100 great songs about... LOS ANGELES

LOL I miscounted already!

Let's make 99... uh... David & David, "Welcome To The Boomtown"

94. Elliott Smith - "L.A."
93. Buffalo Springfield - "For What It's Worth"
92. Pete Townshend - "Exquisitely Bored"
and hate to be obvious, but
91. X - "Los Angeles"

and hate to be obvious, but
91. X - "Los Angeles"

No shame - that one's as inevitable as "Straight Outta Compton"

90. "LA," uptight - Neil Young

I'd put City of the Angels by Journey except Journey is shit and so is the song

89. Guns & Roses - "Paradise City"
88. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Free Fallin'"
87. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Into the Great Wide Open"
86. Arlo Guthrie - "Comin' into Los Angeles"
85. Timm Dogg - "Fuck Compton"

84. Missing Persons - Nobody Walks in LA

Steve Erickson's definitive "LA's top 100" article can be found half-way down this page:

http://www.welcometothevelvet.com/archive/index.php?t-485.html

and on this thread

83. Old Time Relijun - Los Angeles (Maddening to listen to while actually in the shitfest that is LA traffic)

82. Steely Dan - "Glamour Profession"
81. The Fall - "L.A."

80. Killing Joke - Hollywood Babylon

more obvious ones:

79. I Love LA -- Randy Newman
78. Under the Bridge -- Red Hot Chili Peppers

77. California Girls -- Gretchen Wilson
76. (I'm So Much Cooler) Online -- Brad Paisley

75 Revolution Blues - Neil Young

74. magnetic fields - california girls
73. kinks - celluloid heroes

72. warren zevon - detox mansion

71. The Circle Jerks -"Beverly Hills/Century City" ?
70. The Stooges - "LA Blues" ??

Not sure about the Jerks coz its the suburbs, and not sure about LA Blues coz I'm not sure that's about anything

69. Lyle Lovett - The Girl in the Corner

68. the Beatles - "Blue Jay Way"

indubitably

where are the doors?

"Not sure about the Jerks coz its the suburbs"

I don't think that's accurate.

67. Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In L.A.

66. The Doors - LA Woman

65. Descendents - Catalina. OK it's an island off- or is it another state? i don't fucking know. Limey

64. hill/etheridge/barbata - l.a. getaway
63. concrete blonde - your haunted head

62. Soul Coughing, "Screenwriter's Blues"

I'd figure that the Flying Burrito's "Sin City" is about Vegas, but all the references to earthquakes and sciientists saying it will all wash away makes me think it's about LA. Anybody got the word on this?

Sin City is def. an LA song. Steve Erickson's list a curio, no more/no less but useless for our purposes here. "Walking In LA" and The Magnetic Fields' "California Girls" are teh awesome.

Sort of cheating to go after the Hollywood angle, but we've still got more than 50 to go.

61. Hollywood Freaks – Beck
60. Hollywood Swinging – Big Boys
59. No Virgins in Hollywood – Eddie and the Subtitles
58. Madame Hollywood – Felix da Housecat
57. Hollywood Babylon – Misfits
56. Burn Hollywood Burn – Public Enemy
55. Let’s Go Down to Hollywood (& shoot people) – Subhumans [the Canadian one]
54. Hollywood – 999
53. Los Angeles, I’m Yours – Decemberists
52. L.A. Girl – Adolescents
51. L.A. Explosion – The Last
50. L.A. Sleaze – The Reactors [the California one]
49. When the Shit Hist the Fan—Sunset Blvd. – Todd Rundgren
48. The Earthquake Song – Little Girls [Rodney on the ROQ]

Hole, Celebrity Skin (the song.. but the whole album really)

I can't believe that nobody's mentioned Frank Black's ditty yet.

or Green Velvet's for that matter.

47. Warren Zevon--Desperados Under The Eaves
46. Warren Zevon--The French Inhaler

45. the Frank Black ditty
44. Song for Sunshine - Belle & Sebastian
43. Earthquake Weather - Beck

am I allowed to mention 42. All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow

41. Malibu - Hole (since for whatever reason it wasn't counted when daria brought up the album)

40. 10cc - Somewhere in Hollywood

39. LA - Murs
38. Hollywood Ending - Sleater Kinney

um.. 37. Let's Go Crazy - Prince (stretching, but where else would that shrink be?)

36. Moving to LA - Art Brut
35. Los Angeles - Atmosphere
34. Why You'd Want to Live Here - Death Cab for Cutie (terrible, yes)
33. Aenima -Tool (just as negative but much more fun!)

