the summer of love

• the summer of love is a social phenomenon that occurred in san francisco in 1967.

• during the summer of 1967, over 100,000 people moved into the haight-ashbury (the corner of two streets) neighborhood of san francisco.

• the summer of love is associated with a group of people called hippies.

• the summer of love is defined by certain cultural traits

  • psychedelic music

  • use of hallucinogenic drugs

  • anti-war rallies

  • free-love movement

what is the san francisco sound?

• san francisco sound refers to rock music coming out of the san francisco area from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.

• the san fran (they said sf in the notes but i like saying san fran instead) sound evolves from the beat and counter culture community where folk music was played in coffee houses across the country. most of the musicians associated with the san fran music scene were centrally based around the haight-ashbury district.

• the san francisco sound is hard to define. each artist combined different influences to make their signature sound. there are over 1,000 bands in this area from around this time.

• even though each band sounds unique, there are a few similar traits that each band shared.

  • music usually combined folk sounds and songwriting with harder styles of music.

  • san francisco concerts were loud.

    • at a festival for the who, ¾ of the way back in the field it was the same decibels as standing next to a jet engine.

  • instrumentalists are highlighted more than other type of music. a more prominent role of the bass player as a melodic instrument. longer instrumental solos called jams - these could be a half an hour or forty five minutes. every performance was different.

  • new instruments and instrument effects are used to create a psychedelia sound.

    • stomp boxes/pedals

    • keyboards/orgeons

    • theremin - precursor to the synth

  • sometimes, san francisco artists showcased their drug oriented lifestyle in their songs.

album oriented radio

• album oriented radio, or aor is a type of radio station that gets its start in san fran. the music coming out of the san fran area was not suited for am based pop stations. fm radio was new at the time. for awhile it was underground. the fm djs were chill.

• most of the music being made was too long for a standard 45 rpm record that am radio stations used. fm radio wasn’t originally governed by the fcc (federal communications commission). as long as it was clean, you could play an album cut of a song. djs called them bathroom cuts.

• tom donahue, a veteran radio dj, started a fm radio station called kmpx. donahue would play longer songs off lps from san fran acts.

• kmpx is considered the first alternative free-form radio.

the jefferson airplane

• the jefferson airplane formed in 1965.

• they are one of the pioneers of psychedelic rock.

• the jefferson airplane are one of the first san fran bands to receive a record contract.

• jefferson airplane takes off

  • jefferson airplane’s first album is not well received.

  • does not contain any key songs.

• grace slick

  • in between their first two albums, jefferson airplane adds a singer named grace slick.

  • grace becomes one of the first female rock stars.

• surrealistic pillow

  • released in 1967

  • this is the first album to feather grace slick as a singer.

  • peaks at #3 on the billboard charts.

  • considered one of the most important psychedelic rock albums of all time.

  • key songs

    • somebody to love

      • this song is familiar! i know this!

    • white rabbit

• crown of creation

  • released in 1968

  • crown of creation is jefferson airplane’s third album.

  • key songs

    • greasy heart

    • crown of creation

• In total, The Airplane release eight studio albums. In the ‘70s they change their name to Jefferson Starship and in the ‘80s to Starship.

  • THESE ARE THE WE BUILT THIS CITY PEOPLE. HOOOOOLY SHIT.

the grateful dead

• the grateful dead aren’t the best at what they do, they are the only ones that do what they do.

• they were formed in 1965.

• fused many styles of music with psychedelia into their unique style of music

  • blues

  • jazz

  • folk

  • country

  • bluegrass

  • rock

  • gospel

  • reggae

• the dead are known for their use of improvisation during their live shows, often expanding songs for several minutes.

• the band started with the name the warlocks. they were invited to play at ken kesey’s acid tests. in 1965 and 1966, lsd proponent ken kesey threw a series of parties where people could experiment in lsd.

• the grateful dead were present at many of these parties. these parties gave them an opportunity to experiment with improvisation.

• the grateful dead (self titled)

  • released in 1967

  • the album was considered a big deal in san fran, but has low sales and limited airplay in other parts of the country.

  • key songs

    • the golden road (to unlimited devotion)

    • morning dew

    • viola lee blues

• auxomoxoa

  • released in 1966.

  • aoxomoxoa is the third album released by the dead.

  • this album is considered the last of their psychedelia albums.

