ABSTRACT
A science fiction novelist and founding member of the Underground Press Syndicate, Chester Anderson was also an integral presence in the 1960s San Francisco countercultural scene. Anderson evokes a dizzying array of “principles” that situate rock as more than just music; it is a cultural, participatory phenomenon, intimately linked with psychedelic drugs, tribal rituals, and the “aesthetic of discovery.” Anderson’s essays appeared in many places, including the San Francisco Oracle, whose twelve-issue run from 1966–1968 established the paper as the leading publication of the Haight-Ashbury District. Anderson also evokes what at first glance may seem to be an unusual comparison between rock and Baroque music. Both use rather formulaic and repetitive harmonic progressions, “strongly marked beats,” and fairly limited formal ideas.
