The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Blues genre · 1860–

A wing of psychedelia keeps blues form and pentatonic guitar and stretches duration, volume, and studio color (Cream, Hendrix, Dead jams on blues changes).

Influence
British beat style · 1963–1966

British psychedelia is largely the beat groups growing up: same quartet, same careers, now studio color, album form, and longer or modal writing.

Influence
British blues style · 1962–

A British psych wing keeps club-blues soloing and stretches it with studio color.

Influence
Folk rock style · 1965–1968

U.

Influence
Garage rock style · 1963–1967

A U.

Influence
Hindustani classical tradition · 13th century–

Psychedelic rock is where the mid-1960s Hindustani encounter becomes a style job: sitar timbre, tambura drone, alap-like intros, and long modal vamps.

Influence
Jazz genre · 1910–

Psychedelic rock takes jazz’s modal vamp and long-line improvising (Coltrane as the named tutor) into 1966 guitar groups.

Influence
Rock genre · 1964–

Psychedelic rock keeps the rock ensemble and market, then changes the job of the track: long form, modal vamp, and studio as an instrument.

Influence

Psychedelic rock

style · 1966–1969

Also called psychedelia, acid rock

Kind of Rock

Mid-to-late-1960s rock that treats long form, drone, studio color, and altered listening as the job: San Francisco bands, London psychedelia, and the Beatles/Byrds records that leave folk-rock and beat singles (Airplane, early Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Revolver/Sgt. Pepper wing, Hendrix’s studio side). It is a style of rock, not a drug synonym and not a bin for every later “psychedelic” tag. The named window is roughly 1966–69.

Listen

  1. Tomorrow Never Knows The Beatles (1966) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  2. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds The Beatles (1967) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  3. White Rabbit Jefferson Airplane (1967) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  4. Somebody to Love Jefferson Airplane (1967) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  5. Interstellar Overdrive Pink Floyd (1967) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  6. See Emily Play Pink Floyd (1967) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  7. Eight Miles High The Byrds (1966) YouTube · Spotify
  8. Purple Haze The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon
  9. Dark Star Grateful Dead (1968) YouTube · Spotify
  10. Sunshine Superman Donovan (1966) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon

Passed on

Art rock style · 1967–1977

Art rock inherits psychedelia’s studio job and album length, then keeps them after the 1966–69 scene name fades: the record as a designed object, overdub and found sound as compos…

Influence
Funk genre · 1965–

The Funkadelic wing of funk keeps psychedelic rock’s wah guitar, sustain, and long-form jam on a One-based groove.

Influence
Hard rock style · 1968–

Hard rock keeps psychedelia’s gain, sustain, feedback, and license to stretch a track, then aims them at riff, blues grammar, and touring volume rather than drone or collage.

Influence
Krautrock genre · 1968–1975

Krautrock keeps psychedelia’s long form and studio experiment and drops the blues-rock riff as law.

Influence
MPB genre · 1965–

Tropicália recodes Beatles-era psychedelic craft — electric guitar, studio collage, ironic quotation — onto Brazilian festival song.

Influence
Progressive rock style · 1969–1978

Prog keeps psychedelia’s license to stretch a side and to treat the studio as a tool, then composes the stretch: meters, reprises, and ensemble virtuosity replace drone and jam as…

Influence
Shoegaze style · 1988–

Shoegaze takes psychedelic rock’s treated-guitar wash and studio-as-instrument and buries the vocal.

Influence
Singer-songwriter style · 1968–

A wing of late psych drops the long jam and the studio suite for a writer-at-the-guitar song.

Influence
Stoner metal style · 1992–

Stoner keeps psychedelic rock’s fuzz sustain, modal riff, and long jam and plants them on a doom-weight floor.

Influence

Blues → Psychedelic rock

harmonyform and structuremelodyinstrumentationstrength: mediumscholarly consensus1966–1969recordingoral

Mechanism

A wing of psychedelia keeps blues form and pentatonic guitar and stretches duration, volume, and studio color (Cream, Hendrix, Dead jams on blues changes). Strength medium. blues rock is the umbrella gift; this is the 1966–69 local hop. Not every psychedelic band is a blues band.

