All language subtitles for San Francisco Sounds A Place in Time S01E02.eng

["Space Cowboy" playing]

♪ ♪

[Steve Miller Band]
♪ I told you about living ♪

♪ In the US of A ♪

♪ Don't you know
That I'm a gangster of love ♪

♪ Let me tell you people
That I found a new way ♪

♪ And I'm tired
Of all this talk about love ♪

♪ And the same old story
With a new set of words ♪

♪ About the good
And the bad and the poor ♪

♪ And the times
Keep on changing ♪

♪ So I'm keeping on top ♪

♪ Of every fat cat ♪

♪ Who walks in my door ♪

♪ I'm a space cowboy ♪

♪ Bet you weren't ready
For that ♪

♪ I'm a space cowboy ♪

♪ I'm sure you know
Where it's at ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ ♪

[singers vocalizing]

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ ♪

♪ I'm a space cowboy ♪

♪ Bet you weren't ready
For that ♪

♪ I'm a space cowboy ♪

♪ I'm sure you know
Where it's at ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ ♪

[Ben]
It's 1967.

The media really took notice
of San Francisco.

It was clear that something
was happening here.

Things got ramped up and all
zoomed into a neighborhood.

[Steve] All of a sudden,
300,000 to 500,000 kids

showed up in San Francisco,

started living on the streets.

They were all aimed
at the intersection

of Haight and Ashbury,
like New York City rush hour

with longer hair,
brighter-colored outfits,

or sometimes nothing at all.

[Quicksilver Messenger Service]
♪ Who do you love? ♪

[Steve] Kids coming from Iowa,
going, "I brought some flowers"

[Quicksilver Messenger Service]
♪ Who do you love... ♪

The Haight-Ashbury was a utopia

to anybody that was young.

[Bob] It was like
every misfit

from anywhere in this country
who rattled loose

ended up in San Francisco.

[Quicksilver Messenger Service]
♪ Who do you love... ♪

[Dusty] And then people
started hearing

about free love, free food,

that the streets
were paved with LSD.

So they would come through
in these buses.

[person]
The hippies...

a world about themselves
and of themselves.

And marijuana,
of course, with LSD

is being used.

[Emilio] I remember going
with my parents

to Haight-Ashbury
because it was in the paper--

the hippies,
the love movement--

just to look at them.

We were like animals in a zoo.

-[camera shutter clicks]
-And it was the first

collect call we'd had
from reality

that people that
came looking for this utopia

didn't have
one iota of an idea

how we were
keeping this together.

-[siren wailing]
-[Victor] What started happenig

was that the cops were
busting into the hippies' pads

because they're getting stoned.

They were getting laid,
having a good time.

And the cops didn't like that.

["Cold Rain and Snow" playing]

[Ben] The Grateful Dead
got busted for grass

at their communal pad,
710 Ashbury.

♪ ♪

[Jerry] I was out,
and I came back just as

the last cops
were leaving the house,

having luckily just missed it.

The place is a shambles,
and I walked into the kitchen,

and right there
in plain sight on the shelf

is half of a brick,
a kilo sitting there.

But they hadn't even seen
this fucking kilo, you know?

[laughs]

[Ben] At that time,
a guy named Jann Wenner

was starting up
Rolling Stone magazine.

And he called up
his photographer pal

Baron Wolman and said,

"Let's go over to 710 Ashbury,
see what's going on."

♪ ♪

Baron got a number
of tremendous photographs

of the band
outside their house...

[camera shutter clicks]

...raising their fists

and Pigpen holding a toy rifle,

saying they were not gonna
take this sitting down.

And it made
for a marvelous

first-issue article
in Rolling Stone.

♪ ♪

It helped to define
what it was,

what kind of world
it was covering,

not just the bands
and their music

but also actual news,
events, and politics.

♪ ♪

Poster artist Rick Griffin,

he wound up drawing
the original logo.

It looks like a poster,
actually, in a way.

My roommates and I fell
in love with Rolling Stone,

and we used to fight over
each issue that came out.

So to be hired by Jann Wenner

to be an editor and a writer
was invigorating.

When Rolling Stone started,
we were kind of in love

with the music industry
and the people

who were involved with music
here in San Francisco.

Let's just talk
a little bit more

about the band in general.

[Mickey] He was really easy
to talk to.

And he was talking
the spiritual language

of rock and roll.
He had that thing in his writig

and in his way.

He was a head, so we were
talking the same language.

You can live a straighter life,
and you can still be bent

once in a while.

[rock music plays]

And so, yeah, I found myself
bent once in a while...

♪ ♪

...at Avalon Ballroom,
California Hall,

the Matrix,
and Golden Gate Park.

[Jorma] The psychedelic
rock and roll stuff

wasn't on the radio yet.

[Mickey] Our music and a lot of
the bands who were improvising

never got played on the radio

because it didn't fit.

[Dusty] We were getting
really tired

of 3 minute and 15 seconds'
worth of music

coming out of Top 40 radio,
your AM radio.

That's not what
we were listening to.

[Jorma] And FM radio was
still just a jazz station

or nonstop classical music.

[Dusty]
Everything changed in 1967.

Tom Donahue came along,
and he put all of that stuff

into a big melting pot
called KMPX.

[Tom] Tom Donahue at KMPX 107 n
your FM dial in San Francisco.

We're playing records
8:00 until 12:00 midnight.

That's Aretha Franklin

from her new Atlantic LP,
I Never Loved...

Our guests tonight are
Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia

from the Grateful Dead.

[Dusty] When we got
on the air on KMPX,

it was like
the doors opening

to an absolute palace of music.

Tom Donahue hired me.

So I just started pushing
buttons and turning knobs

until I figured it out.

We were playing
whole sides of albums.

We had an opportunity
to play the records

that people were buying and
putting on their turntables.

Now we were able to put those
on the radio.

That's what the Grateful Dead
were listening to,

what the Airplane
were listening to.

["Section 43" playing]

And that's one of the things
that the Haight-Ashbury

locked into.

♪ ♪

[Country Joe] Janis had a flat
right above the Haight.

And we were lying in bed,
listening to the radio,

to KMPX.

[Tom] Listening
to Country Joe & The Fish.

[Country Joe] And they would
play Country Joe & The Fish.

Wow, it was too much.

And then they played
a Big Brother track.

And we'd go, like,
"Ah, wow! Wow!

It's so cool, man."

["Summertime" playing]

[Dusty] Whenever I hear
the words "Summer of Love,"

I'm going, eh...

more like the summer
of the death of an ideal.

[Jerry]
Living in the Haight-Ashbury,

you had your problems.

There was always
that certain number of...

weird individuals
who are, like,

total burnouts or whatever

that would just come
into your house

and be as weird
as they wanted to be

until you got up the nerve
to throw them out.

[Big Brother and the Holding
Company] ♪ Summertime ♪

♪ Time, time... ♪

[David] It was impossible
for everybody that decided

they were a hippie
to move to San Francisco.

The Haight-Ashbury
can't absorb all this.

Just wasn't gonna work.

[Big Brother and the Holding
Company] ♪ Fish are ♪

♪ Jumping out... ♪

[Steve] We lived
in the Haight-Ashbury,

and I got to tell you, when
all those people showed up,

it was pretty funky.

[Big Brother and the Holding
Company] ♪ High ♪

♪ Lord, so high... ♪

[Steve] There would be
community meetings

at the Fillmore
or at the Avalon,

and the bands would
get together, and people

would talk, and the Diggers
wanted to help the community.

