What is Psychedelic Rock?
In order to understand the musical form called psychedelic rock, it’s important to make the connection between popular culture and the creative expression it inspires. Rock and roll music produced during the 1950s and early 1960s largely reflected a generation yearning to break free of convention but unable to take the final leap. Most popular songs featured standard instrumentation and vocal stylings and were engineered to fit the radio industry’s unspoken four minutes or less rule. Even the early hits by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were subject to the restrictions of popular songwriting. Only a few pioneers, such as Bob Dylan, managed to produce music which accurately reflected the changing values of a growing counterculture.
