San Francisco's Summer of Acid, Flowers and Love

Welcome to the sixteenth insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode we’ll be rolling back the clocks on a trip to the summer of 1967, San Francisco, exploring the counterculture movement fueled by a passion for sex, music, flower children and LSD.

The 60’s were a period of both external and internal experimentation. Rooting in San Francisco, ‘67, the Summer of Love united a counterculture with peace, love and drugs. The music scene pulsed through the psilocybin saturated minds of teens and young adults, marking a revolt against aristocratic beliefs and power. A massive push for unchained self-expression influenced the fashion scene in a tidal wave of tie-dye, draping silhouettes and bohemian style. Open minded individuals congregated in a cesspool of freewheeling substance abuse and bundles of trust, love coursing through the air while dancing to the rhythms of acid rock.

Many credit the beginning of the “drop out” movement to January 14th, 1964 - the ‘Human Be-In Rally’. Congregating in and around San Francisco’s University and City College, Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane headlined the protest, revolting against the newly passed ban on LSD. The city’s underground chemist, Owsley Stanley distributed his specially produced ‘White Lightning’ acid batch free of charge when a power outage stemmed a pause in music, ensuing an onslaught of positive vibes and heightened thinking. 30,000 Hippies attended, parading the streets in celebration of new found anarchy while preluding the ‘Summer of Love’, which began shortly after.

The official ‘Summer of Love’ was held during the warmer months of ‘67, as many as 100,000 people flocking to San Francisco in pursuit of trippy riffs. Inspiring the ‘Second Summer of Love’ in the UK, this time period garnered masses and acted as the pinnacle of counter wave movement. Basking in the harmony of self-empowerment, concerts of unfathomable size emanated the will to live without care, following the heart’s desire and strive for unshackled being. Individuals emanated a collective power and provoked a generation with higher thinking.