The people that come
to the Haight-Ashbury

come here for the same reason
that you live here.

These people want the same
things out of life that you do.

When the Haight
and the counterculture

began to get its own
identifiable attributes,

the record companies
started coming in.

And they started passing out
huge advances

to scoop up these bands.

[David] It really felt good
to be a musician

in San Francisco
during that time.

I mean, it almost
felt like royalty.

♪ Well, when I was
A young man ♪

♪ I learned not to care ♪

♪ Wild whiskey in front and ♪

♪ You know often... ♪

Quicksilver wound up being one
of the San Francisco bands

that scored a major

record label contract
with major money.

[David]
We did get a good contract.

Capitol was late to the game,

getting Quicksilver
and Steve Miller Band.

[Steve]
There were all these bands

that were getting
recording contracts.

And we took off.

I think we hold the record

for the most performances
at the Fillmore.

♪ Living in the USA ♪

[vocalizing]

♪ Living in the USA ♪

-♪ Stand back ♪
-♪ Dietitian ♪

-♪ Stand back ♪
-♪ Television ♪

-♪ Stand back ♪
-♪ Politician ♪

-♪ Stand back ♪
-♪ Mortician ♪

♪ We got to get away, babe ♪

♪ Living in the USA ♪

♪ Come on, baby ♪

♪ Come on, baby... ♪

Steve Miller had signed
with Capitol Records

to do his first album,
Children of the Future.

[Steve] One of the things
I loved about San Francisco

was the graphic arts
part of it.

And Victor, for my taste, was
just the most sophisticated

of them all.

I was in awe of him.

And I was really thrilled
he was gonna make

our first album cover.

[Victor] The way I work is,
every poster, every album,

I tried to do something
that I hadn't done before.

With this Steve Miller cover,

I was gonna put wings
on them

in the inside foldout
of the band flying.

So I had the band
in my studio.

And I had them on boxes,
jumping up. Chh!

[Steve] I sort of remember
being on a box and told

to jump, thinking, jeez,
I got on cowboy boots.

I'm gonna rip
my arches apart.

[laughing]
You know?

The hard part of that job
was getting the wings.

So I bought a pigeon,

and I tethered it to my arm.

Chh! Chh!

That's how I got
the pictures.

["In My First Mind" playing]

Two different drawings
occupying the same space,

and this lettering
on the bottom, it says,

"Children of the Future."

Don't read the letters.

Read the spaces in between.

Do you think
I'm gonna make it easy?

No.

♪ ♪

[radio tuning]

[Tom]
You might like some things

from the Jefferson Airplane LP,

a trio of things.

[Jorma] When we started
to make some money,

we wound up buying this
Victorian four-story mansion

across the street
from Golden Gate Park.

That became the nerve center
of the Airplane.

And we built a rehearsal
studio in the basement.

[Marty] We'd go downstairs
and play and jam

and have parties--

pool table, games.

That one album,
Bless Its Pointed Little Head,

that was a picture
from a party

that we were
getting ready for.

[Grace]
We had not had the party yet.

But Jack, being funny,
slopped down with his arm

around a wine bottle,
and we used it.

All the bands in San Francisco
had been in and out of there

for parties
and for just hanging out

at one point or the other.

[Dusty]
Even Tom Donahue decided

to get married
at the Airplane house.

[Jefferson Airplane]
♪ Don't you want ♪

♪ Somebody to love ♪

♪ Don't you need
Somebody to love ♪

♪ Wouldn't you love
Somebody to love ♪

♪ You better find
Somebody to love... ♪

[Dusty]
So everybody's, you know...

And I'm staying away
from everything

'cause they had these lovely
little "wood nymphs,"

I liked to call them,
that would clean the house

and cook the meals
and put acid in everything.

[Jefferson Airplane]
♪ And your mind... ♪

[Dusty]
So I'm being very careful.

Not careful enough.

I was asked
by another disk jockey--

he says, "Hey, Streeto,
can you do my show tonight?

I'm a little fuckitty up-ed."

Oh, okay.

I can do a six-hour show,
no problem.

So I get in the car
with my soon-to-be ex-husband,

and I feel like
I'm coming on to acid.

And he said, "Well, there was
acid in everything."

Everything?
All I did was eat the Jell-O.

And he said,
"Jesus, the Jell-O?

That's the first thing
you shouldn't have eaten."

So I'm pulling these records,

and they're feeling
like mush in my hands.

But I get
this one brand-new record.

And I'm...
[mimicking guitar riff]

["Shouldn't Have Took More
Than You Gave" playing]

[Dave] ♪ Shouldn't have
Took more than you gave ♪

♪ ♪

[Dusty] And back then,
we had to read our own copy.

And so the first copy
that I had to read said...

"How would you like to take
a really far-out trip?"

And I went
into outer space somewhere.

♪ ♪

[telephone rings]

The hotline rings,
and I pick it up.

And it's Tom and Rachel,

and they're laughing like hell,
and they're going,

"Street, you sound great.

Man, wow, what a show."

Now, when I had to put
the records away,

I put them away by color.

It took them six months
to figure out

where I put all the records.

[dramatic music plays]

♪ ♪

That so-called
"peace and love"

Haight-Ashbury crowd
and the Berkeley activists,

there was a rift between us,

because these guys were just,
you know, relentless.

-[crowd chanting]
-I understand that

they were adamant
about the things

that were wrong,
and so were we.

But they were relentless,
banging the drum.

And I was more
about the music.

You know,
let's do it through the music.

And the music in San Francisco
during that time

was an adventure.

You could hear anything
that you wanted.

You could hear a combination
of anything that you wanted.

♪ ♪

[Ben] The San Francisco sound
did not exist, actually.

There were
San Francisco sounds.

♪ ♪

[Michael]
There was all these scenes

going on in the Bay Area
at the same time

as this hippie world
was going on--

serious funk stuff,
really great jazz stuff.

But the Fillmore
was still the mecca.

[Dusty] And that's
when Bill Graham was able

to bring in this huge rainbow

of wonderful music
that crossed over genres.

[Emilio] He would be bringing
in these eclectic bills--

Sam & Dave, Hugh Masekela,
and the Grateful Dead,

you know, Miles Davis.

He brought in all
the great blues players--

B.B. King, Albert King,
Freddie King--

all the great soul singers.

Otis, he brought
Otis in, you know?

♪ ♪

Bill Graham tweaked the
collective ear of the Bay Area

by exposing all these hippies

that were loaded to all this
different kinds of music.

I mean, they were just
completely open to whatever.

That psychedelic thing
and the bands

and the whole scene,
it had run its course,

and people were ready
for something more rhythmic

and a little more soulful.

[indistinct chatter]

[Bill]
Born right out of the belly

of San Francisco, Santana.

[cheers and applause]

["Jingo" playing]

♪ ♪

[Carlos] What I was doing is
combining African rhythms

with rock and roll.

And Bill Graham loved it.

We developed and unfolded
a different sound.

Nobody else in the Bay Area
was creating that alchemy,

that combination of things.

♪ ♪

[Gregg] We weren't trying to
be any "San Francisco" band.

We knew
that we were different, right,

which is what we chose to be.

♪ ♪

[Jorma] Santana was
this beautiful surprise.

When Carlos showed up with
that band at the Fillmore,

it was like you were
in church.

♪ ♪

That band was amazing.

They were like
the real musical bomb

in San Francisco.

♪ ♪

[Michael] When I first saw
Santana, it was very exciting.

They were really raw.

I could tell
that he was different.

