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Psychedelic Sixties

San Francisco, the Matrix, 1965

Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was founded in San Francisco in 1965 by singer Marty Balin, who brought in Paul Kantner. Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady soon followed, and their first show opened the Matrix club that August. They were the first Bay Area band to have international commercial success. After the debut, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, Grace Slick came over from the Great Society in October 1966. Surrealistic Pillow reached No. 3 in 1967, and After Bathing at Baxter's, Crown of Creation and Volunteers followed. They were the only act to play Monterey, Woodstock and Altamont. The band effectively split after 1973, giving way to Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship. Kantner died in 2016, Balin in 2018.

Los Angeles, Elektra's first rock act

Love

Love formed in Los Angeles in 1965 around songwriter Arthur Lee, a Memphis native raised in the city. With him were singer and guitarist Bryan MacLean, who had met Lee while working as a roadie for the Byrds, and lead guitarist Johnny Echols. First called the Grass Roots, they were one of the first racially diverse American rock bands, and Elektra's first rock act. Love came out in March 1966 and Da Capo that November. Forever Changes, recorded in about 64 hours, followed in November 1967 and went into the National Recording Registry in 2011. By 1968 Lee was the only original member left. After six years in prison he toured again as Love with Arthur Lee, and he died of leukemia in 2006.

Las Vegas to Portland, 1966

The Lollipop Shoppe

The Lollipop Shoppe started out in Las Vegas in 1966 as the Weeds, fronted by singer Fred Cole. They were promised a Fillmore show in San Francisco that turned out not to exist. The band, all of draftable age, headed for Canada but only had gas money as far as Portland, Oregon. There Cole met Toody Conner, who worked at the club they played, and he married her in 1967. Uni Records signed them, and manager Lord Tim Hudson renamed them the Lollipop Shoppe without their consent. Just Colour, a mix of garage rock and psychedelia, came out in 1968, and they broke up in 1969. Fred and Toody later formed Dead Moon in 1987. He died in Oregon in 2017, aged 69.

Los Angeles, no guitars, 1967

The United States of America

The United States of America was formed in Los Angeles in 1967 by composer Joseph Byrd and singer Dorothy Moskowitz. Byrd had studied with John Cage and moved in the proto-Fluxus circle around La Monte Young. There was no guitarist. The sound came from electric violin, keyboards and electronics, including primitive synthesizers and the ring modulator, with contact microphones on the drums. Their only album, The United States of America, produced by David Rubinson for Columbia, came out in March 1968. Critics loved it, but it peaked at No. 181 and sold poorly at home, though it found a strong following in the UK and Europe. The band fell apart within months. Byrd went on to The American Metaphysical Circus, and died in 2025.

Austin, Texas, electric jug, 1965

13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators came together in Austin, Texas, in December 1965 around singer and guitarist Roky Erickson, guitarist Stacy Sutherland and lyricist Tommy Hall. Hall played electric jug, which meant singing runs into the mouth of a clay whiskey jug. The band's business card from January 1966 has the first known use of the term psychedelic. That same month police raided Hall's home and arrested four members on marijuana charges. On International Artists they released The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in 1966, Easter Everywhere in 1967 and Bull of the Woods in 1969. That year Erickson, facing another marijuana charge, pleaded insanity, and that was the end of the band. Sutherland was killed in 1978. Erickson died in Austin in 2019.

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