Evidence

Cream’s Spoonful and related vamps; Hendrix’s blues-based studio sides; Dead and Airplane blues in the set.

Debate

Whether this is already blues hard rock. Hard rock keeps the song; psychedelia adds the long vamp and studio. Both edges stay.

Mediators

artist: Cream; artist: The Jimi Hendrix Experience

British beat → Psychedelic rock

instrumentationform and structuretimbre and productionperformance practicestrength: highscholarly consensus1965–1967recordingradio

Mechanism

British psychedelia is largely the beat groups growing up: same quartet, same careers, now studio color, album form, and longer or modal writing. Strength high. Folk-rock and Hindustani listening are other incoming files on the psychedelic node. This edge is why British beat is not a dead 1966 style.

Evidence

Beatles 1965–67; Stones and others in the same window; Starr and Gillett on the beat-to-album turn.

Debate

US psychedelia (San Francisco) has a different beat-group parentage. This file is the British personnel hop, not a claim that all psychedelia is Merseybeat.

Mediators

artist: The Beatles; artist: The Rolling Stones

British blues → Psychedelic rock

phrase and lickperformance practicetimbre and productionstrength: mediumwell documented1966–1968oralrecording

Mechanism

A British psych wing keeps club-blues soloing and stretches it with studio color. Strength medium. Cream and late Yardbirds are the hinge. Hindustani and folk-rock hops sit on the psych node.

Evidence

Cream and Yardbirds 1966–68 dates; Starr on the blues-to-psych personnel.

Debate

Whether this is already hard rock. Hard rock is the volume product; this hop is the colored, extended solo.

Mediators

artist: Cream; artist: The Yardbirds

Folk rock → Psychedelic rock

harmonyform and structuremelodystrength: mediumwell documented1966–1968recording

Mechanism

U.S. psychedelia often begins as folk-rock that will not stay in a two-minute strophe: modal tunes, twelve-string jangle, and poetic lyric stretch into drone, raga-color, and album sides. The Byrds’ 1966 records and Airplane’s folk-circuit singers are the usual path. Strength medium: London psychedelia and the Beatles studio wing have other donors; San Francisco and L.A. lean on this one.

Evidence

Fifth Dimension / “Eight Miles High”; Airplane personnel from folk clubs; Starr’s sequence from folk-rock into the psychedelic year.

Debate

How much is folk-rock versus beat/studio rock. Both are real; this edge is the West Coast song-to-vamp path, not a claim that all psychedelia is electrified folk.

Mediators

artist: The Byrds; artist: Jefferson Airplane

Garage rock → Psychedelic rock

timbre and productionperformance practicemeter and groovestrength: mediumwell documented1966–1968recordingoral

Mechanism

A U.S. psych wing keeps garage’s fuzz, organ, and amateur band and lengthens it. Strength medium. Folk-rock and beat are the other psych parents; this hop is the regional American band.

Evidence

Elevators and Seeds into 1967 psych billing; Starr on garage ending in psychedelia.

Debate

Whether Nuggets already is psych. Early sides stay garage; the 1966–68 stretch is the hop.

Mediators

artist: 13th Floor Elevators; artist: The Seeds

Hindustani classical → Psychedelic rock

melodyinstrumentationform and structuretimbre and productionstrength: mediumwell documented1966–1969recordingpedagogypatronage

Mechanism

Psychedelic rock is where the mid-1960s Hindustani encounter becomes a style job: sitar timbre, tambura drone, alap-like intros, and long modal vamps. What still rarely transfers is raga grammar or tala. Farrell’s limit stands: documented contact, medium structural uptake on this child, not a claim that psychedelia “uses ragas,” and not a parent of the rock umbrella.

Evidence

Harrison’s Beatles tracks; Byrds raga-rock; Shankar at Monterey and in the rock press. Contrast with khyal or instrumental gat from the same years.

Debate

Whether this is influence or exotic coloration. Both: drone and instrumentation are real; raga-as-system claims are usually overstated. The rock umbrella does not carry this edge: strength is local to this wing.

