I think that defining a song as psychedelic is mostly an "I know it when I hear it" situation.

The visual aspect of what was going on in the 60s seems like an essential influence on psychedelic music. The light shows, the concert posters, the clothes, the album sleeves etc. To use an analogy, the 1960s was when music went from monotone to technicolour.

My favourite music of the 60’s is the psychedelic period. Great video. Electric music for the mind and body by Country Joe and the Fish was an attempt musically to simulate an LSD trip. Some excellent music produced in this period. Thanks again Matt.

As Aldous Huxley stated in his book "The Doors of Perception," the term "psychedelic" (derived from "psyche" (mind/soul/spirit) and "delos/delic" (clear, manifestation, or openness) ) refers to "mind opening." Thus, broadly speaking, one can definitely have (non-psychotic) "psychedelic" experiences without drugs. Whatever "opens the doors of perception" is psychedelic.

I got into psychedelic music when I was 15 in 1966. Young, not stoned and looking for unusual sounds with exciting rhythm etc. Later, when stoned, it just adds to enjoyment and understanding of the music but didn't suddenly make the song psychedelic.

My first excursion into Psychedelic music was the 13th Floor Elevators from Austin, TX. I believe they were the first band to describe themselves as "psychedelic," 1965. I highly recommend them to any fan of Psychedelica.

One of my favourite tracks from this era is Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive. The fact it's an instrumental enhances the trip for me. It all comes from the woozy guitar effects. Lyrics would have only diluted the vibe

10. You know it when you hear it.

What I found psychedelic about your video was watching your beer evaporate without you drinking it. Hmmmm lol. Great video. 👍

I would say some of Bob Dylan’s lyrics are surreal, but that he never made psychedelic records, though I wish he had! Thank you for yet another great episode, Matthew!

Sky Pilot by The Animals, specifically when the noodling guitar fuzz in the middle folds into a sound effect of a plane crashing. Pretty chilling

I think the keyword is "disorienting". I think the most important part is the uneven tempo, partly by effects, that give the music a floating feeling. Like a normal melody dissolved in acid. Second is the seemingly aimless and somewhat chromatic movement of solo melodies. Like it is going nowhere but still spiraling upwards or downwards.

I think this is as close as we're going to come for a good definition of psychedelic music. Thanks Matt.

In case they haven’t been mentioned…two psychedelic-sounding songs from the late 60’s that I loved. The Lemon Pipers, Green Tambourine and Status Quo, Pictures of Matchstick Men. And The Kinks, See my Friends is so underrated as far as an Indian sound goes

8. Entrancement. You covered this one quickly but there could be more to it. In many traditional cultures, music was used as part of important ceremonies, often aiming to induce a trance state. Anthropologists think this was an important way to increase social cohesion. Similarly to psychedelic experiences, it could make people feel part of some greater whole.

Number 10 would be: the listener gets Higher from the music. Not "wrecked", not "wasted" - those are post-Psychedelic terms - but Higher. The purpose of Psychedelic music is to raise the consciousness of the listener, to share the musician's Trip with them in the hope that it will be beneficial and liberating. The Underground definition of "Psychedelic", unlike those dictionary descriptions, was "A feast for the senses". It was a unifying connection to every other Head on the planet. When Jimi Hendrix asks "Are you Experienced?" he is well aware that at that time the code word for Acid was "The Experience". The true power of Psychedelic music can't be fully understood by anyone who wasn't part of that time. The energy, the Vibe, that powered it is gone but it changed the world enough that with effort and luck you can still catch an echo of it.

There's probably a sub-genre or songs that really aren't psychedelic, but have psychedelic flourishes to cash in on the trend. Cry Like a Baby might be one of them. One that I always thought was kind of faux psychedelic is "Susan" by the Buckinghams, which is a conventional pop song with a tacked on psychedelic section toward the end.