♪ ♪

And then one night,
I went to a recording studio

to try to get free time for
whatever band I was playing in.

I found out that Santana was
recording their first album.

But while I was walking in,
the drummer walked out.

They just had a big fight.

So they asked me
if I wanted to jam,

and we played for a long time.

♪ ♪

And after that, they asked me
if I wanted to be in the band.

Of course, I said yes.

But I was just a kid,

so they followed me home
to my parents' house,

and they waited outside
while I woke up my folks.

I said,
"Okay, I'm going now."

And next day,
I was in the band.

♪ ♪

I soon learned that
this was no hippie love thing.

This was like a street gang,
but the weapon was music.

[Santana] ♪ Jingo ♪

♪ Jingo Ba... ♪

♪ ♪

[Michael] It was a big, nasty,
mean, beautiful thing.

♪ ♪

We played well all the time

because we rehearsed
all the time.

♪ ♪

Of all the bands
in San Francisco

that rehearsed more
than others,

it was Santana
and Sly and the Family Stone.

♪ ♪

[Sly] I thought everybody
in the world played music

'cause everybody
in my family played.

We didn't even talk about it.
Just had to learn that

like you learn to talk.

When I started out,
I was on the radio for a while.

-Twenty minutes past midnight.
-[singers] ♪ Here comes ♪

♪ Our KSOL weather report
From a swinging ♪

♪ Soul brother to you ♪

[Sly] What a groove.
Partly cloudy tonight,

-increasing clouds...
-I was doing fine

at the radio station,
I thought.

[funky music plays]

And then all of a sudden,
the group happened.

Jerry Martini is
the guy that really started it.

He played saxophone.
And he came to the radio station

and decided that,
"Sly, you ought to be

the leader of this group."

[Jerry] I told him
that you have more

to offer the world musically
than being here.

♪ ♪

[Sly] We started
looking around for everybody

other than my sisters
and my brother

'cause they were
automatically in if I was in

'cause Daddy said so.

My sister Rose plays
electric piano.

My brother Freddie
plays guitar.

And then the drummer, Greg,
played in my brother's group.

[Greg] Sly's brother Freddie
and I had a group

called the Stone Souls.

[Sly] And the trumpet player,
I knew in school, Cynthia.

And then her cousin
Larry Graham played bass.

There everybody was.

When we got together,
it was such a great feeling.

And I'd never been so happy.

[Cynthia] He was always
still telling us

what he wanted us to do

because it was his show.

We rehearsed for two weeks,

and then he told us we had
a gig at Winchester Cathedral.

I'm like, "But we don't
have enough songs."

[Sly and the Family Stone]
♪ I'm gonna give you ♪

♪ Everything that you want ♪

♪ You got to keep on moving ♪

♪ You got
To keep on moving now... ♪

[Freddie] Winchester Cathedral-
ah, we'd go there

after we played another club
in Oakland called Frenchy's.

-♪ Baby... ♪
-[Freddie] Frenchy's

and Winchester Cathedral--

that was like the incubator.

That's where we were
birthed from.

♪ ♪

[Jerry]
Our first gig was great.

People sat there
with their mouths open.

They'd never seen
anything like it.

And in a very short period,
we became a cult phenomenon.

Everybody was coming around
to see this band called

Sly and the Family Stone.

But when Bill Graham
came and checked us out,

he saw us and said, "You guys
are a little too radical."

["Dance to the Music" playing]

♪ Dance to the music ♪

♪ Dance to the music... ♪

[Greg]
Bill Graham passed on it.

A year later, he paid dearly.
[chuckles]

♪ All we need
Is a drummer... ♪

[Jerry] We were a mixed group,
men and women together,

and not with women
standing in the background

singing their doo-wahs.

The front line was all of us.

♪ ♪

[Sly] It's a combination
of rhythm and blues,

psychedelic music,
church music, jam.

I like all of it.
I really do, man.

[Larry] Sly allowed
everyone to contribute

what they could contribute.

♪ ♪

There was no one that played
guitar like Freddie Stone.

No one played drums
like Greg Errico.

That beat--you know,
the bum, bum, dum, dum.

Nobody was playing beats
like that.

♪ ♪

[Sly and the Family Stone]
♪ Dance to the music... ♪

[Greg] The first time
we heard "Dance to the Music"

on the radio,
it was a celebration.

That was the launching place
for what we were about to do.

♪ ♪

[Dave] The New York critics
were saying,

Janis is a star.
She's wonderful.

She's a great singer.

But the band,
they're not up to her level.

[Janis] If you want
to approach it-- well, like,

I mean, I know what the
arrangement of the song is

-and how one part works.
-[person] Yeah, but you don't--

[Dave] It was uncomfortable,
the vibe in the band itself.

There were fights breaking out.

I had a fight
with Janis one night.

Peter and she had
a fight onstage.

[Peter] I knew what was
happening with the drugs,

and I didn't care for it.

I was the straight guy
in the band

doing a lot of the signing
of the contracts.

[Janis] What are you gonna hear
when you hear that, Sam?

You're gonna hear the vocal.

-[Sam] Oh, yeah, yeah.
-I mean, you know, like,

for example, listen to--
listen to--listen

to Cream's album, for example,
and, say, when Bruce is singing.

I mean, you aren't saying,
"Was the rhythm guitar right?"

I mean, you aren't even
fucking aware of it

because what you hear
is what's up front.

And when we play
"Piece of My Heart,"

what's gonna be up front
is gonna be the vocals.

["Piece of my Heart" playing]

♪ ♪

[Dave] She announced that,
"I'm gonna leave the band."

I was relieved for the months
leading up to it.

I knew this was gonna happen.

♪ ♪

♪ Well, come on, come on
Come on ♪

♪ Come on and take it ♪

♪ Take another little piece
Of my heart now, baby ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, break it... ♪

[Peter] Even though we'd been
only together for two years,

I still felt betrayed.

And then Sam said,

"Janis has asked me
to come with her."

I said,
"Well, I-- whatever."

♪ Well, you know you got it ♪

♪ If it makes you feel good ♪

♪ Oh, yes, indeed... ♪

[Peter]
I was pissed off at her.

I mean,
I worked with these people

almost every fucking weekend.

And we lived together
for six months.

I mean, it was close,
real close.

♪ ♪

[interviewer] And then
you quit Big Brother

and the Holding Company.
Why did you do that?

[Janis] It was sort of
just time for us to--

I think, to go on
and do something else.

-You know what I mean?
-Yeah.

Like, you grow together,

you know,
a certain way,

and you sort of
exhaust each other.

You exhaust the good
that you can do for each other.

And it was just time
for each of us

to start growing
in other directions.

And that's what, after all,
we're supposed to be all about

is trying to get better
at what we do, you know?

[radio tuning]

[Tom] This is Stereo 107

in San Francisco, KMPX.
And the family...

[Dusty] As soon as you're
successful, the bean counters,

as it were, they will try
to put that magic in a jar.

They did that to KMPX.

They said all of the guys have
to wear suit and ties

and get a nice haircut.

The women need to wear
dresses and pantyhose.

So Tom Donahue, of course,
went in and said,

"Are you out of your mind?"
And they fired him.

Well, we went out on strike.

[picketers singing
indistinctly]

But then Tom Donahue made
a deal with Metromedia,

and we just moved
down the street,

changed the call letters
to KSAN,

and started all over again.

[singers] ♪ KSAN ♪

♪ In San Francisco ♪

♪ 95 FM ♪

[John] KSAN came on the air
with the old staff from KMPX.

Two days after they went on,
we went over with a tape.

