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The Top 100 Psychedelic Rock Artists of All-Time

PrevPreviousPsychedelic Skeletons in the Closet–Connie Francis
NextSmiling: Devour–Album ReviewNext
  • Jason LeValley with Bill Kurzenberger and Rob Cook
  • September 9, 2021
  • 8:52 pm

The Top 100 Psychedelic Rock Artists of All-Time

Here’s a list of of what I’m calling the “Top 100 Psychedelic Rock Acts of All Time.” For serious psychedelic fans—as well as the artists and bands I’ve chosen—I hope that making it onto my list is viewed as an auspicious designation. Which is also why I’ve identified criteria for who’s on the list and who isn’t. Basically the criteria are: Quality of Psychedelic Output (How good is the psychedelic material produced by this act?), Quantity of Psychedelic Output (How many psychedelic albums/songs did the act produce?), and the Psych Factor (How psychedelic is the artist’s material?)

A fourth criterion, one could argue, might be Influence (Did an artist or band have any influence on psychedelic music overall?) I did give influence some weight, but not as much, because for the most part, those acts did not have and are not known for their overall psychedelic sound. Case in point: There’s no doubt The Byrds had a strong influence on psychedelic rock; they released what is generally considered to be the first psychedelic single, “Eight Miles High”, in early 1966. The success of that song influenced rock’s future by inspiring other artists to make psychedelic music. But The Byrds were primarily a folk-rock and country-rock act with only occasional psychedelic elements.

Robyn Hitchcock

Photo of Robyn Hitchcock courtesy of C. Elliott Photography

Quality rating is also naturally somewhat subjective. It’s a bit easier to rate quality, though, than the Psych Factor because there are generally agreed-upon resources to measure how good an album is. I used the rating system on AllMusic.com. Albums on that site are given from one to five stars by an AllMusic critic. And website users can also weigh in using the five-star system; so you can see the cumulative score of multiple music listeners along with the critic’s rating. You’ll notice that highly rated albums that are not at all psychedelic do not count regardless of their quality; but songs with psychedelic elements are included and rated.

The Psych Factor is subjective, but there are clear degrees of psychedelia in music. For instance, I think it can be agreed upon that a song like “I Am the Walrus” is more psychedelic than, say, Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul”, which is psychedelic primarily by the fuzzed-out lead guitar sound.

It’s worth mentioning, I think, that some readers may be surprised Janis Joplin isn’t included. She was so iconic and such an integral part of the late 60’s music scene, but her musical style wasn’t psychedelic. It was blues-rock and, at that time, even considered hard-rock. However, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Janis’s first band, is on this list because some of their guitar work contained psychedelic overtones.

I’m predicting Baby Boomer fans will be surprised by who got the No. 1 spot—because (gasp!) it’s not a 60’s band. But, in this writer’s well-informed opinion, there’s been no other band making such purposely high-quality psychedelic rock for as long as this one. See what you think.

MGMT

Photo of MGMT courtesy of C. Elliott Photography

100 The Lemon Pipers
99 The Count Five
98 Temples
97 Status Quo
96 Julian Cope
95 Melody’s Echo Chamber
94 Os Mutantes
93 The Millenium
92 Chocolate Watchband
91 Allah-Las
90 Chambers Brothers
89 United States of America
88 Hawkwind
87 Spacemen 3/Spiritualized
86 Billy Nichols
85 Tomorrow
84 Blue Cheer
83 July
82 Mercury Rev
81 Tommy James and the Shondells
80 The Rolling Stones
79 The Nice
78 The Three O’Clock
77 Tyrannosaurus Rex
76 The Chesterfield Kings
75 H.P. Lovecraft
74 Acid Mothers Temple
73 Buffalo Springfield
72 The Dukes of Stratosphear
71 Blossom Toes
70 Tones on Tail/Love and Rockets
69 Phish
68 Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
67 The Seeds
66 Morgan Delt
65 The Apples in Stereo
64 Arthur Brown
63 Strawberry Alarm Clock
62 Gandalf
61 Kaleidoscope (US)
60 The Electric Prunes
59 The Mothers of Invention
58 Moon Duo
57 The Steve Miller Band
56 Dungen
55 The Move
54 The Blues Magoos
53 The Hollies
52 Bevis Frond
51 Big Brother and the Holding Company
50 Claypool-Lennon Delirium
49 Syd Barrett
48 Monster Magnet
47 The Warlocks
46 Dandy Warhols
45 Velvet Underground
44 The Byrds
43 Vanilla Fudge
42 The Idle Race
41 Black Angels
40 Traffic
39 The 13th Floor Elevators
38 Love
37 GOAT
36 Sunshine Fix
35 Quicksilver Messenger Service
34 Twink
33 Soft Machine
32 Thee Oh Sees/ Ohsees/OCS
31 The Moody Blues
30 Tame Impala
29 Spirit
28 Olivia Tremor Control
27 MGMT
26 Of Montreal
25 Dead Meadow
24 The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
23 Iron Butterfly
22 Donovan
21 The Pretty Things
20 The Zombies
19 The Yardbirds
18 Kevin Ayers
17 Bardo Pond
16 Family
15 King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
14 Ty Segall
13 Grateful Dead
12 Small Faces
11 Cream
10 Jefferson Airplane
9 Country Joe and the Fish
8 Eric Burdon and the Animals
7 Brian Jonestown Massacre
6 Robyn Hitchcock
5 The Doors
4 Jimi Hendrix Experience
3 Pink Floyd
2 The Beatles
1 Flaming Lips

Related: The Top 200 Psychedelic Rock Songs of All-Time

Related: The Top 15 Psychedelic Songs by The Beatles

Related: The Top 100 Best Psychedelic Rock Albums

Ty Segall

Photo of Ty Segall courtesy of C. Elliott Photography

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4 thoughts on “The Top 100 Psychedelic Rock Artists of All-Time”

  1. MB
    September 14, 2021 at 9:46 am

    Interesting list. I think you are missing some key artist which makes the list a bit so-so. It seems like your criteria/filtering system has made the list narrow in terms diversity. How else can you leave out a band like CAN or Faust? Also bands like Naxatras or Re-Stoned has been left because of your system? Others to mention Kikagaku Moyo, Wooden Shjips (though you mentioned Moon Duo?) just to name a few. I also think you got carried away by your influence criteria when you placed the Beatles and Cream. The list could use some restructuring.

    Reply
    • Jason LeValley
      September 14, 2021 at 9:57 am

      Fair enough. Wooden Shjips probably belongs on the list. However, CAN and Faust are considered experimental bands, and not psych. We don’t think the others you mentioned have made enough of an impact to make the Top 100 list. However, we will look into Kikagaku Moyo. Thanks for weighing in.

      Reply
  2. LM
    September 11, 2021 at 9:36 pm

    In what world are the Grateful Dead not in at least the top 5 of psychedelic bands?

    Reply
    • Jason LeValley
      September 12, 2021 at 11:18 am

      Thanks for asking that question, LM. The Greatful Dead, without question, are closely associated with psychedelic drugs. They played shows as early as 1965 under the moniker The Warlocks where Owsley’s acid was everywhere. Many people, perhaps millions, have tripped on psychedelic drugs at Grateful Dead shows.
      However, their music style was predominantly folk-rock. Only a couple of their albums could really be considered psychedelic.
      The list is intended to reflect musical style much more so than association with psychedelic drugs.

      Reply

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