32. The Moneymaker - Rilo Kiley (or every other song they've done)

31. Unfair - Pavement (cheating, it's about the whole state - but with that refrain it counts)

30. La Cienega Just Smiled - Ryan Adams
29. Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd. - Ryan Adams (ugh)

28. Tinsel Town - Seal

30. La Cienega Just Smiled - Ryan Adams
29. Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd. - Ryan Adams (ugh)

Heh. I actually like those just fine. I'll take my Rilo Kiley in "Portions For Foxes" tho...

27. "West Coast Love Affair" - Unrest

26. Strung out - Blackhawks over Los Angeles

71. The Circle Jerks -"Beverly Hills/Century City" ?

Not sure about the Jerks coz its the suburbs...

Anybody who's been to a real city knows that L.A. is one giant suburb.

25. Keep It Warm, Flo & Eddie
24. Topanga Canyon, John Phillips
23. Topanga Windows, Spirit
22. Ventura Boulevard, The Everly Brothers
21. Hollywood, Michael Nesmith
20. Mae Jean Goes To Hollywood, Johnny Darrell
19. Riot On The Sunset Strip, The Standells
18. L.A., Jackie Deshannon

17 Mae Jean Goes To Hollywood - The Byrds

16 "Ventura Highway" (America)
15 "It Was A Good Day" (Ice Cube)
14 "California Love" (Tupac)
13 "One In A Million" / "Welcome To The Jungle" (GNR - tie)

12. Pico And Sepulveda - The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo

"LA Freeway" - Guy Clark

^^^ number 11 that is.

Pico And Sepulveda - The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo

^^^^
This is actually by Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra

9. Nick Lowe-Marie Provost
8. David Bowie-Cracked Actor

is the Valley off limits? cuz otherwise there's this little song about the girls over there...

7. Susan Raye - LA International Airport

6. The Byrds - Bad Night At The Whiskey
5. Jackie DeShannon - Laurel Canyon
4. Phil Ochs - The World Began In Eden And Ended In Los Angeles
3. John Mayall - Laurel Canyon Home
2. The Motels - So L.A.
1. OP8 - “The Devil Loves L.A.”

-1. Love, The Red Telephone
-2. Van Dyke Parks, Laurel Canyon Blvd.

-3. L.A. Guns, Rip and Tear

-4. Iggy Pop & James Williamson, Kill City

-5. Al Stewart - "Electric Los Angeles Sunset"

-6. Thunderclap Newman - "Hollywood #1"

-7. Morrissey - "The First of The Gang To Die"

-8. Pavement "Heaven is a Truck"

-9. Fear "I Love Livin in the city"

-10. Richard Harris, McArthur Park
-11. The 5th Dimension, Rosecrans Blvd.

-12. Morrissey - Glamorous Glue

-13. motley crue - saints of los angeles

> 60. Hollywood Swinging – Big Boys

I like the Big Boys just fine, but get yourself a Kool and the Gang compilation, dude.

-14. l.a. sunshine - war

-15. garden grove - sublime

-16. let me ride - dr dre

-17. born and raised in compton - dj quik

-18. The Stranglers - Dead Loss Angeles

-19. Camper Van Beethoven - 'Club Med Sucks' (Newport Beach)

-20. Loads of Minutemen songs about Pedro
-21 Vandals - Urban Struggle (surely 'Cuckoo's Nest was in Long beach somewhere? - Great song about LA)

surely 'Cuckoo's Nest was in Long beach somewhere? - Great song about LA

BZZT! Both the Cuckoo's Nest and Zubie's were in Costa Mesa... Orange County.

Holy shit you people: no "Hollywood Nights"?

The Miracles - Ain't Nobody Straight In L.A.

Red House Painters - Cruiser

MORE LIKE, holy shit you people: no "Mickey Mouse" ?

If Hollywood and Garden Grove count, so can Disneyland/Anaheim...

More like, HOLY SHIT YOU PEOPLE NO RONNIE HUDSON FFS???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txhIrE99HMc

-22: L.A. Jinx by Slade

-23

panic zone

-24 "Kill City" Iggy P & James W

^Already there at #-4, so: -24:Tammy Wynette & George Jones "Southern California"

ctrl-f

though I shouldn't be making fun of anybody because I'm now high enough that every Fugs song sounds like it could have been written about LA.

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shoooot

entire RHCP back catalogue