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.

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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…

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…

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.

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.

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…

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…

Severe Tire Damage: Internet’s 1st Live Band

1993 – “We were using about have the available bandwidth of the Internet. With just us doing really really bad songs.” Russ Haynes, Digital Equipment Corp. Severe Tire Damage was…

The San Jose Connection: Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s Early Years

“It’s pretty darn good to be back in my own specific and very special hood,” she said. “This is where it all started, and I had to take a minute…

America’s First Rock ‘n’ Roll Riot

And on July 7, 1956, America experienced its first “rock ‘n’ roll riot.” Ain’t that a shame.