We were sort of nervous.
We didn't know,

are they gonna like this,
or do they want the old

San Francisco sound,
so to speak?

Actually, they liked it.
and they'd say, "Wow,

some obscure group. We don't
even know where they're from."

["Suzie Q" playing]

[Creedence Clearwater Revival]
♪ Oh, Suzie Q ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Oh, Suzie Q ♪

♪ ♪

[John] Having a song on the
radio be a pretty massive hit,

I thought, gee,
we might be able

to make a go of this thing.

But it was a cover song.

So I was in a panic.

We're sort of famous
right now.

The spotlight's shining on us.

And the collective
audience is going,

"Well, what do you got?"

[Creedence Clearwater Revival]
♪ Left a good job ♪

♪ In the city ♪

♪ Working for the man
Every night and day... ♪

[John] I finished
"Proud Mary," and after that,

we were like a Roman candle
that was really moving.

[Dusty] Fogerty lived
in the East Bay,

and he had a vision
for his music.

He found a niche
with the band.

We called it swamp rock
because of that bayou sound.

Woodstock comes along,
and everybody in the country

knows who CCR is.

♪ ♪

Hi. Thank you so much.

[cheers and applause]

[Jack] What was hopeful
about Woodstock was,

it was the first time
we thought there's more

to all of this
than just San Francisco.

[Greg] Woodstock was just
a wonderful experience.

It was one-of-a-kind thing.

There was a two-story
old-style Holiday Inn.

And the whole top floor

was where they had us
all staying--

Sly and the Family Stone,
Jimi Hendrix,

Janis Joplin,
Jefferson Airplane.

[person] Come on.
Come on.

[Greg] We're all running aroun.
The Southern Comfort's going

and the whiskey and beer
and everything.

[Grace] Both Janis and I would
drink out of the bottle,

because why bother pouring
this into another receptacle

if you're drinking it
straight?

Somebody once said
me and Janis

were nothing but falling-down
drunken whores.

We never fell down.

Drunken whores, yeah,
but we never fell down.

[laughs]

-[thunder booming]
-[Greg] We were supposed

to go on Saturday evening
at 8:00 p.m.,

but it had been raining.

And about every hour or two,
the manager would come in

and say, "Man, give us
another hour, guys.

I mean, we're so sorry, but
everything's running behind."

[Cynthia] I looked
out there and I mean,

the rain was just pouring
in sheets.

Even Freddie and, I think,
Larry got shocked, you know,

when the water hit
some of their equipment.

[Greg] Our adrenaline is going
up, down, up, down, up, down.

And then finally,
when it's time to go on,

it's, like,
3:00 in the morning.

[Sly] Yeah, at first, I was
scared, to tell you the truth.

I was so glad to be there
with Jimi Hendrix,

Janis Joplin, my idols,
that I thought,

man, we better not
make a mistake.

[Greg] We all looked at each
other and huddled and said,

all we can do is
just go up there

and do our thing,
give it all we got.

[Sly and the Family Stone]
♪ Beat is getting stronger ♪

["I Want to Take You Higher"
playing]

♪ Music getting longer
Too... ♪

[Greg]
By about the third song,

we start getting
a heavy response.

People start waking up,
getting up.

You could feel the audience.

The energy was so incredible.

♪ ♪

And Sly started responding
and taking control

of the control
that the audience gave us.

♪ I want to, I want
To take you higher... ♪

♪ ♪

[Larry] To hear the roar...
[mimics crowd roaring]

-[cheers and applause]
-...of half a million people--

I mean, we'd never heard
nothing like that.

And it just took us
to another level.

[indistinct chatter]

[Country Joe] I came to
the Woodstock Festival early.

-[camera shutter clicks]
-I was just hanging around

and listening to the music.

["The Star-Spangled Banner"
playing]

♪ ♪

I was pretty much there
all of the three days.

It was just incredible.

[person] Crew of Santana,
if you will, please,

you have some equipment that's
necessary for performance.

Would you please
bring it right backstage?

[Country Joe]
On Saturday,

Santana had trouble

getting to the stage.

So the staff
pushed me out there.

Hello, people.

I didn't know
I was gonna do this.

I had no idea what to do.

I was really nervous
about playing.

I hadn't performed as a solo
folk singer for a long time.

And so I went out there,
and I said, "Give me an F..."

Give me an F!
...and they looked at me

-and said...
-[all] F!

[Country Joe]
I couldn't stop.

-Give me a U!
-[all] U!

-[Country Joe] Give me a C!
-[all] C!

-Give me a K!
-[all] K!

-What's that spell?
-[all] Fuck!

-What's that spell?
-[all] Fuck!

-What's that spell?
-[all] Fuck!

[Country Joe]
People love to yell "fuck."

They really love
to yell "fuck."

["Fixing to Die Rag" playing]

♪ Well, come on
All of you big, strong men ♪

♪ Uncle Sam needs
Your help again ♪

♪ Got himself
In a terrible jam ♪

♪ Way down yonder in Vietnam ♪

♪ Put down your books
And pick up a gun ♪

♪ We're gonna have
A whole lot of fun... ♪

These people
were singing the song.

-♪ What are we fighting for...♪
-I couldn't believe it.

♪ I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam... ♪

I didn't know
that they had been playing

"Fixing to Die Rag" on
the radio around New York City.

It was fucking amazing.

♪ No time to wonder why ♪

♪ Whoopee
We're all gonna die ♪

All right!

[cheers and applause]

[person] Ladies and gentlemen,
"Country Joe" McDonald.

[cheers and applause]

Ladies and gentlemen,

-Santana.
-[cheers and applause]

[Gregg] Michael Lang,
the Woodstock manager,

had called Bill Graham
for some help

because it was getting
out of hand.

Bill told him, "I'll help you,

but you must have Santana."

And he goes, "Who's Santana?"

["Soul Sacrifice" playing]

And that's how we got in
was Bill.

♪ ♪

[Michael]
Even before I was in the band,

Bill was a fan of the band.
And he warned us.

He said,
"You're gonna do a festival.

And after that, things
are gonna change for you."

♪ ♪

[Carlos] Woodstock was
probably the biggest door

I ever walked into.

And the whole time
I was there,

I just chanted,
"God, please keep me in time

and in tune,"
'cause I was very high.

I didn't know I was supposed
to go on at that time.

And just as I peaked,

someone said,
"If you don't play now,

you're not gonna go out
at all." [chuckles]

♪ ♪

All the while,
the neck on my guitar

became like
a living electric snake.

So that's why I'm making
ugly faces,

'cause I'm trying
to tame the beast.

♪ ♪

Woodstock was a revelation

that everything
my mother tattooed

in my psyche would work.

I remember my mother saying,
con ganas, todo se puede.

Con Dios, no hay imposible.

With willingness,
everything can be done.

And with God,
nothing's impossible.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

[person]
Ladies and gentlemen, Santana!

[Michael] After that,
everything changed.

Bill Graham was right.
Everything changed.

[Jerry] That was
the catapult for all of us--

for Santana, for us.

Woodstock just shot us up
to the next level.

[Tom] A great deal of the
good things that have come out

of the artistic community
of this country

have originated
in San Francisco.

People talked about
an earthquake in San Francisco

for '69, and we wanted
to have one.

We wanted to have one

that would bring about
a tidal wave

that would sweep
across the country.

And maybe next year,
every community

would be putting on festivals

that would be created
by the artists

for the people
in the community.

[Marty] There was
this idealism going around

that we all had.

