Listening to “Eight Miles High,” even 40 years after it was an unlikely hit, it still provides a disarming shock; the rolling bass line, atonal guitar break and angelic harmonies are so unlike anything that came before or very little that has appeared since. Very few songs in the pop canon have managed to convey the visceral thrill and unbridled experimentation that the song still communicates.
Predictably, it was derided by the powers that be.
“The record company representative liste
