by Kaan Ertas, 2021
With Additions by Don Parent

Bill Graham is the rock impresario behind The Fillmore, the Day on the Green concerts and the overall popularization of rock music in the late 60s and 70s in San Francisco and across the country. Graham’s legacy lives on both in rock circles and in the fabric of San Francisco, perhaps best exemplified by the naming of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium after his passing away in 1991. While the auditorium’s website simply states that he “began the rock ‘n roll movement in San Francisco in the 1960s” (Bill Graham Civic Auditorium), his impact on the music scene was much more nuanced. His business acumen and the way he ran his business often ran counter to the values held by artists in the counterculture movements of the time. The same artists gave him the opportunity to rise to fame.
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