The "American Graffiti" phenomenon of the early Seventies, and the subsequent appropriation of the Sixties by the new wave, caused a revival of many of the styles of that happy decade. By far the most pervasive and long-lived was the revival of psychedelia, that kept recurring throughout the Eighties and the Nineties.

Los Angeles had its own movement, the "Paisley Underground". Psychedelia became merely a pretext to concoct baroque, oneiric and hypnotic sounds, often with the help of keyboards and strings. Byrds-ian jangling guitars and naive melodies a` la Hollies dominate Emergency Third Rail Power Trip (1983) by Rain Parade (1), with Matt Piucci on vocals and Dave Roback on guitar, as well as the EP Baroque Hoedown (1982) and the album Sixteen Tambourines (1983) by Mike Quercio's Three O'Clock (1).

Needless to say, the Paisley Underground was only the tip of the iceberg.

The Dream Syndicate (12), formed by guitarists Steve Wynn and Karl Precoda and bassist Kendra Smith, acted as the natural liaison between Television (and the new wave in general) and the new generation of psychedelic rockers. Their first album, The Days Of Wine And Roses (1982), conveyed, more than anything else, the synthesis of Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground that had been the hidden theme of the new wave. Echoes of the Rolling Stones, the Stooges and the Doors increased the hellish atmospheres of Wynn's confessional trips. While Wynn was lost in his existential panic, Precoda and Smith lifted the music to a majestic level. When Smith left, the "acid" quotient dropped, and the band opted for the quieter jamming of Medicine Show (1984), a presage of the new sound of Out Of The Grey (1986), reminiscent of Neil Young's neurotic country-rock; but Wynn was still the only songwriter capable of making his lyrics bleed. Ghost Stories (1988) closed the semicircle by almost embracing R.E.M.'s folk-rock. The combination of abrasive guitars, dramatic tension and crude realism coined a language that would inspire countless bands of the 1980s.

One of the most original bands to come out of Los Angeles during those fervent years was Savage Republic (13), led by guitarist Bruce Licher. Tragic Figures (1982) introduced a psychedelic and industrial music that was mostly instrumental and percussive, inducing trance and fear. The EP Trudge (1985) incorporated more explicitly elements of world-music. The atmospheric Ceremonial (1985) and Jamahiriya (1988), featuring new member Brad Laner, perfected their synthesis of psychedelic drones, middle-eastern cantillation and tribal rhythms. By the time of Customs (1989), their last album and their masterpiece, they had coined a musical language of extreme tension, instrumental subtlety and exotic appeal. They also spawned the equally bizarre 17 Pygmies (folk-pop ballads and exotic instrumentals). After the split, members of Savage Republic would form other creative and influential bands such as Scenic (Licher) and Medicine (Laner).

The Paisley Underground fostered a generation of psych-poppers that emerged around 1984-85: the Droogs, already veterans of the scene but revealed only by Stone Cold World (1984), Russ Tolman's True West (1), with the EP Hollywood Holiday (1983) and the album Drifters (1984), Arizona-based Yard Trauma, with Must've Been Something (1985), the Steppes, with Stewdio (1988), etc.

Rain Parade's guitarist David Roback and Dream Syndicate's bassist Kendra Smith formed Opal (1) to paint the ethereal watercolors of Northern Line (1985), an idea that Kendra Smith (1) would pursue again with the lyrical post-Nico odes of Guild Of Temporal Adventurers (1992).

The recordings by Drowning Pool, such as the double album Satori (1987), straddled the line between new wave, psychedelia, ambient, industrial and world-music.

A more melodramatic style was experimented by Shiva Burlesque, featuring Grant Lee Phillips on guitar, on Shiva Burlesque (1987).

Imitation, 1983-88

On the East Coast, the psychedelic revival began with new wave bands such as Jeff Conolly's Lyres, out of Boston, and albums such as their On Fyre (1984), manically intent on reproducing the sounds of the Sixties. Only a few years later, for example on Lyres Lyres (1986), did these bands develop an original style that went beyond mere revival.

