Psychedelic songs by "square" groups

I have a great affinity for this type of music.
But I don't use the word "square" though, I call it PBIAGP : Pre-British Invasion Artists Going Psychedelic.

Some of my favorites in this genre include the already mentioned Del Shannon, Mel Tormé, Four Seasons (which I've discovered thanks to this forum)...
Not already mentioned : these groovy psychploitation sides by Roy Orbison (Southbound Jericho Parkway, Born To Be Loved By You), Dion (So Much Younger), not to mention the many French artists who did one psych track when it was the cool thing to do.

But my absolute favorite full album of this type is "Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto". Masterpiece album.

 

The Serendipity Singers - Rain Doll

 

The Beatles

Lucy in the Sky with diamonds

I am the walrus

 

It's possible to be sort of psychedelic and square at the same time:

 

Hendrix was way too square for Larry

 

Nugent may not have used drugs, but I'm not so sure about other members of the Amboy Dukes. The whole second side of the Journey to the Center of the Mind album is a conceptual suite about drugs. "Happiness just came in/It pierced my skin." That didn't leave much doubt.

 

So did a lot of the critics at the time, but VF turned out to be highly influential prog pioneers. They were the first band to employ those long symphonic instrumental intros that ELP, Yes, King Crimson, Styx, Kansas, and others used extensively in later years. Both Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin have acknowledged the Fudge as an influence.

 

Hoyt Axton was hardly a square. In the early '60s, he was on the cutting edge of the folk scene, and later wrote "The Pusher" for Steppenwolf.

 

Also Snowblind Friend.

 

I like it! Larry was totally "with it" and "swing'n".

 

This thread seems to have turned into something more like "AOR-Type Songs By MOR-Type Groups" or "Hip Songs By Unhip Groups." Many of the songs posted here are not psychedelic at all.

 

That's not really fair. Everyone looked like that in the early days!

 

They influenced others to be bombastic? Not a healthy influence in my book.

 

Does this mean you're not a prog fan? It's OK if you're not. Like everything else, it's not for everybody.

 

Genuine Imitation Life Gazette by the Four Seasons.

 

The Osmonds - Crazy Horses

 

Did anybody say Crazy Horses by the Osmonds ?

 

Are you a smug jerk in real life or just on internet forums?

 

Not exactly "square",but you couldn't be more uncool in 1968 than The Ohio Express.

 

wtf is wrong with you? What's smug about that? I didn't have time to peruse 9 pages of threads but I wanted to contribute an idea to the question. This makes me a smug jerk ? Did you have a really bad day or something and you want to take out your problems on me ?

 

Dude, look at the post just before yours - if you have time.

 

About as much as Jimmy Page or Jim Morrisson would be considered. The 70s were the era of the high school age groupie.

 

Yes, that is a twenty something Chuck Woolery. Before he hosted tv's Love Connection he hit the Billboard Top 40 with this tune.