Surrealistic Pillow is the second studio album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on February 1, 1967, by RCA Victor.

It was also recorded by jazz saxophonist Tom Scott for his 1967 album The Honeysuckle Breeze; this version was sampled in the song "They Reminisce Over You" by Pete Rock & C.L.

New female vocalist Grace Slick, formerly with another San Francisco rock band the Great Society, joined the Airplane in October 1966.

Slick, Dryden, male lead vocalist-guitarist-songwriter and founder of band Marty Balin, guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Paul Kantner, lead guitarist (and occasional vocalist) Jorma Kaukonen, and bassist Jack Casady formed the core of the best-known line-up of the group, which remained stable until Dryden's departure in early 1970.

A mere two weeks after Grace Slick joined the band, the group entered RCA Victor studios in Hollywood on October 31 to record their second album.

[15] This was followed the next day by his love ballad "Today", which purportedly featured Jerry Garcia on lead guitar (see below), laid down in a single take and soon to be a popular live staple.

On November 3 a Slick composition she brought from her time in The Great Society, "White Rabbit", was recorded with its original instrumental introduction drastically shortened for commercial purposes; it was among the first explicitly pro-drug rock songs and would go on to become her signature piece, used in countless movies and TV shows since.

Spence was present for this session, which also saw the recording of The Mamas & the Papas soundalike "How Do You Feel" written by Kantner friend Tom Mastin.

The first United Kingdom release replaced some original songs with tracks from the group's first US LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.

Heavy radio play took the song into the Billboard top 5, aided by the group's first national TV appearances on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on May 7 and American Bandstand on June 3, the former appearance featuring a facsimile of the group's swirling light show, the first time the average American had seen such effects.

Surrealistic Pillow was the first blockbuster psychedelic album by a band from San Francisco, announcing to the world the active bohemian scene that had developed there starting with the Beats during the 1950s, extending and changing through the 1960s into the Haight-Ashbury counterculture.

Billboard said of "Somebody To Love" that it was a "hard driver, featuring powerful female vocal lead, that never stops from start to finish.

"[30] Similarly, the magazine said of "White Rabbit" that it was a "change-of-pace number" with "intriguing lyric content and driving beat in strong support.

"[33] Cash Box wrote that it "features the team's more commercial-than-controversial style" and has "a solid instrumental track and very fine vocal.

Another stereo reissue appeared on August 19, 2003, with six bonus tracks, including the mono A-sides of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit."