Golden Age Of Rock: Great Summer Of Love And Psychedelia

Years: 1966-1969

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There's no easy way to express or explain the glorious explosion of talent, color, creativity, and tremendous musical quality that occurred between 1966 and 1967, a golden age for rock in which the best bands emerged and consolidated, the best albums were released, and countless genres were created. The only thing I can think of to explain it is this: in 1965, any idiot could pick up a guitar and play covers of Dylan and the best bands of the British Invasion; by 1966, those guys were no longer idiots; they had formed their own bands, had gained some experience, and were releasing their own material of impressive quality. At the same time, those who had spearheaded the British Invasion evolved to become enormous monsters with a masterful, psychedelic-influenced sound. Of course, it wasn't that simple.

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Strictly speaking, the Summer of Love of 1967 took place in San Francisco and lasted several weeks, with its epicenter at the corner of Haight-Ashbury, a commercial area where there were a large number of hippie boutiques. Thousands of young people, not only Californians but from all over the world, gathered, initially attracted by the hippie core born of the "Human-Be-In." They stayed to mingle with acid street music, various rock festivals, LSD, marijuana, free sex, a market with little use of money, and a fair amount of political protest. In short: Love and Peace. The enormous commune obviously couldn't sustain itself; the areas surrounding Haight Ashbury were devastated. Although San Francisco remained a center of the counterculture, many of the hippies returned to their homes around the US and Europe at the end of the summer, spreading all that mysticism and flowery thinking globally. Although the Summer of Love lasted only a few months, musically I'll be referring to it from the beginning of the psychedelic era, from mid-1966, through the explosion of 1967, and up to its final vestiges in 1968 and 1969.

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But let's go back to the beginning. It's really very difficult to pinpoint an exact date for the transition from the innocent and pure Rock & Roll of the early 1960s to the psychedelic sound of the second half. That is, the passage from childhood to adolescence of our little Rock. There are three important events: the first is the release of Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, on May 16, 1966, written by Brian Wilson after his obsession with surpassing the Beatles and, more specifically, Rubber Soul, which had deeply impressed him. The album departed from the Beach Boys' previous surfer works, featuring orchestrated and more elaborate melodies, allowing the band to focus on the extremely complex vocal harmonic construction and work on melancholic and introspective lyrics. Wilson was delighted with his work, and with good reason; it is undoubtedly one of the most influential albums of the decade and in history. However, Brian fell into a deep depression and disillusionment with the second event that marked the beginning of the psychedelic era, which was none other than the Beatles' Revolver. The Revolver was released on August 5, 1966 showing a great evolution of those from Liverpool with sounds far from rock & roll, and full of contrasts, among others, the rock of "Taxman", a beautiful ballad like "For No One", a great example of baroque rock with social content with "Eleanor Rigby", Jazz Band of New Orleans with "Got To Get You Into My Life", a seemingly childish song with "Yellow Submarine", a song with a marked Hindu style that would inaugurate World Music with "Love You To" and a couple of experimental songs by Lennon, "She Said She Said" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" with sounds and recording techniques never attempted before then and cryptic lyrics but that somehow summarized the experience with acid. A true work of art, in my opinion above Sgt. Peppers, and one of my three favorites by the band, which would definitively open the door to musical experimentation by other groups. It was also heavily influenced by LSD, which they had first tried by accident in late 1965 (from that experience came the song "Yellow Submarine"). The third date is the night of August 29, 1966, when at Candlestick Park, the pubescent Rock decided not to board the plane back to England with the Beatles and preferred to stay in San Francisco, where the hippie movement and counterculture were beginning to take shape. Although the beginning of the psychedelic era is unclear, the Beatles' last stadium concert can be considered the official close of the Rock & Roll Era.