Often overlooked is the fact that Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters' acid-fueled bus odyssey happened in the summer of 1964, when we were still collectively reeling from the new British Invasion. this is 3 full years before 'Sgt Pepper' was released. So, what were early acid heads listening to if 'psychedelic music' hadn't even been coined as a phrase, let alone pursued as a genre? They were largely listening to bee-bop jazz and Indian ragas. So arguably, musicians like John Coltrane and Ravi Shankar were early purveyors of 'psychedelic' music. The Grateful Dead (then; The Warlocks) were the aspiring bay area blues/jug band at ground zero of the above. Not that this wasn't happening elsewhere in the USA at the time, but they were friends of Kesey and The Pranksters contingent. The Grateful Dead locked in on the extended jams, cultivated their ability to 'read the room' and improvise at the acid test events.

Early donovan 66-69 was some excellent psych stuff...those magically beautiful days just spawned experimental music..excellent job Matt..great video..Thanks

Thanks Matt. Always a favorite & fascinating topic, I like the parameters youve laid down as they arent restrictive or confining, which goes to the core of the universality of Psych or Acid Rock. There were parallel tracks in the UK (Yardbirds - Jeff Beck in particular laying down the tracks for psych rock - distortion on Heart Full of Soul for eg, guitar sounding like a Sitar ) & the US (Byrds - cover of Dylans Tambourine Man) along with sub genres in the Folk-Rock & Underground (13th Floor Elevators etc) Psychedelic genres. The influence of Acid Jazz artists like John Coltrane & Myles Davis was also huge..... as was, again, the Beatles & George Martin in particular, notably on the track Ticket to Ride, though Martin had been using recording sciences tricks for some time before that on the Beatles recordings that became staples of the psychedelic era..... It was a lifestyle, an attitude, you didnt have to take drugs to appreciate it. Fashion exploded with shops like Granny Takes a Trip opening in London, a second location in LA... velvet frock coats, butterfly collared shirts, embroidered jeans, stage gear. Period pieces.... Great time to be alive, young.

What works for your definition of psychedelia is that it applies to the three minute songs of the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd as well as the freak out longer jams of the Aoxomoxoa era Grateful Dead.

I love your channel, Matt.

My dream is to see your documentary on the original mothers of invention (1965-1969)! Thanks for the content that you put out!

Great video Matt. When I'm tripping, I spend almost all of the time either hyperfocused on something or searching for somewhere else to be. My 10th criteria would have included restless, trance-like, or "ADHD" style song structures. This can be achieved with dynamic instrumentation and sudden breaks in mood (Strawberry Fields, Good Vibrations) and the use of drones and repetition (Venus in Furs, Tomorrow Never Knows). Most people seem to overlook the "restless" facet of the psychedelic experience. Todd Rundgren's A Wizard a True Star captured it extremely well.

#PopGoesThe60s, Roger McGuinn once gave a great explanation for psychedelic music. He described it as music that sort of bleeds together. Kind of going with the idea that you mention of imitating the hallucinatory drug experience. Roger went on to add that instruments, melodies and vocals in psychedelia would all kind of flow into different sensory experiences, similar to how LSD altered the perception of human senses. That was one of the best explanations for psychedelic music I ever heard: music that bleeds together.

You had me at The Crystal Ship and then cemented it with White Rabbit. Great channel. New subscriber.

This Morning I Listened To In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida , Perhaps The Most Enjoyable Listen Of That Song, So Far... In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Is About The Greatest Psychedelic Song, Ever! Yes; Some Morning Hybr, The Rainy Day Walk Under An Umbrella, Nature... Everything... Magically; Cheerful Morning-Mood... Was Now, Flashing Back To The Only Time I Ever Saw These Dudes Live In Concert; Great! We Chatted... They Were Very Friendly; They Liked My Crystal... Peace

There's also a whole class of psychedelic music and that is music to 'trip' on - music that when you first heard it , it was so different than anything you ever heard before, like 'tripping' - personally the arc of 'trip' music for me began with with the song A Hard Day's Night to I feel fine to Norwegian Wood (discovering stereo headphones) to all of Revolver, Sgt Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour and the whole Notorious Byrd Brothers album, Procol Harum's Salty Dog, all Pink Floyd did....of course Ithycoo Park, the Zombies (de rigeur);;;so all criteria aside...could you 'trip' on it ;)LOL

Excellent and innovated tutorial! I have always felt that Donovan was one of the trend makers. Do another!

