With the dawn of a new decade, the Flower Power of the 1960s blossomed into the electric mayhem of the 1970s. Bands like the Beatles opened the doors for others like The Doors, Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead.
Videos by American Songwriter
But while rock music was still in its formative years in the 1960s, it figured something out more seriously in the 1970s: the limits were even farther and wider than initially expected. Indeed, the 1970s was all about stretching the already stretched boundaries of music.
[RELATED: 7 Rock Albums for Guitar Fans of the 1970s that Everyone Should Own]
As such, fans of boundary-pushing bands were rewarded at times with psychedelic music that was meant to both challenge and expand your mind. Here are seven of those albums from the 1970s.
1. L.A. Woman, The Doors (1971)
This was the final album to include lead singer Jim Morrison before his untimely death. Along with the bustling, bursting titular track, the record concludes with the meandering, bone-rattling song, “Riders on the Storm.” On that wild one, Morrison sings,
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house, we’re born
Into this world, we’re thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm
2. Band of Gypsys, Jimi Hendrix (1970)
A live album, this was the first from Hendrix without his original backing group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Recorded on New Year’s Day in 1970 in New York City, the album was released two months later. On it, Hendrix wails into the night with his left-handed upside-down guitar. The album features songs like “Foxy Lady” and “Hear My Train A Comin’.” This was the final album Hendrix recorded before his death.
3. The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd (1973)
The Dark Side of the Moon is perhaps the most iconic psychedelic rock album from perhaps the most iconic psychedelic rock band. When you’re known for syncing up with The Wizard of Oz, you know you’ve made it. Not to mention the tripping rainbow on the cover. This album has twists and turns, swells and silences. It’s a museum of the mad, thanks to tracks like “Time,” “Money” and “The Great Gig in the Sky.”
4. Abraxas, Santana (1970)
Santana, like Hendrix, is a wild guitar player full of energy and a philosophical bent. In 1969 when he performed at Woodstock, Santana was the talk of the legendary festival. Well, he parlayed that word of mouth into the success of this mind-bending record, which includes the all-time classics, “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va.”
5. Maggot Brain, Funkadelic (1971)
When you open an album with a weeping 10-minute-long track comprised of imaginative guitar playing, you’re going to land on this list. And that’s exactly what happened with this Funkadelic album. Fronted by George Clinton, the king of funk, that opening track is said to have been influenced by the band leader, then tripping on LSD. According to legend (and Clinton’s memoir), he told lead player Eddie Hazel to play as if he had been told his mother had just died.
6. American Beauty, Grateful Dead (1970)
By now, everyone knows the Bay Area-born Grateful Dead would play concerts for hours on end, extending some songs from a few minutes to a few dozen minutes at times. If any band was influenced by psychedelia (and the associated narcotics) it was this one. Fronted by Jerry Garcia, this album featured some of the band’s best-known, catchiest and still weirdest tracks, including “Friend of the Devil” and “Truckin’.”
7. There’s a Riot Goin’ On, Sly and the Family Stone (1971)
The fifth studio album from the band, this one was influenced by the band’s titular frontman and his drug use at the time. The album is more experimental and explorative. It slurs its words, goes off to high and low places and ends up in places it never knew it would at the outset. It’s a funky record that can break down your consciousness and build it back up in new ways.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
