The Top 100 Bay Area Bands / The '70s

3. THE GRATEFUL DEAD

House band for the dawning of the psychedelic era, the Dead started out playing for Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters parties and wound up being the cosmic consciousness of a nation of Deadheads. In the late, great Jerry Garcia, the band had a centrifuge whose music could span Chuck Berry, Django Reinhardt, Bill Monroe and Ornette Coleman in a single set. With a mandate to explore the widest possibilities of ensemble rock improvisation, the Dead pushed the music into places it never went before. Or since.

Definitive Song: "Dark Star" (1970)

4. FLAMIN' GROOVIES

Inspiring generations of stubborn refuseniks, the Groovies were an anomaly in psychedelic San Francisco, playing switchblade rock in the ballrooms of peace and love. While singer Roy Loney went solo with the Phantom Movers, bandleader Cyril Jordan took the group to England, where a partnership with Dave Edmunds led to a punk-era revival.

Definitive Song: "Shake Some Action" (1976)

7. SANTANA

Carlos Santana's "Supernatural" success this year marks 30 years as the undisputed champ of global rock. He is one of the few true stylists on the electric guitar. His original, Woodstock-era group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Definitive Song: "Incident at Neshubar" (1975)

8. TOWER OF POWER

Back to Oakland. Not only did Tower of Power's horn section set the standard for soul brass of the '70s -- it also put its punch on records for Elton John, Phil Collins and others. But Emilio Castillo and Steve (Doc) Kupka's songs such as "You're Still a Young Man," "Down to the Nightclub" and "So Very Hard to Go" stand the test of the years. A new generation of jazz and funk players invariably cite Tower as a prime influence.

Definitive Song: "What Is Hip" (1973)

11. DEAD KENNEDYS

As much a cultural force as a rock band, Jello Biafra and Dead Kennedys made San Francisco ground zero for political punk. Their first single, "California Uber Alles," got the ball rolling on a controversial career that eventually sparked a national debate on censorship over their 1985 sophomore album, "Frankenchrist."

Definitive Song: "California Uber Alles" (1979)

12. SYLVESTER

It would be hard to be more San Francisco than Sylvester. He was the only member to survive the insane '70s theatrical group the Cockettes, and when he became a gay disco diva, he took his show to the Opera House for a fabulous extravaganza he titled "Flowers While You Live." The gifted singer died of AIDS in 1988 at age 38.

Definitive Song: "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" (1979)

13. THE TUBES

The Tubes were the greatest rock band in the world for a second, although nobody outside San Francisco knew it. They simultaneously spoofed and celebrated '70s excess. Typically, the band's only big chart success was a slick, wimpy ballad played with Hollywood sidemen ("She's a Beauty"). But Quay Lewd, the faux English rock star teetering on towering platform boots, reigned supreme.

Definitive Song: "White Punks on Dope" (1975)

19. VAN MORRISON

His Marin County years -- from "And His Band and Street Choir" (1970) through "Inarticulate Speech of the Heart" (1983) -- form the heart of his peerless body of work. And one of the best things about living in the Bay Area during those years was Morrison's frequent appearances at small clubs. He was playing somewhere around town almost every week for years.

Definitive Song: "Bright Side of the Road" (1979)

22. STEVE MILLER BAND

Some people call him Maurice because he speaks of the mysterious pompitous of love. From his Fillmore days with the Steve Miller Blues Band (Dallas boyhood buddy Boz Scaggs on guitar) to his high-flying '70s hits, Miller was always one of the most conscientious careerists of the San Francisco rockers. But he made a lot of great sides along the way.

Definitive Song: "The Joker" (1973)

24. DOOBIE BROTHERS

Most popular band in the country for a minute or two. A tricky but successful lead singer switch at the peak of popularity took the band's music in a more urbane direction and extended its shelf life many years.

Definitive Song: "China Grove" (1973)

35. JONATHAN RICHMAN

In the post-glam, pre-punk '70s when rock music was the stomping ground of arena dinosaurs, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers kept the underground flame burning with a sound somewhere between the Velvet Underground and the Dave Clark Five. "Roadrunner" is a much-copied classic.

Definitive Song: "Roadrunner" (1975)

36. HOT TUNA

Taking public what were essentially their hotel-room jam sessions after Jefferson Airplane concerts, childhood friends guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady have continued this extraordinary collaboration through four decades. Considering how long some of their shows can be -- clocked at more than eight hours one epic night -- they might just be warming up for the next century.

Definitive Song: "Candy Man" (1971)

39. THE RESIDENTS

To quote a fitting cliche, only in San Francisco. Still an enigma after decades of recording, the Residents -- known for their anonymity and odd disguises -- spew out satiric songs that land somewhere between electronic hard core and avant-jazz. Their cover of a Stones standard ranks as a classic in its own right.

Definitive Song: "Satisfaction" (1976)

50. THE AVENGERS

Not only did the Avengers bring the British punk aesthetic to the Bay Area, they succeeded in upstaging the Sex Pistols at their notorious Winterland concert in 1978. "We Are the One" remains the band's unofficial anthem.