It was this wonderful way

to talk to each other
and play music for each other.

And there was this war
we were against.

And people had
different lifestyles.

And we really believed
the dream that

the world could be better
and we could change it.

The moment of Woodstock
was a coming together

of all that idealism.

You know, I thought that
it was just like showing

the whole world
what a great thing

it could be--so peaceful.

And after that came Altamont.

And, you know,
that was different, you know?

The Altamont Speedway
is located some 70 miles

from San Francisco
on Route 580.

[Chet] Altamont was
this barren, very hot valley

where demolition derbies
were held.

Just as you entered the site,

you could see mounds
of demolished cars

with the dates
that they were trashed.

[Michael] Just getting off
the helicopter and going in,

the vibe was different.

I could feel trouble.

It really felt dense,
in a way--

the vibration, the frequency.

["Soul Sacrifice" playing]

When we started playing,

people were
really close to us,

behind us,
going all the way up.

People were on the stage.
The crowd was so close.

♪ ♪

[Mickey] The Hells Angels
became the security guards,

and that's not what they do.

Hundreds of thousands
of people pushing on them--

it was a mess.

[tense music plays]

[Jorma] When you realize
that you're at the mercy

of this large group of people,
that's a scary place to be

and a situation you really
have no control over.

[person]
Jefferson Airplane.

["The Other Side
of This Life" playing]

♪ ♪

[Jorma] All I can say is,
it became apparent

that it was probably a gig
that we shouldn't have taken.

♪ ♪

[Jefferson Airplane]
♪ Would you like to know ♪

♪ A secret, baby ♪

♪ Just between you and me ♪

♪ I don't know
Where I'm going... ♪

[Grace] Airplane was on,
and I didn't wear

my contact lenses that day.

Sort of saw
this scuffling going on.

And I went back to Spencer,
and I said, "What's going on?"

[Jorma]
This Angel got onstage,

and there was
an altercation that evolved.

And Marty got punched
and went down.

[Grace] He punched him, and he
fell down on the stage floor.

[Mickey] He got hit
in the mouth because of

something he said
to a Hells Angel.

And he just got up,
and he said, "Fuck you."

[Grace] And the guy said,
"Never say fuck you

to a Hells Angel."
So Marty says it again.

-[Mickey] Then he got hit agai.
-[Grace] Easy.

[Jorma] Grace is trying to talk
and calm the crowd.

[Grace]
Please be quiet.

[Paul] Hey, man, I'd like to
mention that the Hells Angels

just smashed Marty Balin
in the face

and knocked him out for a bit.

-You're talking to my people.
-[Paul] Right.

Well, let me tell you
what's happening.

You are what's happening.

[Paul]
And you're not helping any.

-Hey! Ho!
-[Grace] No!

[person]
Right there, hold it. Hold it!

[Mickey] It was horrible--
people getting beat up,

Angels going crazy,
nothing to control anybody.

And it was just
way too far gone.

[person]
You know what's happening?

[Michael] It was very dark.
I just got the hell

out of there. I ran into
Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh

and told them
what was going on,

and they couldn't believe it.

Oh, that's
what the story is here?

-Yeah.
-Oh, bummer.

Really, man.
I mean, like, it's scary.

-Who's doing all the beating?
-Hells Angels.

Hells Angels are doing
beating on musicians?

Marty got beat up. They've
been fighting on the stage.

-Doesn't seem right, man.
-It's really weird, man.

It's really weird.

[Mickey] Me and Jerry were
in a bus. In the back,

they were saying,
"Well, what should we do, man?

Should we play?
We can't play now."

[indistinct chatter]

[Jack] Got dark.
There's no lighting out there.

Everybody had to kind of
find their way on out.

[dramatic music plays]

♪ ♪

Altamont...

certainly had an impact
on all of us.

Impacted Rolling Stone because

Rolling Stone had to report
Altamont for what it was.

There was nobody who was
innocent that dark day.

♪ ♪

[Dave] Altamont and things
like that were symptoms--

what happened to the Haight.

Things started
to really go downhill.

[Dan] ♪ He don't know
What's up or down... ♪

[Dave] The Haight-Ashbury
was falling apart

and being filled with really
bad vibes and bad drugs.

♪ We don't care
If his navel shows ♪

♪ People stop ♪

♪ They turn around ♪

♪ Is he wearing a smile
Or frown, he's stoned... ♪

[Victor] The very thing
that made us enviable

destroyed us.

The kids all show up.

Who shows up with the kids?
The sharks.

It was the death
of the neighborhood.

[somber music plays]

[Steve] There were
drug dealers everywhere

selling speed,

hundreds of people
sleeping in the parks,

completely smacked out
on heroin.

[Grace] Heroin started
changing things.

The amount of money
had something to do with it.

Everything comes
to an end, everything.

Some of it's slow,

and some of it's immediate,
like a car accident.

♪ ♪

[Mickey]
Janis came to 710 a lot.

♪ ♪

Pigpen and her had a thing.

They were sometime lovers.

I remember the last time
we saw Janis.

Jerry and I were playing
together in a park.

We were about to go on.

And there was a guy,
Albert Grossman.

He was the new manager
of Janis.

He was gonna take her
to New York,

get her a new band,
and make her into a star.

♪ ♪

He had his hand
around her shoulders,

and they were walking
to the car.

And I said, "Hey, Janis!"

And she turned around,
and we waved to her,

and they were walking.
She waved back.

And Jerry said,

"That's the last time
we'll see Janis."

And that was it.

♪ ♪

[Dusty] Well, you're talking
on KSAN right now.

[person]
Hi, KSAN.

[Dusty]
I was doing a live show

backstage at Winterland

with all
of the San Francisco bands

except for Janis,

who was in Los Angeles,
recording.

[person]
It's very bright,

and there's lots
of good music being played.

[Dusty] So I'm standing there
with my earphones on,

and I'm talking to Pigpen.

And in my earphones,
I hear, "Dusty,

Janis Joplin has just been
found dead at the Landmark."

[indistinct chatter]

Pig's getting ready
to go onstage,

and I'm trying to get
this information in my ear

and not have it show
on my face.

[person] Just a second.

It was an exercise in stoicism.

Is that real?
Is that for real?

I really hate to say this.

This is something
that just really blew my mind,

but I understand that
Janis Joplin has just been

-found dead in Hollywood.
-Wow.

You could have knocked me over
with a feather.

Wow.

[Mickey] I remember
the night Janis died.

[applause]

She had OD'd.

And, oh, my God.

And so I went over to Jerry.

And I said,
"Hey, man, Janis just died."

And we were just shocked,
just in shock, you know?

It was just so sad.

And I said,
"Should we tell them?"

Because it was right before
we were gonna go on.

He said, "No, no, no, no,
don't bum them out.

They're gonna find out
soon as they hit the street."

But we played real sad.

We played for Janis.

["Brokedown Palace" playing]

And I remember that
'cause I was crying.

I remember the tears
coming down my eyes,

and they were
getting my hands wet.

So I couldn't hold the stick.

♪ Fare you well ♪

♪ My honey ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Fare you well ♪

♪ My only true one ♪

[Dave] Just took me
completely by surprise.

And I broke apart.
I fell apart.

I cried for about two hours.

♪ ♪

[Ben] Janis' death was
just super tragic.

At that time,
we had lost

a couple of musicians already.

You think, "Jeez, Janis.

Why couldn't you have had
somebody with you?"

♪ ♪

[Grace]
I was not shocked

at any of the deaths
of the people.

Saddened, yes.

But they would have liked
to stay alive.

