Featured Stories
San Jose Rocks celebrates how Santa Clara County’s 15 cities (Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, and Sunnyvale) were a part of an 11-county Bay Area movement that created a legacy of groundbreaking music and technological innovation. These interconnected stories provide a glimpse into Silicon Valey’s rich cultural fabric — moments where creativity, collaboration, and innovation flourish — is shaping the local community as well as the global music industry.
Here, we share the stories that illustrate the depth of this legacy, highlighting the individuals, events, and innovations that define San Jose Rocks’ mission to celebrate San Jose’s and Silicon Valley’s unparalleled contributions to music and technology, and inspiring today’s and tomorrow’s musicians and innovators.
Notify Me of New Stories
Join our community and never miss a story from Silicon Valley's music history
Got a story you think we might like? Share it with us!
We’re always on the lookout for — and curating — interesting stories and factoids that help us add to and shape our content. Contact us to tell your story.
How San Jose Became Dead First — And Hosted The Band’s Debut Performance
December 4, 1965: The Grateful Dead’s first performance as the Grateful Dead occurred in a home in downtown San Jose now the site of San Jose’s City Hall.
Read More
Hal David Knew the Way to San Jose
The song earned Dionne Warwick her first Grammy and sold over 3.5 million copies.
Read More
Cupertino has ‘No Use for a Name’
A punk rock band from Cupertino formed in 1987 is highly praised in the Skate punk and Hardcore punk scenes. Their debut album, Incognito, was released in 1990. They had…
Read More
Los Gatos’ Chateau Liberte: Lights. Camera. Reaction.
The Chateau Liberte’ a feature documentary. The Chateau was a rustic mountain bar ran by Hells Angels where great rock bands played in the 60’s/70’s. It was also a hippie…
Read More
Los Tigres Del Norte: the Beatles of Mexican music.
With half a dozen Grammys and sales in the tens of millions, able to pack arenas all over the country, Los Tigres del Norte—The Tigers of the North— is the…
Read More
2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Doobie Brothers
Since forming in 1969, The Doobie Brothers have sold more than 48 million albums, including three multi-Platinum albums, seven Platinum albums, and 14 Gold albums.
Read More
Larry Norman: the Elvis Presley of Christian Rock
San Josean Larry Norman is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 albums.
Read More
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Go Spartans!
1967 – 1972: Formed by John Fogerty, Doug Clifford (born in Palo Alto), and Stu Cook in the late 1950s. Doug and Stu attended San Jose State, playing now under…
Read More
Jefferson Airplane, South Bay Roots
Formed in August 1965 by Marty Balin, was populated mostly by South Bay musicians when he teamed up with Paul Kantner University of Santa Clara (1959-61) and San Jose State…
Read More- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next »