The Moody Blues are the standard for me, so much sound it almost becomes 3D. That's what makes something psychedelic.

Would love an entire series on psychedelic music. You've just scratched the surface. There were other genres, including "acid jazz" and "free jazz" (e.g., late 60's Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra Arkestra), trippy fusion (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea's Return to Forever). Plus: "I Hear a New World" (wild early 60's album by Joe Meek - CHECK IT OUT!).

The album that really blew my mind was Odessey and Oracle the first time I heard I must of replayed it a thousand times it was nothing like I heard before and to this day it considered one of the greatest albums to come out of the 60’s and is The Zombies magnum opus.

Well , a great group from the psychedelic era is The Chambers Bros. with their best and also most well known song being "Time Has Come Today " .

Those were times of the beginnings of serious awakening for so many. Drugs like pot and LSD (especially LSD) were an ultra profound experience as in the exposure of presumptions one had held previous to the experience. A realization that ‘we’ are “it” so to speak, and as such was unforgettable, not to mention challenging. The age of those participating were on the younger side of my age 27 in 1969 but we were drawn to the experience by the music and the spiritual culture from which it seemed to have spawned: a lifelong influence. Thanks for your thoughtful in-depth approach to this important musical era !!

I was 6 and 7 when during the psychedelic era. Mostly it what I was hearing on the radio, and I thought at the time it all seemed perfectly normal, like that's what records should sound like. I came to appreciate some of the craft, especially on the British side, though I remember thinking Somebody to Love by the Airplane sounded so great. Great stuff Matt!

No. 10 "Raga Rock". The use of modal or non-Western scales. Jeff Beck was a big proponent in the Yardbirds.

This is a great breakdown, Matt! I’m glad that you mentioned recording engineers. I remember being amazed the first time I heard the mono pressing of ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’. It is so much more of a psychedelic experience.

Good criteria, to which I would add experimenting with song structure. Grace Slick's compositions starting with White Rabbit exemplify this in that they are through-composed, defeating typical verse-verse-chorus form. Her other outstanding examples of this are Rejoyce, Mexico and Lawman.

I lived through this period, I was 14 in 1967. One thing great about a lot of the music of that period was the aspiration to do something beyond commercialism. In fact a lot of time being overly commercial was disdained and some of the revered bands like The Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane had few top 40 hits. Also you wanted the lyrics to say something or try to! A lot of it was forgettable but a lot of the music was fantastic! Thanks.

One of my favourite psychedelic lyrics is the Byrds's "Wasn't Born to Follow," written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin: "where the trees have leaves of prism and break the light in colours that no one knows the names of." I think of psychedelic as revealing everyday reality to be wondrous and infinitely complex.

One of my favorite things to listen to is the hours long mixes on KZfaq of Grateful Dead improvisations. Bending the rules of music theory and time keeping is on the right track.

Couldn't help but notice that Brotherhood record behind you. What a great album.

#10 ambient sounds. Pink Floyd Saucerful of Secrets is probably the best 60's psychedelic recording to listen to while tripping. I've listened to it straight also. It holds up.

There’s a funny story that my dad used to tell me when he was back college back in the 90’s he had a cd copy of The Doors greatest hits and he had a roommate that would play his cd every night to point where he grew tired of The Doors I thought well I would get right along with that guy I’m a huge Doors fan🤣

Psychedelic = Mind manifesting. It is music that turns your attention inward, allowing you to see how the music is showing you something about your mind while listening. By this definition, ANY music can be psychedelic if it meets this criterion.

Having a top 9 instead of a top 10 is rather psychadaelic, isn’t it? So in that sense, you nailed it Matt! Another gem of yours for which I thank you!

