Psychedelia was an underground phenomenon in the mid-'60s and, like many underground phenomena, it eventually went overground. It didn't take too long -- once the Beatles delved into the style on 1966's Revolver, it was just a matter of time. Where straight psychedelic music actively pushed boundaries, psychedelic pop, by and large, took those innovations and applied them to concise, catchy pop songs. (
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Psychedelia was an underground phenomenon in the mid-'60s and, like many underground phenomena, it eventually went overground. It didn't take too long -- once the Beatles delved into the style on 1966's Revolver, it was just a matter of time. Where straight psychedelic music actively pushed boundaries, psychedelic pop, by and large, took those innovations and applied them to concise, catchy pop songs. The psychedelic effects were used as trippy dressing -- sitars, fuzz guitars, tape effects, backward guitars, even Beach Boys harmonies, were all blended into something trippy, but usually not too freaky, since the tight song structures and melodies gave everything a framework. At times, psychedelic pop songs were studio creations, but there were organic bands such as Sagittarius whose psychedelia was considerably bright and melodic; there were distinct Beach Boys influences, but they weren't as bubblegum as, say, the Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine." Because it had a stronger pop content, psychedelic pop had a slightly longer shelf-life than psychedelia, existing into the early '70s, which is a little odd. What's even stranger is that some psychedelic pop is more interesting than average psychedelia, since it had weird, occasionally awkward blends of psychedelia and pop conventions -- the Neon Philharmonic's 1969 album The Moth Confesses is a prime example of this.(
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