  • key songs

    • st. stephen

    • china cat sunflower

• in 1970, the dead move away from psychedelic rock and move towards more of an americana sound. one of the main reasons for the change in styles is the addition of robert hunter as a songwriter to the band.

• workingman’s dead

  • released in 1970

  • the first album to have their new americana sound’

  • first album to feature the bands new layering of harmonies

  • key songs

    • uncle john’s band

    • dire wolf

    • cumberland blues

    • casey jones

      • at this point, LSD was being outlawed and people moved to coke. sniff.

• american beauty

  • also released in 1970

  • considered a companion album to workingman’s dead

  • american beauty was certified as a gold record (500,000 copies) in 1974 and double platinum (2,000,000 copies) in 2003.

  • key songs

    • box of rain

    • friend of the devil

    • sugar magnolia

    • ripple

    • truckin

• europe ‘72

  • europe ‘72 is the third of HUNDREDS of live recordings released by the dead.

  • top songs

    • one more saturday night

    • brown-eyed woman

    • tennessee jed

  • this is one of the first triple albums. there was three vinyls.

• the death of ron “pigpen” mckearnin

  • pigpen was the keyboard player of the dead from 1963-1972

  • although pigpen stayed away from the psychedelic drugs the rest of the band were experimenting with, he was a heavy drinker.

  • pigpen died of liver failure on march 8th, 1973

  • he was 27 years old….

• the later grateful dead

  • after the death of pigpen, the band continued to record music and tour

  • the dead’s sound took on more genre influences especially reggae and funk

  • the dead welcomed people bringing in recording devices. they allowed free sharing of all of their concerts.

• wake of the flood

  • released in 1973.

  • this is the first album without pigpen on keyboards.

  • top song

    • eyes of the world.

• from the mars hotel

  • released in 1974

  • top song

    • scarlet begonias

• blues for allah

  • released in 1975

  • the most commercially successful dead album

  • top songs

    • franklins tower

    • the music never stopped

• shakedown street

  • released in 1978

  • top songs

    • good lovin'

    • shakedown street

    • fire on the mountain

• in the dark

  • released in 1987

  • contains the song “touch of grey”

    • the dead’s only top 40 hit.

• the end of the grateful dead

  • the grateful dead decided to disband after jerry garcia’s death in 1995

  • although the group has regrouped over the years in various forms, they have never officially used the term grateful dead.

• the legacy of the grateful dead

  • the dead are known for starting a new genre of rock called jam bands.

  • jam bands take the improvisation of the dead and bring it to all genres.

janis joplin

• janis joplin is born in port arthur texas. she never really fit in her community in texas. she was bullied for most of her life.

• after graduating high school, she hitch-hiked with a friend to san francisco in 1963.

• janis is asked to join big brother and the holding company in 1966, a popular band from haight-ashbury.

• while the group had some success, their breakthrough performance was at the monterey pop festival in 1967. their performance put big brother and especially janis “on the map.”

• big brother and the holding company (self titled)

  • released in 1967 shortly after monterey pop

  • key songs

    • coo coo

    • the last time

• cheap thrills

  • released in 1968

  • cheap thrills is the second and final big brother album to feature janis joplin as a lead singer.

  • key songs

    • summertime

    • piece of my heart

    • ball and chain

• joplin’s solo career

  • janis joplin split from big brother and the holding company in 1969 to pursue a solo career.

  • she puts together a new backing band called the kozmic blues band.

  • i got dem ol’ kozmic blues again mama!

    • released in late 1969

    • reached gold record status in two months

    • kozmic blues was a departure from psychedelic rock and was more of an r&b/soul album

    • key songs

      • try (just a little bit harder)

      • one good man

• janis in 1969

  • 1969 was an important year for rock and janis joplin was part of many of the historic events.

  • joplin performed at the woodstock festival in august of 1969. although she admitted it was not one of her best performances, it was still historic.

  • “she had been amazing at monterey, but tonight she wasn’t at her best, due, probably, to the long delay, and probably, too, to the amount of booze and heroin she’d consumed while she waited. but even janis on an off-night was incredible.” - pete townshend

  • by this point, janis was allegedly shooting about two hundred dollars of heroin a day.

  • she was also a heavy drinker.

• pearl

  • pearl features joplin’s new backing band, the full tit boogie band. that name is sick as fuck.

  • unfortunately, janis joplin never gets to see this album be released.

