San Francisco

The Music• In 67’ there were between 500 and 1500 local

bands operating in the Bay Area.• They performed in specific rock concert halls.

Seated about 5,000. – By the end of the 60’s people were into festivals and

stadium performances• FM radio came into being at this time, and played

much of the San Francisco music. • The music was impossible to label, too diverse.• It did have these qualities though:

– Drugs, Psychedelic rock, acid rock. Clothing, cars, and styles matched.

– Volume. Lots of electricity and speakers.– More emphasis on the instrumentalists then the lead

singers– Further experimentation into electronic sound

America Counters the British Invasion

• San Francisco ends up being a huge melting pot of styles, people, music and culture in the second half of the 60’s.

• It became the center for the new counter-culture springing up.

• Youth from all over the nation, from every conceivable cultural background, hitchhiked their way to this youth Mecca.– Central to this scene were drugs, free sex, the

love-peace philosophy, and music.– Centered in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.

• It reached its Zenith in 67’.

Jefferson Airplane• The first San Francisco band to get a recording

contract with a major label was the Jefferson Airplane.

• Made it big with their second album, Surrealistic Pillow 67’

• It placed number 3 on the album charts and yielded two hit singles– Somebody to love– White Rabbit

• Uses a bolero-type tango beat.

• With this album Grace Slick became the first real female rock star.

• Future albums didn’t chart, but San Francisco groups disdained the charts anyway.

The Grateful Dead• The Archetypal San Francisco

band of the late 60’s, combined all of the major characteristics of that style. – Based in the folk era of the

early 60’s• Jerry Garcia was born in San

Francisco in 42’. – Didn’t do well in school

• Fighting• Drinking• Marijuana

– Dropped out of school at 17 and joined the army

• Was discharged after several court martials and AWOL’s

– After his discharge he started playing the banjo

• Running into several other members that would eventually become the ‘dead’ they formed and became a group called the ‘Warlocks’

• The Warlocks became an integral part of what became known as “The Acid Tests”

• They began experimenting musically.

• Changing their name the ‘The Grateful Dead ’ they moved into a house on the Haight Ashbury.

• Jerry Garcia Interview

• Signed on to Warner Brothers records, but never did that well.

• Were never interested in ‘super-stardom’, wanted to preserve their counter culture image and focus on live performance. They are a concert band, not a studio group.– Played 5 hour concerts, free concerts, and even hauled

their equipment to Egypt at a cost to them of $500,000 for a benefit concert.

• Lost original member, McKerrnan in 73, 27 years old

• They considered themselves and their Deadhead followers to be an extended family.

• They have performed everything from psychedelic, country rock, blues, folk, jazz, acoustic rock, electric rock, and even horns, strings, and choruses.

• The band reached their final chapter when Jerry Garcia died in August of 1995 – Truckin ’– Friend of the Devil

Janis Joplin• Born in Texas, Janis grew up amidst blues, gospel, and country styles. • A natural free spirit she left Port Arthur and headed for San Francisco to

sing in a few folk clubs and bars. – Sang in a black R & B style

• Began singing in a group called Big Brother and the Holding Company in 66’.

• Recorded several hits with the group.– Piece of my Heart

• Left ‘Holding Company’, did well with her solo work.• At the height of her career when found dead from a heroin overdose.

– Was 27• Janis was unique:

– Her voice• Rough• Raw• Black sounding

– Her image• Dressed like a cheap hooker• Hair unkempt• Rough complexion• Occasional difficulties with plumpness

– Her life• Drank Southern comfort• Did every drug she could• Completely original

The City Unravels• In 68’ the peace-love

movement began to be corrupted.

• Crime, drugs, and racial tension took their toll.

• The new group of “Dropouts” that arrived didn’t share the earlier ideals– Came to take drugs, eat

for free, and share in the free love.

– Didn’t try to further the new order.

Jim Morrison and the Doors• Jim Morrison was born

in Melbourne, Florida, in 43.

