London psychedelia’s mainstream stars

Mainstream stars such as the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton were not the main force of the psychedelic wave, but they still contributed to its development.

Last section we covered London’s underground (psychedelic) scene and bands closely tied to it but less successful commercially—or successful only in Britain.

Now mainstream artists who took part in the psychedelic wave. We have already mentioned the Beatles—how they left Britain and built their late-1960s career. Look at the Rolling Stones: you may disagree, but I still think that in the 1960s—at least before 1968 or 1969—the Stones were like the Beatles’ followers. The Beatles first won huge international success; the Stones followed. The bands got along; I do not want to say the Stones stayed in the Beatles’ shadow, because they were truly successful; but in many ways the Stones found their own path only after parting ways with the Beatles’ model. From then on they became a unique band. Their December 1967 album is a good example: strong response, No. 2 in the U.S., No. 3 in Britain. Their Satanic Majesties Request is often seen as the Stones’ answer to Sgt. Pepper. Many critics disliked it; you can decide for yourself. The cover is great—a hologram, band members in wizard hats, looking three-dimensional; high tech for the time. Interestingly, even the Stones felt they should answer Sgt. Pepper. That shows the relationship between the two bands. The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour flop, I think, somewhat relieved the Stones. It freed them. 1968’s Beggars Banquet—tracks like “Street Fighting Man” and “Sympathy for the Devil”—truly broke the follow-the-Beatles pattern. That is the Rolling Stones we know as they take shape in the 1970s. In the same period they released “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” No. 3 in the U.S., No. 1 in Britain. From then you see the Stones’ own style—not very psychedelic. But Satanic Majesties and singles like “She’s a Rainbow” did take in psychedelic aesthetics. By 1968 they left that style, as the Beatles did.

Then Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton—the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Same basic path: blues plus psychedelia. Clapton and Hendrix matter because together they advanced “virtuosity” in rock: not only singing and writing well, but how you play. Sometimes a guitar solo could matter more than the vocal; no one had thought rock guitarists could make music that good. That is the “guitar hero” idea Clapton and Hendrix built between 1966 and 1969.

A little on Jimi Hendrix: born in Seattle—we covered how he emerged in the London scene, but he was a Seattleite—he toured the U.S. with many R&B bands, working with Little Richard and the Isley Brothers. A well-known story: Little Richard kicked him out because he stole the spotlight. Little Richard told him there could be only one star on stage—me. So Hendrix left. By the time he played Cafe Wha? in New York’s Greenwich Village he was already a seasoned player; there he caught the eye of the Animals’ bassist Chas Chandler. Chandler was thinking of becoming a manager and offered to work with Jimi if he would move to London, where Chandler’s contacts were. Jimi was interested and told Chandler he would—if Chandler introduced him to Eric Clapton. No one knows if the story was invented later, but that is how people tell it. I tell it to show the mutual regard between Hendrix and Clapton. Each admired the other’s playing; friendly rivalry that helped both. We will come back to that. In the Experience: Mitch Mitchell on drums, Noel Redding on bass—though he had not been a bassist before, mostly an acoustic folk singer. “Purple Haze” or “Foxy Lady” may be models of their blues-and-pop side; more experimental psychedelic pieces include “If 6 Was 9” and “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be).” Across their three albums together you get traditional blues, radio-hit-style pop blues, and experimental work that treats the studio itself as an instrument—common in the psychedelic wave.

Now Cream and Eric Clapton. Cream formed in July 1966: Clapton, already among Britain’s best guitarists; Jack Bruce on bass and vocals; Ginger Baker on drums. It was treated as a supergroup from the start, though Clapton’s aura somewhat overshadowed the others. They took in much traditional blues; Clapton was a traditional-blues devotee. That rescued many nearly forgotten musicians. They covered Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues,” Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”; tracks featured Eric’s continuous solos, and long closing solos became routine from Yardbirds days—“rave-ups.” The live “Spoonful” (Willie Dixon) is a good example. Jack Bruce also brought pop elements, as in hits like “I Feel Free” and “Strange Brew.”

Put Cream’s and the Experience’s six albums together and you see them released interleaved. Cream first, then Hendrix following. Hearing them in release order shows growing ambition—studio possibilities and playing technique. First Fresh Cream (December 1966), answered by Are You Experienced (May 1967); November 1967 Disraeli Gears, December Axis: Bold as Love; then June 1968 Cream’s Wheels of Fire, October Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland. A very neat sequence. Hear any one of these and you understand “guitar hero,” a tradition still honored today. All thanks to these two. Again: this was in public view, though in many ways America only rediscovered Hendrix after Monterey and his U.S. tours. At first he was far more successful in Britain than in America.

Other British mainstream artists worth mentioning for psychedelic style. First Traffic: after Stevie Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group he joined them; they had a No. 5 hit, “Paper Sun,” a beautiful pop-psychedelic song. Then Van Morrison: with Them he cut the classic “Gloria”; as a solo artist “Brown Eyed Girl” is not very psychedelic. His 1968 album Astral Weeks is seen as a landmark, especially by fans. Donovan, in the mid-1960s, was treated as England’s Bob Dylan. He had some odd pop singles—“Sunshine Superman” (1966) No. 1 in the U.S.; “Mellow Yellow” No. 2. His most psychedelic folk song is probably 1969’s “Atlantis,” No. 7 in the U.S., about the lost city of Atlantis. Another Donovan anecdote: before Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones formed Led Zeppelin, both played on Donovan sessions. I think Donovan has one song that gathers most of Led Zeppelin except Robert Plant.

So we have a first look at the London scene. But London and San Francisco were not all of psychedelia; next we look at Los Angeles and elsewhere.