A People's History of Psychedelic Rock  IT'S BEEN 40 YEARS since
the cultural upheaval of the mid '60s, and in that time,
historians, burnouts who were there, and obsessive record
collectors have uncovered evidence that there were a thousand
reasons why culture—specifically pop music culture—underwent
such massive changes.  Of course, most folks blame the Beatles;
I blame the Byrds, but the cauldron was bubbling concurrently in
the UK and stateside. Rock, in the US, and "beat," as it was
known in the rest of the world, began with the explosion of
mid-'50s rockabilly and black R&B. Soon bands worldwide were
awash in the backbeat.  Then in mid-'65, via the Kinks and Jeff
Beck-era Yardbirds, an Indian influence crept into English beat
music. It was a knowing nod toward the future.  At the same
time, something suspect was creeping about the US. There was a
batch of new folkies who—driven by jazz, Bob Dylan, and Fred
Neil (who wrote the theme to Midnight Cowboy)—plugged in and
invented folk-rock. Laced with the ph