Ditto for New York's neo-psychedelic bands, which gave their best albums well into the 1980s, when the fad was beginning to die out: Plan 9, with Dealing With The Dead (1984), A Certain General, with November's Heat (1984), the Fuzztones, with Lysergic Emanation (1985), the Chesterfield Kings, with Stop (1985), the Vipers, with Outta The Nest (1985), the Cheepskates, etc. These bands, and their audience, were mainly interested in a fetishist recreation of retro` cliches. Their greatest merit is that they helped rediscover great lost bands of the Sixties such as Standells, Chocolate Watchband, Music Machine, Count Five, Sonics and so forth. Their favorite psychedelic sound was the wild and raw sound of the garages, not the trippy sound of Grateful Dead concerts or the intellectual sound of the Doors.

One of the most creative (not just derivative) neo-psych band of the time was Das Damen (2). They reworked the grammar of the genre on Jupiter Eye (1987) by matching acid-rock distortions, heavy-metal riffs, hardcore frenzy and gloomy atmospheres, while Triskaidekaphobe (1988) was a calmer effort that employed the lighter calligraphy of early Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett.

Wisconsin's Plasticland (1) proved their mastery of Swinging London's idioms on Plasticland (1985) and its replicas, Wonder Wonderful Wonderland (1985) and Salon (1987).

Chicago's Eleventh Dream Day (3), led by Rick Rizzo and Janet Bean (also in Freakwater), were unique in the way they fused baroque psychedelia and roots-rock. The savage garage-rock of Prairie School Freakout (1988), still influenced by the new wave (for example, the Television-like guitar interplay), was soon abandoned for the warm, "rootsy", domestic simplicity of Beet (1989). The poppy, albeit bleak, Lived To Tell (1991) and its mediocre successors, El Moodio (1993) and Ursa Major (1995), perfected Rizzo's formula, up to the manneristic zenith of Eighth (1998).

27 Various, featuring guitarist Ed Ackerson, progressed from a raw psychedelic sound to the sprightly power-pop of Yes Indeed (1989).

Raw sounds 1986-88

The counterbalance to the psychedelic necrophilia that swept the States in the early 1980s was a similar revival, but one focused on the wild, raw and amateurish sound of Sixties' garage-rock.

Jerry Teel's Honeymoon Killers (11) were the greatest disciples of the Cramps in New York. They debuted with From Mars (1984), which exhibited an even more grotesque and amateurish version of Cramps-ian voodoobilly, but progressed to the orgiastic pow-wows of Love American Style (1985), which was even beyond the Cramps: rockabilly, blues, garage-rock, punk-rock, gothic hard-rock and acid-rock were packed into explosive units that created a visceral crescendo of suspense. Let It Breed (1986) was a more respectful tribute to their musical roots, but the addition of Cristina Martinez turned Turn Me On (1988) into an even bigger paradox of vitriolic guitars and epileptic rhythms. Finally, a new line-up helped Teel mold his masterpiece, Hung Far Low (1991), on which his adrenaline-drenched hyper-kinetic imagination is matched by a thick, dense, black wall of sound. Sprinkled with radical moves that evoke Pop Group's primordial rituals as well as Chrome's post-apocalyptic ravages, these demonic bacchanals found, nonetheless, order in chaos and linearity in cacophony. Rather than the Cramps, the reference model was the Stooges via Pussy Galore (a group that was always close to Teel).

Also in New York, the Workdogs used "voodoobilly" to express teen angst on Roberta (1988); and in Michigan Elvis Hitler let their Cramps-ian instincts loose on Hellbilly (1989); while in North Carolina the Flat Duo Jets resurrected rockabilly,

Boston's Men & Volts (1) were among the most original garage-groups. Their acid/surreal Hootersville (1983) fell halfway between Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart.

Oregon's Miracle Workers, with Inside Out (1985), and Dead Moon, Pennsylvania's Cynics, with Blue Train Station (1986), Boston's Dogmatics, with Thayer St (1985) and Ohio's Wolverton Brothers were among the most evil of the new garage-rockers.

A few of them could outdo the masters of the 1960s. The Gibson Bros (1) in Ohio, led by guitarist Don Howland and vocalist Jeff Evans, were natural heirs of the Cramps and Pussy Galore on the blues and rockabilly bacchanals of Big Pine Boogie (1988), which is mainly covers, and especially on Dedicated Fool (1989). Evans moved to Memphis and formed '68 Comeback, another blues outfit, while Howland formed the Bassholes (1), whose Captain Beefheart-ian blues orgies topped the Gibson Bros' at least on When My Blue Moon Turns Red Again (1998).

Boston's Cheater Slicks (1) delivered a similar chaotic orgy of rockabilly and punk-blues on On Your Knees (1989).

