Psychedelia (music)

Psychedelic music (sometimes psychedelia) covers a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline and DMT to experience visual and auditory hallucinations, synesthesia and altered states of consciousness. Psychedelic music may also aim to enhance the experience of using these drugs.

Psychedelic music emerged during the 1960s among folk and rock bands in the United States and Britain, creating the subgenres of psychedelic folk, psychedelic rock (or acid rock), and psychedelic pop before declining in the early 1970s. Numerous spiritual successors followed in the ensuing decades, including progressive rock, krautrock, heavy metal. Since the 1970s, revivals have included psychedelic funk, neo-psychedelia, and psychedelic hip hop, as well as psychedelic electronic genres such as acid house, trance music and new rave.

"Psychedelic" as an adjective is often misused, with many so-called acts playing in a variety of styles. Acknowledging this, author Michael Hicks explains:

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