The MGM+ documentary, San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time provides a deep dive into a hot spot of ’60s rock. Many rock mainstays got their start in that flourishing community, including Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Steve Miller, and more.
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The documentary explains the area’s legacy through a goldmine of archival footage as well as interviews with key members. Musicians, artists, radio DJs, managers, and more all give their two cents on what made San Fransisco so special in the ’60s and ’70s.
Find five facts we learned from the documentary below.
1. Janis Joplin’s voice once prompted a visit from the police
Though we are all accustomed to Janis Joplin’s banshee-like vocals nowadays, hearing her back in the ’60s spurred a mix of wonder and shock in audiences. Her contemporaries had much to say about Joplin’s wondrous vocals in the documentary, but one story sticks out in particular.
During her first rehearsal with Big Brother & The Holding Company, Joplin got loud–real loud. So loud that local police were called to the scene by reports of a woman screaming. The band assured them that it was no cause for concern, just Joplin going full throttle.
[RELATED: Revisit Janis Joplin’s Iconic 1969 Woodstock Performance with Full Setlist]
2. No one was gunning for world fame
The San Francisco scene produced a number of world-class talents. The bands and musicians that got their start there went on to become some of the key players of rock ‘n’ roll. Nevertheless, as radio DJ Dusty Street recalled, no one was gunning for fame.
“No one was worried about hit records,” Street says in the documentary. In her memory, the San Fransisco scene was all about communal spirit and playing for the love of playing.
3. How the Grateful Dead got their “Skull and Roses” logo
The documentary covers more than just music. The scope is expanded to other culturally defining aspects like art. Visual artists Stanley “Mouse” Miller and Alton Kelley revealed how they came up with the iconic Grateful Dead “Skull and Roses” logo. The two artists were inspired to create the image through a trip to the local library.
There, they saw a 19th-century illustration in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam that featured a skeleton with a crown of roses. They thought it perfectly matched the Dead’s aesthetic and made them a poster with the image. The logo would go on to become formidable in the Dead zeitgeist. It helped to inform the rest of their top-notch catalog of imagery.
[RELATED: 50th Anniversary Edition of Grateful Dead’s ‘Wake of the Flood’ Available September]
4. There was a wide variety of influences being tossed around
While setting the scene of what culture was like in San Francisco in the ’60s, Street used the Grateful Dead’s communal house as a metaphor for the wide array of sonic inspirations that existed at the time. She remembered walking past the house and hearing Phil Lesh listening to classical music, Pigpen listening to the blues, and Jerry Garcia picking along to bluegrass. Each of those sounds–and many more–helped to inform the hodge podge San Fransisco sound.
5. A list of forgotten–but integral–rock bands from the era
The documentary covers the big names, of course. It also dips into some relatively forgotten bands of the era like The Charlatans and The Great Society. Both bands were powerful forces in establishing the rock sound that would eventually become the hallmark of San Francisco. Nevertheless, they have since fallen into relative obscurity. In-depth documentaries like this re-introduce lesser-known bands to the world alongside highlighting the enduring mainstays.
(Photo by John Byrne Cooke Estate/Getty Images)