I managed a record store in Houston from 1978 to 1983. Love your videos. Kind regards Scott AKA et2petty. Armenia City In the Sky-The Who, A Love Supreme-Miles Davis, Happenings Ten Years Time Ago-Yardbirds, Legend of a Mind-Moody Blues....etc

Great video once again. I also believe you don't need to take drugs to "go on a trip" I never had and I'm always "tripping" with these songs. And you're right, there is a fine line with the genres when it comes to psychedelic / garage / flower power. My go to song is (a so and so production, to be honest) Your Golden Touch by the Clockwork Orange

Songs that come to mind immediately: Beatles - 'She Said, She Said', Byrds - 'Eight Miles High', Beach Boys - 'Good Vibrations', Kinks 'Autumn Almanac' (for the tag) and Lovin' Spoonful - 'Six O'Clock'. Later there were bubblegum songs like 'Incense & Peppermints' and 'Green Tambourine'.

Right now is like the 60's all over again. We got the establishment doing terrible stuff like always, and newer bands being psychedelic too.

I had a funny experience while listening to music of a neo-psych band in the 1990's, Poisoned Elektric Head. The music listening to it late in the evening while already being tired had an effect on me that you could call psychedelic, although not being on some substances (never have been)....it made my brain experience the music other than I had expected, bit like a subconscious move in my head. I still recall it as interesting.

I would have liked to hear you make a distinction between the Westcoast jam- driven psychedelia of the Jefferson Airplane and Doors, etc, and the British psychedelia typified by studio trickery. strings, and horns.

Hi Matt! I think the Beatles' album "Rubber Soul" is the beginning of Beatles' psychedelic music. John Lennon said he took LSD hundreds of times taking it, and of course, marijuana also influenced their music. Those who took LSD, like "Hawkwind", when recording or performing (except for Lemmy, who only took amphetamines) showed that they could perform and keep the energy flowing during their performances.

10. The music is released with colorful and/or trippy artwork that signals the artist’s interest in psychedelic imagery to represent their music. Obviously this is not always the case, but it’s presence is a good sign that the music within will have psychedelic elements. Or at least that’s the intended message the artist or record company is sending.

I like the psychedelic montage heading into the segment

Pink Floyd seems to meet most of your criteria as well as 90's era shoegaze. Great video.

Nice video, as this is a hair-splitting topic. I have always thought of the Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" from 1966 as highly psychedelic and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" from '67 mainly because of the lyrics. Surprisingly, Kenny Rogers' First Edition checked all of the psychedelic boxes with "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" from '68. Crazy lyrics and instrumentation. A little-known psych gem is '67's "Shifting Sands" by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.

I'm going to love this series since I've always loved that music. Whether I was under the influence or not. If I was, it enhanced the experience. If I wasn't, I was transcended into that state through the music. It was a win - win situation, and there's nothing wrong with that!

Nothing to really add to the discussion... just feel this is such a great channel! Thank you for all you're doing... as one who grew up in the 60's... I find these episodes sorta soothing to my soul. Not sure if that makes any sense. Maybe it's the music reminds me of my youth... my mom and dad, my younger siblings, the places we lived... etc. To have your insights into it all it adds a visceral side or content with those experiences. Very cool... very, very cool! Blessings of all your efforts!

Very well done, well presented, and a worthy topic. I particularly agree with your points made in #9, notably that the song needs to stand on its own. Also that typically a band is not considered psychedelic, rather a song (track) is. That would make me believe that for the most part, a band would need to get its foot into the recording studio with traditional music, then if allowed to experiment, could proceed into psychedelia. Surely this wasn't always the case, but likely a trend. As you clearly state, it is entirely subjective, and there are sure to be differences of opinion on some tracks. I look forward to hearing your comments on Dylan's lyrics.

There is so much more than my reflex reaction but the two big things that come first to my mind are the swirly sound effects and, in view of the fact that the first songs to come to mind, 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'Blue Jay Way' and 'It's All Too Much', seem to indicate to me that drone is important. I love a good droney piece that goes on for a bit. You need to take drugs to get it? I'll take a couple aspirin, put on 'Within You Without You' and rocket right into fricken orbit. Oh I'm there! I'm there!