We were young.

We were making lots of money.

We could have sex
with anybody we wanted.

We could take
any drugs we wanted.

We were making music.
We were having a good time.

And drugs are very powerful.

♪ ♪

[Dusty]
We were a drug society.

And unfortunately, the drugs
took a lot of people.

It was something that,
unfortunately,

we started to become
way too familiar with.

♪ Lovers come and go ♪

♪ The river
Will roll, roll, roll ♪

♪ ♪

[Dusty] Of course,
it devastated the scene.

But music keeps on going,
you know?

It's like,
you take a piece out,

another piece gets put in.

♪ Listen to the river ♪

♪ Sing sweet songs
To rock my soul ♪

[cheers and applause]

[Jorma]
Time marched on.

But without Janis,
it just wasn't the same.

[somber music plays]

In the beginning, we all
lived the same lifestyle.

I think we kind of
just aged out of it.

The scene aged out also.

♪ ♪

A lot
of the San Francisco bands

had moved up to Marin

across the Golden Gate
from San Francisco...

the Dead and us.

When they built
Wally Heider's,

then it became
no longer necessary

to go to LA to record.

To be able to drive downtown
and go to your studio,

that was kind of cool.

[Jack] We're gonna be the
first band recording there,

and we're all excited
about this.

And so they say they're ready
to test out the equipment,

and we come down
to test it out.

Their studio is beautiful--

all these chandeliers,
stained glass,

and very San Francisco-style
accoutrements.

-We fire everything up.
-[person] We are now rolling.

[Jack] With my first
bass note--boom--

everything starts to rattle
and shake and make noise.

All the guys are laughing,
and they're just howling.

"Forget it.
Go home."

All this tinkling
and rattling,

it's all going
in the microphone.

They got to tear
all this stuff out.

[chuckles]

And of course,
and then we came in

and we started on
Volunteers after that.

["Volunteers" playing]

[Jorma] At the time, it was
a state-of-the-art place.

They also had a lot of rooms
in that building.

[Michael] There were, like,
three studios.

We were doing Abraxas.

♪ ♪

Creedence Clearwater was
across the hall,

doing one
of those big records.

[David]
Everybody recorded there.

You'd see
Quicksilver Messenger Service,

Steve Miller Band,
Grateful Dead.

You could just walk in
and hang.

It made a big brotherhood.

[Jorma]
Why? 'Cause we were all

physically there
at that time.

"What are you doing?"
"Not much."

"Come on down.
You want to play a song?"

[Jefferson Airplane]
♪ Pick up the cry ♪

♪ Hey, now it's time
For you and me ♪

-♪ Got a revolution ♪
-♪ Got a revolution... ♪

[Jorma] Some of the LA groups
also came up to record.

[David]
You could see David Crosby

and Crosby, Stills & Nash
at Wally Heider's.

It was really cool.

[Mickey] Once the guys
in the Grateful Dead

heard what was happening with
Crosby and Stills and Nash,

having these great singers
in our midsts,

it was very inspiring,
the possibility

of, wow, we play like gods,

but we don't sing like gods.

What if we could sing?

And that's where the
Grateful Dead found its voice.

["Uncle John's Band" playing]

♪ ♪

[Jerry] There was something
that we could do.

When we did it,
it sounded so cool,

just sitting around
with an acoustic guitar

and working up those songs,
and it sounded pretty,

and, oh, man,
that sounds nice.

[Grateful Dead]
♪ Are the hardest days ♪

♪ Don't you worry anymore... ♪

[Jerry] There were times
when it was just...

beautiful.
It really was.

[Grateful Dead] ♪ There is
Danger at your door ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Think this through with me ♪

[Mickey] Everybody wanted
to simplify it.

We'd make a simple record,
song-based.

[Grateful Dead]
♪ Whoa, what I want to know ♪

♪ Is, are you kind... ♪

[Ben] They were so proud
of what they had done.

The manager and one or two
of the members of the band

visited Jann Wenner
at his office

at Rolling Stone
carrying reel-to-reel tapes

of the new album,

throwing it up
on the sound system.

And a number of us
floated in to enjoy it.

[Grateful Dead]
♪ Won't you come with me ♪

♪ Whoa, what I want to know ♪

♪ Will you come with me ♪

♪ ♪

[Dusty]
When you're on the radio

and you get to hear a band

that you absolutely love,

you want to share it
immediately

with your audience.

There was a great band
out of the East Bay

called the Tower of Power.

I went to a club one night,

and I heard
"You're Still a Young Man."

Oh, honey, I needed a change of
clothes right then and there.

It was one of the best things
I'd ever heard.

♪ You're still a young man ♪

♪ Baby ♪

♪ Ooh-ooh ♪

♪ Don't waste your time... ♪

[Dusty] I went up
to the band and said,

"Guys, the minute
you got anything,

"you got to bring it
to the station."

I want to put you on the air."

So I started playing
the album.

And it was one
of those moments

where you know

that you have been able
to turn your audience on

to music that they ordinarily
wouldn't hear.

♪ Oh, her heart in hand... ♪

[Dusty]
I loved breaking bands.

[Emilio]
Dusty Street played a big part

in breaking Tower of Power.

There were a lot
of soul bands then,

and we didn't want to be
like the other ones.

I didn't want to be
like the other ones.

And so that became
our first song.

[Tower of Power]
♪ That I think like a man ♪

♪ You're still
A young man... ♪

[Dusty]
I really love it.

I may even play it again

after "Listeners' Personals"

on KSAN in San Francisco.

[David]
Dusty Street, of course,

had a great platform

to introduce people to music.

I think it was her
that got people

really paying attention to us,

because we were on the radio
all the time.

["Knock Yourself Out" playing]

[Ben] They had
an East Bay connection.

They tied in to the community.

And their album labels
would have photographs

of freeway signs in Oakland.

They were big on FM here
and onstage.

♪ Talk your trash, mama
Knock yourself out, ooh ♪

♪ Yeah, it's all right
With me now ♪

♪ Knock yourself out, ooh ♪

♪ Got my game uptight
Yeah... ♪

[Ben]
Hip musicians--not easy

for a primarily
instrumental band

to score hit records.

[Emilio] We went out into
the audience with our horns.

We call it a "soul train."

[Rick]
Y'all feel all right out there?

[Emilio] Those people
went berserk, man.

[Rick]
♪ Let me hear you say yeah ♪

♪ ♪

-♪ Let me hear you say yeah ♪
-[Grace] Nobody'd introduced

that kind of horn section
into rock and roll before.

♪ ♪

[Emilio] We knew how to
make it fit in, you know?

Because the horn section
always sticks out.

We started getting calls.

One night, we're all
at my house.

Everybody's partying.
Carlos Santana calls,

middle of the night.
He says, "We're over here

"at Columbia Studios.
We got this song,"

"'Everybody's Everything.'
We think it would sound"

really good with horns.
Can you come over?"

-And we're like, yeah.
-[Carlos] Whoo!

["Everybody's Everything"
playing]

♪ ♪

[Santana] ♪ Seem like
Everybody's waiting ♪

♪ For a new change
To come around ♪

♪ Come around... ♪

[Emilio] So we go there,
and they mixed it,

and it was out in a week.

And everybody on the radio
was going,

"That's Santana
with the Tower of Power horns."

I mean, it was a big deal,
because, you know,

they didn't have no horns.
And so everybody was going--

you know, they hear this,
you know, ba-dah-ba.

[Santana] ♪ You can understand
Everything's to share... ♪

[Emilio]
Ba-dup, ba-dup, you know?

