Editing San Francisco Sound (section)

=== Key artists ===

{| style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"
|-
! style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px; text-align: left;" | Artist
! style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px; text-align: left;" | Notes
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | [[Jefferson Airplane]]
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | One of the scene's defining bands; ''[[Surrealistic Pillow]]'' (1967) and ''[[Crown of Creation]]'' (1968) are landmark releases
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Grateful Dead
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Widely regarded as the epitome of the scene's improvisational aesthetic; evolved from The Warlocks
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Big Brother and the Holding Company
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Best known as the band fronted by Janis Joplin; ''Cheap Thrills'' (1968) reached no. 1
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Quicksilver Messenger Service
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Known for extended live jams; among the most beloved bands in the local scene
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Moby Grape
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Praised for their interlocking "cross-talk" guitar work; released five singles simultaneously in 1967
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | The Charlatans
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Considered the scene's earliest pioneers, preceding the Haight-Ashbury explosion
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Santana
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Combined rock, blues, jazz, and Latin music into a distinct strain of psychedelic rock
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Sly & the Family Stone
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | A racially integrated band that fused soul and funk with the psychedelic scene
|-
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | Creedence Clearwater Revival
| style="border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 4px 8px;" | From El Cerrito; brought a roots rock approach to the Bay Area scene
|}