• Enrolled in the film department at UCLA in 63’

• There he met the other three members of what became the ‘Doors’

• Became the house band for the Whiskey-a-go-go

• Their first album, “the Doors” contained the #1 hit Light my fire

The Doors Music• Blues based, mainstream

rock.• Morrison’s baritone voice

had a dark sound quality, his vocal lines were usually in a very narrow range, and were quite repetitive.

• Lyrics are usually centered around death, violence, darkness, and a menacing kind of sex.

• Strongest musical points were the keyboard solo’s.

• Other hits:– People are strange– Hello, I Love You

The Doors Fall Apart• The cracks started to show

in 69’. • Morrison was alcoholic on

top of his drug habit. • At a concert, a song broke

down. Morrison was too drunk to know what to do, so he exposed himself. He was arrested

• Morrison, beset by legal and physical problems, moved to Paris for rest and recuperation.

• He died there of a heart attack at age 27 in the bathtub

The Jimi Hendrix Experience• There are some

interesting connections between Hendrix and Dylan– Not great vocalists

• Hendrix inspired by Dylan

– Hendrix’s only top 40 his single came in 68’ with “All Along the Watchtower”, a Dylan song

– Dylan did to lyrics what Hendrix did to guitar playing.

The Beginning• Hendrix was born in Seattle in 42’• Played backup guitar for Little Richard, Ike and

Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, and Jackie Wilson. • Formed his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue

Flames, in 65’• They went to England, changed the name to the

Jimmy Hendrix Experience. • Became an immediate success in England.• Adopted the psycodelic look, frizzed their hair,

Jimmy began experimenting with distortion. • When they came back, they played the Monterey

Pop Festival. – They followed the Who– Jimmy played with his teeth, behind his head, humped

the amps, and lit his guitar on fire. – He got America’s attention.

Jimi’s Music• His sound was utterly unique

– He played left handed, but instead of using a left-handed model, he played a right-handed guitar upside down.

– He experimented with whammy bars, tremelo, distortion, and extreme volume.

• His best album was his third album, Electric Ladyland, released in 68’. – Voodoo Child

• This Album showed that he was well ahead of his time and was far more creative musician that his reputation as being a flamboyant, drug-induced, sexually explicit performer would suggest.

• He began to resent the image he had formed

• Disbanded the group in 69’, appeared at Woodstock.

• Became concerned about the direction his music was going.

• Started his own studio, began wandering off stage in the middle of performances.

• Jimi died in London from inhalation of vomit resulting from barbiturate intoxication. There was insufficient evidence to determine whether his taking an overdose of sleeping pills was accidental or intentional.

• The three “j’s” – Jimi, Janis, and Jim all died between September 18, 1970, and July 3, 1971, all at the age of twenty-seven.

• So what is the big deal? Lots of guitarists sound like Jimi. That’s the point. Everyone has been trying since he came on the scene. Without Hendrix the whole sound may not have happened.

Jazz Rock

• With the popularity of Rock and Roll, Jazz, once the most popular type of music, suffered.

• To survive, many of the musically and technically advanced began playing a new style of jazz with rock stylings.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears• Based around Al Kooper• Built a group based around

horn players, many with college degrees in classical music.

• Began playing in Greenwich Village, met with critical and fan approval.

• Put out several #1 hits.• Took criticism from the

rock scene because they were considered “Too Tight” and refined.

• Many of the original artists went on to have successful solo careers.

• Spinning Wheel

Chicago• One of the most popular

groups of all times is ‘Chicago’.

• They had at least one top 40 hit every year in the 70’s, four in the 80’s, as well as ten gold albums and five platinum albums.

• Had five consecutive number 1 albums, beginning in 1972 with Chicago V and ending with Chicago IX, a greatest hits album.

• 25 or 6 to 4

Bill Chase• Bill Chase

– Used all trumpets– Died in a plane

crash in 74– Get it on