Download - San Francisco Rock
Road To Modern Rock:San Francisco
1967 Album Oriented Rock (AOR)
Terms: Acid Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Guitar Distortion: Maybe an Attempt To Emulate Early Blues Artists + Broken Equipment
San Francisco
Characteristics: Aggressive Instrumental Sound, Guitar Distortion, Short Blues Riffs as Song Structure,
Blues Shouter Becomes Blues Screamer, Extended Jams (Guitar Heroes), Drummers More Aggressive, Satanic Imagery
San Francisco
AM Radio Gives Way To FM
FCC Rule in 1965: More Than 50% of FM Content Must Be Original
Tom Donahue (1967) Began Broadcasting 8PM- Midnight on KMPX, Played Hendrix, Grateful Dead, etc.
Moved the Format To LA, Format Spread
San Francisco
Counterculture: Beatniks, Hippies
Viet Nam War Began Drafting in 1965
Anti-War Protests on Campuses
1968 Chicago Democratic Convention Riot
1970 Kent State Massacre
Burning Draft Cards & Canada
San Francisco
Civil Rights Movement
Assassinations:President Kennedy (1963)
Medgar Evers (1963), Malcolm X (1965), Dr. Martin Luther King (1968), Robert Kennedy (1968)
Riots in African-American Neighboorhoods: Newark, Detroit, Watts
San Francisco: The Scene
Drugs: Pot & LSD
Harvard - Timothy Leary “Turn On, Tune In , Drop Out”
CIA LSD Experiments in San Francisco, w/George White
Ken Kesey (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) 1959 LSD Experiments at VA
San Francisco: The Scene
Kesey Brings LSD to Parties (Acid Tests) the Merry Pranksters, (Further)
Favorite band was The Warlocks (Grateful Dead)
Trips Festival (1966) Longshoremen’s Hall, produced by Bill Graham
San Francisco: The Scene
1950s Beat Generation Writers (Beatniks)
Young Drop Outs Flocked to SF and Labeled Hippies by Local Newspaper
Haight-Ashbury District of SF
Term Psychedelic Applied to the Music
Music Venues:The Filmore West & Avalon Grew Out of the Acid Tests
San Francisco
Monterey Pop Festival 1967 Launched Local Talent
Record Labels Attended and Signed Many Groups
Many Bands Had Folk Roots
San Francisco: Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead (Acoustic: Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions; Electrified: Warlocks.
House Band for Acid Tests
First Jam Band
Fan Called Dead Heads Followed the Band to all Performances
San Francisco: Dead
Stereotypical Dead Head: VW Bus, Paisley clothes, Pot, Earn Money Selling Incense
Fans Encouraged to Record Concerts and Trade Tapes
Cult Status, But Not Mainstream Commercial Success
Disbanded After Jerry Garcia’s Death 1996
San Francisco: Jefferson Airplane
A Folk Rock Group, First One Signed After Monterey
Singer Grace Slick
Big Hits: White Rabbit (Reference to Alice in Wonderland), Somebody To Love
Many Personnel Changes Led To Dispute Over Name Rights Resulting In Jefferson Starship
San Francisco: Janis Joplin
Joplin (Texas) Added to Big Brother and the Holding Company
Great Emotional Female Blues Singer Style
Image: Hard Living/ Drinking Red Hot Mama
Heroin Overdose 1970
Hits: Piece Of My Heart, Summertime, Me & Bobby McGee
San Francisco: Usually Omitted
Blue Cheer: Managed by Owsley, the Acid Chemist. Early Metal Band
Santana: Latin Rock Band Led by Carlos Santana
Sly & The Family Stone: Sound Was Funk, Ethos was Hippie/Interracial
Credence Clearwater Revival: John Foggerty, Swamp Rock
Other California Acid Bands
Iron Butterfly: In-A-Gadda-da-Vida Built on Heavy Riff
Steppenwolf: Born To Be Wild, (“Heavy Metal Thunder”)
The Doors: Jim Morrison Lead Singer (1971) Poetic Lyrics, Many Hits: Light My Fire. Arrests at Concerts (Boston & Miami)