• the death of janis joplin

  • joplin was found dead in her hotel room on october 7th, 1970

  • an autopsy revealed that she had died from a heroin overdose, compounded by alcohol.

  • janis was only 27 years old…

• pearl

  • pearl is released after joplin’s death on january 11th, 1971

  • it immediately went to #1 on the billboard charts.

  • top songs

    • cry baby

    • me and bobby mcgee

    • mercedes benz

santana

• formed in 1966

• led by guitarist carlos santana

• combined psychedelic rock with latin music to make a very unique combination.

• band leader carlos santana is considered one of the best electric guitar players of all time.

• santana (self titled)

  • released in 1969

  • top songs

    • evil ways

    • soul sacrifice

• santana at woodstock

  • santana was one of the featured performers at the woodstock festival

• abraxas

  • released in 1970

  • top songs

    • black magic woman

    • oye como va

• santana has one of the longest careers of any rock artists. he is still alive today.

• santana today

  • smooth (with rob thomas)

  • maria maria

credence clearwater revival

• forms in 1967

• combined psychedelic rock with country and americana to produce their unique sound. some of their members come from new orleans but it is still considered a san fran band.

• ccr had four years of peak success from ‘68-’72.

• credence clearwater revival (self titled)

  • top songs

    • i put a spell on you

    • suzie q

• born on the bayou

  • released in 1969

  • goes to #7 on the billboard charts

  • top songs

    • born on the bayou

    • proud mary

      • their lead singer is more twinkish than i was expecting.

  • green river

    • released in 1969

    • tops the charts at #1

    • top song

      • bad moon rising

  • willy and the poor boys

    • also released in 1969

    • top songs

      • down on the corner

      • fortunate son

        • this one sends to me to naam. i thought this was just because they played it in forrest gump but it actually shows this in the lyrics and is very controversial. it’s saying that if you were rich or a nepo baby you wouldn’t have to be drafted

  • cosmo’s factory

    • released in 1970

    • ccr’s most successful album

    • top songs

      • travelin’ band

        • i like this one they sing fast

      • lookin’ out my back door

      • run through the jungle

      • up around the bend

      • who’ll stop the rain

      • i hear it through the grapevine

  • pendulum

    • released in 1970

    • top song

      • have you ever seen the rain

  • ccr breaks up in 1972 after arguments break out in the band and members start leaving. the brothers were fighting and band members were dropping like flies.

psychedelic rock outside san francisco

the doors

• the doors form in los angeles in 1965

• the doors are unique for not having a bass player

• keyboard player ray manzarek played bass on his keyboard.

• jim morrison

  • jim morrison was the lead singer of the doors.

  • morrison is considered one of the most controversial people in rock and roll due to his unpredictable behavior.

• the doors sign to elektra records in 1965 and release six albums in five years

• the doors (self titled)

  • the doors released in 1967

  • the album is considered a milestone in the development of rock

  • the album is so popular that paul mccartney of the beatles supposedly bought ten copies of the album and wanted the beatles to emulate the sound of the album of sgt peppers.

  • key songs

    • break on through

    • soul kitchne

    • alabama song

    • light my fire

• jim morrison creates his first bit of controversy when e is asked to censor his lyrics in light my fire during an appearance on the ed sullivan show. spoiler: he said he would but he didn’t!

• strange days

  • released in 1967

  • did not match the success of their first album.

  • top songs

    • love me two times

    • people are strange

• the new haven incident

  • on december 9th, 1967 jim morrison becomes the first rock star to be arrested on stage after a pre show altercation with a police officer

  • a police officer ended up macing him because he gave some strong words after a police officer knocked on the door as he was having sex with a fan. morrison did not make matters any better. he improvised a song on stage about the altercation that made fun of the officers involved.

• waiting for the sun

  • released in 1968

  • this album was not considered as good as their first album

  • top song

    • hello, i love you

• the miami incident

  • on march 1st, 1969, the doors are scheduled to play at dinner key auditorium in miami florida. morrison missed his flight to miami because he was drinking all day. the concert started over an hour late.

  • when he finally got to the stage, morrison was unhinged. he switched between shouting that he loved the crowd and screaming profanities at them.

  • at one point, someone poured champagne all over morrison, which prompted him to take off his shirt. he proceeded to remove his shirt and hold it in front of his groin, making sexual movements as he did.

