psychedelic folk and rock were in retreat. Many surviving acts moved away from psychedelia into either more back-to-basics "roots rock", traditional-based, pastoral or whimsical folk, the wider experimentation of progressive rock, or riff-laden heavy rock.^[1] Psychedelic influences lasted a little longer in pop music, stretching into the early 1970s and playing a major part in the creation of bubblegum pop.^[2] There were occasional mainstream acts that dabbled in neo-psychedelia, including Prince's mid-1980s work and some of Lenny Kravitz's 1990s output, but it has mainly been an influence on alternative and indie-rock bands and most neo-psychedelia has been within the field of rock music.^[24] In the UK The Stone Roses^[25] debut album in 1989 set out a catchy neo-psychedelic guitar pop, helping to create the Madchester scene, and influencing the early sound of 1990s Britpop bands like Blur,^[26] and Oasis who drew on 1960s psychedelic pop and rock, particularly on the album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.^[27]

Artists

Psychedelic era

• The Association^[11]
• The Beach Boys^[28]
• The Beatles^[24][29]
• The Beau Brummels^[14]
• Bee Gees^[21]
• Blues Magoos^[5]
• The Byrds^[30]
• Donovan^[1]
• The Electric Prunes^[5]
• The End^[31]
• The Flower Pot Men^[18]
• The Grass Roots^[12]
• The La De Das^[23]
• The Left Banke^[10]
• The Lemon Pipers^[10]
• Love^[30]
• The Lovin' Spoonful^[32]
• The Monkees^[33]
• The Move^[18]
• The Neon Philharmonic^[34]
• Pink Floyd^[8][24]
• The Rolling Stones^[35]
• The Small Faces^[36]
• Strawberry Alarm Clock^[5]
• Syd Barrett^[37]
• The Twilights^[22]
• The World of Oz^[38]
• The Zombies^[39]

Later years

• Animal Collective^[40]
• Ducktails^[41]
• The Flaming Lips^[42]
• Beachwood Sparks^[43]
• The Dukes of Stratosphear^[44]
• Robyn Hitchcock^[45]
• Pond^[46]
• of Montreal
• The Apples in Stereo
• The Olivia Tremor Control
• Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
• Yeasayer
• Gang Gang Dance

See also

• List of psychedelic pop groups
• Psychedelic soul

Notes