How The Rolling Stones' Most Derided Album Became a Blueprint for 90s Psychedelic Revival

‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ was roasted in 1967 as a druggy, second-rate imitation of Sgt. Pepper. But for bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, that very messiness was the point — Anton Newcombe has said he loved the album because it sounded like a band falling apart in a haze of acid, not a perfectly arranged psychedelic symphony.

Where the Beatles’ Pepper was meticulous, the Stones’ ‘Satanic Majesties’ is sloppy, paranoid, and laced with Mellotron drones and tape echo that feel genuinely unhinged. The album’s use of phasing, backwards loops, and freeform percussion created a darker, more chaotic psychedelia. Newcombe’s own records, especially ‘Thank God for Mental Illness’ and ‘Strung Out in Heaven’, borrow that same woozy, tape-saturated sound — complete with off-kilter rhythms and mumbled vocals that prioritize texture over polish.

Critics called ‘Satanic Majesties’ a failure because it didn’t fit the Stones’ blues-rock image. But for 90s revivalists tired of grunge and alt-rock’s seriousness, that out-of-step weirdness became a secret weapon. The album proved you didn’t need technical precision to make a psych record that lasted — you just needed genuine strangeness.