Having written for the NME, Spitting Image and Harry Hill’s TV Burp, you’d have to say that David Quantick is probably the perfect candidate to write about Psychedelia. He’s like the writing equivalent of a Pink Floyd-peyote mash-up, which is probably why he’ll be presenting The History of Psychedelia on BBC Radio 6 Music this week.
The concept of psychedelia was coined in the 50s to describe the effects of LSD, but its impact has had a long standing influence on all aspects of culture throughout the 20th Century and right up until the modern day. With multivariate musical styles all in the name of psychedelia and aspects of psychedelia spilling out into film, books, theatre and art, Quantick will have plenty to choose from to fill the 2 part documentary.
The first of the 2 documentaries airs at 3am on the 23rd November 2010, with the second part going out at the same time on the 24th November. Hopefully, the show will also get a place on iPlayer too, so that there’s a chance to listen to it without messing around with my usual 3am mid-week sleep related activity (this could include snoring, wet dreams, night terrors, a recurring nightmare about my pet fish being murdered by the sadistic cat fish that has grown out of the little sliver of normal that is once was, or the open-eye horror show of night time anxiety about the impending onset of work the next day).
Having seen David Quantick pogo-ing dangerously in a bar in Newcastle I reckon he’s probably got the wherewithal to bring The History of Psychedelia to colourful life with just his voice alone, especially considering the fact that he’s already pulled off a similar feet for coach tours around Europe.
