A list of Haight-Ashbury era bands

I culled this list from several sources (see the bibliography at the end of the list). What these bands had in common was they were all part of the San Francisco sound during the Haight-Ashbury era (1965-1967). Except as noted, all were San Francisco based. The majority of the out of town bands were from Los Angeles or Texas, but there's a few from other places. The term later band used in this list means they didn't get their act together until after the Summer of Love.

A.B. Skhy Blues Band (two LP's, a few singles)
A Cid Symphony (limited three album set)
Ace of Cups ("Mill Valley Bunch" LP - one of the Pranksters was in this band)
The Answer (45's)
Aum (two LP's, a few singles)
The Baytovens (45's)
The Beau Brummels (about eight LP's, several singles)
Bethlehem Exit (one 45)
Big Brother and the Holding Co. (several albums, singles)
Big Foot (one LP/single)
Bittersweet (a 45)
Blackburn and Snow (one special promotional album, two 45's)
Blue Cheer (about six albums, several 45's)
Canned Heat (several albums)
Captain Beefhart and his Magic Band (LA based, several albums)
The Charlatans (one album In 1969, two singles, a test album for Kama Sutra)
Chocolate Watchband (three albums, three singles)
Chosen Few (several groups took this name all over the U.S., several 45's)
Circus (a few 45's)
Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band (one album, one 45)
Clearlight (LA based, at least one LP and one single)
Clover (later band, four albums, a few 45's)
Cold Blood (several albums and 45's)
Collage (one album on Cream Records)
The Collectors (later band, Canadian, several 45's and two albums)
Colours (two albums, four singles)
Country Joe and the Fish (many albums, solo and as a group, EP's and 45's)
Country Weather (one LP released as "Country")
Crazy Horse (group from Texas, LPs 8 singles)
Creedence Clearwater Revival (later band, several albums and singles)
Crome Syrcus (from Canada, an album and a 45)
Dandellon Wine (one 45, circa '72)
Day Blindness (one album and a 45)
Direct Descendants (a 45, released as "The Descendants")
The Doors (LA based, several LPs)
Dream Merchants (Two LP's and a 45)
The Drongos (one 45)
The "E" Types (from San Jose, four 45's)
Earth Mother (a 45 test pressing)
Earth Quake (produced several albums in the early 70's)
Electric Flag (about three albums and a few singles)
Butch Engle & the Styx (one 45)
Euphoria (early honorary Bay group, originally from Texas, a 45)
Everpresent Fullness (one album, three singles)
Everything is Everything (with Jim Pepper, two albums and a single)
Exiles (two 45's on Columbia)
Family Tree (also known as Roxy Music, The Dudes, an album and several 45's)
Fifty Foot Here (one album)
Flamin' Groovies (several albums, including a private 10", 45's and several European releases)
The Flower (two 45's, released as "Flower Power")
Flying Circus (three 45's)
Fourth Way (Berkeley-based jazz freakout, three albums and a few singles)
The Fox (one 45 with Studio 10 Records)
Frumious Bandersnatch (an EP and other tapes exist)
Gale Garnett & the Gentle Reign (a couple of albums and singles)
The Golliwogs (were Creedence Clearwater Revival, six singles)
Gotham City Crime Fighters (a 45)
The Grass Roots (LA based, several albums & singles)
Grasshopper (a 45)
The Grateful Dead (have recorded so much I'm not listing quantities)
The Great Society (a few albums and singles)
Hair (one album for Studio 10)
Harbinger Complex (an album and single, and cuts with other groups)
Harper's Bizarre (originally The Tikis, several albums and singles)
Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks (later band, about four albums and a few singles)
The Hobbits (three albums, two singles)
Hour Glass (the Allman Bros., two albums and a few singles)
Human Beings (one 45 for Warner Bros, three 45's for Impact.)
The Incredible String Band (Scottland based, 14 albums, 5 singles)
Invaders (45's)
It's a Beautiful Day (several albums, a few singles)
Jaywalkers (45's)
Jefferson Airplane (recordings too numerous to mention, accused of "selling out" when two of their hits went top 40)
Joy of Cooking (several albums a singles and solo LP's)
The Lamb (three albums and a few singles)
Lazarus (originally from New York, a few albums and singles)
Lincoln's Promise (two 45's, both released as "The Lincolns")
Linn County (three albums, 45's and others)
Little John Blues Band (two albums, a few singles)
The Loading Zone (two albums and four singles)
Lothar and the Hand People (noted for their use of the theremin, New York based, two LP's)
Love (LA based, 12 albums, 15 singles)
Mad River (two albums a a few singles, including an EP)
Mark of Kings (one 45)
Melting Pot (an album)
Meridian West (a 45 released Its "Meridian")
Lee Michaels (several albums and singles)
Midnight Movers (a soul band with an album and singles)
Buddy Miles Express (several albums and singles)
Steve Miller Blues Band (many albums a singles)
Mint Tattoo (a Blue Cheer offshoot, an album and single)
Moby Grape (several albums 8 45's)
MoJo Men (one LP as "the Mojo" and many 45's)
Morning Glory (an album a single)
Mother Earth (later band, several albums and a few singles, Revolution soundtrack song)
The Mothers of Invention (LA based, too many records to list)
Mount Rushmore (two albums, a few singles)
Mourning Reign (two singles)
Charlie Musselwhlte (a few albums and 45's)
Mystery Trend (a 45)
Neighborhood Children (later band, an album and 45's)
Nepenthe (also the name of a Big Sur restaurent, a 45)
New Breed (45's)
Notes from the Underground (also was the name of a Dallas underground newspaper, an LP, a 45 and a limited EP)
Orphan Egg (an album, possibly a single)
The Other Half ten album, 45's)
The Other Side (a few cuts on an album, 45's)
Our Lost Souls (a 45 released as "Lost Souls")
The Outrage (an album, two 45's)
Oxford Circle (a 45)
Pacific Gas and Electric (several albums and singles)
William Penn and His Pals (45's as W. Penn and his Quakers)
PH Factor Jug Band (a 45)
Phoenix (one album, 45's)
Pulse (an album, 45's)
Purple Earthquake (about six albums, 45's)
Ouicksilver Messenger Service (several albums, a 45's)
Rain (a 45)
The Raven (an album, 45's)
Recurring Love Habit (a 45)
Rejoice (an album and a few singles)
Rose (a 45)
Ruth (not same as Canadian group, one 45)
Salvation (two albums, a 45)
Santana (several albums and 45's)
Savage Rerurrection (one album, a single)
Savonics (a 45)
Harvey Scales and the Seven Sounds (a few 45's)
Seatrain (from the northeast, about four albums, some singles)
Second Coming (from Chicago, an album and single)
Serpent Power (one album, maybe a single)
Shades of Joy (two albums, a few singles, soundtrack to "El Topo")
Shiva's Headband (from Texas, two albums and several 45's)
Silver Apples (later band, New York based, at least two albums - didn't play California, but were carried by the underground FM stations)
Sly and the Family Stone (several albums 8 singles)
Smoke (an LP on Tower Records)
Smokestack Lightning (an album and several singles)
Sons of Adam (about four singles)
Sons of Champlin (later band, about five albums, several singles, a limited LP)
Sopwith Camel (two albums, 45's)
Andrew Staples (two singles, recorded as "Group 'B' ")
Steppenwolf (LA based, originally The Sparrow, albums and singles)
Steve Miller Blues Band (several LP's)
Summerfallwintenpring (a 45)
Sunshine (45's by three different groups with same name, plus an album)
Sweet Linda Divine (an album a single)
Sweat Smoke (a Cut on S.F. Pop Festival album)
13h Floor Elevators (From Austin, Texas, four albums, 45's)
Time (two albums, two singles)
Tongue and Groove (one album, a 45)
Towaway Zone (one 45)
Tower of Power (later band, several LP's)
Transatlantic Chicken Wicken No. 5 (one 45)
The Trolls (a 45, with others using the same name)
True Blue Facts (three singles)
Dino Valente (one LP, a single or two)
Vejtables (three singles)
Venus Flytrap (1 45)
VIP's (a soul Group, 45's)
The Wailers (about six LP's, several 45's)
The Weeds (a 45)
West (two LPs a a couple of singles)
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (LA based? about six albums, several singles)
Peter Wheat and the Bread Men (a 45)
White Lightning (a 45)
Wildweeds (two aIbums, 45's)
The Wlldflower (a few cuts on an album, 45's)
Womb (two albums, a few singles)
Yellow Brick Road (45's)
The Youngbloods ( Boston based, several albums and 45's)

