Acid Rock

I was checking out a track off the Traffic compilation "Smiling Faces" issued on CD by Island Records, and spotted a term used by the liner notes writer, I had just about forgotten: "Acid Rock" (acid house, acid jazz came much later). Traffic were acid rock because rather than having a lost weekend, they reportedly had a lost half decade in a Berkshire (?) cottage. This made me think what sort of music/bands related to and when did we use the term "acid rock", rock generated by or for the use of those who used acid, see below? But I sure in the mid to late 60's acid rock/ underground music/progressive music/psychedelic rock could be used  interchangeably for some bands' music - although other bands' categorisation would be more precise, for instance, with the appearance of Renaissance's and King Crimson's first albums, their music would have been "progressive music" because nothing else conveniently fitted.  Having been told recently that a prog fan had been using the term "Art Rock" since mid 60's, but in the UK I can' remember hearing/reading that term until the appearance of Roxy Music 5 years later, I'm now wondering was he thinking "acid rock"?

Other acid rock groups? Jefferson Airplane, Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, Moby Grape, Spirit, the Doors, Hendrix's Experience, 13th Floor Elevators, Hawkwind are suggested.

I seem to remember the term originated in the San Fransisco Bay area - the "scene" moved to Haight Ashbury - and was applied to the GD and Jefferson Airplane particularly, although loads of other bands were lumped under that category (you know what categories are like!). One famous band from that era was Blue Cheer, who named themselves after a brand of acid that was popular. It is recommended, however, that you do not try to listen to this band in any psychedelic state, as the idea of their music was to induce a bad trip. They were a major influence on Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, The Doors and to some extent Led Zeppelin and the Who, even though they were only lightly talented, technically speaking.

I need to go back to my notes (I did a project on this at uni), but I believe the term psychedelic or acid rock was first applied to the Byrds, after they released the controversial "8 Miles High" - an acid rock classic if ever there was one, and arguably the first.

Other bands included those named after foods; Chocolate Watchband, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Vanilla Fudge and all manner of other confections. 13th Floor Elevators are a good example - I see you have them, but also check out Shocking Blue (from Holland, I think), and the Small Faces produced a lot of tongue-in-cheek psychedelia, including Ogden's Nut Gone. I'm fairly sure the Crazy World of Arthur Brown fit the category too.

I totally agree though - the cross-over to "prog" is but a shadow away. Gong are a very psychedelic band indeed - but I would not class them as acid rock - acid jazz, maybe. I find it hard to consider Hawkwind as prog at all - they were just a psychedelic "space jam" band really, and Spirit were but a very, very talented Blues band who pushed (a lot!). To include Spirit would be to leave out John Mayall, Savoy Brown and Quicksilver Messnger Service.

More recently, the wonderful Magic Mushroom Band have been flying the flag of acid rock on the underground circuit - although is it really acid rock...? Psilocybin rock, maybe?

Oh those wonderful grey areas

Some branches of Trance were incredibly progressive in the very late 1990s/early 2000s - I bought several mixed compilations and DJ mixes at that time. Yes they tend to be repetitive - hence "trance", but on the really good stuff, the repetitions "grow" slowly in an almost organic way. The same is true of some of the really good Drum and Bass, e.g. LTJ Bukem. Of course, there's the more way-out, jazzy DnB as well, like Aphrodite, Roni Size and Reprazent and so on. Both formats have potential for even further exploration - I'm keeping my eyes out, but as you say, mostly it's repetitive nonsense and it's quite hard to spot the good stuff.

The Ozrics I can help on, as I once played bass for them. They are the most incredible "Space Jam" band imaginable! Throw them a theme and they'll jam it for hours. Bit like trance, in a way... but not acid rock as the term was introduced in the mid-1960s (January 1966 for "8 Miles High").

I'm in full agreement on so-called "R & B" >ptui!<

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How could I have forgotten Frank Zappa? Not because he wrote acid rock, but more the opposite, really. He wrote AGAINST acid rock and the hippy "counter-culture". The album "We're Only In It For The Money" is a wonderful p*** take of the whole scene. My favourite is "Hey, Punk, where you goin' with those flowers in your hand?", "I'm goin' down to 'Frisco to join a psychedelic band", set roughly to the riff of "Hey Joe".

And then there's the Monkee's film "Head", in which Zappa played a guiding (and walk-on) role. It pokes fun at the whole psychedelic thing, with some neat, trippy tunes and visuals to boot!

Both are important documents, along with Burrough's "Naked Lunch", Bob Dylan and Timothy Leary - who are profound influences onthe whole era. It's quite amazing, the effect a single drug had on music and culture.

And I left out Pink Floyd (Barrett era!). I think my paper is in the loft...