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Psychedelic rock music groups by nationality. Hidden category: Commons category link is on Wikidata.
Fortunately, most of the groups associated with the scene managed to leave their mark with at least a single or two. This list aims to document the 50 best non-album British psychedelic songs.
Find British Psychedelia Albums, Artists and Songs, and Hand-Picked Top British Psychedelia Music on AllMusic.
- A distrust of technology. Tomorrow's World: Home Computer Terminal 20 September 1967 - BBC. 3rd party content may contain ads - see our FAQs for more info.
- A rejection of America. The staple of British beat music before 1965 was American blues. The psychedelic bands looked to British culture for inspiration, including The Beatles.
- Classical music. In the film, Jim McCarty from The Yardbirds says: "We used to listen to classical music - Stravinsky, all sorts of stuff - and then when we got in the studio we were experimenting with it."
- Jazz. Jazz was also a huge influence, especially on groups like Cream (above) who had a jazz drummer in Ginger Baker and smashed the conventions of the three-minute pop song by going on extended, spontaneous jams, like bebop artists had before them.
- ARNOLD LAYNE Pink Floyd (1967) Here, we catch Pink Floyd in unexplored territory, dipping into the subject of transvestism and upsetting the BBC into the bargain.
- I MUST BE MAD The Craig (1966) The intro to this gem is an insane pounding guitar riff with more than a taste of Townshend. Ultra-violent crash chords burst into the verse "I can't explain the way I feel about you"; the stunning drumming is courtesy of Emerson Lake and Palmer's Carl P.
- MY WHITE BICYCLE Tomorrow (1967) Geoff Emerick, George Martin's Beatles sidekick, used all the tricks in his psychedelic toolbox for this one. A pre-Yes Steve Howe's brilliant backwards guitar kept us warm and fuzzy on many a long trip.
- MICHAEL ANGELO The 23rd Turnoff (1967) The 23rd turn-off was the exit from the M6 motorway to Liverpool. I found this beauty at a car-boot sale: 20p later, I had a mint copy.
No matter how many concise, pop singles they released, Pink Floyd still stretched out dramatically on stage, taking songs into uncharted territory with each performance. However, these general rules do more or less apply, particularly to the studio recordings of British psychedelic acts.
British Psychedelia - 100 Mind Blowing Tracks (1965-1970) · Playlist · 100 songs · 867 likes