 

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The weapon that Rock had prepared to deliver its final blow was none other than The Counterculture: after it, the world would never be the same, because while it didn't completely defeat the system, it did change it enough to give young people a power they'd never had before. In 1966, Allen Ginsberg became a fashionable poet, Andy Warhol became the quintessential pop painter, and Dylan's anti-war anthems were beginning to be sung in universities. The Black rights movement that had begun in 1960 was gaining strength, and young white people joined this cause. Women were fighting for women's liberation and to achieve the same rights as men. The militarization of Vietnam under Lyndon B. Johnson's orders was already causing a considerable backlash among young people who refused to serve as cannon fodder in a war they didn't consider theirs and was nothing more than a game of arm wrestling between the USSR and the Soviet Union. and the USA in foreign territory, so this was the spark that ignited the pent-up rage of a generation that had been totally ignored by conservative adults, in the process uniting the struggles for racial and sexual equality. Until 1965, rock bands had worn their hair relatively long, in bangs, but in 1966, particularly in California, young people grew it unusually long, below the shoulder, partly in rebellion against their elders who were shocked and partly in solidarity with feminism, and they also began to grow beards and mustaches. The sexual revolution began as a definitive break with the outmoded mentality of their elders and against religious discourse. The Kinsey studies gained special relevance among young people who were fed up with this double standard and puritanism and began to lose their fear of the sexual taboo, thus beginning the sexual revolution with contraception, which until then had been a cause for scandal, and open, premarital sex. The girls adopted the London fashion of miniskirts, designed by Mary Quant, and drastically shortened them, while bikinis ruled out modesty on the beach. Fashion turned to saris and Indian clothing, which became symbols of hippiedom.

 

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At the same time, music was losing its innocence. In the California area, many young people had spent part of '65 playing folk covers on their acoustic guitars at university or on the streets, and by 1966 they were already forming bands, adding an electric sound, writing their own songs influenced by folk and by the increasingly common and easily available drugs, defining that brilliant California sound. Led by Pet Sounds and Revolver, riskier sounds were beginning to be heard, with anti-war messages, orchestrations, exotic instruments, more complex structures, and increasingly distant from the germinal Rock & Roll. 1966 was a huge year, which, although musically surpassed by 1967, produced tremendous albums that began the transition to psychedelic music. In 1966, we have, among others, Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence," "If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears," and the self-titled album by The Mamas & The Pappas. The Kinks' "Kontroversy"; Love's eponymous album; Bob Dylan's legendary "Blonde On Blonde"; the Stones' "Aftermath," which would be their equivalent of Revolver; the Byrds' "Fifth Dimension"; Zappa's debut "Freak Out!"; the Yardbirds' "Roger The Engineer"; Jefferson Airplane Takes Off; Manfred Mann's "As Is"; The Hollies' "For A Certain Because"; The Who's "A Quick One"; and of course, the impressive "Fresh Cream," which together show us that 1966 was already pointing to a radically different sound than before.

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Drugs are a separate issue. Rock bands played a fundamental role, as many of the bands of the English Invasion began their careers playing marathon all-night sets from one club to another in order to survive, and to maintain their energy, they used amphetamines. Marijuana later became popular as a more natural method and as a way to relax and open the senses, so young people began to use it as a method of liberation and, in a way, rebellion. In late 1965, John Lennon and George Harrison, along with their respective wives, were invited to a dinner party by their dentist, who mixed LSD into their drinks without their knowledge. They had a sensorial experience that would deeply mark them. In a scene where John even believed he was first in a fire and then in a yellow submarine.

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They would continue experimenting with LSD until the drug's influence seeped into the sounds they were searching for. Curiously, it wasn't John who publicly agreed to take LSD, but Paul, but by then, much of the youth was doing the same, and it was the drug of choice thanks to the publications and lectures of psychologist Timothy Leary, so it wasn't as big a scandal as one might have thought. By the end of '66, LSD and hallucinogenic mushrooms had replaced marijuana as the drugs of choice for expanding the senses and the mind. Musicians had a lot to do with the spread of drug use, but in 1966, the first soldiers sent to Vietnam also returned, and it's no secret that in the army, they were accustomed to hard drugs to stay alert and develop greater strength in combat, so they returned home with an addiction in tow. It's difficult to make an objective judgment on this matter. On a personal level, I don't use drugs and I disagree with the dependence. But we must recognize that marijuana and acid had a strong influence on the sounds, lyrics and inspiration of the best music recorded during that time, and there were really very few who escaped its influence, although it would also cause the first martyrs of Rock, the 27 Club.

