From Psychotic to Psychedelic: The Garage Contribution to Psychedelia

Abstract

This paper examines the influence, musical characteristics, and lyrical themes of garage psych songs recorded between 1965 and 1967. Through an examination of key garage psych songs, we determine that the musical and technological innovations of the late garage era resulted in the production of two types of psychedelic garage songs. These two types of song differ in how they frame the psychedelic experience for their listeners.Nineteen-sixty-seven roughly marks the transition point between garage rock and psychedelic or acid rock. The transition from garage rock to psychedelic rock was gradual and early psychedelic songs shared important elements with garage rock (Hicks 61; Joynson 3-7). The period of overlap between these two genres is the subject of this essay. Just as music historians and fans have traced the links between garage and punk, we examine the relationship between garage and psychedelic. Through an examination of key garage psych songs, broadly defined to include songs about and inspired by psychedelic experience, we determine that the musical and technological innovations of the late garage era resulted in the production of two types of psychedelic song. One of these types employs the available technology to create songs emphasizing the mystical and mind-expanding potential of psychedelic experience. This tradition was continued in the more popular psychedelic music of 1968 and beyond. The other type of song employs the available technology to suggest that the psychedelic experience is one of psychosis. This type of song saw less commercial success at the time, though it has received much attention from collectors and garage fans in the years since the 1960s.Some of the earliest garage band recordings about or influenced by LSD have not been readily available for study. Many garage bands were one-hit or no-hit wonders whose songs were released on singles by small independent record labels with limited local distribution. Consequently the large majority of these works have been known only to specialized record collectors. Since the end of the garage era, record collectors, disc jockeys, and re-issue labels have made many previously obscure songs available

Modalities of the psychedelic experience: Microclimates of set and setting in hallucinogen research and culture

“…Either way, it is interesting to note that psychedelic creativity did not evolve in a vacuum, but was rather a product of the era's broader cultural and technological currents. Stax and Johnson stress the reliance of psychedelic music on sound effects that became available shortly before the arrival of psychedelics, including the fuzz (distortion) pedal and a series of other boundary-dissolving effects (Johnson & Stax, 2006). Musicologist William Echard identifies a wide range of topical influences on 1960s psychedelic sound, including film music, Indian music, surf music, and even medieval Gregorian chants (Echard, 2017).…”

“…The concept of set and setting plays a central role in scholarly and scientific attempts to decipher the often-variegated effects of psychedelics. It also plays a crucial role in the work of therapists working to optimize clients’ experiences and in the discourse of psychedelic enthusiasts who utilize these compounds in a variety of contexts such as in rave parties and new age rituals (see, for instance, Fadiman, 2011; Johnson et al, 2008).…”

A many-headed beast: progressive rock as European meta-genre

“…9.Johnson and Stax (2006, p. 421) discuss how Californian garage bands of the 1960s (important precursors of psychedelic rock) included ‘loud/soft dynamics’. They quote Rick Brown of The Misunderstood (a Californian band who relocated to London in 1966), who claims that his music shifted ‘between “chaos” and “peace”: the harshness of the physical world and the tranquillity that can be found within [via the use of LSD]’.…”