Noise Pop Festival is an annual week-long music and arts festival that takes place throughout the San Francisco Bay Area produced by Noise Pop. From 1993 to 2020, and then resuming in 2022, Noise Pop Festival has provided exposure to some emerging artists, many of which have gone on to widespread acclaim, including The White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, The Flaming Lips, The Shins, Fleet Foxes and Bright Eyes.

History Noise Pop Festival began in 1993 as a "5 bands for 5 dollars show" at the Kennel Club (later renamed the Independent). Tickets were $5 and although it was only one day, it was called the S.F. Noise Pop Festival. It has expanded to a nine-day festival across nearly every major and independent venue in San Francisco.

This festival went on hiatus in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

List of lineups

1993 Bitchcraft, Carlos!, Corduroy, The Fastbacks, Overwhelming Colorfast

1994 Bitchcraft, Bracket, Cara de Nada, Carlos!, Corduroy, The Fastbacks, Four Point Star, Hazel, The Meices, Overwhelming Colorfast, The Red Aunts, The Supersuckers, Tina Age 13.

Friday, January 28 to Sunday, January 30, 1994. The poster artwork was made by local tattoo artist Mike Davis. Three days this time, $15 festival pass and featuring 13 bands, all at the Bottom of the Hill.

1995 Alcohol Funnycar, Baby Carrot, Bracket, Carlos!, Corduroy, Creeper Lagoon, Engine, The Fastbacks, Flake, Flop, Fluf, Inch, Jawbreaker, Knapsack, The Meices, Overwhelming Colorfast, Package, P.E.E., Slider, Snowmen, Uncle Joe's Big Ole Driver.

One extra day was added to the festival's third year from Thursday, January 26 to Sunday, January 29, 1995, featuring 21 bands in 3 venues.

1996 Actionslacks, American Sensei, Bracket, Carlos!, Chixdiggit, Clarke Nova, Colorfast, Creeper Lagoon, Farflung, The Fastbacks, Groovie Ghoulies, Hugh, Magic Paper, Maxiwagon, The Mieces, No Knife, Peppercorn, Red 5, Skiploader, Skyscraper, Spackle, Supersuckers, Tenderloin, 30.06, Tilt, Trackstar.

Thursday, February 22 to Sunday, February 26, 1996, featuring 26 bands in 4 venues.

1997 Actionslacks, Archers of Loaf, Bracket, Carlos!, Chixdiggit, Crash & Brittany, Creeper Lagoon, Death Star, Decal, Engine 88, Jeremy Enigk, Fastbacks, The Foster Brooks, Fluf, Frogpond, Go Pound Salt, Hazel, Henry's Dress, Knapsack, Limp, Me First, The Meices, Model Rockets, The Moons, Overwhelming Colorfast, Papas Fritas, P.E.E., The PeeChees, Peppercorn, Red Red Meat, Retriever, Rock Band #47, Snowmen, Spoon, Trackstar.

Wednesday, February 26 to Sunday, March 2, 1997, with 35 bands in 5 venues.

1998 Actionslacks, The Androgynauts, The Apples in Stereo, Baby Carrot, Beulah, Carlos!, Chixdiggit, Creeper Lagoon, Crumb, Fastbacks, The Flaming Lips Boombox Experiment #4 (see here), Flavius, The Foster Brooks, Fuck, Frank Black and The Catholics, Galaga, Imperial Teen, Harvey Danger, John Doe Thing, The Keeners, Kingdom First, Knapsack, Lunchbox, MK-Ultra, Modest Mouse, Oranger, P.E.E., Peppercorn, Pure Joy, 7th Betty, 16 Deluxe, Red Planet, Scenic Vermont, Slower Than, Trackstar, Verbow, Warm Wires.

Featuring 37 bands in 5 venues, from Wednesday, February 25 to Sunday, March 1, 1998.

1999 The Aislers Set, Alien Crime Syndicate, Beulah, Bitesize, Bracket, Carlos!, Creeper Lagoon, Crumb, Dealership, Death Cab for Cutie, Elevator Drops, Fastbacks, Fiver, Gardener, Glasstown, Grandaddy, Guided by Voices, I Am Spoonbender, Imperial Teen, Jimmy Eat World, Kingdom First, Lunchbox, Magnolia Thunderfinger, Me First, Murder City Devils, Oranger, Push Kings, Red Stars Theory, Rocket from the Crypt, Rodriguez, Sense Field, 764-HERO, 16 Deluxe, Snowmen, Trackstar.