It is interesting the difference between the originators of a style and those jumping on the bandwagon for monetary or "being hip" reasons. As a guy in the SF Bay Area when it was happening it was easy to tell which is which. Also there was a big difference between US and UK psychedelic music which I hope you explore later.

thank you for calling out the snobbery with drugs, one of the main reasons I stay away from it all is the reason that the people kinda become assholes when on it or talking about it, even if they are being friendly, there is always a separation in their minds between us and them.

I enjoyed this video too, Matt. Great work! I believe you checked every box. Certainly, the Grateful Dead album Anthem of the Sun fits that catagory.

As always, Matt, another fab video! "Psychedelic" to me has always felt like that brief period from late 1966 to early 1968, and I think your criteria helps differentiate it from other terrific 60's music style such as Baroque and Sunshine Pop (and I think we know there are examples where these styles and sounds seem to overlap), though I'd leave out criteria #9 as I don't think it's necessary. That said, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ticks all the boxes, and remains the #1 Psychedelic song of all time - I will leave the remaining 9 spots on the top ten to be advised by all the other viewers of "Pop Goes the 60s". Many thanks, Terry (from Australia).

Any chance of doing an exploration of Lee Hazlewood with or without Nancy Sinatra ! Some great songs. Between the two of them for sure, somewhat psychedelic and I sure like the production, arrangement of songs and just the sound of the songs, thanks Matt 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤘🇬🇧

For me, psychedelia (whether music or another art form) is that which inspires you to enter a dream-like state. You don't need drugs, but for some, it helps.

Stellar episode, Matt 👏👏👏

A wonderful essay/vLog Matt to get the ball rolling on this brilliant Topic. Personally, I think that for Psychedelic music, you didn’t need to be on drugs to listen to it or perform it (certainly NOT to record if you listen to George Martin). Psychedelic rock requires only a “state of mind”. The lyrics and music can definitely evoke that state of mind but you don’t need to be on drugs. In fact on the 20th anniversary of the release of SGT Pepper back in 1987, an amount of a certain green leafy substance might have been inhaled (to find out what all the fuss was about) and the result was being oh so “far out and groovy” that all motor skills were gone and as a result the record was unable to be flipped over to side 2!. So no, one does not need drugs to experience the music, in fact it could be avoided :) I also agree with you that the best music to come from the Psychedelic state of mind was the last half of the 60s. After that period, people had tuned in, turned on and dropped out to the point that Psychedelic rock bloated into what would become Prog rock (where unfortunately you probably did need to be on drugs, if only to tolerate 30 minutes of musical noodling and belly button fluff gazing in the non-ending solos). But we will forever have that small, 5 year window of the last half of the 1960s. The time that gave us some of the best music of ALL time and in my view, most of it is yet to be beaten. I cannot wait for future instalments.

I think any song that has a significant amount of phasing, distorted vocals, swirly swishy sounds and floating stereo is quintessential psychedelia. Itchycoo Park by the Small Faces, Armenia city in the sky by the who are the best examples

A music that takes you out of yourself and presents the listener with a hitherto unknown experience. I would class The Incredible String Band as psychedelic. Thanks Matt, great topic and breakdown.

When I was in college (mid 60’s) there was an album by The Small Faces called Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (the album cover was round like a tobacco tin) and there was a song on side 2 (maybe The Journey) where there is a narrator telling of his adventures. Normally a lot of it was full of meaningless gibberish but when you listened to it stoned on grass it made perfect sense. Swear to God.

The Kinks "See My Friends" stands as a formidable ground zero for psychedelic music. No gimmickry. The drone,chanted vocals and serious otherworldly atmosphere point to the future. Months later I guess the Who cut "The Goods Gone" with a similar droning riff. And at the same time,Jeff Beck was experimenting with noise and Eastern tones with The Yardbirds.

A great album of the psychedelic genre would be The Seeds Future it’s a very underrated album.

Great explanation! Spot on! 👍🏻

A challenging topic Matt. I think your 9 categories check all the relevant boxes on the subject. Full disclosure. I never tried the "Dreaded Lysergic'. Mushrooms was as close as I ever got. Under its influence, everything seems psychedelic. Once we rolled a cassette tape and jammed . We thought we'd reached a new level in our growth as a band. In reality it was abysmal. Psychedelia is a state of mind and thus difficult to quantify. You just know it when you hear it. Gotta split the scene man, RNB

For me the word psychedelic immediately brings three songs , The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows, Jimi Hendrix' s version of All Along the Watchtower and The Rolling Stones' She's Like a Rainbow. Lots of others of course but for me these three do the job.