And they're like,
"This is Santana?"

And so within a week,

everybody was talking
about this song.

[Santana]
♪ Find it naturally... ♪

[Michael] Everything was
changing fast at that point,

in '71, around that.

People were either
burning out,

or they were choosing
a different direction.

[Jack] The strength
of the Airplane being diverse

in the beginning
was also its weakness.

We're all still young.

We're all still learning
where we're going.

[Grace]
A lot of us were affected

by this massive amount
of money that's coming in.

[Jack] Marty dropped out
of the band, and we had

different people come in,
and it was kind of like

an explosion in a universe.

Everybody drifts out.

Jorma and I are starting
to play a lot as Hot Tuna.

[Jorma] Me and Jack,
I don't think we thought about

forming another band, doing
a "Jack and Jorma Show" thing,

but that's what happened.

[Grace] It was kind of
a forced evolution,

in that we couldn't find
Jack and Jorma.

They were in Europe somewhere.

So Paul and I just
started making

what he called
Jefferson Starship.

It was just, Jack and Jorma

are more interested in music

than all the stuff that
goes on around rock and roll.

They just wanted
to play the blues,

but they didn't want
to be nasty about it,

so they just disappeared.

[laughs]

[bluesy music plays]

♪ ♪

You know, all good things
must come to an end

sooner or later.

What about me?

I want it my way too.

And that's why I'm getting
my fucking ass out of here.

[Ben] Bill Graham often
bluffed about quitting.

"I've had enough of this,
you motherfuckers. I'm out."

What have I said
for months and months

what's wrong with this business?
That these groups have

gotten to be
too authoritarian.

And they have a right to be,
'cause money talks.

Why do you think I want out?

[Ben] Then later on,
"These prices of artists

"are getting outrageous.

I can't pay and do a good show.
I'm out."

And then now, "Last week
of the Fillmore. I'm out."

This is a special week to me.

We're closing the place.

We're having nothing
but San Francisco groups.

[Ben] The last week of the
Fillmore was three concerts.

The Grateful Dead
played that week.

[guitar music plays]

Jerry Garcia's the granddaddy
of them all.

I think he's the big papa bear

of what rock music
should have been.

I think he and the group
just stand

for what the utopia
that never was is.

[Ben] Hot Tuna played it,

Quicksilver, Santana,
Tower of Power,

and Creedence
Clearwater Revival.

Basically,
the cream of the scene

who were in town and available
played that last week.

-This thing's being billed as--
-[Bill] Closing week.

As the closing weekend.

San Francisco, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, man.

And I've been here since
the fucking beginning, man.

You know one of the rights
of a producer?

That he chooses the shows
he wants to put on.

And these are the shows
I've decided to put on.

I've never seen your band.

I'd just like
to say fuck you,

and thanks for the memories,
man, you know?

The next time you say
fuck you to me,

I'll take your teeth
out of your mouth and shove them

through your nose.

[Wilhelm]
Fucking asshole.

[Ben] It was a festive end
of an era for him, especially.

[mellow rock music plays]

♪ ♪

[Michael]
If the Fillmore's closed,

that's a big deal.

And it was very personal
to Bill

that we were there that night.

♪ ♪

[Carlos] To me, the Fillmore
was an institution

like Carnegie Hall or Harvard.

It was the end of an era.

But some people
get a little stuck

with nostalgia, you know?

I'm not stuck with nostalgia.

I love expanding, growing,

and discovering
all that you are.

♪ ♪

[Ben]
I'm sure that some people

marked it
as the end of the scene.

But I think insiders knew
that Bill was not going away.

It was the venue that was
being shut down, not the man.

You know, he didn't really
ever leave the music scene.

Bill came back
and ran the Winterland,

got involved more heavily
in management,

and then created other venues
just for his own acts.

But pretty soon after that,
a new generation of musicians

were beginning
to make their way.

New styles of music
were beginning

to make their way in.

♪ ♪

[John]
I moved out to California

with a friend of mine.

And we were going to get
into a band

with a former Moby Grape
member, Skip Spence.

[Pat]
When I first met John,

he said, "We want to do
vocal harmonies

just like in Moby Grape."

[Tom] John Hartman was
looking to get with Skip,

any way, shape, or form.

And I said,
"Well, I know him.

"He lives right
around the corner,"

if you want to come meet him."

Took him over,
and I introduced him.

[Pat] Tom got up there
with Skip and the guys

and did a set.

And I was knocked out

by Tom's playing.

♪ ♪

Skip was there,
playing rhythm guitar,

but Tom was really
the focal point.

And I could tell
that they were his songs.

[singers vocalizing]

When they got done playing,
I went back there,

and I said, "I love
what you guys are doing."

They said,
"Well, you should stop by

sometime,
bring your guitar."

And that was the start
of The Doobie Brothers.

[Tom] By then, Pat was with us,
and we were a band.

The Doobie Brothers
became a thing.

And we had been writing songs
pretty much constantly.

Skip called us
and said he was at a place

called Pacific Studios

and they were
looking for bands

and would we like to come up
and record?

Everybody said,
"Sure, let's do it."

And we put some stuff on tape.

["Coke Can Changes" playing]

[The Doobie Brothers
singing indistinctly]

♪ ♪

[Tom]
Those are the tunes that got

shipped off
to Warner Bros.

And they loved it,
and they signed us.

And after that,
we made

our first album,
which was just called

The Doobie Brothers.
It wasn't a huge success,

but that was
the beginning of everything.

[The Doobie Brothers
singing indistinctly]

[Emilio] The Doobie Brothers,
we know them from, like, 1969.

And The Doobie Brothers always
had really great equipment.

And they had
these great speakers

that were, like,
super high-quality.

And so they would call us,
and they would say,

"if you let us open for you,
you can use our P.A. system."

And we're like,
yeah, you know?

And so, yeah, they opened
for us a lot, you know?

Then the next thing we know,
they come out with

"Listen to the Music," right?

And they're, like, the
number one act in the world...

[laughs]
...and we're opening for them.

♪ Don't you feel it growing
Day by day ♪

♪ People getting ready
For the news ♪

♪ Some are happy ♪

♪ Some are sad ♪

♪ Whoa, we gotta let
The music play... ♪

[Tom] Right in the middle
of the Vietnam War,

I had this idea that if all
these leaders of the country

got together
and music was playing,

they'd mellow out,
get a lot more done

than the way
we're going about this.

♪ Gotta give a message
Get it on through ♪

♪ Oh, now, mama
Don't you ask me why ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, whoa
Listen to the music ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, whoa
Listen to the music... ♪

[Pat] When he wrote
those lyrics, I thought,

if this is our only hit record

we ever have, it'll be
a song about hope.

♪ ♪

♪ Like a lazy flowing river ♪

♪ Surrounding castles
In the sky ♪

♪ ♪

♪ And the crowd
Is growing bigger ♪

♪ Listening
For the happy sounds ♪

♪ And I got to let them fly ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, whoa
Listen to the music... ♪

[Ben] The Doobie Brothers,
they had a sound that

you would not say,
whoa, that's a new sound.

It was simply
a new group of...

very good musicians

who happened to come
primarily out of the South Bay.

And so they get their moment
in the spotlight,

a very long, long moment,
actually.

[Tom]
And then we started touring,

with the success
of the band going up,

and we started having singles
on the air all the time.

That became a real switch

from the lifestyle
we'd known before.

And that happened really fast.

