Episode 9: The Medium, The Message, The Music
Welcome back Diggers to Episode Nine: The Medium, The Message, The Music. This show will contain familiar elements — storytelling, commentary, and musicology — but it is also a bit of a departure.
It takes place mostly in the mid-sixties, but we’re not following a timeline or building a story: it’s more of a mosaic, a think-piece.
We think the influence of psychedelic drugs — especially LSD — on rock music is critically important and very much overlooked. It’s a vital part of the overall story. We hope to make that case with this show.
We will meet some rockers and there will be lots of musical examples, because that’s how we roll. But we will also meet scholars, inventors, researchers and writers: Marshall McLuhan, Albert Hofmann, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey…and more.
We will spend some time on the advances in music technology — better instruments and amps, multi-tracking and effects — and show these advances in the musical media arrive at the same time as advances in the psychedelic media.
And the results of that arrival are, well, mind-blowing.
We’re going “Further” with this episode, so turn on, tune in, and enjoy!
Songs
The Doors: “Break on Through,” from The Doors, 1967 Elektra Records
The Yardbirds: “Shapes of Things,” from Having a Rave Up With The Yardbirds, 1966 Columbia Records
Miles Davis: “Freddie Freeloader,” from Kind of Blue, 1959 Columbia Records
Cream: “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” single released 1967 (B Side) Atco Records (US)
Pink Floyd: “Bike,” from Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967 EMI-Columbia Records
Jimi Hendrix Experience: “Are You Experienced?” from Are You Experienced, 1967 Track Records
Donovan: “Sunshine Superman,” from Sunshine Superman, 1967 Epic Records (US)
Jefferson Airplane: “White Rabbit,” from Surrealistic Pillow, 1967 RCA Records
Ravi Shankar, “Dhun,” from Music of India: Ragas and Talas, 2011 Trunk Records
Booker T. and the MGs, “Green Onions,” single released 1962, Stax Records
John Coltrane, “Giant Steps,” from Giant Steps, 1960 Atlantic Records
The Who: “I Can See For Miles,” from The Who Sell Out, 1967 Decca Records
The Surfaris, “Wipe Out,” single released 1962 (B Side), Dot Records
Agent Orange, “Secret Agent Man,” 1984 Enigma Records
Velvet Underground, “Venus in Furs,” from The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967 Verve Records
Buffalo Springfield, “Mr Soul,” from Buffalo Springfield Again, 1967 Atco Records
Grateful Dead, “The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion)” from The Grateful Dead, 1967 Warner
Brothers Records
The Beach Boys: “California Girls,” from Summer Days (and Summer Nights!) 1965 Capitol Records
The Beach Boys: “Good Vibrations” single released 1966, Capitol Records
The Beatles: “Tomorrow Never Knows,” from Revolver, 1966 Parlophone Records (UK)
Books
Documentaries, Films, and Television Shows
Annie Hall, Directed by Woody Allen, 1977 United Artists Films
Tom Dowd and the Language of Music, 2003 Language of Music Films
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Directed by Milos Forman, 1973 United Artist Films
The Beatles - A Musical Appreciation And Analysis - By Composer, Howard Goodall Cbe (c) 2004 Channel Four: The Beatles - 20th Century Greats
Online Sources, By Topic in Order of Appearance
Marshall McLuhan, Analysis and Criticism:
http://enculturation.net/teaching-mcluhan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaH51F4HBw
http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage.htm
Ampex and the Development of Multitrack:
http://museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org/ManufacturersAmpex.html
Seth Lover:
http://www.vintageguitar.com/3601/seth-lover- 3/
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03- 10/news/vw-1323_1_humbucking- pickup
MK-Ultra:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/MKULTRA
NOTE: We don’t typically link to Wikipedia or to Wiki sources, but here we make an exception. The Rational Wiki entry provides good links to source documents. It’s also a well-written summary.
Voices
Jay Stevens performed by Tim Lynch
Peter Ames Carlin performed by Tom Rizzuto
Tom Wolfe performed by Ronald Purser
Sound
Sound provided by Jerry Danielsen and Busy Signal Studios