1967年是旧金山与伦敦的「爱之夏」。 1967年的“爱之夏季”(Summer of Love)让人们看到了“迷幻摇滚”的巅峰。“披头士”在这一年推出了绝对的迷幻专辑《佩玻军士孤独的心俱乐部乐队》(Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)；“平克·弗洛伊德”、“杰菲逊飞艇”和“交通”也分别推出了他们最棒的迷幻摇滚专辑；吉米·亨德里克斯(Jimi Hendrix)和“菁华”(Cream)则凭借从“新兵”那里继承的以吉他为基础的“酸摇滚”(Acid Rock，“迷幻摇滚”的一个分支，指服用LSD后做的摇滚乐，Acid是LSD的俗称)成了超级明星。“大门”(The Doors)的第一张专辑暴露了迷幻剂的黑暗和神秘，尽管人们总是不愿提及此事。连“滚石”也在后来加入到“迷幻摇滚”风潮之中，他们出版的专辑《他们的撒旦君王的要求》(Their Satanic Majesties Request)虽然有一些好歌，但却被指责只是《佩玻军士孤独的心俱乐部乐队》的仿造品。
当摇滚乐在60年代中期到末期的实验逐渐陈旧后，那些最棒的“迷幻摇滚”(Psychedelic Rock)音乐为人们带来了满负野心和新奇的变革。“迷幻摇滚”曾经带给摇滚乐最令人激动的冒险和创新，当然，其中也有一些被人们称之为最愚蠢的东西。
“迷幻摇滚”产生的原因来自许多方面，但最主要的还是那些想要通过音乐表现用药后感觉的音乐家们。这些音乐家大都也同时具有扩展摇滚乐范畴的渴望，他们想要把来自中东音乐和即兴爵士的影响加入到摇滚乐中，从而使摇滚乐的元素更加丰富和充实。
在“迷幻摇滚”的时代里，它似乎经历了所有摇滚史上最精彩的时刻。虽然“谁人”、“沙滩男孩”、“爱”这些乐队并不能被牵强地称作“迷幻乐队”，但他们那些最出色的歌曲里却能显示出“迷幻摇滚”对他们的强烈影响。复杂精巧的编曲，严重扭曲的吉他，这些“迷幻摇滚”的标志一直被摇滚艺术家们使用着，从60年代末直到今天。
The Summer of Love refers to the summer of 1967, particularly in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where thousands of young people from all over the world loosely and freely united for a new social experience. As a result, the hippie counterculture movement came into public awareness
The beginning of the Summer of Love has popularly been attributed to the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967. The size of that event awakened mass media to the hippie counterculture that was blossoming in the Haight-Ashbury.[1] The movement was fed by the counterculture's own media, particularly The San Francisco Oracle, whose pass-around readership topped a half-million at its peak that year.[2] The grassroots street theater/activism of The Diggers also garnered media attention.
College and high school students began streaming into the Haight on their spring break of 1967. City government leaders, determined to stop the influx of young people once schools let out for summer, brought added attention to the scene. An ongoing series of articles in local papers alerted national media to the hippies' growing momentum. That spring, Haight community leaders responded by forming the Council of the Summer of Love, giving the word-of-mouth event an official-sounding name
Scott McKenzie's recording of the song was released in May 1967. The song was designed originally to promote the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, the world's first major rock festival, which was attended by over 200,000 people. "San Francisco" became an instant hit (#4 in the U. S., #1 in the U.K.) and quickly transcended its original purpose.
The evolution of The Beatles and their music also contributed to the global impact of the Summer of Love. The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released on June 1, 1967, in Europe and two days later in the U.S.[4] With its psychedelic influences, Indian instrumentals, vivid album cover and drug references, it encapsulated the very essence of the Summer of Love.
The Beatles had moved beyond their "moptop" era, and on June 25, 1967, their song "All You Need Is Love" was heard around the world as part of the "Our World" radio broadcast, further emphasizing the countercultural ideals of love, freedom, and unity.
