Before the Bay Area became strip-mall-laden, Tesla-obsessed, tech-Jesus-spawning, sterile-wine-pushing, wannabe-chill-but-actually-cutthroat, and just plain overpriced, it produced some good music. Here are the 12 best bands from San Francisco, according to a random dude born in 1977 who still says San Francisco when referring to the entire Bay Area.
(This map will help right that wrong.)
Solo artists weren’t included, but iconic tracks were.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
In 1959, a town called El Cerrito gave rise to CCR (under a different name), fronted by John Fogerty, to whose voice we owe classics like “Fortunate Son”.
Grateful Dead
When you hear Palo Alto, you probably think Stanford, but you should also think Grateful Dead, which formed in 1965 and pumped out eclectic gems like “Friend of the Devil”.
Jefferson Airplane
Also formed in 1965 (in San Francisco itself) was Jefferson Airplane, pioneers of psychedelic rock and the second act to give “Somebody to Love” a go.
Sly and the Family Stone
In 1966, Fog City gave us Sly and the Family Stone, which in turn gave us “Everyday People”, revived a few decades later by Arrested Development as “People Everyday”.
Steve Miller Band
In the same year came Steve Miller Band, whose “Take the Money and Run” advice has been taken to heart by venture capitalists and tech saviors alike.
Santana
1966 was a good year, also seeing the formation of Santana, whose timeless cover foreshadowed Mark Zuckerberg’s “Evil Ways”.
The Doobie Brothers
A few years later—1970 to be exact—San Jose gave rise to the boys who left us no choice but to “Listen to the Music”.
Journey
These bands from San Francisco would be a lesser group without the cheese rock of Journey, formed in 1973 and authors of “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”.
Metallica
The “Enter Sandman” creators met in 1981 in Los Angeles and recorded their first album in Rochester, New York, but they landed in San Francisco early enough on their timeline to be claimed by the City by the Bay.
Green Day
In 1987, the East Bay birthed the band that gave us “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and continues to remind Gen Xers of a time with more hair and less (m)ass.
Counting Crows
Their lead singer Adam Duritz can sound like he’s whining, but despite joining forces in 1991, these guys are still “Hanginaround”.
Third Eye Blind
And finally, the act with a “Semi-Charmed Life”, as in the one that since 1993 has been making songs you think you shouldn’t like but secretly love.
Honorable mentions: The Pointer Sisters, Faith No More, Dead Kennedys, Rancid, Papa Roach, Train, Huey Lewis and the News, 4 Non Blondes, Primus, Digital Underground, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Smash Mouth