In Michigan, Mick Collins formed the Gories (1) with Dan Kroha on drums, and revived the tradition of wild/sinister rhythm'n'blues (Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Bo Diddley) on the raw and abrasive House Rockin' (1988). Blacktop (1), the creature of former Gories' guitarist Collins and former '68 Comeback's guitarist Darin Lee Wood, went beserk on I Got A Baaad Feeling (1995), while the Dirtbombs, mostly Collins' own project, continued along the original rhythm'n'blues path with Horndog Fest (1998).

The Original Sins (4), in Pennsylvania, were perhaps the most visceral rockers of this generation. The low-quality high-energy party rock'n'roll presented by Big Soul (1987) exploited the barbaric canon of Standells and Seeds (as reinterpreted by vocalist John Terlesky and keyboardist Dan McKinney) to channel epic and cosmic riffs. Albums such as Hardest Way (1989), that grafted catchy and almost bubblegum refrains onto ebullient guitar and organ rave-ups, became monuments to teenage frustration. Adding lethal doses of Stooges and MC5, Self Distruct (1990) indulged in brutal orgies that were the musical equivalent of the sack of Rome. The psych-pop tour de force of Move (1991) and the lamer Out There (1992) signaled the end of one of the most exciting careers in evil since the Rolling Stones first walked on a stage.

Michigan's God Bullies (2) were by far the most menacing disciples of the Cramps. The nightmarish voodoobilly of Plastic Eye Miracle (1989) and Mamawombwomb (1989) was, in fact, a variant that descended from the Sisters Of Mercy as much as from the Cramps. The overall feeling was of a meeting between Freud and Hendrix, as feverish rhythms, dense noisy guitar storms and psychotic groaning competed for attention. Each song was the equivalent of a tribal riot in a horror B-movie.

The Pandoras (1), yet another all-female band from Los Angeles, were real punks, and a major improvement over the Go-Go's. Vocalist/guitarist Paula Pierce had the stigmata of the misfit, bassist Kim Shattuck was the quintessential rebel and at least their second album, Stop Pretending (1986), was as anthemic and wild as the male classics of the 1960s.

Desert psychedelia 1982-88

In the meantime, a country/psychedelic sound emerged from the desert of Arizona, thanks to bands such as the Meat Puppets, Green On Red and Naked Prey.

The Meat Puppets (2) laid a bridge between hardcore and acid-rock with Meat Puppets II (1983), and then established themselves as the greatest heirs to the Grateful Dead with Up On The Sun (1985), the manifesto of their "cosmic cow-punk" style. Songs abandoned the punk frenzy and adopted a transcendental (or, simply put, lazy) tone, became more hypnotic than aggressive, incorporated jazz and raga elements and guitarist Curt Kirkwood developed a style that was a synthesis of country, blues, Jerry Garcia's galactic trance and Neil Young's neurotic fury, baked in the scorching sunshine of the South. The distance from the Allman Brothers was shorter than it appeared, as proven by the sophisticated Mirage (1987), and even closer were Z.Z.Top, as proven by Huevos (1987) and Monsters (1989), the latter their most effective stab at power-pop and southern boogie.

Green On Red (1), originally from Arizona although relocated to Los Angeles, offered an odd hybrid of 1960s' garage-rock, 1970s' new wave and 1980s' Paisley Underground, or, better, of punks, beatniks and hippies, on Gravity Talks (1983). The sound was defined (or, better, left undefined) by the juxtaposition of the psychedelic overtones of keyboardist Chris Cacavas (reminiscent of Ray Manzarek and Al Kooper, as well as of the guitar fuzz) and the folk-rock accents of guitarist Dan Stuart. After second guitarist Chuck Prophet joined the band, Neil Young and Bob Dylan became the reference points for Gas Food Lodging (1985), and Green On Red became at best worthy heirs to the Band, at worst faceless dispensers of "blue-collar rock".