New Wave (c. 1977-1983) has the same fuzzy distinction. Sometimes a single instrument can identify the genre as you mention with the sitar. I consider anything with a mellotron is usually psychedelic. Anything with a farfisa organ is usually new wave. However, the way you expand the definition hit more of the marks than just the intrumentation and production. An expanded definition for other genres, like new wave, could certainly take from your example.

#10 "Because I Said So"! Great video Matt. You certainly are determined to lay out your reasoning, which makes you even more believable. Your choice of songs and Artists, were excellent. Got thinking about Dylan.

Wow. Huge topic and great question! I've been fascinated for years with the influence of LSD on music in the 60's. I remember watching a KZfaq of the Beach Boys doing 'California Girls.' It was a simple set with a scaffold around which the band was scattered, and all around the set were bikini clad girl dancers. This all-American Beach Boys look was far from psychedelic, yet I somehow felt the LSD influence radiating off of the video. I couldn't figure out why the video was feeling so acid drenched to me. I did some research and discovered that Brian Wilson's first acid experience was around the time of the production of this video. Wilson wasn't exactly a psychedelic pioneer and only tripped a handful of times. But the other band members probably did so in notable quantities. I'm not able to verify that but I'll have to assume it since so many of the jetsetters by then were getting their hands on this new, unusual drug, it seems it was likely. I remember feeling, while watching that video, that everyone on the set was tripping balls. I cannot even say why I felt this way. To me, that which we call 'psychedelic' is embedded inside the zeitgeist of the era. All attempts at neo-psychedelia seemed to lack a certain spirit that the original style was imbued in. There were attempts from the 80's on up until today to make a 'psychedelic sound.' I think these attempts, while cool, musical and interesting to listen to, simply do not have the same spirit as in those days when, to take a trip was a bold, new, exciting and scary experience. There was a newness to it that simply couldn't be captured in later years. It's the same as trying to relive one's childhood. You can't go back. It seems that a line has to be drawn between out-and-out psychedelic music and music that was 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 by the psychedelic experience. For example, you get the sly term, "Sunshine Pop," where the performers, while dressed in highly stylized and bold psychedelic patterns and colors, took on a wholesome, 'good American kids' type of appeal. To whit: The Fifth Dimension. What I mean to say is, you can take the song 'Up, Up and Away,' considered to be Sunshine Pop and pretty much say that it's not overtly psychedelic. Or would you? Not sure. But the term itself runs in two directions: "Sunshine" referring to the happy feeling one gets on a sunlit summer day but also referring to the brand of acid, 'Orange Sunshine.' The song Up, Up and Away, definitely suggests a few psychedelic influenced references: Going up in a balloon can be a metaphor for getting high. The balloon imagery itself can be thought of as looking like a pill. I did some research on Jim Webb, the composer of the song. I couldn't nail down if he was taking big quantities of LSD at the time he wrote this but I did catch a quote from him saying that around that time he was 'partying like crazy.' In those days "partying" implied not just drinking but smoking weed and taking acid. So I have to assume that by the time the song was written, Jim Webb was well familiar with the experience. You can't say that on its face that Up, Up and Away is a psychedelic song yet it's is clearly influenced by the acid experience. My biggest interest is in how the songwriters became more and more bold in their expression of new and unusual chord progressions. This, I think, is because the LSD experience took us out of our comfort zone and got us used to an altered interpretation of reality itself. In music there's the term 'modulation' which means going to a different key. Modulations were happening like crazy during this period. From Mrs. Robinson to California Dreamin' to Dr. Robert. The musical equivalent to bright, psychedelic colors in musical terms would be in modulation itself. But that in itself simply cannot define the psychedelic sound if at all. When we take songs like Tomorrow Never Knows or Within You And Without You, they are both psychedelic without question, but these songs do the very opposite of modulation. They stay on one chord. The drone sound. I think that, when the composers weren't playing with interesting chord movements to get the reality bending effect, they relied on musical texture: sitars, tape loops, sound effects, etc. A question arises here as well: are the Beatles themselves responsible for the psychedelic sound in music. After all, had George Harrison not been in love with all things India and especially its music, it's highly doubtful that the sitar sound would have entered the psychedelic arena. It truly was a number a magical components and incredible serendipity that started the psychedelic musical sound. Bottom line though, to me, psychedelic music is bound by the context of its times.