Mediators

artist: Ravi Shankar; artist: George Harrison

Jazz → Psychedelic rock

harmonyform and structuremelodystrength: mediumscholarly consensus1966–1967recordingradio

Mechanism

Psychedelic rock takes jazz’s modal vamp and long-line improvising (Coltrane as the named tutor) into 1966 guitar groups. Strength medium. Hindustani classical is the raga-color hop; this file is the jazz-modal hop. Not every jam band is this edge.

Evidence

Eight Miles High and allied 1966–67 sides against Coltrane modal records (Grove, Starr).

Debate

Whether this is already raga-rock. The sitar/raga color is the Hindustani hop; the modal-jazz line and drum feel are jazz’s.

Mediators

artist: The Byrds

Rock → Psychedelic rock

instrumentationtimbre and productionform and structurestrength: highscholarly consensus1966–1969recordingoral

Mechanism

Psychedelic rock keeps the rock ensemble and market, then changes the job of the track: long form, modal vamp, and studio as an instrument. Taxonomically it is a rock style. Strength high.

Evidence

1966–67 Beatles studio records; San Francisco and London bands sold as album and ballroom rock (Starr, Grove). The band is still a rock band.

Debate

Whether “psychedelia” is a drug scene or a style. This corpus keeps the named 1966–69 rock style and leaves later “psychedelic” tags for other files.

Mediators

artist: The Beatles; artist: Jefferson Airplane

Psychedelic rock → Art rock

form and structuretimbre and productionperformance practicestrength: highwell documented1967–1972recording

Mechanism

Art rock inherits psychedelia’s studio job and album length, then keeps them after the 1966–69 scene name fades: the record as a designed object, overdub and found sound as composition, and “serious” listening as a value. Beatles-to-Floyd is the usual path. Strength high on the artwork stance. The neighboring chops-and-suite school (Progressive rock) takes a different lesson from the same years.

Evidence

Sgt. Pepper and late-1960s Beatles albums; Pink Floyd’s move from UFO-club psychedelia to album works; Starr and Grove on the studio/album turn.

Debate

Whether art rock is only leftover psychedelia. The corpus splits them by job: psychedelia is the 1966–69 long-form/drone/color style; art rock is the later claim that the album is an artwork, including bands that were never a San Francisco or UFO act.

Mediators

artist: The Beatles; artist: Pink Floyd

Psychedelic rock → Funk

timbre and productioninstrumentationform and structurestrength: mediumscholarly consensus1968–1972recordingoral

Mechanism

The Funkadelic wing of funk keeps psychedelic rock’s wah guitar, sustain, and long-form jam on a One-based groove. Strength medium. Brown’s riff funk is the other parent; this hop is the Detroit/Westbound acid-band kit. P-Funk stays on the funk node.

Evidence

Early Funkadelic albums against late-1960s psych guitar practice (Burnim/Maultsby, Starr).

Debate

Whether this is rock, not funk. The guitar noise can be shared; the One and the dance band are funk’s.

Mediators

artist: Funkadelic

Psychedelic rock → Hard rock

timbre and productionform and structureinstrumentationstrength: mediumwell documented1967–1970recordingoral

Mechanism

Hard rock keeps psychedelia’s gain, sustain, feedback, and license to stretch a track, then aims them at riff, blues grammar, and touring volume rather than drone or collage. Cream and Hendrix sit on both nodes: studio/psych color on one side, pentatonic spectacle on the other. Strength medium: blues and the rock umbrella are the heavier donors; this edge is the 1967–70 loud-psych path.

Evidence

Hendrix and Cream albums that are still psychedelic in mix and length but already tour as a louder style; late Yardbirds into Zeppelin. Starr’s late-1960s intensification.

Debate

Whether Cream and Hendrix “are” psychedelic or hard rock. The corpus allows both: the files split by job (studio/long-form color vs loud blues-rock), not by exclusive personnel.

