Acid rock

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This article is about the rock music genre. For the geologic term, see Igneous rock § Chemical classification.
Acid rock
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins1960s United States, United Kingdom
Derivative formsHeavy metal, hard rock, stoner metal[2]
Regional scenes
San Francisco Sound

Acid rock is a subgenre of psychedelic rock which has several characterizations. It emerged during the 1960s psychedelic era with many rock bands who aspired for sociological and cultural change. The term can refer to:

Origins (1960s)

In 1968 Life magazine referred to The Doors as the "Kings of Acid Rock".[10]

Acid rock got its name because it served as background music for acid trips in underground parties in the 1960s (e.g. the Merry Pranksters' "Acid Tests").[11] Associated bands aimed to create a youth movement based on love and peace, as an alternative to workaholic capitalist society.[12] David P. Szatmary states, "a legion of rock bands, playing what became known as "acid rock," stood in the vanguard of the movement for cultural change."[13] Szatmary also quotes from the San Francisco Oracle, an underground newspaper published between 1966 and 1968, to explain how rock music was perceived at that time and how the acid rock movement emerged: "Rock music is a regenerative and revolutionary art, offering us our first real hope for the future (indeed, for the present)."[13]

Former Atlantic Records executive Phillip Rauls is quoted saying, "I was in the music business at the time, and my very first recognition of acid rock ... was, of all people, The Beach Boys and the song 'Good Vibrations'."[8] In 1984, writer Vernon Joyson observed flirtations with acid rock in the Beach Boys' albums Pet Sounds (1966) and the unfinished Smile.[14] Rolling Stone magazine includes early Pink Floyd as "acid-rock".[15] In July 1967 Time magazine wrote, "From jukeboxes and transistors across the nation pulses the turned-on sound of acid-rock groups: the Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Moby Grape".[16]

Development and characteristics

Psychedelic rock

Main article: Psychedelic rock

The term "acid rock" may refer specifically to a heavier, louder, or harder subgenre of psychedelic rock.[4][17][18][19][excessive citations] Alan Bisbort and Parke Puterbaugh write that acid rock "can best be described as psychedelia at its rawest and most intense [...] Bad trips as well as good, riots as well as peace, pain as well as pleasure - the whole spectrum of reality, not just the idyllic bits, were captured by acid rock."[3] "Acid rock" has also been described as more heavily electronic and containing more distortion ("fuzz") than typical psychedelic rock.[20] By the late 1960s, in addition to the deliberate use of distortion and feedback, acid rock was further characterized by long guitar solos and the frequent use of electronic organs.[21] Lyric references to drug use were also common, as exemplified in Jefferson Airplane's 1967 song "White Rabbit" and Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 song "Purple Haze."[21]

Tonal distortion was also one of the defining characteristics of the San Francisco Sound.[22] The acid rock of the San Francisco Sound heavily incorporated musical improvisation, "jamming," repetitive drum beats, experimental sound and tape effects, and intentional feedback.[7] Many of the musicians in the scene, including bands such as the the Charlatans and the Quicksilver Messenger Service, became involved in Ken Kesey's LSD-driven psychedelic scene, known as the Merry Pranksters.[7]

Garage rock

Main article: Garage rock

In the 1960s, various American garage rock bands began playing psychedelic rock with the rawness and energy of garage rock, incorporating heavy distortion, feedback, and layered sonic effects into their psychedelic music.[1] "Garagey" psychedelia, exemplified by acts such as Blues Magoos, The Electric Prunes, and The Music Machine, has been identified as falling under the acid rock subgenre.[23] The "garage psychedelia" of the 1960s has also been described as a transition between early 1960s garage rock and the more elaborate acid rock of the late 1960s, with the 1972 anthology compilation Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968 showcasing this transitional sound.[24] Both garage rock and acid rock were featured prominently on the Nuggets compilation.[25][nb 2] Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction," noted as one of the first successful acid rock songs and included on the Nuggets compilation, contained the characteristics that would come to define the early acid rock subgenre: the use of feedback and distortion replacing early rock music's more melodic electric guitars.[21]

