When The East Met Rock

 

When the East Met Rock: How Eastern Sounds Shaped the B-side

Rock music has always thrived on cross-pollination. From blues roots in the Mississippi Delta to psychedelic echoes in San Francisco, every shift in the genre came from musicians looking outward. But few influences were as radical — or as transformative — as the East. The sitar’s drone, Indian ragas, Eastern philosophy, and Middle Eastern scales crept into rock during the 1960s and changed it forever. What began as experimentation on a few records became a lasting dialogue that reshaped the soundscape of classic rock.

The Beatles Open the Door

It’s impossible to talk about Eastern influence in rock without starting with George Harrison. After meeting Ravi Shankar in 1965, Harrison began weaving the sitar into the Beatles’ music. Everyone remembers “Norwegian Wood” and “Within You Without You” from the A-sides — but the influence also spilled into their lesser-known tracks.

✨ B-side Highlight: The Inner Light (1968) – Released as the flip side to “Lady Madonna,” this track was recorded in Bombay with Indian musicians. It’s a pure raga-rock blend and one of Harrison’s most underrated gems.

The Stones Go Psychedelic

The Rolling Stones weren’t going to be left behind. Brian Jones, fascinated by exotic instruments, added sitar, tambura, and dulcimer textures to the Stones’ mid-60s output. Their Eastern experiments never took center stage the way the Beatles’ did, but they bubbled up in surprising places.

✨ B-side Highlight: Child of the Moon (1968) – The flip side to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Swirling, mystical, and drenched in psychedelic vibes, this track hints at Jones’ fascination with non-Western music.

Led Zeppelin’s Mystic Journeys

Zeppelin’s music was rooted in the blues, but Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were explorers at heart. They borrowed scales, rhythms, and imagery from Morocco, India, and the Middle East, giving their music a hypnotic edge.

✨ B-side Highlight: Friends (1970) – While technically part of the Led Zeppelin III album, it often gets overlooked next to “Immigrant Song.” Its exotic string arrangements and Eastern-inspired acoustic drive capture the band’s adventurous spirit.

The Doors and Eastern Mysticism

Jim Morrison devoured philosophy and myth, and the Doors’ sound often leaned into hypnotic repetition — a structure borrowed from Eastern ragas. Robby Krieger’s guitar lines frequently echoed modal scales more at home in India or North Africa than California.

✨ B-side Highlight: End of the Night (1967) – From the Doors’ debut. While not a single B-side, it lives in the shadows of their hits, built on a modal guitar line that drifts into Eastern-influenced darkness.

The East Absorbs Rock

Of course, the influence wasn’t one-way. By the late ’60s and ’70s, Eastern bands were picking up electric guitars and sending the energy back West. From Japan’s Flower Travellin’ Band to Turkey’s Erkin Koray, artists were creating their own psychedelic fusions — proof that rock’s dialogue with the East was mutual.

✨ B-side Highlight: The Empty Sky by Flower Travellin’ Band (1970) – A hidden track from Japan’s underground psychedelic scene, echoing Sabbath’s heaviness with sitar overtones.

Why It Still Matters

The Eastern influence gave rock a new spiritual dimension. It wasn’t just about borrowing an instrument; it was about shifting perspective — slowing down, stretching notes, seeking transcendence. The B-sides tell that story best: not the big chart-toppers, but the flips and deep cuts where bands dared to experiment.

“Rock has always been a journey outward as much as inward. Which Eastern-influenced track do you think changed rock the most? And have you stumbled across any hidden gems from the East? Drop them in the comments — let’s build the ultimate East-meets-Rock playlist.”