In Arizona, Howe Gelb, the brain behind Giant Sand (3), came up with an original and quirky fusion of rock, country and psychedelia. Not so much prolific as unfocused, Gelb too wasted his talent over a dreadful number of mediocre recordings. Valley Of Rain (1985) sounded like a set of chaotic quotations of Neil Young and Dream Syndicate. Ballad Of A Thin Line Man (1986) exhibited the epic/doomed tones of Lou Reed and Johnny Thunders. Storm (1988), possibly the best work of his early phase, composed a post-modernist puzzle of rural ambience by liberating elements of red-neck roots-rock (gospel, soul, boogie, blues, country) from their sonic habitat. Love Songs (1988), enhanced by ex-Green On Red organist Chris Cacavas, continued to blend country, blues and psychedelia, but using a more linear and organic format, which, not surprisingly, evoked the Band and, even less surprisingly, Green On Red. Swerve (1990) marked perhaps the zenith of this art of abstraction. Another turning point, Ramp (1991), featuring the rhythm section of bassist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino (the future Calexico line-up), suddenly opted for Neil Young's abrasive country-rock. Giant Sand's masterpiece was probably the 25-minute jam BBQ Suite, off the largely improvised Backyard Barbecue Broadcast (1995), which stood as a summary of Gelb's nebulous vision up to this point. Gelb later mustered enough consciousness to craft Chore Of Enchantment (1999), one of his tighter and more focused works, and probably the most personal and touching of Gelb's "adult" phase.

During the 1980s the psychedelic scene of Texas was relatively subdued, hardly a foreshadow of the following decade's psychedelic deluge. The foundations were laid by the demented hyper-psychedelic punk-rock of the Butthole Surfers (112), one of the greatest bands of the 1980s. Gibby Haynes (vocals) and Paul Leary (guitar) brewed a synthesis of Sex Pistols' punk-rock, Red Crayola's acid-rock and Holy Modal Rounders' acid-folk on the mini-album Butthole Surfers (1983), a gallery of demented anthems played in a grotesque and noisy frenzy. Psychic Powerless (1985), one of the decade's most significant works, turned out a hysterical, cacophonous nonsense that borrowed from Captain Beefheart's apocalyptic blues, Chrome's delirious space-rock, Pere Ubu's modern dance, the Cramps' psychotic voodoobilly and Syd Barrett's intergalactic signals. The effect was akin to a hippie cartoon or a circus of epileptic clowns. The lysergic chaos of Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986) was better structured, but still amounted to an encyclopedic annihilation of 30 years of rock'n'roll. Replacing their visionary and infernal imagination with slicker productions, the Butthole Surfers delivered two albums that were tighter and more conventional, Locust Abortion Technician (1987) and Hairway To Steven (1988), and then proceeded to achieve the impossible, i.e. streamline their abominable punk mess for the mainstream on Piouhgd (1991), Independent Worm Saloon (1994), and Electriclarryland (1996). The last bang was in fact a side-project by Gibby Haynes, P (1995), which contained some of his most explosive music ever. Not awkward at all, and in fact quite accessible, the last Butthole Surfers album, Weird Revolution (2001), was an eclectic survey of well-played cliches, incorporating dance and rap music.

Free-form psychedelia 1982-88

Artistically speaking, it is likely that the most durable works of the psychedelic renaissance came from the musicians who focused on free-form jams rather than the song format. They were mostly isolated, fiercely independent, and influnced by both the classical avantgarde and free-jazz.

From his Connecticut base, self-made psychedelic omnivore Wayne Rogers practiced his Jimi Hendrix fixation in a number of different projects. The records released under the moniker Crystallized Movements (1), starting with Mind Disaster (1983) and particularly This Wideness Comes (1990), were simply pretexts for narcissistic and logorrheic guitar shows. Vermonster's third album The Holy Sound Of American Pipe (1992) experimented with drones and eastern meditation. BORB's second album Blast Off (1993) was self-indulgent jamming of an even higher magnitude. Magic Hour (2), a collaboration with Galaxie 500's rhythm section of Naomi Yang and Damon Krukowski, yielded the best results, particularly their second album Will They Turn You On (1995), which contains Passing Word, and the four live jams of Secession '96 (1996). These were epic tours de force of schizoid psychedelia, drenched in Hendrix's delirium tremens, in raga-like crescendos, in mind-expanding distorted drones and in hammering space-rock riffs.

In Wisconsin, another lysergic visionary, Richard Franecki, dealt a fatal blow to the song format with the cassettes and records of his project F/I (1). His best Hawkwind and Chrome impersonations were found the extended relentless space jams anchored to heavy distorted riffs and pounding drums of Space Mantra (1988) and Paradise Out Here (1989). He then formed Vocokesh (2) and proceeded to apply analog electronics to raga-rock, interstellar Pink Floyd and Grateful Dead's acid-rock, particularly on the enigmatic and imposing Smile And Point At The Mountain (1995) and on the more ethnic Paradise Revisited (1998). By the time of The Tenth Corner (2004), Vocokesh had also incorporated free jazz and raga.

