Kai Loiseaux-Purcell

JOUR 3745 (001)

The psychedelic movement and hippie culture during the 1960s or more specifically 1965-1969 was an exciting time to be alive. The younger generation was rebelling against the older generation, they grew their hair out, wore crazy clothes, lived alternative lifestyles, rejected the Vietnam War, supported the civil rights movement, and took drugs, which all tied to psychedelic rock music. The hippie’s favorite words “peace and love” are what they stood for. There were a lot of cultural problems addressed during this era because of hippies and the psychedelic rock movement. The psychedelic and hippie movements can be narrowed down to social problems like the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, drugs like the experience with LSD, and the music.

The psychedelic movement focused on hippie culture, which rejected mainstream ideas, they were anti-war and environmental and fought for civil rights. Hippies were also about experiences like events for the music, lots of color, and psychedelic drugs like peyote, psilocybin, and LSD to improve experiences and to go to different dimensions and have new experiences. 

The psychedelic movement started in the United States on the West Coast, specifically in San Francisco in 1965. It is generally thought to have lasted until 1969. LSD or acid was legal until 1965. When people started jumping out windows or climbing trees and falling, the FDA realized it was not safe and it became illegal. The first experience of psychedelic rock music was with the Grateful Dead, a house band for Ken Kesey’s Acid Test multimedia “Happenings” in November 1965. This was the beginning of the drug LSD or acid being experimented with recreationally on a big level. They served “charged Koolaid” which was Koolaid with liquid acid added to it. Later, Jefferson Airplane and Country Joe would play here, both contributing to the sound of psychedelic rock music. Psychedelic music would soon spread to Los Angeles and then to the rest of the country, after which to Europe. In the summer of 1965, Ken Kesey, the leader of the LSD movement in music, packed up a school bus with some followers to meet Timothy Leary in New York. He was a professor at Harvard and was the first to experiment with LSD in a clinical setting, for which he was later fired. The two did not end up getting along and this was a problem for the psychedelic movement as a whole. Kesey and his group had to go back to California without a successful meeting. 

The summer of 1967 was the “Summer of Love.” It began with Human Bee-In, an event in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Basically, people gathered to smoke marijuana, indulge in psychedelics, and listen to psychedelic music. Another big moment was when George Harrison came to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, which was considered the “Center of Love.” The Grateful Dead were from 8th St. which was not far from this. During this summer, a lot of kids ran away and came to San Francisco. They slept on the streets and crash pads. There was a common feeling with the younger generation of that time that the older generation did not listen to them. The younger generation were just going to figure life out on their own and go on their own way. This is why we have songs like “She is Leaving Home” by the Beatles, which is about a girl running away from home. 

Woodstock in the summer of 1968 was considered the pinnacle of psychedelic rock music. Woodstock was the biggest concert at that time and it was a big cultural movement. The “flower power generation” later known as the “Woodstock generation” showed their power and their ability to organize a large music festival. Four hundred thousand people attended the music event. 

Later in December 1969, Altamont was a big festival that happened at Altamont Speedway in California. The Rolling Stones were concerned for their security there so they hired the Hells Angels, the famous biker gang. The crowd began to get more aggressive, and eventually, the Hells Angels went out of control and ended up killing someone in the crowd. This was bad for the culture, the festival, the music, and the Rolling Stones. This event is considered the death of psychedelic music or maybe even the psychedelic movement as a whole. This was the complete opposite of the movement, peace and love. The hippie movement also slowed down because of political changes like the war ending, and the commercialization of hippies since they rejected the mainstream. People grew older, stopped using drugs, and stopped dressing so outlandish. 

There was a lot of unrest at this time. The Vietnam War was happening and a lot of people did not agree with the United States being there. If one opposed the United States in the war they would accuse them of being a communist. If they were not with the country they were against it. In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and later in 1969 Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Black Panthers, was assassinated. This all led to distrust in the government and the older generation from the younger generation. 

When psychedelic rock hit Britain bands started playing less aggressively, the beats and sounds were more minimalistic, their longs were typically longer, and they experimented with different sounds and instruments, especially Eastern instruments like the sitar. A big band that came out of London during this time was Pink Floyd in 1967 with their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. They are best known for their album The Dark Side of the Moon.

Many successful bands ventured into psychedelic music. The Yardbirds had their first project in 1964 Shapes of Things. The Beatles came out with Revolver in 1966 and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. The Beach Boys came out with Pet Sounds in 1966. The Rolling Stones experimented with psychedelic rock on Their Satanic Majesties Requested in 1967. This only proved the power of the hippie and psychedelic movement. 

There were many notable trends of this time. A big one was clothing. Bell-bottom jeans and anything with paisley or tie-dye were popular. Flowers were a common theme, hence the name “Flower Power.” It was popular for women to wear peasant dresses and wear a lot of things that were crocheted. Vintage reused clothes also became popular at this time along with a lot of males growing out their hair. Bright colors were popular and people liked to express themselves with body modifications like body art, tattoos, and piercings. Macrobiotics were also a big thing and Bob Weir, who started the Grateful Dead, was a big advocate for it. Macrobiotic diets are inspired by Chinese yin and yang, and it is based on Chinese medicine. Most of the diet consists of whole grains,  a lot of fruits and vegetables, and a small amount of bean products like tofu or miso. Pop art was also popular with artists like Peter Max. This also carried into music posters, especially with them being posted all around San Francisco. A major poster artist was Stanley Mouse. Black lights were a new technology that became popular and coincided with the “trippy” aesthetic and the art movement. 

The hippie and psychedelic movements consisted of social problems and the social aspect, the drugs, and the music. A lot of good things were brought out of the movements. The government was questioned for their decision-making and involvement in world problems, they stood for peace, love, inclusivity, expressing oneself, and being non-judgmental. A lot of people experimented with religion, substances, and science. There was also a lot of unique art, clothes, and great music that was a result of the psychedelic and hippie movements. It was definitely a time like no other!