Featuring 35 bands in 6 venues, from Tuesday, February 23 to Sunday, February 28, 1999.

2000 In 2000, there were two Noise Pop Festivals that took place: February 29-March 5 in San Francisco & May 10-May 15 in Chicago.

San Francisco The Aislers Set, Alien Crime Syndicate, Beulah, Franklin Bruno, Carlos!, Chixdiggit, Crooked Fingers, Dealership, Death Cab for Cutie, Earlimart, Electro Group, Fastbacks, Fiver, Fluke Starbucker, For Stars, The Get-Go, Groovie Ghoulies, I Am Spoonbender, Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, Jonah's Onelinedrawing, Limp, The Loud Family, The Magnetic Fields, Man Or Astro-man?, Mates of State, Me First, Bob Mould, The Mountain Goats, Nar, Oranger, Peter Parker, Rumah Sakit, Secadora, Shimmer Kids, Kyle Statham (of Fuck), Sunless Day, Sunset Valley, Thingy, Track Star, John Vanderslice, X

Featuring 41 bands in 5 venues for 6 days, Noise Pop Festival introduced film into its line up and created the Noise Pop Film Festival, a series of film screenings related to music: documentaries, rockumentaries, music mockumentaries, etc.

Chicago The Aluminum Group, Anderson/Kowald/Drake, The Apples in Stereo, The Bangs, Blonde Redhead, Brokeback, John Butcher, Califone, Terry Callier, Chicago Underground Quartet, Devil in a Woodpile, John Doe, Floridis/Vandermark/Jaume, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Cor Fuhler & Chicago Friends, Rebecca Gates, The Gossips, Grandaddy, Robbie Hardkiss, Boris Sinclair Hauf, Andre Jaume, Ken Vandermark's Sound in Action Trio, Kowald/Sommer/Floridis, Lady D, For Soul Only, Jon Langford, Ernst Long, LOOS, Mike Ireland and Holler, Chris Mills, Modest Mouse, Pete Nathan, Colin Newman, OK Go, Oranger, Jim O'Rourke, Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers, Carlos Ortega, Pan American, Paul Wertico Trio, Sam Prekop, Seam, Silo, Sleater-Kinney, Günter "Baby" Sommer, Tobias, Jeff Tweedy, Unwound, Verbow, Versus, Wire.

2001 Source: San Francisco Actionslacks, The Aislers Set, Alien Crime Syndicate, Azure Ray, The Bellrays, Beulah, Blonde Redhead, Bright Eyes, Call and Response, Carlos!, The Church Steps, The Court & Spark, Creeper Lagoon, Crooked Fingers, DJ Me DJ You, Droo Church, Mark Eitzel, Fastbacks, Fiver, From Bubblegum to Sky, Girls Against Boys, Holly Golightly, The Good Life, Henry Miller Sextet, The Icarus Line, Jet Black Crayon, Jim Yoshii Pile-up, Jimmy Eat World, Jolly, Damien Jurado, The Kingsbury Manx, Lost Kids, Cole Marquis, Mates of State, Me First, The Minus 5, Money Mark, No Forcefield, Aaron Nudelman, Onelinedrawing, The Orange Peels, Oranger, Papercuts, The Pattern, Pedro the Lion, Persephone's Bees, Pinq, Pleasure Forever, Pocket For Corduroy, Preston School of Industry, Saint Andre, 764-HERO, 7th Standard, The Shins, Skiptrace, Spoon, Starflyer 59, The Stratford 4, Matt Suggs, Sunday's Best, Superchunk, Tarentel, Trackstar, John Vanderslice, Vue, The White Stripes, The Young Fresh Fellows, Zen Guerrilla.