The Sun City Girls (1) began as one of the humblest and most underground acts of Arizona, and one decade later had become one of the most pretentious and prolific acts in the world. Their releases of the early 1980s were limited-edition cassettes. The first records, such as Grotto Of Miracles (1986) and Torch Of The Mystics (1990), were still amateurish, but began to develop the concept of a cosmic psychedelic hard-jazz-rock fusion. Later releases featured more professional performances but were mostly improvised and not edited, thus making an art out of self-indulgence and filler, as proven by the sprawling jams Ghost Ghat Trespass (1996) and Cameo Demons (2000).

Later into the decade, titanic Arizona guitarist Jesus Acedo and his Black Sun Ensemble (2) attempted a more radical revision of psychedelia, replete with nods to space-rock and free-jazz. The instrumental scores that were collected years later on Black Sun Ensemble (1988) and Lambent Flame (1988) were visionary works with few precedents. Mental insanity kept Acedo from fully developing the material that appeared on Hymn Of The Master (2001), mostly composed several years earlier.

San Francisco's giant of psychedelia was former Chrome's guitarist Helios Creed (3). He had little in common with anyone else. Superior Catholic Fingers (1988) and especially Last Laugh (1989) were orgiastic maelstroms of galactic glissandos, ripping distortions, hallucinated vocals and demonic tempos, while electronic instruments injected industrial soundscapes in the mix. His sadistic synthesis of early Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Neu, Popol Vuh and Hawkwind led to the delirious Boxing The Clown (1990) and to Lactating Purple (1991), his most violent and hostile work.

Australian psychedelia 1981-86

Garage-rock and psychedelia found fertile soil in Australia with the Lime Spiders; the Celibate Rifles (1), particularly on their third album The Turgid Miasma Of Existence (1986); the Stems; Died Pretty (1), whose Free Dirt (1986), sounded like a cross between Neil Young and the Doors (Frank Brunetti on keyboards); and Dave Faulkner's Hoodoo Gurus (1), who were the Australian equivalent of the Fleshtones, particularly on Stoneage Romeos (1984), before turning to power-pop with Mars Needs Guitar (1985). They were savage all right, but a bit too derivative and predictable.

Tex Perkins' Beasts Of Bourbon (1), recorded one of the most original albums of the time, Axeman's Jazz (1984), somewhere between Gram Parsons' country-rock, Captain Beefheart's primitive dadaism and Tom Waits' drunk rhythm'n'blues.

They shared most of the line-up (i.e., vocalist and guitarist Kim Salmon) with the Scientists, who experimented with an exciting blend of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Cramps on a series of EPs and mini-albums, including Blood Red River (1983), This Heart Doesn't Run On Blood (1984), Atom Bomb Baby (1985) and Demolition Derby (1985).

The most ferocious and uplifting gang of Australian garage-rock was probably Feedtime (11). They delivered the demonic bacchanals of Feedtime (1986) with the production quality of a nuclear radiation and the aplomb of rampaging Hun warriors. The anthemic, epileptic and spastic rock'n'roll of this album had few rivals in the history of rock music. The slightly less manic Shovel (1986) unveiled their sources of inspiration, which, despite the illiterate image of the trio, included jump blues sarabands, Scottish reels and Indian war dances.

When former Birthday Party's members Rowland Howard (guitar) and Mick Harvey (keyboards), and former Swell Maps' member Epic Soundtracks (drums) joined Simon Bonney's project Crime And The City Solution (2), the result was the gothic nightmare of Room Of Lights (1986), reminiscent of the darker edges of spiritual, blues and gospel music, and heavily influenced by Nick Cave's metaphysical suspense. Shine (1988), virtually a solo (and emphatic) Bonney record with Harvey sculpting ghostly atmospheres, began the mutation towards an eclectic, theatrical, pop and artful sound, which ended and peaked with the four-part suite The Last Dictator, off Paradise Discotheque (1990).

These Immortal Souls (1), formed by Howard and Soundtracks after they left Bonney, composed the languid and melodramatic litanies of Get Lost (1987), reminiscent of Tom Waits' cocktail lounge in hell.

