Psychedelic Pop Essentials

Psychedelic Pop Essentials

Like so much of the vanguard music of the '60s, psychedelic pop begins with The Beatles' innovations. After songs like “Strawberry Fields Forever” marked a turn toward sounds that were both more symphonic and more surreal, their peers in The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys were just as eager to expand pop music's parameters as listeners turned on and tuned in. This desire to blow minds with songs that came in a wild array of new colors and styles spread quickly: Donovan's blissed-out folk-pop, the spiked but still chewy bubblegum of Tommy James & The Shondells, and the more ominous sonic trips of The Creation and Pink Floyd.

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