Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It often uses new recording techniques and effects and draws on non-Western sources such as the ragas and drones of Indian music.

It was pioneered by musicians including The Beatles, The Byrds and The Yardbirds, emerging as a genre during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom, such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and Pink Floyd. It reached a peak in between 1967 and 1969 with the Summer of Love and Woodstock Rock Festival, becoming an international musical movement and associated with a widespread counter-culture, before beginning a decline as changing attitudes, the loss of some key individuals and a back-to-basics movement, led surviving performers to move into new musical areas.

Psychedelic rock influenced the creation of psychedelic pop and psychedelic soul. It also bridged the transition from early blues- and folk music-based rock to progressive rock, glam rock, hard rock and as a result influenced the development of sub-genres such as heavy metal. Since the late 1970s it has been revived in various forms of neo-psychedelia.

Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues-rock style, and is also credited as being pioneers of heavy metal (their cover of "Summertime Blues" is sometimes cited as the first in the genre), punk rock,stoner rock,doom metal,experimental rock, and grunge. According to Tim Hills in his book, The Many Lives of the Crystal Ballroom, "Blue Cheer was the epitome of San Francisco psychedelia." Jim Morrison of The Doors called the group "The single most powerful band I've ever seen."

The band is said to have been named after a street brand of LSD and promoted by renowned LSD chemist and former Grateful Dead patron, Owsley Stanley.

Blue Cheer came together in 1966. It was co-founded by Eric Albronda and Jerry Russell, music aficionados who wanted to become involved with the San Francisco music scene of the 1960s. Both moved with Dickie Peterson from Davis, California, to San Francisco. Peterson had previously been with the Davis-based band Andrew Staples & The Oxford Circle, as well as future Blue Cheer members Paul Whaley and Gary Lee Yoder. The original Blue Cheer personnel were singer/bassist Dickie Peterson, guitarist Leigh Stephens and Eric Albronda as drummer. Albronda was later replaced by Paul Whaley, who was joined by Dickie's brother Jerre Peterson (guitar), Vale Hamanaka (keyboards), and Jerry Whiting (vocals, harmonica). Albronda continued his association with Blue Cheer as a member of Blue Cheer management, as well as being the producer or co-producer of five Blue Cheer albums.

Erkin Koray (born June 24, 1941, in Kadikoy, Istanbul), has been in the Turkish rock music scene since the late 1950s or early 1960s. He is widely acclaimed as being the first person to ever play rock and roll in Turkey; in 1957, he and his band gained fame by playing covers of Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. He was also one of the first Turkish musicians to embrace the electric guitar and modern amplification.

By the late 1960s, he was already a major figure in Turkish psychedelic music and Anatolian Rock, beginning with his first psychedelic single Anma Arkadaş in 1967. Koray followed this with a number of singles, both by himself and in collaboration with others, that established him as a force to be reckoned with on the Turkish rock scene. Koray became a controversial figure in Turkey during the 1960s and 1970s; he was actually assaulted in Istanbul, and on one occasion stabbed, for having long hair.

In the early 1970s, he formed the group Ter with the former members of Grup Bunalim (Turkish for "Group Depression"), a power trio styled group. Although they only recorded one single before breaking up, Hor Görme Garibi (a cover of the major Arabesque music hit by Orhan Gencebay) was a smash hit, furthering Koray's career. The music of Ter was influenced by fuzz rock and psychedelia, and featured extended guitar solos and progressive arrangements - something that the record company was not prepared to accept.

Mehmet Barış Manço (also spelled Boris Mancho in some European album releases), born Tosun Yusuf Mehmet Barış Manço, (January 2, 1943 - February 1, 1999) was a Turkish rock singer, composer, and television producer. The names Tosun and Yusuf were legally removed during his primary school years. He composed about 200 songs, some of which were translated into a variety of languages including English, Japanese, Greek, Italian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Persian, Urdu and Arabic. He remains one of the most popular public figures of Turkey.

Manço was born in Üsküdar, Istanbul, Turkey on January 2, 1943. His mother, Rikkat Uyanık, was a famous singer in early 1940s.^{[citation needed]} His older brother, who was born during World War II, was named Savaş^{[citation needed]} ("war" in Turkish) while he was named Barış ("peace" in Turkish) by his parents to celebrate the end of the war.^{[citation needed]} His fame greatly popularized the use of the name Barış in Turkey.^{[citation needed]} At birth, he was additionally named Tosun Yusuf after his deceased uncle Yusuf called Tosun (literally: Yusuf The Sturdy). However, this name was erased just before he attended the primary school.