Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success.
The band performed at all three of the most famous American rock festivals of the 1960s — Monterey (1967), Woodstock (1969) and Altamont (1969) — as well as headlining the first Isle of Wight festival. Their recordings were internationally successful, and they scored two US Top 10 hit singles and a string of Top 20 albums. Their 1967 record Surrealistic Pillow is regarded as one of the key recordings of the so-called Summer of Love and brought the group international recognition.
Successor bands to Jefferson Airplane include Jefferson Starship and Starship; spinoffs include Hot Tuna and KBC Band. Jefferson Airplane was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Key members of the band[]
- Grace Slick
- Marty Balin
- Jorma Kaukonen
- Paul Kantner
- Jack Casady
- Spencer Dryden
Books about/featuring the band[]
- 1969 The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound by Ralph J. Gleason
- 1980 - Grace Slick: The Biography by Barbara Rowes
- 1998 - Somebody to Love? : A Rock-and-Roll Memoir by Grace Slick
- 2002 - Full Flight: A Tale of Airplanes & Starships by Marty Balin
- 2003 - Got a Revolution! : The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane by Jeff Tamarkin
- 2006 - Take Me to a Circus Tent: The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual by Craig Fenton