Chicago Fred Anderson, Antipop Consortium, Atombombpocketknife, Autechre, Robert Barry, The Bellrays, The Bevis Frond, Bobby Stratosphere and the Bloodclub, Busy Signals, Casolando, The Chamber Strings, Cibo Matto, Couch, Creeper Lagoon, Cursive, Damon and Naomi with Kurihara of Ghost, The Dismemberment Plan, Kevin Drumm, 8 Bold Souls, Eleventh Dream Day, Enon, Evil Bearer, Fruitbats, Goldfrapp, Guided by Voices, Jah Wobble & Deep Space, The Jimmy Smith Group, K-Rad, L'Altra, Mike Ladd, Mat Maneri, Mac McCaughan, Neko Case & Joey Burns, 90 Day Men, Pinebender, Pinetop Seven, Preston School of Industry, Pulseprogramming, Rob Hall & Russell Haswell, Songs:Ohia, Stars, Suicide, Sur La Mer, Television, Tenki, Ken Vandermark, DJ Warp, Wagon Christ, We Ragazzi, Yo La Tengo

2002 Actionslacks, Adult, The Aislers Set, Alaska, Aveo, Azure Ray, Baby Carrot, Beachwood Sparks, Big Star, Buellton, Built Like Alaska, Call And Response, Chantigs, Court and Spark, Daniel Johnston, David Dondero, Dealership, Death Cab for Cutie, The Dirtbombs, The Dismemberment Plan, The Donnas, Ee, Electro Group, Elephone, The Evening, The Extra Glenns, The Faint, Fastbacks, Fields of Gaffney, Film School, Fiver, Fluf, Folk Implosion, For Stars, Gadget, Ghost Orchids, The Go, The Good Life, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Guided by Voices, Hot Wire Titans, I Am Spoonbender, Imperial Teen, Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy), John Doe & Neko Case, KaitO, The Lilys, Lois Maffeo & Greg Moore, The Long Winters, Lunchbox, M. Ward, The Makers, Matt Pond PA, Mellow Drunk, Migala, Modest Mouse, Moldy Peaches, The Moore Bros, The New Pornographers, Oranger, Overwhelming Colorfast, The Pattern, Paula Frazer, Pedro the Lion, Persephone's Bees, Pinq, Pleasure Forever, +/-, The Posies, Preston School of Industry, Richmond Sluts, Rilo Kiley, Sara Shannon, Seldom, The Sermon, Stratford 4, The Substitutes, Trackstar, 20 Minute Loop, The Velvet Teen, Versus, Vervein, Virgil Shaw, Visqueen, Vue, Whysall Lane, Xiu Xiu, Zmrzlina

2003 DJ Aaron Axelsen, Alaska, DJ Alicia (The Aislers Set), Ball Point Birds, Hudson Bell, The Blood Brothers, DJ Roddy Bottum, Built Like Alaska, The Burly Earls, Calexico, Camper Van Beethoven, Carlos Forster (For Stars) & The Meeting Places, Cat Power, Ceramic Isles, Citizens Here and Abroad, Communiqué, Court and Spark, The Coyotes, Creeper Lagoon, Crime in Choir, Crooked Fingers, The Cuts, Dead Moon, Dealership, The Dirtbombs, Mia Doi Todd, The Donnas, Downway, Nicolai Dunger, The Dying Californian, Eleventeen, Erase Errata, Fast Forward, Fields of Gaffney, Film School, Firecracker, Fiver, Fojimoto, The Folk Implosion, Nik Freitas, The Go, Har Mar Superstar, Hockey Night, Peggy Honeywell, Hot Rod Circuit, Ill Lit, Imperial Teen, Jackpine Social Club, The Jealous Sound, DJ Jonny Deeper, Junior Panthers, DJ Kid Frostbite, Kirby Grips, DJ Sharky Laguana, The Librarians, The Locust, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Milemarker, Minus the Bear, Moore Bros., The Mountain Goats, Joanna Newsom, No Knife, OK Go, On The Speakers, Onelinedrawing, Panty Lions, Patrick Park, The Pattern, Plain High Drifters, The Pleased, Preston School of Industry, The Rattlesnakes, Record Player Tommy Guerrero, Replicator, Rooney, Roots of Orchis, The Rum Diary, The Sermon, The Small Hours, (Smog), Starflyer 59, Kelley Stoltz, Stratford 4, The Suicide Girls, Swords Project, DJ Tangbeer, Time Spent Driving, Tom Hayman, Tortoise, Trackstar, Trans Am, Truxton, Tsunami Bomb, Tussle, Under a Dying Sun, John Vanderslice, The Velvet Teen, The Von Bondies, M. Ward, Western, Whysall Lane

2004