From 1977 until 2000, BAM MAGAZINE was a San Francisco Bay Area based printed music publication following in the footsteps of Rolling Stone Magazine which was born in San Francisco but moved soon after to New York City. BAM filled the void for the thousands of young Bay Area people who wanted to get news on their many favorite local rock, blues, R&B and jazz bands, musicians, concerts, and happenings. And, BAM was FREE!
The San Francisco music scene had been on fire since the mid 1960’s with Jefferson Airplane, Santana, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young, and the whole “Summer of Love” class of music people going gold and platinum all over the world. There was no shortage of Bay Area Music stories to cover and BAM got a lot of exclusive stories and interviews.
BAM Magazine released two issues of the magazine each month back then. They were highly sought after and people knew they could get this free publication at any one of many local record stores. Tower Records had multiple stores around the Bay Area and Northern California as did The Record Factory, Warehouse Records, Aquarius Records and others. Circulation for BAM Magazine was very respectable at that point and it was the beginning of a large community of fans of Bay Area Music.