"Psychotic Reaction" is an early garage rock song released by the American rock band Count Five in 1965, and also the title of their only album. Guitarist John "Sean" Byrne was sitting in a Health Education class in his freshman year at San Jose City College in California, learning about psychosis. His friend Ron Lamb leaned over and whispered: "You know what would be a great name for a song? Psychotic Reaction."(YouTube) Byrne had been writing a tune in his head that day, and used the title to finish it, with the entire band given writing credit. The song hit number five on the Billboard charts.
The song contains a repetitious rhythm that eventually changes to a faster beat, an electric guitar playing a hypnotic melody going up the scales.
This song was popular in the Vietnam War era, and appears in the game Battlefield Vietnam.
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Famous quotes containing the words psychotic and/or reaction:
“Some parents were awful back then and are awful still. The process of raising you didn’t turn them into grown-ups. Parents who were clearly imperfect can be helpful to you. As you were trying to grow up despite their fumbling efforts, you had to develop skills and tolerances other kids missed out on. Some of the strongest people I know grew up taking care of inept, invalid, or psychotic parents—but they know the parents weren’t normal, healthy, or whole.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)