{"id":386034,"date":"2026-07-04T13:08:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386034\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T13:08:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:08:36","slug":"12-hip-singles-from-1960s-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386034\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Hip Singles from 1960s San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blue Cheer<\/p>\n

When you think of rock music that came out of the San Francisco Bay Area in the \u201960s, your mind undoubtedly goes first to albums: Jefferson Airplane\u2019s Surrealistic Pillow, Sly and the Family Stone\u2019s Stand, Santana\u2019s groundbreaking debut, Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s three 1969 best-sellers, etc. Singles aimed at Top 40 radio were not the top priority once the San Francisco music scene became a national phenomenon in the latter years of that heady decade\u2014it was all about the LP (and the live concert, but that\u2019s another story).<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean there weren\u2019t singles being recorded in the Bay Area though, some of them predating the explosion. Some became hits, others did not, but many are worth a fresh listen regardless of how they were accepted at the time. Here are a dozen.<\/p>\n

Bobby Freeman\u2014\u201cC\u2019mon and Swim\u201d<\/p>\n

Bobby Freeman was born in, and spent most of his life living in, the Bay Area. He broke in 1958 with his own composition, \u201cDo You Want to Dance,\u201d which reached #5 in Billboard and would later be covered by the Beach Boys, the Ramones, the Mamas and the Papas and others. Only three months later, Freeman followed it up with a strong rocker, \u201cBetty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes,\u201d which topped out at #37. After that, he went back into the shadows until 1964 when, at the height of Beatlemania, he bounded back with another raucous dance fave, \u201cC\u2019mon and Swim,\u201d co-authored by Thomas Coman and Sylvester Stewart, whose name, you will soon see, shows up a few more times in this story. Released on the San Francisco-based Autumn Records\u2014owned by KYA disc jockeys Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchel\u2014Freeman\u2019s last big hit landed him back at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n

Related: Our feature on \u201cDo You Wanna Dance\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Marty Balin\u2014\u201cI Specialize in Love\u201d<\/p>\n

Three years before he would co-found Jefferson Airplane, Marty Balin<\/a> was an aspiring solo singer in the Gene Pitney mode who had previously performed musical theater but longed to make it as a rock and roller. While working as a session vocalist in L.A., he came to the attention of arranger Jimmie Haskell, who gave him three songs to record. The former Martyn Buchwald also cut a song he\u2019d written, \u201cI Specialize in Love.\u201d The four pop tunes, on which Balin\u2019s voice already boasted the soulfulness and smoothness he\u2019d bring to the Airplane, were released on a pair of singles by Challenge Records but went nowhere. Not to worry\u2014he\u2019d be back.<\/p>\n

Sopwith Camel\u2014\u201cHello Hello\u201d<\/p>\n

Named after a World War I British fighter plane, the quintet led by vocalist\/saxophonist Peter Kraemer recorded this charming, old-timey ditty that he co-wrote with fellow band member Terry MacNeil. Released in late 1966 by Kama Sutra Records, the same label that had struck gold with the Lovin\u2019 Spoonful, the tune (\u201cWouldn\u2019t you like some of my tangerine?\u201d they sang) peaked at #26. The band broke up later that year, re-forming for a few years in the early \u201970s without much commercial success.<\/p>\n

The Beau Brummels\u2014\u201cDon\u2019t Talk to Strangers\u201d<\/p>\n

Their name implied they were British, but the Beau Brummels, fronted by the great Sal Valentino, formed in San Francisco in 1964. Their first hit, \u201cLaugh, Laugh,\u201d written by band member Ron Elliott and produced by that fellow Sylvester Stewart mentioned previously\u2014soon to become better known as Sly Stone\u2014was the first true hit by a San Francisco rock band, reaching #15 in early 1965, also on the Autumn label. \u201cJust a Little,\u201d another Stewart production, fared even better at #8, while \u201cYou Tell Me Why\u201d then made it to #38. \u201cDon\u2019t Talk to Strangers,\u201d which also came out in 1965, stalled at #52 but stands as a classic sampling of the melodic folk-rock sound that the band was helping to popularize.<\/p>\n

The Golliwogs\u2014\u201cFight Fire\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019d come to know them by a much more fanciful moniker\u2014Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2014but for a while, before that, John and Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford went by a few other names, first the Blue Velvets and then the Golliwogs. The band\u2019s recordings for Fantasy Records went nowhere, so in 1965 they moved over to the local Scorpio label, where their releases included a cover of Van Morrison\u2019s \u201cBrown Eyed Girl.\u201d None of the Golliwogs\u2019 singles ever charted, but 1966\u2019s \u201cFight Fire\u201d is a solid garage-rocker that proves the quartet was already onto something. A return to Fantasy in 1968 would provide the ticket. [The Golliwogs\u2019 recordings are available here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Related: How about that song about wearing flowers in your hair?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Charlatans\u2014\u201cThe Shadow Knows\u201d<\/p>\n

The Charlatans, a band whose drummer, Dan Hicks, later went on to much greater success fronting his own group, the all-acoustic, drummerless Hot Licks, are often considered the first band to perform in the style that has come to be known as the \u201cSan Francisco Sound.\u201d In truth though, they really had little in common with outfits like Jefferson Airplane or the Grateful Dead. For one thing, they dressed in attire reminiscent of that favored by the gritty, grizzled men of the Old West, and spent much of their time performing in a saloon in Nevada. For another, they weren\u2019t about long jams and freaky sounds. The Charlatans didn\u2019t record a proper album until 1969, when they\u2019d already been marginalized, but their 1966 cover of \u201cThe Shadow Knows,\u201d a Leiber and Stoller novelty number that had been cut previously by the Coasters, was released as a single on the Kapp label, failing to gain any traction despite its good-time vibe.<\/p>\n

