Turn on, tune in, drop out Turn on, tune in, drop out "Turn on, tune in, drop out" is a counterculture-era phrase popularized by Timothy Leary in 1966. In 1967 Leary spoke at the Human Be-In, a gathering of 30,000 hippies in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and phrased the famous words, "Turn on, tune in, drop out". It was also the title of his spoken word album recorded in 1966. On this lengthy album one can hear Leary speaking in a monotone, soft-spoken voice on his views about the world and humanity and describing nature, Indian symbols, "the meaning of inner life", the LSD
Turn on, tune in, drop out February 1967 salon known as the "Houseboat Summit") announced his agreement with a new ordering of the phrase as he said, "I would agree to change the slogan to 'Drop out. Turn on. Drop in.'" During his last decade, Leary proclaimed that the "PC is the LSD of the 1990s"—"turn on, boot up, jack in" reworked the existing phrase to suggest joining the cyberdelic counterculture. The phrase was referenced in several songs of the time. Psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock parodies the quote in their 1967 song "Incense and Peppermints", singing "Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around"