Definitive Song: "We Are the One" (1978)

53. HOODOO RHYTHM DEVILS

A hard-luck story. Greatest bar band ever on a good night, the Hoodoos couldn't buy a break through three major-label albums. The two bandleaders -- Glenn Walters and Joe Crane -- made the great, undiscovered album on their own label (with help from guitarists Steve Miller, Ronnie Montrose and Link Wray). Clive Davis falls asleep auditioning the band at a Berkeley nightclub. It never happens for the Hoodoos.

Definitive Song: "Safecracker" (1976)

58. GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION

Ooh wee, was this band funky. Bassist and vocalist extraordinaire Larry Graham, fresh out of Sly and the Family Stone, would lead the band onstage and snaking through the audience playing "Can't Turn You Loose" on melodicas, then they would strap on their instruments and start the song for real without missing a beat. And play a 40-minute medley. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Definitive Song: "Can You Handle It?" (1974)

65. ELVIN BISHOP

With the incendiary soul belter Jo Baker by his side, the ex-Paul Butterfield Blues Band guitarist ruled the Bay Area club scene when that still mattered. His greatest hit came later ("Fooled Around and Fell in Love"), with future Starship vocalist Mickey Thomas no less. But Bishop's moment had already come and gone.

Definitive Song: "Rock Bottom" (1972)

68. COMMANDER CODY AND HIS LOST PLANET AIRMEN

Bringing a blend of barrelhouse C&W and Southern rockabilly to the San Francisco scene, Cody and cohorts were a lovable, oddball bunch -- from goofy Bill Kirchen on guitar to friendly Andy Stein on sax and violin to the cigar-chomping Commander himself. Always underrated, Cody and company opened the door for country and western in the rock underground, and were an obvious inspiration to the whole Austin, Texas, scene. Special mention for the holiday record "Daddy's Drinking Up All Our Christmas."

Definitive Song: "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" (1971)

71. THE RUBINOOS

At the height of the local scene's infatuation with loud guitars and paralyzing rock came these Berkeley smarty-pants musicians, barely out of their teens, playing a kind of frothy power pop that simultaneously spoofed and celebrated their bubble-gum roots. Their cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' oldie "I Think We're Alone Now" was a chart hit before Tiffany.

Definitive Song: "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (1979)

72. DAN HICKS AND THE HOT LICKS

The inimitable, wry Hicks, a drummer for San Francisco rock pioneers the Charlatans, packaged his sly cynicism in a Hot Club de France faux jazz sound (complete with two wonderful female "Lickettes") to showcase the wit and wisdom of one of the great characters of the San Francisco music scene.

Definitive Song: "Where's the Money?" (1971)

75. THE DUROCS

Songwriter Ron Nagle had already attracted something of a cult following with his 1970 solo album, "Bad Rice," and clever, witty songs for the Tubes ("Don't Touch Me There"), Pablo Cruise, Barbra Streisand and others when his collaboration with multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Scott Mathews emerged. Way too smart for the mass market, way too pop for the rock underground, the Durocs -- named after a brand of hog -- remain one of San Francisco rock's great anomalies.

Definitive Song: "Savin' It All Up for Larry" (1979)

79. POINTER SISTERS

These preacher's daughters from Oakland were background vocalists for Elvin Bishop and born singers. They were wearing thrift- store chic out of necessity when San Francisco producer David Rubinson spun them into gold, long before their chart run of slick hits like "He's So Shy" and "Slow Hand."

Definitive Song: "Yes We Can Can" (1973)

85. EDDIE MONEY

An NYPD dropout who came west to sing in rock bands, Ed Mahoney never lost the common touch. His debut album launched two Top 10 hits, and the Money man was on his way. Ah, the luck of the Irish.

Definitive Song: "Two Tickets to Paradise" (1978)

87. MONTROSE

When onetime Van Morrison sideman Ronnie Montrose hooked up with an unknown vocalist named Sammy Hagar from a Top 40 band, they made a junior Zeppelin with some real crunch. Although guitarist Montrose went on to try commercial hard rock with Gamma in the '80s and made some serious solo records, nothing he did again ever matched the impact of those first two albums.

Definitive Song: "Rock Candy" (1974)

91. PABLO CRUISE

So popular with the upscale apres-ski crowd, this band beat out Elvis' attendance record at the Sahara Tahoe.

Definitive Song: "Love Will Find a Way" (1977)

97. NEW RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE

What started as a project for Jerry Garcia to learn pedal steel guitar ended up as the longest-running act in hippie country-rock.

Definitive Song: "Panama Red" (1973)

98. CHROME

Helios Creed and the late Damon Edge created a strange new world of do-it-yourself aesthetics, brain-frying guitar and a horrific science-fiction otherworld to rival William Burroughs' "Naked Lunch." Somehow, they found the common ground between psychedelic amorphism and industrial grind.

Definitive Song: "Half Machine Lip Moves" (1979)