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So Rock, who was barely entering adolescence, had completely rebelled, searching for his own identity, letting his hair grow, with a hormonal revolution in tow, a bundle of marijuana in one bag and a packet of doses of LSD in the other, wandering with his acoustic guitar on his back through the San Francisco Bay, with a ton of new ideas, wanting to take on and change the world, and with a tremendous rage about Vietnam, politics and segregation.

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Throughout 1966, the tension of all these ingredients could be felt simmering slowly, ready to explode. And then 1967 arrived. And everything began to come together and take shape. On January 14, 1967, 10 days after the release of the Doors' astonishing debut album, the first happening took place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, called "Human-Be-In." This event was organized by artist Michael Bowen and the liberal magazine San Francisco Oracle as a response to the California government's legal ban on LSD (until then, its purchase was unrestricted). The event featured speakers from Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg, and featured local bands representing the California sound, such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Chemist Owsley Stanley provided a huge amount of LSD free of charge to attendees. This event was pivotal, as it brought together two philosophically opposed currents: the Berkeley radicals and other intellectuals who were increasing their rejection of politics and war through increasingly harsh and threatening demonstrations, and the hippies who sought nonviolence. The methods were different, but the goals were the same, and they managed to join forces and begin mutual aid from that day forward in their quest for people's power, political and cultural decentralization, communal living, ecological stewardship, and a broadening of consciousness through any means, including drugs or Eastern religions. Another effect was the emergence of underground media outlets for people to express themselves and stay informed, since the government had strict control over the major media and did not allow any hippie or anti-war messages.

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After the "Human-Be-In," many hippies stayed in San Francisco and began to congregate in the Haight-Ashbury area, a neighborhood home to numerous hippie clothing and accessory stores, but also very easy to get drugs. The easygoing, responsibility-free lifestyle attracted more and more hippies from all over the country and even Europe. Bands from the rest of the country were also drawn to this fascinating center of gravity, and the Jeffersons, the Doors, the Byrds, and others could easily be heard in bars and small festivals. The Winterland skating rink became a must-see for major concerts, and bands that had been virtually unknown just a few months earlier were beginning to gain significant traction with their performances throughout California, such as the Doors and Big Brother & The Holding Co. On April 12 and 13, Janis Joplin and Big Brother recorded part of their second album at this arena, which would catapult them to stardom.

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April 14th saw the "Spring Mobilization to End the War," in which more than 400,000 protesters participated and where the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) movement was born, created by veterans. The government gulped. It never knew when everything had gotten out of hand. Rock was finally getting its long-awaited revenge: it had made people think, it had mobilized them, the era of the passive citizen was over, and now it was shaking the system, which no longer had the resources or capacity to stop this movement across the country. Either continue the war in Southeast Asia or return to the Marines for a civil war on American soil. It wasn't an option. The demonstrations grew more numerous and violent.

 

 

