[demonrail666]

I saw this in the latest edition of the Sweet Floral Albion webzine and thought a couple of you might find it slightly interesting.

Here's the link:
http://xoomer.alice.it/sweetfloralalbion/SFA/sfa_37.htm

But I've printed it in full here anyway:


*** USA VERSUS UK PSYCH: JOURNALISTIC CLICHÉS & ASSUMPTIONS, by Dave Thubron ***

A PROLEGOMENA

ONE OF THE many all too-enduring truisms foisted upon us by a corpus of pseudo-intellectual rock-music writers is that the American (USA) and British forms of psychedelic music were fundamentally and almost irreconcilably different from each other.

A view based on lack of knowledge grew from nothing more than a generalisation to become a kind of canonical Truth. This is to take a generalisation about 'some' or even 'most' and apply it to 'all'. Now, 'some music' is not the same as 'all music'. That US and UK forms of psychedelia are lacking in common ground is untrue, based on false and ossified conceptions, and only partial knowledge.

The general characters of US and UK psych music are - in very general terms - different from each other: the result, as are all cultural manifestations, of a mishmash of socio-cultural-techno-spiritual elements blended in the mixing bowl of History and flavoured with national colour. But some, indeed many, of these socio-cultural-techno-spiritual elements were shared (e.g. affordable musical instruments/equipment, a 'generation-gap' perspective, rampant consumerism, a nascent radicalised youth "movement", social change and upheaval, the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation, the English language...).

THE "TRADITIONAL" MODELS:
According to the perceived wisdom the DOMINANT THEMES (generalisations) of US Psych music were its anti-war posture and a call for revolt. US psych was the "REAL" deal.

According to the perceived wisdom the DOMINANT THEMES (generalisations) of UK Psych music were childhood and whimsy. UK psych was little more than a daft panto.

According to the perceived wisdom the DOMINANT FORMS (generalisations) of US Psych music were:
(1) Folk: indiginous (i.e. white settler) traditions
(2)Garage rock: angry suburbanites
(3) Heavy rock: deep, commited, "REAL"

According to the perceived wisdom the DOMINANT FORMS (generalisations) of UK psych:
(1) Soul/blues: (ironically) via the USA (black)
(2) Pop: weedy / light/ "FAKE"
(3) Folk: some revived indigenous traditions, but mostly filtered through American inspiration

Previous commentators have seen what they wanted to see, seen that which fits their preconceptions. These observations were also rooted to a real degree on the view, widespread in the 1960s, that the US/West Coast scene was authentic and that the UK version was in terms of music counter-cultural energy and genuine revolt was a pale imitation: in essence the America-is-better, America-is-best cliche. Such a view originates in a 1940s/1950s post-war mindset when Britain enfeebled and exhausted by the Second World War bowed down before a monolithic US-Soviet hegemony. This apologist tone is now disregarded, particularly as the earlier prejudices ("rock is real"; "pop is crap") have been discarded by more enlightened commentators. The prejudiced argument stemmed from that which was most visible, most audible, most hyped, the Grateful Dead as the prime US example and contrasted with the Beatles and posited that ne'er the twain shall meet. We now know of course that there are tons of US pop syke records just as there are plenty of UK blues/heavy ad-libbers who indulged in lengthy - and more often than not direction-less - improv. workouts, bluesy excursions and solo set pieces (T.Y.A., Man, and a supporting cast of thousands). The exact proportions may vary from country to country, but the many exceptions not to prove the rule but serve to dispel the old concept of two wholly different forms of psych music. Again at the risk of over labouring this point 'most' is not the same as 'all'.

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[RdTv]

They're both fake. Only Brasil made real ''psych'' during the sixties.

Many thanks.

[Rob Instigator]

cool. I never ever want to hear surf music again