Defining Acid Rock

Acid rock is a heavy type of rock music with psychedelic influences. Musicians of this genre create sonictextures that culminate in a psychedelic effect, sometimes unintentionally, with the sound of their instrumentsor the interplay between two or more instruments.

Rock’s Mad Geniuses

Early Fleetwood-Mac, with Peter Green in center, sitting on a bench with green grass and green trees

Rock had several “mad geniuses” whose mental illness was obfuscated by psychedelic drug use. Those musicians include Syd Barret, Roky Erickson, Peter Green, Brian Wilson, and Skip Spence. Each of these men was labeled an acid casualty, but each suffered from a serious mental illness that was exacerbated by drug use.