On June 1, 1967, the world was shaken by one of the so-called "masterpieces of rock." The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band had an immediate impact on critics and fans alike. The Beatles spent over seven months recording it, pushing the ideas and studio techniques pioneered with Revolver to the limit. The album is considered the most influential in history, which I don't deny, and by some, the best album ever made, which I disagree with. Exotic sounds, the idea of ​​a concept album, the aesthetics of the cover (did you know the costumes were designed by Mexican Manuel Cuevas?), the lyrics with references or misinterpretations about drugs, etc. made Sgt Peppers the quintessential symbol of the Summer of Love. Brian Wilson, who was then obsessively working on an album with which the Beach Boys would surpass Revolver, tentatively titled Smile, canceled the release of the album when he found Sgt Peppers unsurpassable and fell into severe emotional problems. Jimmy Hendrix would seal his fate when he performed the title track at his show on June 3, just two days after the release, in front of McCartney, who was impressed. At that time, the first major rock festival in California, the Monterey Pop Festival, was in the works, and the organizers called Paul daily trying to convince him to do a Beatles performance. However, the band was determined to stick to their decision to stay away from the stage, and Paul recommended this American guitarist who was causing a sensation in London. Such was his praise that the organizers brought Hendrix in as the main act practically without having heard him. The Monterey Pop Festival took place from June 16th to 18th, with over 200,000 attendees. It was organized by John Phillips, a member of The Mamas & The Papas, Alan Pariser, and Derek Taylor. Although the Beatles and the Beach Boys did not perform, they were included on the bill. The artists did not charge to appear. Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix (who burned his guitar on stage) stole the show and became legends from then on. Also on hand were Otis Redding in one of his final performances, Ravi Shankar, George Harrison's former sitar teacher, the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Hugh Masekela, The Grateful Dead, Brian Jones of the Stones as host, Buffalo Springfield, Country Joe and The Fish, Moby Grape, and Quicksilver Messenger Service, Canned Heat, The Mamas & The Papas, and Scott McKenzie, among the most notable acts. The Festival was the first to be organized toward the end of the decade, and despite significant absences and last-minute cancellations, it was a resounding success and one of the highlights of the Summer of Love. Our beloved Rock was kicking off the massive festival scene! On June 25th, the first satellite television broadcast was held worldwide, with 400 million simultaneous viewers around the world. Each country contributed a fragment of its culture, and surprisingly, England made its contribution with a live song that the Beatles had written specifically for the occasion. “All You Need Is Love” would become the definitive anthem of the Summer of Love, although other songs were already vying for that spot, such as the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” The Mamas & The Papas’ “California Dreamin’,” and Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Flowers In Your Hair).”

 

The year also saw some of the best albums of all time. The year opened with The Doors’ debut album; Love’s Da Capo; the Rolling Stones’ Between the Buttons; and Simon & Garfunkel’s Life From New York City.
 

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In February, Buffalo Springfield made their self-titled debut; The Byrds released Younger Than Yesterday; Jefferson Airplane their legendary Surrealistic Pillow; Left Blanke released the now cult classic Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina and The Mamas & The Papas' Deliver was also to follow. In March the Grateful Dead released their self-titled album and the enormous The Velvet Underground & Nico was released. In April Country Joe & The Fish released Electric Music for the Mind and Body (what a way to sum up the aura of that whole sound in one title) and Manfred Mann published Soul of Mann. In May Frank Zappa released Absolutely Free while Hendrix gave one of the greatest guitar masters ever recorded with his debut, Are You Experienced? In June the Beatles shook music history forever with the aforementioned Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band; Bob Dylan released Basement Tapes; the very young and hippie David Bowie made his self-titled debut; The Hollies released Evolution; the Rolling Stones' Flowers; Moby Grape released its self-titled album, and Small Faces released From The Beginning. In July, the Bee Gees' 1st album came out; the Small Faces' self-titled album and the Yardbirds' Little Games. In August, Eric Burdon formed his new Animals with Wind of Change; Fleetwood Mac released Live at the Marquee, and Pink Floyd stunned the world with the astral sounds of Piper At The Gates of Dawn. In September, 13th Floor Elevators released Easter Everywhere; the Beach Boys released Smiley Smile, which was a crude shadow of the project originally conceived by Wilson; Janis and her band's Big Brother & The Holding Company saw the light of day, while the Kinks released Something Else. In October, the Doors released the enormous Strange Days; Sly & The Family Stone released Whole New Thing, and Ten Years After made its self-titled debut. In November, Country Joe & The Fish released Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die; Cream delighted us with the masterful instrumental work of Disraeli Gears; the Hollies with Butterfly; the Moody Blues showcased symphonic rock with the concept album Days of Future Passed; the Rolling Stones showed off their most psychedelic side with Their Satanic Majesties Request, which would become their signature nickname; the Velvet Underground released White Light/White Heat; and The Who closed out this great month with the ingenious Sell Out. The year-end was also sublime with the Beach Boys' Honey; the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, which in my opinion also surpasses Sgt Peppers; Dylan released his John Wesley Harding; Buffalo Springfield released Again; the Jeffersons released After Bathing Baxter's; Jimmy Hendrix released the experimental Axis: Bold As Love; the release of Songs of Leonard Cohen; Love's Forever Changes; and finally, Traffic's Mr. Fantasy.