Hard rock and heavy metal

Main articles: Hard rock and Heavy metal music

"Acid rock" has also been used to refer to early hard rock or heavy metal.[29][nb 3] Although originally deployed as a catchall term for the experimental Haight-Ashbury psychedelic rock scene, the term "acid rock" would come to encompass other heavy and hard rock psychedelic rock bands.[33] Early heavy metal in particular evolved partially from or as a continuation of psychedelic rock and the heavier aspects of the San Francisco Sound of Haight-Ashbury.[34] Early heavy metal often combined acid rock and psychedelic rock with a blues rock structure.[35] In the 1960s, the heavy blues-influenced hard rock sound of bands such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Deep Purple, and Cream was classified under the subgenre of "acid rock."[33] Other acid rock groups such as Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, and Vanilla Fudge served as examples of early heavy metal, or proto-metal, creating stripped-downed, loud, intense, and "fuzzy" acid rock or hard rock.[33]

The influence of acid rock on early heavy metal was evident in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" being described as an example of the transition between acid rock and heavy metal.[36] "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" serves a notable example of 1960 and early 70s "acid rock" or heavy psychedelic rock, and the band would continue to experiment with distorted, "fuzzy," heavy psychedelia into the 1970s.[37] Heavy metal's acid rock origins can further be seen in the loud acid rock of groups such Steppenwolf, who contributed their hit song "Born to Be Wild" to the acid rock soundtrack of the 1969 film, Easy Rider.[21]

By the early 1970s, bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath combined the loud, raw distortion of acid rock with occult lyrics, further forming a basis for the genre now known as "heavy metal." [38] By the 1970s, the then tenuous distinction between the terms "acid rock," "hard rock" and "heavy metal" began to fully form.[39] Many of the bands integral to "acid rock" would go on to become increasingly defined as "heavy metal."[4]

List of Acid Rock Artists

Notes

  1. ^ According to Jerry Garcia, who further stated there is no real psychedelic rock and that it is Indian classical music and some Tibetan music that are examples of music "designed to expand consciousness."[9]
  2. ^ This acid rock present in the Nuggets anthology has been described as a offshoot of 1960s "punk rock," or "proto-punk."[26] At the time, the term "punk rock" referred to the garage rock of the 1960s, such as that present in the Nuggets compilation.[27] Bands such as Count Five, with their hit song "Psychotic Reaction," as well as other groups featured on Nuggets, would eventually epitomize the crossroads between 1960s garage rock and psychedelic "punk."[28]
  3. ^ Conversely, hard rock and heavy metal have also been described as evolving from psychedelic rock.[30][31][32][verification needed]

