Dani Mullins
October 28, 2008
Music 252, Archer
Essay 2
The music that I listened to defiantly has that psychedelic feel to it. They both had the distortion of the notes and of the music, as well as the lyrics. Some of them didn't make a lot of sense, but the ones that did, made me feel as if I was living in the hippie time. What Jimi Hendrix did with the guitar was an innovation to his music and music everywhere. He wanted to make a sound that was unique and one that could bring people together and not alienate them. The whole time that Hendrix was making his new music, there were garage bands cropping up, wanting in on the action. They too used distortions of some sorts to help their music and make it something that the audience never heard before. Even though they had used the "distinctive slide down the low E string," (Millard, p.129), they still had the roots of R & B and rockabilly, which made it that more interesting and captivating.
Even within the times of Acid Rock, these artists and sometimes even whole bands where doing drugs to help them achieve a new sense of music. Yes, sometimes this helped them get that new sound, but what it really was mess them up in the long run. A good example of this is Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. He had many psychological problems as he even used many drugs to help him. It got to the point that he had to give up on his album "Smile" because it "was too weird, I thought it was too druggie influenced…." (Weinraub, pg 1) Wilson wanted the audience to get what he was trying to write and convey through the music, but with him being so drugged, it wouldn't happen. The Beach Boys toured Europe, playing songs from the "Smile" album, but even that posed problems for Brian. Because of the mental illnesses he has and the drugs that he did, he is a hollow man and doesn't seem very expressive at times. But that didn't stop him from wanting to tour again and releasing the "Smile" album. It was very successful...