Psychedelia today is defined as “music, culture or art based on the experiences produced by psychedelic drugs” although psychedelic music is produced and enjoyed by many people who have never taken LSD or dropped acid in their lives. Despite not experiencing or ever really knowing the origins, most people seem to know what psychedelia looks like in terms of art. It is used and exploited visually in many areas of pop culture. Psychedelic art can be seen as kitschy, cliched and even unimaginative despite its original movement aiming to experience what has never been experienced before. One of the first things that come to mind, as well, are sixties and seventies rock music and many people may even be unaware of the importance of drugs in its conception.

Steve Jobs in particular, claims that dropping acid was “one of the most important things” he’s ever done in his life, saying “LSD shows you that there’s another side of the coin.” While drugs weren’t really used in his later career during the peak of Apple success, they were very important in his formative years, allowing him to “think different”.

True enough, psychedelia attracts many fans due to its open mindedness and otherworldly experiences. The possibilities that drugs can do in regards to opening your mind to possibilities attracts especially many artists and musicians as another outlet of creativity.

LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide was first synthesized by the Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann in 1938. When he eventually and accidently digested the drug a few years later, he described the effects as “freeing”. The way we perceive through our sense becomes euphoric and pure and some clinics compare the experience to reverting back to a childlike state. In the 50’s and 60’s, LSD was studied for a variety of uses. The CIA explored the employment of drugs as mind control and was also used recreationally, however, during a conference on psychedelics in San Francisco, LSD was outlawed in 1967.

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