3 Psychedelic Rock Songs From the 70s That Blow Our Hair Back

Get the little kids out of the house. Open all the windows. Let the sunshine in. It’s time to play some psychedelic rock and annoy the neighbors. The mind-bending, loud style of music is enough to singe your eyebrows. It’s enough to rattle your bones. It’s enough to wake up the butterflies in your stomach, and it’s like a portal to a new world.

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We wanted to explore three psychedelic rock songs from the golden era of the 1970s that compel us to look into that portal. Three tunes that not only inspire us but that get us thinking about new worlds, new ideas, and new ways of life. Indeed, these are three 70s psychedelic rock songs that blow our hair back.

“Time” by Pink Floyd from ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ (1973)

Perhaps the greatest psychedelic rock album of the entire decade, the British-born band Pink Floyd’s 1973 LP, The Dark Side of the Moon, contains a string of songs that will blow your hair back. Track after track opens your eyes, ears, and mind to new possibilities, new ideas, new sounds, new feelings. And the tune “Time” might be the most important one. An instrumental opener that kicks off with ticking clocks, the offering reminds us that we’re all running out of time. So, get up and live your life.

“Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic from ‘Maggot Brain’ (1971)

The opening song on the album of the same name, “Maggot Brain” is a 10-minute-long track that makes you think about the beginning of the world, the swaths of space out there in the universe, and whether or not you called your mother this week. Indeed, the famous story about the lengthy instrumental is that Funkadelic frontman George Clinton said to lead guitarist Eddie Hazel to play the extended solo as if he’d just learned his mother had died. Heavy stuff.

“Riders On The Storm” by The Doors from ‘L.A. Woman’ (1971)

The frontman for The Doors, Jim Morrison, died on July 3, 1971. But just months before he passed, his band released their seminal album, L.A. Woman. That record included the sweeping tune, “Riders on the Storm”. Filled with keyboard solos, soaring lyrics, and rhythms that get your heart excited, the tune provides a veritable wave for your mind to ride out into the horizon and then back again, crashing finally onto the shore. The song is simply trippy, weird, and perfect.

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