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)