It first appeared on the A-side of Fowley's debut single as a solo artist, which was released in early 1965 on Corby Records (see 1965 in music).

Anticipating the surreal essence of psychedelia, and his early work with the Mothers of Invention, "The Trip" remains one of Fowley's most experimental compositions of his recording career.

[3][4] Remarkably, despite "The Trip"'s unusual arrangement, it became a regional hit in Los Angeles, and was covered by noted deejay Godfrey in 1966, and by The Fire Escape in 1967.

An advertisement in a November 1965 edition of the Los Angeles Free Press promoting the remaining copies of "The Trip" suggest the single was one of the earliest works to obviously speak about the psychedelic experience.

[1][5] Since its initial pressing, the song has appeared most notably on Pebbles, Volume 1 and the 1998 expanded box-set of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968.