A site about the psychedelic bands is AMGDEAD'S PSYCHEDELIC SITE
More mainstream rock and roll is on the sex, drugs and rock and roll page

What made the psychedelic bands different from the earlier bands

LSD and other psychedelic drugs (led to longer songs, improvising, more expermentation, multi-media light shows)
Wider use of multi-track recording (each instrument on a separate track) - the mix could occur after the actual recording
Overdubbing - This allowed a song to be assembled track by track (lead part, bass, drums, vocals, etc)
Stereophonic sound was in wider use
Electronic music synthesizers were more affordable for rock bands
Better sound systems (Voice of the Theater speakers, low impedance microphones, better mixing consoles) opened the doors for larger and larger audiences, mixing console could be placed in the audience so engineer could hear the mix
Variable-lag echo units like the Echoplex - using electronic echo rather than echo chambers
Special effects pedals like fuzz, wah-wah, etc.
Use of non-conventional instruments, like the sitar
The ability to be sucessful without sticking to the top 40 format (only two of the bands on the list had any top 40 hits)
The bands tended to live as families (communial)

Bibliography:

Colonna, Donold A. 1979. The San Francisco Sound is Still Alive. Santa Cruz, CA: Blotter: issue 4: p. 48.

Gleason, Ralph J. 1969. The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound. New York; Ballantine Books. 340 p.

Grushkin, Paul D. 1987. The Art or Rock: Posters from Presley to Punk. New York: Abbeville Press. 516 p.
ISBN: 0-89659-584-6

Pareles, Jon and Romanowsky, eds. 1983. The Rolling Stone Encylopedia of Rock and Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press. 617 p. ISBN: 0-671-44071-3

Thanks to everyone who has contributed data for this list. If you have data for the list or if you know about web sites about the bands listed that I don't have links for, you can e-mail me at colinp1@mindspring.com