Big Brother and the Holding Company\u2014\u201cDown on Me\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until they left the small Chicago label Mainstream Records and signed with the major Columbia that Big Brother and the Holding Company\u2014fronted by a transplanted Texan named Janis Joplin<\/a>\u2014achieved success. But the few studio sides they recorded for Mainstream weren\u2019t bad at all, hinting not only at Joplin\u2019s power as a vocalist but the band\u2019s eclecticism. \u201cDown on Me\u201d began its life as a spiritual from the early 20th century, but Joplin\u2019s arrangement recast it as a soaring, acidic rocker. It didn\u2019t chart but the band continued to work the song onstage during its brief time with Joplin.<\/p>\n

The Great!! Society!!\u2014\u201cSomeone to Love\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Big Brother, the Great!! Society!! (usually spelled without the punctuation) was fronted by a dynamic woman vocalist, in this case the former Grace Wing. The band included her husband, drummer Jerry Slick, and his brother, guitarist Darby Slick. The latter\u2019s composition \u201cSomeone to Love,\u201d produced by the same Sylvester Stewart we\u2019ve met before, was recorded by the group in late 1965 and released on the small, local Northbeach Records. It made no impact chart-wise, and when Grace Slick received an offer to join Jefferson Airplane, a more popular San Francisco band, in the fall of 1966, she did. With them she transformed Darby Slick\u2019s tune into a scorching rocker, retitled \u201cSomebody to Love\u201d and destined for a #5 placement in Billboard.<\/p>\n

The Grateful Dead\u2014\u201cDark Star\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking of \u201cDark Star\u201d as an early Jerry Garcia-Robert Hunter collaborative vehicle that served as the template for many of the Grateful Dead<\/a>\u2019s most majestic improvisational flights, you\u2019re not wrong. It was that. But first it was an unlikely single, not even three minutes long and performed at a much quicker pace than it later would be. Released on a 45 in the spring of 1968 on Warner Bros. Records, it went absolutely nowhere, reportedly selling a mere 500 copies. But when the band continually reworked it onstage and then led off with it on 1969\u2019s Live\/Dead album, slowing it down and stretching it out in infinite ways that came to define their adventurous musicality, it quickly became one of the most beloved numbers in the Dead\u2019s huge canon of material. To be treated to a live \u201cDark Star\u201d in concert was the dream of many a Dead Head for years to come, but it started out as a weird little quasi-pop tune.<\/p>\n

[Grateful Dead\u2019s extensive recorded legacy, books and merch are available in the U.S. here<\/a>, in Canada here<\/a> and in the U.K. here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Blue Cheer\u2014\u201cSummertime Blues\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-written in 1958 by rocker Eddie Cochran, who died in a 1960 automobile accident, and\u00a0 songwriter\/manager Jerry Capehart, the consummate rock and roll rebellion song went Top 10 and then embarked on a life of its own. Most rock fans will know it from the Who\u2019s exciting cover on the 1970 Live at Leeds album; the track went to #27 in America when released as a single. But that was only after the even heavier version offered by the San Francisco power trio Blue Cheer had gone to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #3 in Canada).<\/p>\n

The Mojo Men\u2014\u201cSit Down I Think I Love You\u201d<\/p>\n

Chalk up another to producer Stewart, who took the folk-rockin\u2019 Mojo Men into the studio in early 1967 and had them record a cover of the Buffalo Springfield tune \u201cSit Down I Think I Love You.\u201d The song, written by Stephen Stills, had appeared on his L.A. group\u2019s eponymous debut album in late 1966, and while the Mojo Men\u2019s version was arranged similarly, Stewart and the group added a touch of whimsy, featuring mandolin, Dobro and several keyboards to give it a more baroque feel. The Mojo Men\u2019s cover peaked at #36 in America while the Springfield never released it as a single.<\/p>\n

Chocolate Watchband\u2014\u201cAre You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the raunchier garage bands on the scene, Chocolate Watchband was actually from the city of Los Altos, 50 miles south of San Francisco in Santa Clara County. Recording for Tower Records (the label, not the retail chain), they never placed a single or album on the charts, and it wasn\u2019t until they were long gone that they found favor with garage-rock aficionados seeking out pre-punk rock and roll: The group\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Girls\u201d was featured on the revered, influential 1972 compilation album, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965\u20131968. \u201cAre You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In),\u201d a 1967 release, demonstrates the rawness and pure psychedelia that has given the Chocolate Watchband a second life\u2014and maybe a few more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blue Cheer When you think of rock music that came out of the San Francisco Bay Area in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[155756,155757,155758,155759,155760,155761,101,155762,103,102,104,106,105,155763],"class_list":["post-386034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-beau-brummels","tag-blue-cheer-summertime-blues","tag-grace-slick-great-society","tag-grateful-dead-dark-star","tag-janis-joplin-big-brother","tag-marty-balin","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-1960s-rock","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sly-stone-sylvester-stewart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}