A sound bite can mean a lot in politics but it can be utterly devastating in music.
A simple barbed couplet can sink an entire genre if it’s pointed enough.
I remember the first time that I watched “The Great Rock ‘n Roll Swindle” and that stickiest of all music critiques was spat out into my living room:
“Never trust a Hippy”
Now it’s a phrase that even Mr. Lydon has grown tired of explaining but it’s a perfect example of the power of words.
That phrase annihilated all before it in the Post-Punk years. Suddenly the counter culture establishment looked naïve and faintly embarrassing.
Of course the irony is that whatever Punk claimed to have knocked down had already been pummeled on the ropes for a decade by the (now bloated), heavyweight champs of Psychedelia.
Hindsight allows us to see that the Punks were every bit as untrustworthy as their predecessors.
That derisory phrase labeled every long hair gutless, but in 20/20 hindsight? I'm not so sure. I would venture that it took a lot more chutzpah to wear a Kaftan at a peace rally in Lubbock Texas than it ever did to sport a Mohican on the commute into the 100 Club.
However the nuclear strength sound bite “Never trust a Hippy” meant that for years many of us actively ignored all but the headline acts of the 1960’s.
Personally, I thank my lucky stars for my days in the record shop, where I was exposed to a treasure trove of Psychedelia by a few ageing Hippies that I grew to trust.
I have an eclectic palette thanks to that shop and of all the genres I enjoy I think my favourite has to be 60’s Psychedelia.
You see Psychedelia is the only form of music that is defined solely by its ideas.
Think about it… every other form of music is defined by a musical mechanic, a sound or an accident of Geography.
Blues has its 12 bars, Reggae its offbeat, Jazz its compulsory improvisation and so on. You could argue that Post Punk offers an equally random platter but that label was predominantly a retrospective net, which caught many smaller fish that really had no idea how they came to be there.
Psychedelia was different – it was the zeitgeist that everyone knew about and yet there was no specific instrumentation, no musical mechanic and no geographical boundary to define it.
The only common denominator in Psychedelic music of the period was the imperative that the music should ‘blow your mind’.
Everyone knew they had to ‘go Psychedelic’ but very few people really had any clue as to what that really meant. It wasn’t just about the drugs (in all honesty only a few people had full access to such things), but the culture, the arts and the fashion.
As a result of this an amazing thing happened. Faced with being labeled uncool everyone felt compelled to ‘do their thing’.
This might not seem so revolutionary in the information age but the social norms of the time were infinitely more constricted then they are today and finding like-minded people was a geographical challenge. It’s a recurring theme of this blog that the dissemination of information via the Internet is the biggest change to music and culture that those of you under 20 will never really need to be aware of.
Back then you had to ring someone, to ring someone, to ring someone to get them to ring someone you wanted to ring in the states. Five minutes of communication could take hours to set up so when The Beatles sang “All you need is love” via the world’s first live satellite link up you saw the vaguest of ideas carry further and faster than any other idea in history.
Everybody had to have a take on this counter culture from Newcastle to New York.
Can you dig it?
GO CRAZY!
JAM THAT SHIT OUT!
DO YOUR THING! ER... maybe?
OK… so inevitably it did also lead to a lot of shit being produced but the mantra of experimentation did make a difference. It released more ‘cats’ from their colloquial bags than Julian Assange on free broadband.
And don’t believe the hype, it wasn’t all peace and flowers – some of these cats were angry.
The fact was that you could be just as ‘Psychedelic’ as a solo singer songwriter as you could be with an army of freaks running rampage in the studio.
The legacy wasn’t just political daydreaming, badly dressed flunkies and the admitted self-indulgence the era encouraged. I contend that no other genre has ever been so inclusive; all you needed was your imagination.
I’m not saying the whole thing didn’t eventually spiral out of control (as every movement does), but for a time the grass really was greener.
Personally I was down with the peace and love thing too.
THE SEVEN GIFTS OF PSYCHEDELIA
Take off that uniform!
When The Beatles first showed up in their ‘Monkee’ suits it was their audacity to grow their hair that set the world aghast. By the time they split up even the Bank Manager was wearing flares. This outlandish fashion paved the way for Glam and in some cases naked people.
Take your time man!
Singles used to be utterly formulaic in their size. The tyranny of the 3 minute single was deposed when Brian Wilson produced the magnificent Beach Boys single ‘Good Vibrations’. At 6 minutes it was the longest number one single ever and I defy anyone to shave even a second off it without detracting from the pocket symphony that Wilson dared to create. Im sure you have heard that so instead I'll offer this amazing album track from the original 'Smile' sessions wherein Brian Wilson left his mind for 30 years.
Make an album man, express yourself!
In keeping with the growing attention span of the audience record companies began to back the long-playing record as their format of choice. The exec’s liked the profit margins, the artists liked the room to express themselves and the punters were grateful to have enough time to roll a joint and have a cup of tea before they had to reload the record player. 30-45 minutes is still the optimum length of time for an album to last. Any less and it’s hard to make a rounded statement, any more and your attention starts to wander. How many modern albums have been watered down and ruined by the urge to fill the space on a CD?
Art matters! Make an object to savour!
The gatefold - the sleeve notes - the complimentary artwork ... let me explain:
Here is your iTunes 'Beatles Ltd Ed Box Set':
[ ]
Nice eh? Here's mine:
I fucking WIN! #tigerblood
The studio as an instrument!
Bands used to be ushered in and out of the recording booth like cattle. As the 1960’s matured however the dark arts of studio production became an open secret. As an example The Beatles and George Martin recorded the album Please, Please Me (1963) in 9 hours and 45 minutes, Abbey Road (recorded in 1969) took 6 months to complete.
Festivals!
You would have no Glastonbury, Donnington, Knebworth... dare I say it? ‘The Wireless Festival’ - without the wildebeast hordes that colonized the plains of Woodstock and the Isle of White. Live music was never the same once the scale was ramped up, and while the mobile phone companies try to emulate these happenings they will never get it, ironically they are just not tuned in.
Political rebellion!
At last pop music started to develop more challenging content and started singing *about* something. Maybe sitting in a hotel room ‘growing your hair for peace’ was a little outlandish but there was a charm in much of the rebellion that cynics will never understand.
Peace,
@eops
My latest Psychedelic mix:
And for those of you who thought it all begins and ends with The Beatles... heres 5 classic British eye openers:
The Pretty Things – SF Sorrow
The Zombies – Odyssey and Oracle
Skip Bifferty – Skip Bifferty
July – July
Family – Music in a dolls house
And finally heres my Psychedelic Triptic for the music lover with time on their hands:
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