Euro-garage 1980-86

The only area in Europe that could compete with USA's and Australia's garage-rock was Sweden. Hanoi Rocks (1), in particular, deserve to be named next to the father founders of the genre. This Finnish equivalent of the New York Dolls evolved from the punkish callowness of Bangkok Shocks Saigon Shakes Hanoi Rocks (1981) to the catchy power-pop of Oriental Beat (1982) to the slick glam-metal of Back To Mystery City (1983). The Nomads played garage-rock with the intensity of heavy-metal, although their records, beginning with the mini-album Where The Wolf Bane Blooms (1983), were mainly collections of covers. This tradition peaked with Union Carbide Productions (1) and the satanic rave-ups of In The Air Tonight (1987).

Garage-rock in Britain was a minor phenomenon but still counted on the Barracudas, Billy Childish and his many bands (Pop Rivets, Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats); Katrina And The Waves, led by former Soft Boys' guitarist Kimberley Rew; the Prisoners, etc. The most impressive rockers were perhaps Screaming Blue Messiah, the Thee Hypnotics. and the Walking Seeds.

Euro-psychedelia 1980-86

After pioneers such as the Soft Boys opened the gates at the turn of the decade, a disproportionate number of English bands turned to psychedelia, and most of them simply made pop music camouflaged as psychedelia (like the Beatles did).

Liverpool was at the vanguard of the British psychedelic movement of the 1980s. Echo & The Bunnymen (2) practiced psychedelic-rock at the intersection between the Doors and Joy Division. Crocodiles (1980) was a varied effort of pieces that were both hypnotic and shimmering and scoured folk-rock and raga-rock for intriguing sounds. Leaving behind the eccentricities, the band veered towards an elegant and solemn style on Heaven Up Here (1982) and Porcupine (1983), and eventually achieved the dense and slick arrangements of Ocean Rain (1984), their sonic zenith.

Julian Cope's Teardrop Explodes (1) foreshadowed his future solo career with the lush, melodic and spacey songs of Kilimanjaro (1980).

Countless bands fished in the same pond: Sound, with Jeopardy (1980), and Wah, both Liverpool bands, the Times, Mighty Lemon Drops, Chameleons, progenitors of the "Mad-chester" phenomenon, House Of Love, featuring Terry Bickers on guitar, etc. They were as original as a bottle of Coca Cola. Timid experiments were attempted by Breathless and Perfect Disaster.

Zodiac Mindwarp and Gaye Bykers On Acid were the leaders of the "grebo" movement, which bridged punk and hippie culture.

Countless amateurs suddenly found a career, notable among them Bevis Frond (1), who was fundamentally a collector of Sixties cliches (Byrds, Syd Barrett, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, the Velvet Underground). He made a career out of carefully-constructed imitations such as Tryptich (1988), as if there were no limits to how often one could recycle ideas that were already obsolete in 1969. Occasionally rising to the occasion, he also attempted more experimental jams, such as on Through The Looking Glass (1987).

Prodromes of dance-psychedelia 1982-85

Ka-Spel's Legendary Pink Dots (2) were one of the most adventurous (and ever evolving) psychedelic poppers. They began with psychedelic madrigals that were unique in the pastoral way they employed electronic sounds, for example on Brighter Now (1982). Asylum (1985) veered towards melancholy decadent futuristic pop a` la Roxy Music and Ultravox. As Ka-Spel's skills in orchestration improved, he sculpted the neo-classical pop of Any Day Now (1987), possibly his artistic peak, and then the eccentric synth-pop of The Maria Dimension (1991), and finally experimented with the avantgarde arrangements of Malachi (1993), probably his most ambitious work. In between these milestones (each of which contains gems as well as filler), Ka-Spel released many other works of little interest, some credited to the Legendary Pink Dots and some under his own name. The latter tended to be more original, for example the horror-medieval concept Tanith And The Lion Tree (1991).

Matt Johnson's The The (2), reveled in haunting atmospheres and dejected themes, the subtle and often cacophonous arrangements creating a permanent sense of terror and paranoia. Soul Mining (1982) already contained the embryonic elements of his future investigations: polyrhythmic dance music, pop-soul melodies, tribal world-music, oneiric acid-rock, noir ambience. The gloomy and desperate lullabies of Infected (1987), the more visceral and emphatic sermons of Mind Bomb (1989), perhaps his best orchestrated work, and the philosophical meditations in a depleted soundscape of Dusk (1992), his most self-indulgent work, refined the persona of a real "auteur" of dance-pop.