Mediators

artist: Cream; artist: Jimi Hendrix

Psychedelic rock → Krautrock

form and structuretimbre and productionperformance practicestrength: mediumwell documented1968–1972recordingoralmigration

Mechanism

Krautrock keeps psychedelia’s long form and studio experiment and drops the blues-rock riff as law. Strength medium. Can is the usual hinge.

Evidence

Early Can and Amon Düül II against late-1960s psych; Grove on that origin.

Debate

Whether this is already progressive rock. Prog is the English suite school; this hop is the German psych-to-motorik turn.

Mediators

artist: Can

Psychedelic rock → MPB

timbre and productionform and structureinstrumentationmeter and groovestrength: mediumwell documented1967–1969recordingradio

Mechanism

Tropicália recodes Beatles-era psychedelic craft — electric guitar, studio collage, ironic quotation — onto Brazilian festival song. Strength medium for MPB as a whole: bossa and samba remain the other parents; the electric/collage layer is definitional of the 1967–68 program and then available to later MPB. The hop is Psychedelic rock, not the rock umbrella.

Evidence

Tropicália ou Panis et Circencis; early Caetano and Gil electric records; McGowan on Tropicália as a program inside MPB, not a second node.

Debate

Whether Tropicália should be its own genre. This corpus keeps it inside MPB; the edge names what that program heard. Do not treat all later MPB as psychedelic.

Mediators

artist: Caetano Veloso; artist: Gilberto Gil

Psychedelic rock → Progressive rock

form and structuretimbre and productionharmonystrength: highwell documented1968–1972recording

Mechanism

Prog keeps psychedelia’s license to stretch a side and to treat the studio as a tool, then composes the stretch: meters, reprises, and ensemble virtuosity replace drone and jam as the default. Crimson’s first record is the usual hinge. Strength high. Floyd’s later albums sit on Art rock for artwork stance; the long-form craft still runs through this path.

Evidence

In the Court of the Crimson King; late-1960s UK psychedelia’s move into named prog bands (Starr, Grove).

Debate

Whether Floyd is prog or art rock. The corpus splits by job: this edge is technique and long form; psychedelic rock art rock is the album-as-work path.

Mediators

artist: King Crimson; artist: Pink Floyd

Psychedelic rock → Shoegaze

timbre and productionform and structurestrength: mediumscholarly consensus1988–1991recording

Mechanism

Shoegaze takes psychedelic rock’s treated-guitar wash and studio-as-instrument and buries the vocal. Strength medium. Independent scale remains indie-rock’s parent hop. Noise-pop leftover as a neighboring 1980s texture name.

Evidence

My Bloody Valentine against 1960s psychedelic guitar production (Grove, Starr).

Debate

Whether this is already indie. The independent guitar-song job is indie-rock’s; the psych wash is this hop.

Mediators

artist: My Bloody Valentine

Psychedelic rock → Singer-songwriter

function and contextform and structureperformance practicestrength: mediumwell documented1968–1972recordingoral

Mechanism

A wing of late psych drops the long jam and the studio suite for a writer-at-the-guitar song. Strength medium. Folk revival/folk-rock remain the lyric parents; this hop is the retreat from the 1967 band.

Evidence

Young, Taylor, and related 1968–72 records against psych albums; Starr on that market turn.

Debate

Whether this is only folk-rock continuing. Folk-rock is the electric-strophe school; this hop is the post-psych unplugging.

Mediators

artist: Neil Young; artist: James Taylor

Psychedelic rock → Stoner metal

timbre and productionform and structureharmonystrength: highwell documented1991–1995recordingoral

Mechanism

Stoner keeps psychedelic rock’s fuzz sustain, modal riff, and long jam and plants them on a doom-weight floor. Strength high. Doom supplies the slow heavy riff (doom metal stoner metal); this file is the desert-psych color. Do not hang Hard rock as a third parent — that hop already sits on the psychedelic-rock node.

Evidence

Kyuss 1992–94 records against late-1960s loud psych; Grove on stoner as a psychedelic-adjacent metal dialect.

Debate

Whether this is already rock, not metal. The psych parent is the color; the riff parent is doom.

Mediators

artist: Kyuss