Tommy James and the Shondells, "Crimson and Clover" was really psychedelic imo.

Defining psychedelia is no small task. There are so many theories. I used Richard Morton Jack’s book endless trip as the Bible. So much in there isn’t really psychedelic. Lots of pop, blues and garage. But that’s my litmus test. Though? I like the Charlatans. Their cover of Codeine is fire.

Hey Matt. I've been listening to 60s psych music for 35+ years and I think you are spot on. What was considered psychedwlic in the 60s became a very broad category and included numerous styles. Your inclusion of the Carlatana is a erfect example. Many psych 'purists' wouldn't consider them psychedelic but they were. I think your 10th point could be personal interpretation, as you pointed out very well wirh how the Booker T song produces a personal psyxhede experience for you. Lookimg forward to your new explorations of this topic. Keep up the great work!

Great to see Matt again!

Tomorrow Never Knows was my first introduction to what I would label as mind bending. They really paved the genre. Then came the SF groups who were delighting in their power to influence. Thanks for your investigation into to the evolution of this music Nitch.

The Dukes of Stratosphear (1985 and a disguise for XTC)25'0 Clock is an incredible psychedelic album.

Birthday Greetings Matt ✌️ Interesting breakdown & presentation of these 9 defining Psychedelic criterias(-On the subject of #9, a good example of this is the Altamont concert, where everybody went to get F***ed Up and the music is secondary.) From reading some of the comments on your video on What Makes A Song Psychedelic, its all subjective, but I'll list some of my favorites that are for me Psychedelic: 1. Strawberry Fields Forever- The Beatles 2. Every Lion Hearted Christian Man -The Bee Gees 3. The Red Telephone -Love 4. Legend of a Mind -The Moody Blues 5. Passing The Time - Cream 6. Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles 7. The Stars That Play With Laughing Sams Dice -The Jimi Hendrix Expierence 8. Be Careful With That Axe Eugene -Pink Floyd 9. Its A Sin To Go Away - We All Together 10. Space Hymn -Lothar and the Hand People 11.The Red Sign Post - The Fifty Foot Hose 12. Within You Without You - The Beatles 13. New Rising Sun -Jimi Hendrix ( instrumental song from album Voodoo Soup) 14. Feelings - The Grass Roots 15.Tapioca Tundra -The Monkees 16. Some Velvet Morning - Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra 17. The End -The Doors 18. 2000 Light Years From Home -The Rolling Stones 19. Daily Nightly -The Monkees 20. Albatross -Fleetwood Mac 21. Combination Of Two Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company 22. 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds -Jefferson Airplane 23. Hello -Lee Michaels 24. Walking Through My Dreams -The Pretty Things 25. Heroes & Villains -The Beach Boys 26. Becks Bolero - Jeff Beck Group 27. Omaha - Moby Grape 28. Words - The Monkees ( Missing Links Version) 29. I Wont Hurt You - West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band 30. You Dont Love Me - Bloomfield, Kooper and Stills ( Super Session Album). - Im going to check out to check out Ode To Billy Joe from Booker T and The MG's , I didnt know that they covered this song. - Final Note on the subject of Tame Impala, one thing that catches my interest about this group is Not only that they are ( Kevin Parker) influenced heavily from The Beatles and are one of the few groups of today that are very Psychedelic -Im of the opinion that if John Lennon was alive today this is a guess of what his music would sound like... anyways Matt Happy B-Day and Cheers 🍺 - Looking Forward to more of your videos on Psychedelic themes and musical topics 👍

Pretty honest evaluations. Food for thought, and maybe a windowpane blotter.