Three fourths of Bauhaus formed Love And Rockets (2), who defused Bauhaus' gloomy pop and linked it with the generation of shoegazers and ravers. More electronic sounds and dance beats, plus evanescent vocals and evocative guitars, lent Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven (1985) the quality of a mirage, accomplishing de facto the old hippie ambition of turning acid-rock into abstract trance. After the commercial Express (1986) and Earth-Sun-Moon (1987), the band reached a new synthesis for the rave generation on the hyper-psychedelic Love And Rockets (1989). But the style was still in progress. The lengthy ecstatic litanies of Hot Trip To Heaven (1994) contributed to found the genre of acid ambient music (like Stone Roses covering Pink Floyd's A Saucerful Of Secrets), whereas the ethereal Sweet F.A (1996) exaggerated and diluted the idea (early Pink Floyd fronted by Donovan and arranged by Brian Eno). While not up to their creative standards, the futuristic/hedonistic electronic music of Lift (1998) seemed to come full circle and to eventually make sense of their entire career.

Dream-pop 1982-87

The Cocteau Twins (12) gave psychedelic-rock yet another spin. Their "dream-pop" relied on sublime melodies, but delivered by an ethereal contralto (Elizabeth Fraser, one of the most influential vocalists of the decade) and wrapped in layers and layers of oneiric guitar and keyboard lines (both penned by Robin Guthrie). Vocals (and female vocals) ruled, not guitars on their first, tentative album, Garlands (1982). The sound was, at the same time, mellow and thick. The shimmering filigrees of Head Over Heels (1983) blended celestial singalongs, middle-eastern psalms, majestic spirituals, vibrant melismas, tinkling guitars and neo-classical keyboards. Cocteau Twins' songs exhibited the levity and grace of madrigals but also the gloom and pomp of requiems. Dream-pop shared the contemplative quality and the passion for textures with shoegazing, but diverged from shoegazing in both narrative development and emotional intensity. In fact, it was fundamentally post-gothic (post-Siouxsie) sensational rock. The pieces released on EP, such as Hitherto (1983), Spangle Maker (1983), Pearly-dewdrops Drops (1984) and Pepper-tree (1984), were perhaps even more elegant and lush. The addition of bassist and keyboardist Simon Raymonde, coupled with Fraser's more conscious appropriation of Joan LaBarbara's and Meredith Monk's experiments (voice as the original instrument), completed the magic on Treasure (1984), an album of sonic vertigoes imbued with medieval spirituality. The artistic zenith of these two albums also marked the beginning of a self-serving mannerism: the austere and sophisticated Victorialand (1986), instead, downplayed both electronics and percussions, relying on acoustic guitar for enhancing Fraser's acrobatics, while Blue Bell Knoll (1988) returned to their original recipe but in a relaxed mood that evoked lounge-music (not psychedelia). Heaven Or Las Vegas (1990), a collection of regular songs, completely abandoned the experiment.

Ivo Watts-Russell, the mentor of dream-pop, formed his own super-group, This Mortal Coil, which indirectly proved how the idea could be used to manufacture atmospheric, evanescent easy-listening.

The duo of multi-instrumentalist Brendan Perry and Australian vocalist Lisa Gerrard, i.e. Dead Can Dance (12) transposed the mystic exotica of bands such as Third Ear Band, Popol Vuh and Clannad into the age of dream-pop. The austere, spectral, glacial songs on Dead Can Dance (1984) sounded like chamber sonatas and classical lieder, while fusing gothic, medieval and ethnic elements. The magnificent orchestration of Spleen And Ideal (1985) upped the ante, as did the religious intensity of Gerrard's performance. Imposing arrangements levelled paleo-slavic hymns, Gregorian liturgy, celtic folk, Tibetan chants, renaissance madrigals, middle-eastern dances. The stately decor and the alternation of Perry's symphonic ballads and Gerrard's free-form odes evoked early King Crimson. The duo played the same formula over and over again, first with the ambitious but unfocused Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun (1987), then with the lush, meticulous arrangements (or, better, plethora of sound effects) of The Serpent's Egg (1988). During the 1990s, they indulged in trivial repetitions of their least original ideas: the recreation of ancient musical styles on Aion (1990), via epoch instruments and dead languages, and Into The Labyrinth (1993), the pan-ethnic collage of Spiritchaser (1996).

