American Songwriter has compiled a list of four 1960s rock songs that capture the disorientation and darkness of a bad psychedelic trip, contrasting with the era's more familiar flower-power imagery. The feature highlights tracks by well-known acts like The Doors and The Beatles alongside lesser-known bands, noting how their unsettling lyrics, sounds and structures evoke paranoia, hallucination and dread rather than peace and love.

The list includes The Doors' "People Are Strange" (1967), a Top 20 Billboard hit despite its bleak lyrics; The Beatles' experimental eight-minute deep cut "Revolution 9", crafted mainly by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and George Harrison; Ultimate Spinach's "(Ballad Of The) Hip Death Goddess", which dwells on death and decay; and "At The Mountains Of Madness" by Chicago band H. P. Lovecraft, recommended for headphone listening due to its disorienting panning effects.