Grateful Dead Counterculture

There are many different genres when it comes to music; country, rock, bluegrass, jazz, hip-hop, folk and traditional. All of these genres have sub-genres which is how generations are able to have so many different artist and music styles. One thing most people don’t think about is the artists that don’t have a set genre and combine many different genres to create their own music. If you travel back in time to the late sixties, you will come across a time when the world was full of hatred and movements for so many different beliefs. This is when the counterculture of the sixties began. According to ushistory.org, one thing that this generation had in common was the music. Psychedelic rock flourished with some of the most amazing artist and

story tellers ever to live. It was inspired by other genres, hallucinogens and social influences such as the Civil Rights Movement. Psychedelic rock also known as acid rock had a huge impact on America. It fell short of the traditional record studio music. It created a new sound, a combination of “socio-political messages,” “instrumental and vocal mayhem” and “studio techniques and eccentric arrangements.” (Scaruffi). Psychedelic rock has been defined as “a genre that reflected the spirit of time, that experimented with studio sound and that embodied the frustration of the youth.”
Psychedelic rock could be explained as the child of “free jazz” and rock ‘n’ roll but yet still widely related to country, folk and bluegrass.

One of the greatest bands of all time was The Grateful Dead. The dead “developed the most high tech sound in rock ‘n’ roll.”(Scaruffi) Psychedelic rock quickly became the “soundtrack of the wider cultural exploration of the hippie movement.” (O’Brien) Psychedelic rock could easily be the definition for The Grateful Dead as well as the other way around. “Their greatest invention was the lengthy, free-form, group jams, the rock equivalent of jazz improvisation.” (Scaruffi). When The Dead started this trend of the ‘lengthy acid jam’ psychedelic rock shifted a little and was also defined as “acid rock” with most of the same influences and purposes. Acid rock was now the “rock equivalent of abstract painting, free-jazz, and beat poetry” which “relied on loose infrastructure.” The author of the book, A history of rock and dance music says that because drugs came into the scene the music lost the country and blues roots and now leads towards a more jazzy sound. Scaraffi paints a picture of the music by saying “Each Piece became an orgy of amoebic sound: drums that beat obsessive tempos to reproduce the pulsations of an LSD trips; electronics painted nightmarish and ecstatic soundscapes; gloomy keyboards moaned mysteriously like ghosts imprisoned in catacombs; guitars pierced and released their dreams into the sky; voices floated serenely

over the maelstrom” he goes on to say that the longer versions “sounds like chamber music for drunken junkies.” (Scaruffi) For the Grateful Dead and other acid rock artist rhythm and melody were not necessary and “originality was mandatory, whereas talent was optional.” (Scaruffi)
Psychedelic rock was powered by America’s mood that was set by a range of different social influences, such as the war in Vietnam and civil right movements and President Kennedy assassination. These social influences made the youth turn to outlets to be set free, hence the hippy counterculture.The hippy counterculture which according to ushistory.org was made up of “probably no more than ten percent of the American youth population” had many slogans such as; Make love not war and I am a human being — please do not fold, bend spindle, or mutilate. This is what the “hippies” lived by. With their simple lifestyles, anti-war and politics America’s youth dropped out of school and experimented with drugs instead of books.
Hallucinogens are a part of the make-up for psychedelic/acid rock.

Without drugs you probably would not have the same experience as the other listeners. The “human be-in” experience was in 1967, this was the beginning of what we know as “festivals.” Acid and other drugs were easily accessible to the youth which was the power ball behind acid test. Ken Kesey and his following were the main founders of the acid tests which would soon branch out throughout the country and then made its way to Europe. He would host acid test parties and hired The Grateful Dead to play. This how their sound started too transformed as it did, because LSD and other drugs took the reins of the music and led it into a new direction. The members of the band and others looked at the drugs as a way for mind expansion and to experience something that could only be understood in that state of mind. Some people were able to attend concerts, use the drugs, and then return to work and normal lives. While others lived in the music and were on permanent trips. In the book Deal written by Bill Kreutzmann; one of the bands creators, he explains in detail some of the experiences they had during this time when drugs were behind the music. This was something that most of the youth had fallen trap to. These genres were now worldwide and so were the drugs during this time. Even though drugs were very popular they are not good for the human body, they allowed people and the artists to have an amazing experience and

share those through music. Unfortunately, many artists died at a young age from drug abuse.
Psychedelic and acid rock played a major part of America’s history. Peace, love and drugs is what it stood for. The instruments were only a mere part of the actual sound. With many other genres as influences for the music, such as free jazz, blues, and country and folk; psychedelic rock created a new genre that was a combination of these genres plus its own eccentric sound. The lyrics portrayed the social events that were occurring nationwide. Hallucinogens were also a huge part behind psychedelic rock. The music explained and talked about adventures that artist had with the drugs and soon Americas youth all joined in. Psychedelic music has a specific sound that many people enjoy. Most people enjoy the music because of its eccentric message that it shared with the world.