Psychedelic Rock: Proto-Prog Rock

The music had taken a different turn with “Strawberry Fields” in pop a song such as this to hit #8 is truly remarkable. Really the 1966 album Revolver changed what a pop rock & roll band could do in the mid-sixties in terms of album-oriented rock and what can be referred to as ‘classic rock”. With the release of “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” album rock would go on well into the 80’s with many triumphs as well as misses.

Many of the albums in the psychedelic age were loose conceptual albums pushed in Britain by The Kinks, The Small Faces and other minor British bands. There were many great one-offs in 1967 like

Pink Floyd would emerge from psychedelia London to be re-invented and re-invented again in the early 70’s hard rock, prog rock and arena rock. Floyd spawning on other British prog rockers Yes, King Crimson, ELP, and other hard rock and heavy metal bands.

Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge and Deep Purple helped to keep the psychedelic element in hard rock music as blues heavy Black Sabbath started its own genre of true “heavy metal”, soon to be accompanied by Judas Priest, Motorhead and Iron Maiden.