References

  1. ^ a b Psychedelic/Garage at AllMusic.
  2. ^ Acid rock at AllMusic.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Bisbort, Alan; Puterbaugh, Parke (2000). Rhino's Psychedelic Trip. Hal Leonard Corporation. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d Acid rock at AllMusic.
  5. ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 41 - The Acid Test: Psychedelics and a sub-culture emerge in San Francisco. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  6. ^ Lucky 2003, p. 262.
  7. ^ a b c Misiroglu, Gina (2015). American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History. Routledge. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  8. ^ a b Romano, Will (2010). Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. p. 17. ISBN 978-0879309916.
  9. ^ Rolling Stone Magazine Staff, p. 195.
  10. ^ Powledge, Fred. "Wicked Go The Doors". Life (April 12, 1968).
  11. ^ a b Wolfe 1968, p. 223.
  12. ^ Szatmary, David (2014). Rockin' in Time. Pearson.
  13. ^ a b Szatmary, David P. (2014). Rockin' in time: a social history of rock-and-roll. Pearson. p. 158.
  14. ^ Joyson 1984, p. 8.
  15. ^ "Pink Floyd Biography". Rollingstone.com. Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001). Andy Greene contributed to this article.
  16. ^ "Youth: The Hippies". Time (July 7, 1967).
  17. ^ Brend, Mark (2005). Strange Sounds: Offbeat Instruments and Sonic Experiments in Pop. Hal Leonard Corporation. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  18. ^ Jasinski, Laurie E. (2012). Handbook of Texas Music. Texas A&M University Press. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  19. ^ McCauchlin, Luke (2015). "Acid Rock: LSD, Psychedelc Rock, and the San Fransciso Sound". Ipicturebooks. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  20. ^ Luft, Eric v.d. (2009). Die at the Right Time!: A Subjective Cultural History of the American Sixties. Gegensatz Press.
  21. ^ a b c d e Browne, Ray Broadus; Browne, Pat (2001). The Guide to United States Popular Culture. Popular Press.
  22. ^ Dasher, Richard T. (1985). History of Rock Music. J. Weston Walch. p. 67.
  23. ^ Bisbort, Alan; Puterbaugh, Parke (2000). Rhino's Psychedelic Trip. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 31.
  24. ^ Frith, Simon (2004). Popular Music: Music and identity, Volume 4. Psychology Press.
  25. ^ Case, George (2010). Out of Our Heads: Rock 'n' Roll Before the Drugs Wore Off. Hal Leonard Corporation.
  26. ^ Shaw, Greg (Jan 14, 1978). "New Trends of the New Wave". Billboard. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  27. ^ Austen, Jake (2005). TV-a-Go-Go. Chicago Review Press.
  28. ^ Eder, Bruce (2001). All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music. Hal Leonard Corporation.
  29. ^ Beck, John H. (2013). Encyclopedia of Percussion. Routledge.
  30. ^ Bill, J. Brent (1984). Rock and Roll. F.H. Revell Co. p. 37.
  31. ^ Academic American Encyclopedia (Vol 16 ed.). Grolier. 1985. p. 249.
  32. ^ Henderson, Lol; Stacey, Lee (2014). Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century. Routledge. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g Knowles, Christopher (Oct 5, 2010). The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll. Cleis Press. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  34. ^ Brown, Charles T. (1986). Music U.S.A.: America's country & western tradition. Prentice-Hall. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  35. ^ Weinstein, Deena (2009). Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture. Da Capo Press.
  36. ^ Rood, Karen Lane (1994). American culture after World War II. Gale Research.
  37. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2002). All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul. Hal Leonard Corporation.
  38. ^ a b c d Browne, Ray Broadus; Browne, Pat (2001). The Guide to United States Popular Culture. Popular Press. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  39. ^ Waksman, Steve (2001). Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience. Harvard University Press.
  40. ^ Swanson, David. "Top 10 Iron Butterfly Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  41. ^ Popoff, Martin (2011). Black Sabbath FAQ: All That's Left to Know on the First Name in Metal. Backbeat Books. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  42. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon; Turman, Katherine (2013). Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal. Harper Collins. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  43. ^ a b Patoski, Joe Nick (Feb 1979). "Gather Ye Records While Ye May". Texas Monthly. 7 (2). Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  44. ^ Larson, Tom (2004). History of Rock and Roll. Kendall Hunt.
  45. ^ Erlewine, Thomas (2001). All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  46. ^ Unterberger, Richie (2002). All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul. Hal Leonard Corporation.
  47. ^ Blue Cheer at AllMusic
  48. ^ Brown, Pete; Newquist, Harvey P. (1997). Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists. Hal Leonard Corporation.
  49. ^ Clerk, Carol (2009). The Saga Of Hawkwind. Omnibus Press.
  50. ^ Paytress, Mark (2010). The Art of Dying Young: Vicious. Music Sales Limited.
  51. ^ Wein, Gary (2003). Beyond the Palace. Trafford Publishing.

Bibliography

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