Most music aficionados are aware of a few well-known bands associated with psychedelics: The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, etc. But a number of modern pop, hip-hop, and electronic artists have similarly drawn upon psychedelic experiences in their creative pursuits. Here are a few artists and bands who have openly spoken about their psychedelic influences.
13th Floor Elevator
Even if they aren’t the most well-known psychedelic rock band, 13th Floor Elevator is often considered the first, with its 1966 album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators pioneering the genre.
A$AP Rocky
The rapper behind songs like “L$D” is inspired by—you guessed it—LSD. “It helps me cope with life,” he told Billboard in 2015. “I’ve been doing this stuff since I got into the industry. People are scared to talk about it.” And in case anyone wondered if this influenced his music, he added that “my art, my visuals” are “very trippy.”
READ: The Very Best Songs to Listen to on Psychedelics
The Beatles
To include the obvious, The Beatles have spoken about psychedelic experiences that influenced their music, including the very first dinner where a friend put LSD in John Lennon and George Harrison’s coffee and Harrison “had such an overwhelming feeling of well-being, that there was a God.”
Jefferson Airplane
Another obvious but influential psychedelic rock band, Jefferson Airplane was best known for its Alice in Wonderland-inspired song “White Rabbit,” which played on psychedelic tropes while making social commentary on the hypocrisy of those who condemn psychedelics while drinking alcohol.
Chance the Rapper
It sounds like the artist behind Acid Rap has, indeed, rapped on acid. “Around August or September of [2012], I started doing acid and recording in the studio. A lot of people use LSD to make music,” he told HipHopDX in 2013. “It’s less of a mind-altering drug to me…it just frees you and allows you to think outside of what you would normally write about or listen to or how you would evaluate a song that you were making.”
READ: The Best Psychedelic Albums Through the Ages
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys song “I Know There’s an Answer” initially had a darker title—“Hang On to Your Ego”— and was written about an acid trip where lead singer Brian Wilson struggled to do just that.
Harry Styles
Styles’ album Fine Line was influenced by mushroom journeys right at his recording studio. “We’d do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney’s Ram in the sunshine,” he told Rolling Stone in 2019.
Brendon Urie
Panic! At the Disco is practically a psychedelic rock band, though they’re not often categorized as such. Just listen to the tune of “Behind the Sea” or the lyrics of “Mad as Rabbits.” Lead singer Brendon Urie has even admitted that “Nine in the Afternoon” was inspired by a trip.
Dirtwire
Dirtwire’s Electric River album was inspired by magic mushrooms, with songs that almost take you on a mushroom journey themselves. “Talking Bird” utilizes the African mongongo instrument, which is sometimes used in music for iboga ceremonies, “The Eagle and the Condor” is inspired by an Amazonian prophecy, and “Datura” references the dangerous psychoactive flower.
Jon Hopkins
In his album Music for Psychedelic Therapy, electronic composer Jon Hopkins shares music meant to enhance psychedelic journeys, ranging from the gentle nature sounds in “Tayos Caves, Ecuador i,” “ii,” and “iii” to the angelic tremolo of “Love Flows Over Us in Prismatic Waves.”
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