The Summer of Love Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jefferson Airplane

The second album from Jefferson Airplane, released on 1 February 1967, was the first to feature the vocals of Grace Slick. It is often cited as one of the quintessential examples of psychedelic rock, with the lyrics including many references to the kind of distorted perception of reality which is typical of the genre. Two of the best-known tracks, 'Somebody to Love' and 'White Rabbit' were actually songs that Grace Slick had performed with her previous group, The Great Society, which she brought along when she joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966.

Answer: Donovan

Donovan Leach's fourth album, released in the US in March of 1967, included a number of folksy songs, but is best remembered for the title track, which had been released as a single in the UK in the previous November. Due to contractual issues, the album did not get a UIK release, but a number of the tracks were eventually released in an album called 'Sunshine Superman', which was a selection of songs from the two US albums.

The lyrics of the song 'Mellow Yellow' were rumored to be about getting high by smoking dried banana skins (which isn't actually possible, but plenty of people then were interested in exploring cheap and available ways of experiencing psychedelia).

Answer: The Turtles

The title track of this April release was far and away the biggest hit for The Turtles, whose original name, when they changed from surf music to folk-rock, had been The Tyrtles (in emulation of the mis-spellings used by The Beatles and The Byrds). In June, the single 'Happy Together' knocked the Beatles' 'Penny Lane' from the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100, and it was listed in second place for the year.

The song has been used in the sound track of many films, including the Monty Python film 'Time Bandits' (1984), 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' (1989) and 'The Simpsons Movie' (2007).

Answer: The Jimi Hendrix Experience

This debut album, released in May of 1967, grabbed the attention of music fans around the world. Jimi Hendrix's unique style of guitar playing and the selection of material placed it squarely in the middle of the happening music. As is often the case, the UK and US versions had quite different tracks, so the opening track of the US album, 'Purple Haze', which is often cited as quintessential Hendrix, did not even appear on the UK album.

This song is often said to be about the common perception of purple tinges around objects that sometimes accompanies the use of opium, but Hendrix said it was inspired by a dream. Maybe a bit of both, eh?

Answer: The Beatles

As a die-hard Beatles fan, I consider this the most amazing album ever. Many music critics agree. The cover epitomizes the psychedelic culture, with its collection of apparently random people, whose juxtaposition creates much food for thought, and the extremely colorful outfits the band wear. Aside from that, however, it has some fantastic music, pulled together as a concept album - one of the first attempts to produce one in popular music. 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' is all about a picture that John Lennon's son Julian drew (as was claimed at the time), or maybe it is about using LSD (which most people believed). Whatever, the album managed to rack up 175 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart between 1967 and 1987.

Answer: Pink Floyd

This was the band's debut album, and the only one to feature Syd Barrett. Pink Floys were widely described in the media as making music for LSD users, and the album cover, with its kaleidoscoped images of the band, certainly lent support to the suggestion.

The album's title comes from a chapter in 'The Wind in the Willows' in which Ratty and Mole encounter the god Pan playing his pipes, after they had spent the night searching for Otter's lost son Portly.

Answer: Arlo Guthrie

The song 'Alice's Restaurant Massacree' occupies the entire first side of this album, and is a lovely portrayal of hippies and law enforcement officers working on such different understandings of the way society works that they simply cannot communicate. Based on actual events in the life of folk singer and social activist Woody Guthrie's son, it starts with Thanksgiving dinner in a deconsecrated church in the mountains of Massachusetts, which is followed by a citation for littering when they find the dump closed as they attempt to clean up the place.

Then he goes on to describe how this criminal record for littering made him unfit to serve in the army (which is not actually what happened at his draft induction - his attitude and appearance were considered unfit - but it makes a good story).

Answer: The Doors

The second album from the group that featured Jim Morrison's vocals includes the song 'People are Strange', which was released as the first single. The song (and much of the material on the album) seems to describe how the emerging hippie culture found 'straight' society difficult to deal with, and how difficult it can be to feel alienated from others.

"People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down
When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name."

Answer: Cream

The second album from the supergroup Cream (Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton) included the single 'Sunshine of Your Love'. The album's cover art was pure psychedelia - bright colors, distorted images, random elements, etc. According to Ginger Baker, the album title came from a conversation about bicycles in which one of the band's roadies referred to Disraeli gears, instead of derailleur gears.

The use of the name of a 19th century Conservative Prime Minister as part of the album title was too ironic to resist.

Answer: The Rolling Stones

Last, but certainly not least, of the albums selected to represent the year 1967 in music for this quiz, we find Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (and the rest of the band) strutting their stuff. This album was not originally considered one of their better efforts, and they abandoned their experimentation with psychedelic music for their next work.

While many fans and critics were happy to see them return to their blues-based material, the album has been judged less harshly in recent times - after all, every good musician needs to experiment!