  • a few days after the concert, morrison is arrested for indecent exposure as well as shouting obscenities to the crowd. the cops at the show thought he had exposed himself on stage. he didn’t. he just freed the nips.

  • morrison was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail with hard labor but remained free because of an appeal to the sentence.

  • this incident almost ended the bands career.

• the soft parade

  • released in 1969

  • morrison was less involved in the recording of this album due to him focusing more on his poetry. he was more of a poet than anything else.

  • this album is considered the doors weakest release. they tried to be more experimental on this album and included strings and horns.

  • key song

    • touch me

      • i can’t tell if i love this song or hate this song.

• morrison hotel

  • released in 1970

  • morrison hotel was a return to the doors original blues based sound.

  • top songs

    • roadhouse blues

    • peace frog

• la woman

  • released in 1971

  • even though the doors have used bass players in the studio before, la woman is the only doors album that features a bass player listed in the credits. it’s elvis’ bass player jerry scheff.

  • top songs

    • love her madly

    • la woman

    • riders on the storm

  • la woman is the last studio album released by the doors that features jim morrison

  • in march of 1971, him morrison takes a hiatus from the doors and moved to paris with his girlfriend pamela courson.

  • courson finds morrison’s body in their bathtub on july 7th, 1971. his official cause of death was listed as heart failure.

  • jim morrison was only twenty seven years old.

  • the doors release two more albums after morrison’s death but disband in 1973.

jimi hendrix

• jimi hendrix is conisdered one of the greatest guitar players and performers of all time. his innovative guitar technique has influenced generations of musicians.

• hendrix is born in seattle, washington and picks up the guitar at 15. joins the army in 1961 but is discharged a year later.

• after the army, hendrix moves to the south and is hired as a guitar player by the isley brothers and little richard.

  • they make a song called testify.

• even though he was playing guitar for other people, he wasn’t having success on his own.

• jimi moves to the uk in 1966 and starts a band called the jimi hendrix experience.

• the jimi hendrix experience has three number one hits in the uk.

• are you experienced

  • released in may of 1967

  • does really well in europe, only missing #1 because of sgt pepper.

  • us sales are slow but start to pick up after his us live debut.

  • top songs

    • purple haze

    • manic depression

    • hey joe

    • the wind cries mary

    • fire

    • foxy lady

• the montery pop festival

  • the montery pop festival is the first large format rock festival to be organized

  • some bands that were invited to perform like the beatles, declined the invitation and suggested other acts. paul mccartney recommended the jimi hendrix experience.

  • the experience debut was one of the most important performances of jimi hendrix

  • jimi gained attention for his performance antics, including burning his guitar on stage.

  • hendrix’s performance at monterey pop made his popularity in the us skyrocket.

• axis: bold as love

  • released december, 1967

  • reaches the top ten of the charts in the us and uk.

  • key songs

    • spanish castle magic

    • wait until tomorrow

    • little wing

    • bold as love

• electric ladyland

  • released in october of 1968

  • the experience's best selling record and their only #1 album

  • top songs

    • crosstown traffic

    • all along the watchtower

    • voodoo child

  • the breakup of the experience

    • by mid-1969 tension between hendrix, redding, and mitchell were hostile. redding and mitchell were growing tired of hendrix making decisions about the band without him and his unpredictability.

• band of gypsys

  • the first time the name band of gypsys was used was at hendrix’ woodstock performance in august of 1969

  • the actual band of gypsys was a new group that hendrix assembled with billy cox on bass and buddy miles on drums

  • band of gypsys was born out of a contract dispute between hendrix and capital records

• band of gypsys (album)

  • released march 1970

  • this is hendrix’s last full album released during his lifetime.

  • band of gypsys is a change in sound for jimi. this album is more of an r&b album. this album is compiled from live shows performed over two days at the fillmore east in nyc.

  • top songs

    • machine gun

    • changes

    • power of soul

  • by the time the album is released, the group has already broken up

• the death of jimi hendrix

  • jimi spent his last day with his friend monika dannemann

  • the pair drank most of the day and dannemann admitted that hendrix had taken eighteen of her sleeping pills, over nine times the recommended dose.

  • later the next day, dannemann found hendrix unconscious and unresponsive.

  • jimi was transported to the hospital but was pronounced dead a few hours later.

  • an autopsy revealed that his death was caused by asphyxiation of vomit while intoxicated by barbiturates.

  • jimi hendrix was only 27 years old.