My definition is a bit more generalized -- any piece of music that promotes, reflects or attempts to recreate a higher state of consciousness. Some drugs (opiates) don't do that, so I don't use that as a criteria. But as you say, all definitions are subjective, which is as it should be. I'm a big fan of psychedelic music and philosophy, though I've never taken a psychedelic drug myself.

Matt, have you heard about the CIA involvement in the 60s counter culture, particularly the laurel canyon hippie/freak scene?

There's another point I'd want to express about this theme, although I really don't have certain if it has really a link. For me, there are songs from the end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies that have in common (in my opinion) a climate and arrangement that somehow evokes a psychedelic air. Songs like: Paul and Linda McCartney's "Uncle Albert" ; The Rolling Stones' "Let it loose"; Bread's "Games of magic"; The Doobie Brothers' "Toulouse street"; "Fleetwood Mac's "Show me a smile"; Lovin' Spoonfull's "Coconut grove"; Blind Faith's "Can't find my way home"; among others from that period. These songs bring a curious feeling of isolation and self-communion; and these states of mind I think been anyhow associates with a psychedelic. Probably I'm wrong, but I'd want to share these ideas. By the way, even in Erik Satie's compositions from the 1900s, like "Gymnopedie 1" or "Gymnopedie 2" I find some points with the same feeling.

I'm glad you answered this question. I never knew what psych was. They can be so diverse in sound. And yes, if I can't get it (anything) w/o psych drugs, I don't want it.

Love this one, had so many of these Matt - good to see Fever Tree get a mention. Much is in the ear of the beholder and many reviewers classify albums as psychedelia when they're just rock/blues based. As an Englishman from that time would just giggle at the inclusion of Donovan for example. For me there's Beefheart, Country Joe, Love, Arthur Brown, The Electric Prunes and Kaleidoscope as well as your mentions. Is the much-loved Moby Grape first album really psychedelic, though the band drug-fuelled?

Hey Matt, I dunno if you’re on Spotify but would you be open to adding playlists on there relating to these themes you discuss? Would be great to hear, love the channel 👍🏼

Tomorrow Never Knows, Time has come Today, Mind Gardens, Paper Sun, We Love You, Are you Experienced? and Interstellar Overdrive pretty much sum up what psychedelic music is to me. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. My favourite genre for sure.

My first (two) psychedelic experiences, both albums from early 1967: Da Capo by Love (Side 1, especially) & Electric Music For Mind & Body by Country Joe & Fish.

Interesting and well thought dissection of the "psychedelic" concept....I agree with al the 9 criteria and would humbly suggest as a 10th one the integration of the sonic experience with a visual one such as a non conformist cover/packaging/presentation (ie Sgt.Pepper's) or a visual component added like Pink Floyd used (light and colour show) in a live concert. Very interesting topic indeed, thanks Matt! I concur that music should be produced and consumed with a clear mind...the psychedelic "experience" should come/go from/to the soul/heart.

I think you missed out the “Toytown” element of U.K. psych a totally different beast to the full-on psych of the USA output , like comparing lions to a leopard , both big cats but not the same. Your American upbringing and influence comes to the fore in this list , but I enjoyed it though

I will probably have to discuss this in parts, because there is a lot to discuss, and it is not in print. First, I experienced psychedelic music LONG before I tried any drugs. The music came in the latter half of the '60s, and not through the lyrics as the politicians of the era claimed -- it was right through the changes in the music. Fuzz, wah-wah, backwards tape, multi-tracking, collage -- yeah, we got it all, but second hand, filtered through the minds of people who had already been there, and most of what we heard (thanks to the confines of AM radio) was by people who had navigated it successfully.

I've been a big fan of psych growing up. To me I feel like Eight Miles High was the one that just made that big difference to the history of rock. I'm a big fan of quaint English Hippy/Folk, and that Acid Folk sound of acts like Principal Edwards Magic Theatre... Basically anything that makes you want to lie in a warm field and stare off into the distance :) Everyone heard '10:30 Returns To The Bedroom'?