Augustus Owsley Stanley III, the chemist who made up copious amounts of LSD for musical stars including The Beatles, Hendrix and The Grateful Dead has died in a car accident on Sunday in Australia.
His car swerved off the highway and hit a number of trees in the northern Queensland town of Mareeba, killing him and injuring his wife Sheilah.
Stanley, had worked with a number of artists as their personal chemist, occasional sound engineer and in the case of The Dead, their financial backer.
The 1976 song ‘Kid Charlemange’ by Steely Dan was inspired by Stanley’s life. It featured the lyrics “On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene, but yours was kitchen clean, everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motor home.”
Throughout his life he lived on an all meat diet, refusing to eat any kind of fruit or vegetables, often claiming that humans were “meant” to be entirely carnivorous.
His personal drug factory is credited with pushing the free-love-fuelled psychedelic 60s. Without his influence, music would have a very different face today. Knowingly or not, Owsley Stanley played a huge role in shaping your musical tastes.
R.I.P. Augustus Owsley Stanley III, 1935 - 2011.
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Speaking of psychedelic, check out the Undercover interview with Black Mountain below:
