California Uber Alles

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Okay, here's the deal: In the world of popular music, California rules over all. The Beach Boys, NWA, Merle Haggard, Black Flag, Art Pepper, Tom Waits, Love, The Byrds, The Buffalo Springfield and offshoots, Blue Cheer, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, all the transplants who came here (Jimmy Webb, Neal Young, Gram Parsons) to make music, Moby Grape, Dead Kennedys, and yes, even The Doors, ... that barely scratches the surface. Name me one place on earth that has produced such a rich and varied body of popular music... from "Surrealistic Pillow" to Snoop Doggy-Dog...

― Andy, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oh, yeah... and Metallica AND Slayer. AND WAR!!

― Andy, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

England. FITE

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

New York City

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Little Feat, Minutemen, Mingus, Ornette, Gun Club, Sparks, Germs, Red Cross, Flipper, Thinking Fellers, Slovenly, Medicine. . . you're right, Andy. No place on earth comes close.

The Dead Kennedys don't belong on lists of good California bands though.

― dan, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

From "California" is not a meaningful way to describe the cultural origin of anything. It's such a huge state that should be split up into two or three states, if not rightfully returned to Mexico. And you should have included Green Day over the Dead Kennedys!

― Kris, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Why so much disrespect for the Dead Kennedys?

Green Day are shit. Admit it.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You should have included the following over the Dead Kennedys:

The Queers

Green Day (as mentioned)

Rancid

NOFX

Santana

Blink 182

Thank you, that is all.

― JM, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ann Arbor: From "Kick Out the Jams" to "Fun House"

Quality over quantity!

― Curt, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Green Day, Rancid, NOFX, Blink 182 over the Dead Kennedys!?!?!?!?

What are you? Twelve years old?

I'm disgusted.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

NYC is about equal to California and has less smegma to answer for. London as well.

― Mr Noodles, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

New York's all right if you like saxophones. SO, MOVING ON...

I think if I'd nominate anywhere, it would be Manchester.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why is it that it's only Americans who deify Manchester? the rest of us from here fucking hate the place.

there aren't any good bands and its full of marilyn manson fans.

― Wyndham Earl, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Australia.

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'll vote for Antarctica.. just to be that way.

― static, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the rest of us from here fucking hate the place.

It's precisely that hate that motivated All Them Great Bands to do something and get out. And for that I thank you!

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why is it that it's only Americans who deify Manchester?

We're returning all the compliments for Detroit.

― Curt, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I could be wrong, having not read Litweiler's bio in a while, but isn't Ornette from Texas?

― hstencil, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Queers are from New Hampshire but they're good enough to be from California. Thank you. Manchester deserves special mention if only for the Buzzcocks and Magazine. People don't care for the Dead Kennedys because their singer is irritating in pretty much every way imaginable, plus he's irritating in a profoundly smug, self- righteous, wrong-headed, uniquely SF way that rubs many the wrong way. Good guitar playing though.

― dan, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ornette's from Fort Worth Texas but he came up with his sound in Los Angeles. I cheated.

― dan, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

per capita:: i gotta go with iceland.....sugarcubes,mum,bjork,sigur ros,kanada, anything on the thule label.

― william, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

― Spencer, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What are you? Twelve years old?

No. That's why I don't listen to the Dead Kennedys. Duh...

― JM, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

California also has to answer for inter alia the Eagles, Jackson Browne, the Grateful Dead, the Starship, Rancid, No Doubt, Sublime, half a zillion shitty new-ska groups, and Korn. Being responsible for just one of the foregoing abominations might justify a nuclear explosion or two, but being responsible for all of them ...

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"No. That's why I don't listen to the Dead Kennedys. Duh... "

No, but you condone indefensible pabulum like Blind 182?

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

California=Florida it's all the same to me. ;-)

― helenfordsdale, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Andy's right, in the main. London = heads up asses, NYC = heads filled with pretentious crap, Seattle = heads off

― dave q, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

vienna or nashville

― anthony, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Oh, yeah... and Metallica AND Slayer. AND WAR!! "
Dude my band is opening up for war TOMORROW!

― chaki, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'll vote for Antarctica.. just to be that way.

YEEESSSSSS! GWAR ARE FROM ANTARCTICA! AND THEY RULE!
(Well, actually, they merely conquer, then enslave and then exterminate. They really aren't all that interested in setting up a workable monarchy, minting coins or divvying up land to loyal vassals. But if they DID try to do all these regal duties they would totally Rule.)

― Lord Custos, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No, but you condone indefensible pabulum like Blind 182?

Yep. Seems that's the gist of what I said.

― JM, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hate to be a downer, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers are from Cali. So, you may need to add a codicle or two. And then there's the Eagles, although I think they just pretend to be Californian.

― dleone, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, I'll agree there's a lot of shit bands from here, so true. But in response to London & New York, they don't have a country scene to speak of, at least not good country. California has Bakersfield, which stands up against any country anywhere. And the Queers are indeed from New Hampshire.

― Andy, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Isn't Jackson Browne from NY or something... I always heard rumours that he was Nico's guitarist for a couple years.

― Andy, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

All America has a terrible sense of history, but in California they don't even feel guilty about it.

― Mark, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

(That was my lame attempt at an aphorism, sorry.) California has Matmos, Sutekh and Kit Clayton, so OK.

― Mark, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"I'm an American artist and I have no guilt." as Patti Smith once said.

And Jackson Browne is from Cali, but went to NYC at an early age (17?) and hung out with the Warhol crowd, I believe.

― nickn, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

as for the Chilli Peppers...

Anthony Kedis is from Detroit, and Chad Smith is from Western Michigan (Hence his ever-present Univerity Of Michigan baseball cap)

― mt, Saturday, 26 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Jackson Browne and Nico were lovers for awhile actually. If you look at the first Nico Solo record credits, you will find that Jackson Browne actually wrote a few songs for her.

― mt, Saturday, 26 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nico says she doesnt like black people :(

― chaki, Sunday, 27 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

And Jackson Browne is from Cali, but went to NYC at an early age (17?) and hung out with the Warhol crowd, I believe.

Jackson Browne and Nico were lovers for awhile actually. If you look at the first Nico Solo record credits, you will find that Jackson Browne actually wrote a few songs for her.

and

So much for the theory of osmosis (meaning none of the Factory/Nico vibe rubbed off on Mr. Browne, apparently). Except maybe in the other direction -- maybe Jackson Browne is the missing link in Lou Reed's first (and crappy) solo record?

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Sunday, 27 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

First off, someone mentioned the Minutement a while back. They kick ass but are from Minnesota or some place like that. They are just signed to SST. Also Dead Kennedys rule. Who else could pull off songs like "Kill the Poor" and "Holiday in Cambodia".

D.C. deserves credit for Fugazi, Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Gov't Issue, Bad Brains, being the home of Henry Rollins (yes he was from DC, and was even in a DC band called SOA before going jumping on stage at NYC Black Flag show, the rest is history...) and just about anything on the Dischord label. The Teen Idles have some of the earliest hardcore, playing much harder than anything in California at the time.

Boston also needs respect if only for the Pixies and Mission of Burma (yes I know some of them were transplants from Michigan), but those two bands rock more than most states.

Also all those California pop punk bands suck: Bad Religion, Green Day, NOFX, Blink 182, etc.....

― , Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

First off, someone mentioned the Minutement a while back. They kick ass but are from Minnesota or some place like that.

Though Husker Du is also a trio who had SST albums out, I think you're a little off there...

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have this friend who has an idea that Australia is a desolate wasteland where maybe 8 or 9 people live. He said, "Sometimes I forget they have telephones or indoor plumbing in Australia."

I am just the opposite with New York City. When someone upthread mentioned New York as a good source of music, I thought, "They have music there?" I have this idea that it's so dense music couldn't fit in.

I can only think of two bands from New York City: Velvet Underground, who I have never heard, but photos i have seen of them seem to fit into that vibe. I don't think if I bought one of their albums, there would be music. Waves would come from the speakers that transmit the creepy haggardness of their visages. Then my skin would probably fall off. I don't know about those Velvet Underground folks.

The other New York group I know is Soul Coughing. Soul Coughing seem to be composed of the biggest misanthropes ever to live. The guy's vocal just give me the willies. There's this one song of his that is supposed to be about him and his pals spending a lazy afternoon in Queens, shooting cans off a rail with their beebee guns or something. During the chorus, he tries to do a lazy hum to suggest their sunny fun day, but it sounds like he's being gagged with an ether-filled rag. It frequently causes me to defecate.

In another song of theirs, he is with some prostitute and the porstitute's voice is just his sped up and given a duck filter. "For $300 dollars I'll do it," she spits, prompting all who hear it into a life of celibacy.

― 1 1 2 3 5, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

BOSTON

― Poops McGee, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have this idea that it's so dense music couldn't fit in.

That's why most of if has to come from the outer borroughs and Hoboken.

― Curt, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

NZ produces a lot of quality bands given it's tiny size and remote location...

― g, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have this feeling that Boston's got a MUCH better local music scene that New York. I still won't move there though.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't think if I bought one of (The Velvet Underground's) albums, there would be music

As amusing as this sentence is, I must assure you you're wrong. You may want to pick up a copy of "The Velvet Underground and Nico" as an experiment; the contents may surprise you.

― Sean, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...

Revive!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 8 January 2004 23:16 (twenty-two years ago)

no mention of CCR yet?

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 8 January 2004 23:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Until now...

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 8 January 2004 23:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Blue Cheer are from California? SF?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 8 January 2004 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Detroit!

― Orbit (Orbit), Friday, 9 January 2004 07:39 (twenty-two years ago)

not a mention of Kingston, New Orleans, or Memphis=WTF people?

― oops (Oops), Friday, 9 January 2004 07:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Machester. Detroit. Case rested.

― roxymuzak, Friday, 9 January 2004 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Good 'LA Rock' CD with this month's Uncut. Stuff from Shiva Burlesque, Little Feat, Rickie Lee Jones, Tim Buckley, Gene Clark
(the latter's track taken from 'Under the Silvery Moon'; still doesn't persuade me to buy it though).

― pete s, Friday, 9 January 2004 17:05 (twenty-two years ago)

As for other places; Texas, New York, Chicago, Tennesse, London, Bristol, Manchester, Berlin, Paris

― pete s, Friday, 9 January 2004 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Tennessee?

― roxymuzak, Friday, 9 January 2004 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

BEDROCK!

― klx, Saturday, 10 January 2004 10:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Bleh, Sheffield-Leeds-Manchester axis kills Cali dead.

― anode, Saturday, 10 January 2004 10:55 (twenty-two years ago)

eric dolphy.

― Pablo Cruise (chaki), Saturday, 10 January 2004 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

twenty-one years pass...

I was listening to this in the car the other day and thought about an update with RFK Jr …

― sarahell, Friday, 9 May 2025 17:31 (ten months ago)

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