The third major phase in the history of dream-pop was heralded by Norway's Bel Canto (3), the project of vocalist Anneli Drecker and multi-instrumentalists and Nils Johansen (which initially featured future Biosphere mastermind Geir Jenssen). White-Out Conditions (1987) owed its dark and icy appearance to the influences of laconic bards (Nico, new-age music, gothic rock, Dead Can Dance). Drecker matured on Birds Of Passage (1989), unleashing a supercharged persona over dynamic soundscapes worthy of a chamber symphony. Pared down to the duo of Drecker and Johansen, Bel Canto began to mutate into a less organic and more fashionable unit with Shimmering Warm And Bright (1992), a transformation that was completed by the lush, decadent dance-pop of the Bjork-influenced Magic Box (1996).

Finally, A R Kane (1), the remnants of M/A/R/S/S, sculpted gentle psychedelic funk-jazz music, reminiscent of both Miles Davis and Robert Wyatt, in the stylistic puzzle of 69 (1988), thus pioneering the genre that would be called "trip-hop".

Feedback-pop 1985-87

A more interesting variation on the same song came out of Scotland when Jesus And Mary Chain (2) coined "feedback-pop". The idea was quite simple and certainly not new: take the Velvet Underground's White Light White Heat and add a catchy melody, or take Phil Spector's "wall of sound" and add a layer of guitar noise. Massive distortions, coupled with nihilistic ethos borrowed from the Sex Pistols, bestowed on Psychocandy (1985) a funereal mood. Its spectral, acid, abrasive lullabies lasted only one season, though. The much lighter Darklands (1987) was a collection of melancholy ballads, and Automatic (1989), while more cohesive, professional and eclectic than anything they had done before, was basically dance-music, no matter how skewed, and Honey's Dad (1992) was even laid-back.

Other bands influenced by feedback-pop were the Green Telescopes, the Telstar Ponies, the Thanes, Ultra Vivid Scene, etc.

Shoegazing 1986-87

Ireland added My Bloody Valentine (110) to the potion, and something truly magic was finally created in the realm of psychedelia. The mini-album Ecstasy (1987) explored the ambiguity that would make their mature sound so haunting and devastating: ecstasy and terror were two faces of the same moon, and that moon shone day and night. Daydreaming and nightmare became the same state of mind as guitars enveloped naive melodies and drums smashed vocal harmonies. Isn't Anything (1988) went one step further than Jesus And Mary Chain, in that it renounced punk's violence and harked back to the most dilated forms of acid-rock. Kevin Shields' "shoegazing" guitar fullfilled Jerry Garcia's and Jimi Hendrix' galactic bliss, and helped the sweet litanies grind their way into a transcendental trance. Electronic keyboards joined guitar noise on Loveless (1991), the ultimate exploration of textures in rock music. Its stunning chaos can be viewed both as an enraptured "om" to the universe or as a deranged scream in a madman's cell or as a terrified paralysis in the face of a supernatural force. The album changed the meaning of the word "music" by proving the equivalence between "noisy" and "symphonic", the same way that Einstein proved the equivalence between inertial and gravitational mass.

Acid-rock had been about "trance" since the early times of the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground, but its commercialization (circa 1967) had created the misunderstanding that "psychedelic" was about bizarre and cute arrangements of very catchy tunes. It took 20 years for these "shoegazers" to rediscover the original meaning of "psychedelic".

Guitarists Peter "Sonic Boom" Kember and Jason Pierce formed Spacemen 3 (2), the band that transformed sustained guitar noise into spiritual meditation, and psychedelia into zen. The Perfect Prescription (1987) was supposed to be the musical transcription of an overdose, but it still resembled a slow-motion replay of Red Crayola's dense maelstrom of dissonances. Playing With Fire (1988) achieved an ethereal and transcendent sound which was, de facto, bordering on Brian Eno's ambient music. It is not a coincidence that the group eventually recorded a 45-minute improvisation for distorted guitars, An Evening Of Contemporary Sitar Music (1990), explicitly dedicated to LaMonte Young, the guru of static music. Spacemen 3 were, first and foremost, an idea, the idea of unfolding gentle, ecstatic melodies around the drones of distorted guitars, an Indian praxis that had already been employed by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp.

Even more spiritual and contemplative (and minimal) were the soundscapes "painted" by Robert Hampson's Loop (1) on Heaven's End (1987). Their songs were mere variations on a droning pattern, with moods ranging from catatonic to violent.