["Jesus Is Just Alright
with Me" playing]

[Pat] As we moved out
into the big world,

we were taking who we were
and that Bay Area

counterculture philosophy
with us.

♪ ♪

♪ Jesus is just alright
With me ♪

♪ Jesus is just alright
Oh, yeah... ♪

[Carlos] Their music
is very important.

They transcend a lot of bands.

They transcend a lot of things

because the music
is the reward.

♪ ♪

♪ I don't care
What they may say... ♪

[Carlos] I like it
when they speak about Jesus

in particular. Acknowledging
something positive,

a lot of positive vibrations
happen.

♪ Jesus is just alright
Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Jesus is just alright ♪

-♪ Oh, yeah... ♪
-[band vocalizing]

[Michael]
I remember Carlos sitting

with the Jesus shirt on.

And that's when I realized

things were shifting.

Carlos and I were
definitely moving

in a different direction.

Like, to stop drugs,
be around positive people.

We were feeling
that kind of spiritual draw.

So we shifted,
and people were pissed off,

talking about Gregg and Neal.

[Ben] I only wrote
one major piece about Santana

in Rolling Stone:
"The Resurrection of Santana."

Santana, they had formed

in time for Woodstock '69.

And by '71, they're
on the verge of breakup--

revolution within the ranks.

[Michael] There was
some stuff that was

not so pretty going on.

[Gregg] As Mark Shrieve goes,
it was always you two guys.

The way I looked at it
is this.

You grabbed ahold
of an audience, you've got it.

Don't lose them by going
to some jazz stuff.

You're gonna lose people.

[mellow rock music plays]

♪ ♪

[Carlos]
I'm more than a musician.

I'm a person who brings

shaman qualities
to the table.

Jesus created alchemy,
like Merlin.

I want to create
an alchemy that brings

unity, harmony, and oneness.

We really are all one.

♪ ♪

[Ben] The thing that I got
from the other members

talking about him--
they're mocking him

'cause he's not talking
like a street guy, all right,

which is what the other
members were proud to be.

With Carlos being the leader,
"I want a different sound.

Are you with me or not?"
And of course, they're torn,

because they want the money
and the fame and the girls

and the drugs and all that.

But Jesus also has
to be part of it?

♪ ♪

But Carlos had his way.

♪ ♪

[Michael] Caravanserai--
they didn't like that record.

They left out of frustration.

In fact, they went
and started Journey.

[Gregg] Musicians,
songwriters, singers,

they're like
mountain climbers.

Mountain climber climbs
a mountain 'cause it's there.

You know, if you get
into doing this

and it gets in your blood,
you pretty much can't stop.

[person] Good evening.
Welcome to Winterland.

It's our last show this year,

and we're starting it off
the right way,

with a new band that just
might be setting the mood

for the music
in San Francisco.

Let's give them a warm welcome
and set ourselves off

by welcoming Journey.

["Of a Lifetime" playing]

♪ ♪

[Gregg]
It was like progressive rock.

But the real gist
of the band

was to get people high
from the music.

♪ ♪

♪ You're sitting, spellbound ♪

♪ Throughout time ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Well, I hope that you
Remember what you find ♪

♪ Yeah, remember more
Of a lifetime... ♪

[Steve] There's a lot of bands
that grew up

in that period of time
really taking off.

Signed my deal in '67.

I had put out six albums.

Each one had sold
about 200,000 copies.

Capitol Records,
they were gonna drop me.

And so The Joker
was basically my last shot.

♪ I'm a joker ♪

♪ I'm a smoker ♪

♪ I'm a midnight toker ♪

♪ I get my lovin' on the run ♪

♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo ♪

♪ Whoo-hoo-hoo... ♪

[Steve] The next thing
you know, it was

number one
all over the United States.

And I--
hey, I've got a hit.

Shit, this is great.

♪ ♪

So I bought a 3M
eight-track tape recorder

and set it up in the living
room and started working.

Bing, bang, boom, onward.

♪ Open my eyes
To a new kind of way... ♪

When I recorded things,

I was doing lead singing,
playing harmonica,

about three or four keyboards,

just spread out
all over the place.

♪ ♪

♪ Are you feeling... ♪

Our manager found Steve Perry,
and we were going,

we're not sure, Neal and I,
and he goes, get used to it.

This is your new singer.
[laughs]

♪ Am I just a fool ♪

♪ When the summer's gone ♪

♪ She'll be there
Standing by the lights ♪

♪ Once she's been
To where she's gone to ♪

♪ She should know
Wrong from right ♪

[Gregg] So Perry came in,
and I welcomed it.

I became a better songwriter,

writing for singing
instead of solos.

♪ That way too ♪

[all vocalizing]

♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Feeling that way too... ♪

[Ben]
By about '72 or '73,

the whole scene
began to grow so big

that the auditoriums,
the ballrooms

became too small to hold them.

And so the scene
began to dissipate.

The San Francisco scene
may have dissipated,

but what came up
out of the phoenix

was something incredible.

♪ What about the children
Y'all ♪

♪ With no shoes
On their feet ♪

♪ What about the people
Yeah ♪

♪ Living in the street... ♪

Youth culture, TV culture--

everything really changed
because of what happened

in San Francisco.

♪ O Lord, what about
A revolution, yeah ♪

♪ I wanna fly like an eagle
To the sea ♪

♪ I wanna fly like an eagle
Till I'm free... ♪

And then it got bigger
and more successful,

and then big money took over,
and everything changed.

♪ Time keeps on slipping
Slipping, slipping ♪

♪ Into the future... ♪

We went from playing
the Fillmore West

to hockey arenas
to city arenas

to football stadiums.

♪ Into the future ♪

♪ ♪

[soft music plays]

But the original peace,
love, and happiness feeling

of the whole thing was
more valuable than anything

that was built around it.

♪ ♪

[Michael]
These are moments in time

like wrinkles in time
or openings in time

where I think another energy
is let in

at a certain place.

[Jerry] What happened
was that everybody

got a glimpse of something.

I can't say what it is. To me,
it might have been something

like limitless possibilities.

♪ ♪

[Mickey] A very vital scene
that came out of San Francisco,

some people say
changed the world.

We like to think so.

It was that powerful.

We were experimenting
on the edge,

and the edge was just fine.

♪ ♪

[Dave] There are
certain things that were

irrevocably changed
by our generation:

the women's movement...

[crowd chanting indistinctly]

...Civil Rights Movement...

the idea
of psychedelic consciousness.

♪ ♪

[Peter]
It's safe to say

that we lost
every political battle.

We did not end war.

We did not end racism.

We did not end misogyny.

We did not end imperialism.

But on the cultural front,
we won everything.

[Michael] The things
that came from that period--

the desire
to see a larger picture

and yourself in the world

more willing and open
to be positive--

it's turning back around now
in this country.

It's never been as divisive.

What's gonna happen
after this is,

there's gonna need to be
another hippie movement.

I think everybody could use
a good hit of acid.

[Journey] ♪ When the lights
Go down in the city ♪

♪ ♪

♪ And the sun shines
On the bay ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Ooh, I want to be there ♪

♪ In my city, oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ ♪

♪ So you think you're lonely ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Well, my friend
I'm lonely too ♪

♪ ♪

♪ I want to get back
To my city by the Bay ♪

♪ Whoa, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ ♪

VICTOR:
When you're working alone

in the middle of the night,
put on the radio.

It's 3:00 in the morning

with the DJs,
Dusty Street.

"Here's a song
going out to Victor,

doing his posters."
[laughing]

"That's for you, Vic."

♪ ♪

[music fading]