# The 9 Best Psychedelic Rock Tracks of All Time Rock reorganised around the studio and the drug, from 1966: backwards tape, modal drones, guitars through everything available, and songs allowed to run as long as they liked. The permission slip krautrock and shoegaze both cashed. - **Origin:** San Francisco and London, 1966 - **Tempo:** 80–150 BPM - **Also known as:** psych rock, acid rock, freakbeat, psychedelia - **Tracks:** 9 - **Updated:** 2026-08-30 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/ ## The list ### 1. [The Beatles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/) — [Tomorrow Never Knows](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--tomorrow-never-knows/) *1966 · Parlophone* One chord, five tape loops, a drum pattern lifted from nowhere and a vocal sent through a rotating speaker. The most radical thing on any pop record of the decade, at the end of side two. Also on: [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20Tomorrow%20Never%20Knows) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=m4BuziKGMy4) ### 2. [Pink Floyd](https://waxonia.com/artist/pink-floyd/) — [Interstellar Overdrive](https://waxonia.com/track/pink-floyd--interstellar-overdrive/) *1967 · Columbia* Nine minutes that begin as a riff and disintegrate into pure texture before reassembling. Barrett's Floyd were a genuinely improvising band and this is the surviving evidence. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Pink%20Floyd%20Interstellar%20Overdrive) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=UFdn7LA56uE) ### 3. [The Jimi Hendrix Experience](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-jimi-hendrix-experience/) — [Purple Haze](https://waxonia.com/track/the-jimi-hendrix-experience--purple-haze/) *1967 · Track* The tritone intro, the Octavia on the solo, and a guitarist who had obviously arrived from somewhere the rest of them had not. Still sounds like an event. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Jimi%20Hendrix%20Experience%20Purple%20Haze) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoDaYjdfSg) ### 4. [The Byrds](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-byrds/) — [Eight Miles High](https://waxonia.com/track/the-byrds--eight-miles-high/) *1966 · Columbia* Coltrane's Impressions played on a twelve-string Rickenbacker, on a single, before anyone else had thought of it. Banned by American radio for a lyric about a flight. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Byrds%20Eight%20Miles%20High) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NxyOhFBoxSY) ### 5. [The Velvet Underground](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-velvet-underground/) — [Venus in Furs](https://waxonia.com/track/the-velvet-underground--venus-in-furs/) *1967 · Verve* An ostrich-tuned guitar, a viola drone and a subject nobody was putting on records. New York's answer to California, and considerably less interested in enjoying itself. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Velvet%20Underground%20Venus%20in%20Furs) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YoUx3fiyiGM) ### 6. [Jefferson Airplane](https://waxonia.com/artist/jefferson-airplane/) — [White Rabbit](https://waxonia.com/track/jefferson-airplane--white-rabbit/) *1967 · RCA Victor* A boléro that only ever gets louder, with a lyric that dares broadcasters to work out what it is about. Grace Slick's delivery is pure controlled threat. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jefferson%20Airplane%20White%20Rabbit) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pnJM_jC7j_4) ### 7. [The Rolling Stones](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-rolling-stones/) — [2000 Light Years from Home](https://waxonia.com/track/the-rolling-stones--2000-light-years-from-home/) *1967 · Decca* From the album everyone agrees was a mistake, and it is superb — a Mellotron drifting over a rhythm section that has clearly stopped caring about the blues. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Rolling%20Stones%202000%20Light%20Years%20from%20Home) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nRc0yaMW7Mw) ### 8. [Cream](https://waxonia.com/artist/cream/) — [Sunshine of Your Love](https://waxonia.com/track/cream--sunshine-of-your-love/) *1967 · Reaction* The heaviest riff of the era and a drummer playing against it rather than with it. The point where psychedelia starts turning into something louder and less interested in colour. Also on: [Sung to Someone](https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cream%20Sunshine%20of%20Your%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8) ### 9. [Grateful Dead](https://waxonia.com/artist/grateful-dead/) — [Dark Star](https://waxonia.com/track/grateful-dead--dark-star/) *1969 · Warner Bros.* Twenty-three minutes on record and considerably longer in a hall. A band treating a song as a location to be explored, which is either the best or the worst idea in this list. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Grateful%20Dead%20Dark%20Star) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AlWqitKLnfs) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.