The Ultimate Acid Test For T-Shirts

The phrase Can you pass the acid test? was coined by author Ken Kesey, who hosted a series of parties in the mid-1960s centred on the use and advocacy of LSD, commonly known as acid. The name was inspired by the term acid test used by gold miners in the 1850s. Kesey advertised his parties with posters featuring this slogan, and the phrase was later popularised by Tom Wolfe's 1968 book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Today, the phrase Can you pass the acid test? is featured on t-shirts and other merchandise, commemorating the events hosted by Kesey and the subsequent counterculture movement.

Ken Kesey's Acid Tests

The first Acid Test was held on 27 November 1965 at Ken Babbs' house in Soquel, California, although Babbs himself recalls the date as Halloween night. The Grateful Dead, then known as The Warlocks, were present and casually played some of the Merry Pranksters' instruments. The Acid Tests then moved to public places, with posters advertising: "Can you pass the acid test?"

The Tests were organised by Kesey in partnership with the Merry Pranksters, a group that had travelled across the country in a rainbow bus named "Furthur" in 1964. The Grateful Dead were the house band for the Tests, providing a constant musical presence. Other notable figures in attendance included Jack Kerouac's travelling companion Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and Dr Timothy Leary.

The Acid Tests are notable for their influence on the LSD-based counterculture of the San Francisco area, and their role in the transition from the beat generation to the hippie movement. The Tests involved travelling around California, administering LSD to willing participants, and putting on various art performances. The events featured black lights, strobe lights, and fluorescent paint, with one sign advertising the inclusion of "The Fugs" and "Roy's Audioptics".

The last two Acid Tests took place in San Francisco on 2 and 31 October 1966, with the "Closing Jam" and "Graduation Jam" marking the end of Kesey's Acid Tests. However, the influence of these events continued to ripple through American culture and counterculture, with LSD becoming a central part of the influential hippie subculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Grateful Dead

The phrase "Can you pass the acid test?" was coined by author Ken Kesey, who hosted a series of parties in the mid-1960s, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, centred on the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD, commonly known as "acid". The name was inspired by the term "acid test" used by gold miners in the 1850s.

The Acid Tests were notable for their influence on the LSD-based counterculture of the San Francisco area and the subsequent transition from the beat generation to the hippie movement. The events typically featured black lights, strobe lights, and fluorescent paint, as well as musical performances by the Grateful Dead.

Today, "Can you pass the acid test?" is a popular phrase used on merchandise such as t-shirts and posters, often associated with the Grateful Dead and the LSD counterculture of the 1960s.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

The book presents a first-hand account of the "Acid Tests" — parties with LSD-laced Kool-Aid — and encounters with notable figures of the time, including the Hells Angels, the Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg. It also describes Kesey's exile to Mexico and his arrests.

The Pranksters publicised their acid experiences, giving rise to the term "Acid Test". They described the goal of these parties as the pursuit of "intersubjectivity", a state beyond an individual's ego. As the Acid Tests gained cultural popularity, Kesey was arrested for possession of marijuana. To avoid jail, he fled to Mexico, where he was joined by the Pranksters. However, they struggled in Mexico and were unable to obtain the same results from their acid trips.

Upon returning to the United States, Kesey became a pop culture icon, appearing on TV and radio shows despite being wanted by the FBI. Eventually, he was located and arrested. Kesey was conditionally released after convincing the judge that the next step of his movement was an "Acid Test Graduation", an event in which the Pranksters and other followers would attempt to achieve intersubjectivity without the use of mind-altering drugs. The graduation was not effective enough to clear the charges, and Kesey was given two sentences for two separate offences.

The Merry Pranksters

The first Acid Test was held on 27 November 1965 at Ken Babbs' house in Soquel, California, although Babbs recalls it as being on Halloween night. The Grateful Dead (then known as the Warlocks) played at the party, marking their first performance as the newly renamed band.

The Acid Tests featured musical performances by the Grateful Dead, black lights, strobe lights, and fluorescent paint. They are notable for their influence on the LSD-based counterculture of the San Francisco area and the subsequent transition from the beat generation to the hippie movement.

1960s counterculture

The 1960s counterculture was a broad-ranging social movement that emerged in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that rejected conventional mores and traditional authorities. The counterculture movement, which generally extended into the early 1970s, was an alternative approach to life that manifested in a variety of activities, lifestyles, and artistic expressions.

The movement was perhaps best encapsulated by the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out", coined by the American psychologist Timothy Leary, who demonstrated contempt for authority and championed the use of LSD and other psychoactive drugs. Leary was even described by U.S. President Richard Nixon as "the most dangerous man in America".

The 1960s counterculture featured artists such as Andy Warhol, who was famous for his Pop Art. Adherents advocated freedom of expression and a distrust of those in power. The movement ranged from nonviolent "peaceniks" to revolutionaries who engaged in armed resistance. It included protests against the Vietnam War and racial injustice, and struggles for women's rights, gay rights, and sexual freedom.

One enduring image of the counterculture movement is that of "hippies", who were mostly white, middle-class, young Americans. Hippies often let their hair grow long, and many men had facial hair. They wore colourful clothes and typically donned sandals. They eschewed regular jobs, many had vegetarian diets, and some engaged in "free love". Hippies often travelled the country, sometimes in Volkswagen Microbuses, dubbed "hippie buses", adorned with peace signs. One of their most famous slogans was "Make love, not war".

Rock music was an important part of the counterculture movement. Bands like the Grateful Dead and the Beatles had a strong influence on 1960s counterculture. The folk music icon Bob Dylan spoke for many alienated youth when in 1965 he sang, "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more". Other artists and bands associated with the counterculture movement included Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane, the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix.

Music festivals helped fuel the counterculture movement, most famously Woodstock, a three-day 1969 extravaganza in upstate New York that featured bands and artists such as the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. An estimated 400,000 people attended the event.

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