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Each and every one of them is an album worth owning, some more than others. And this year's best albums are undoubtedly among the best of all time. Has any other year in history seen such quality and variety at the same time? No, not even close! Do you see why 1967, for me and for many others, is the best year ever in terms of music? Rock music grew and was now seen as grown-up, playful, colorful, full of energy and ideals, staging protests that became increasingly defiant, even to the point of ending in violent clashes with the police. Anyway. During 1968, many groups continued the trend, but for many established bands, it also meant a return to the roots and sounds of the 40s and 50s, such as jazz, swing, soul, blues, country, etc., leaving aside the hippie and psychedelic sounds, like the Beatles with the White Album or the Rolling Stones with Beggar's Banquet. New bands like Creedence, Iron Butterfly, and Deep Purple emerged, beginning to forge a rawer, harder sound that Zeppelin would later consolidate with Hard Rock. Progressive rock would begin with the increasingly complex works of Floyd and Jethro Tull, as well as the birth of King Crimson and Genesis. But those are other eras.
 

1968 was also marked by the harsh repression that governments around the world inflicted on protesters, particularly during the May Day protests in Paris, the Prague Spring, and the October 2nd protests in Mexico, just days before the start of the Olympics. The movement was no longer exclusively a protest against the war in the United States, but a global movement against the system. On October 9, 1967, Ernesto Che Guevara was assassinated in Bolivia, and his figure was mythologized, becoming a cult image and symbol of rebellion in every corner of the world. This was what the system was missing: children having a communist who dared to challenge capitalist imperialism as an idol. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, who had been the leading figure in the struggle for Black civil rights, was assassinated. On June 5, 1968, Senator and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was also assassinated, reopening the wounds of the 1963 assassination and exposing the vulnerability of political figures to mafia bosses. More and more soldiers returned from Vietnam addicted to morphine or cocaine, and these substances replaced LSD as the drugs of choice, also influencing a harsher, more desperate, and more anguished sound.

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Our rock music, which had begun brightly and joyfully, was spiraling out of control. What had begun as an experience of love, peace, and sensory expansion had plunged it into an agonizing addiction. The utopia of a world without consumerism, a vast hippie commune without governments or armies, was crumbling under its own excesses. Several of its figures were persecuted by the police and imprisoned for drug possession. Others like Jimmy Hendrix, Brian Jones, and Janis Joplin would die from drug-related issues, and Jim Morrison would later follow in their footsteps. The last vestiges of the psychedelic sound continued to be heard throughout 1969 and into the 1970s, but at a much lower intensity.

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We can say that the Summer of Love and the Great Era of Psychedelic music came to an end on August 15, 16, and 17, 1969, at the legendary Woodstock Festival, which brought together the best of music, with an impressive lineup of top bands, albeit with the absence of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, who were dealing with serious internal problems. Even so, Woodstock '69 is considered the largest and most successful rock festival to date, and, incidentally, it just turned 40, and these dates are still being commemorated. It was a fitting conclusion to the greatest and most memorable era that rock music has ever seen, where we saw it grow from a boy into a true man.

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The Altamont Festival on December 6, 1969, was the penultimate nail in the coffin for this era. The Rolling Stones appeared as the headline act at the failed festival. The Stones had hired the biker group "The Hell Angels" as bodyguards for the concert, not realizing that the American biker group was far more violent than its British counterpart. The result was a fan stabbed to death in the middle of a performance of "Gimme Shelter." The final confirmation that it was all over came on.

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April 10, 1970, with Paul McCartney's public announcement of the Beatles' dissolution.

 

Great, Enormous, Mythical, Indispensable Era. It marked the maturity of rock and the transition to current sounds. I insist, I was a hippie in my previous life. An Era fundamental to the development of the following ones.

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By Corvan 

Aug/19/2009

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