Los Angeles: No Longer the Famed Music Hotbed

Los Angeles has been an epicenter for the birth of new musical talent for almost a century, up until present day. This is where the careers of some of the biggest bands from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s have thrived out of. In the late sixties, the city housed the birth of some of the greatest, most authentic rock n’roll bands that sang about California’s babes, beaches, drugs and lifestyle. Bands like the Beach Boys, The Doors, The Burrito Brothers, and Frank Zappa made their homes here. Happy-go lucky hippy-turned groupie-turned author Pamela Des Barres reveled in the rich L.A. music scene in her book, “I’m With the Band.” You read the book, “Straight Whisky” and understand how fertile the scene was with culture, music, bands, fashions, and ‘grooves.’ It was a town bursting with new recording studios everywhere, when now less that half of the past amounts exist. You could walk the Sunset Strip and choose a show among Star Shoes, The Whisky A-Go-Go, The Roxy Theatre, The Palladium, or Rodney’s Discotheque.

The late 70’s ushered in new music movements to the L.A. music scene as music was ditching big rock for punk rock. Bands like Antiflag, X, Circle Jerks, The Germs discuss the LA Punk scene from the UK punk scene. Penelope Spheeris’ documentaries: Decline of Western Civilization parts I and II explore the rebellion in musical culture as a whole during the early 80’s, featuring punk music in part I and heavy metal in part II. Leading shortly after punk culture was the heavy metal music scene. Sunset Strip went from a hotbed to a cesspool of spandex, Aquanet hairspray and cowboy boots. Heavy Metal music was described as a “Lite Punk, it smells and tastes like rebellion, without the political aftertaste. Thousands of bands flocked to Sunset’s small but famed block, where most of its popular venues still remain today. The streets would be ladled in band flyers with the promise of the sleaziest, baddest, and sexiest rockers that one would ever see in a lifetime. But the Los Angeles hair metal scene came and went as swiftly as a cloud of hairspray.

The 90’s brought the LA Riots, heroin-chic and the birth of West Coast hip-hop ushering in hard hitting rappers like Dr. Dre, TuPac, Eazy-E, Ice-T and Snoop Dogg. The genre is still, if not more successful.

Regardless of bad taste or judgment, one could count on Los Angeles for birthing new music cultures. We owe L.A. for so many artists: The Circle Jerks, Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, The Doors, The Beach Boys, Donovan, etc. Many can argue that because the record labels were situated here, bands flocked here. But the more popular a music scene grew, the bigger the industry grew.

But this is my concern: Los Angeles is infertile. No longer has there been a movement where a new musical genre was born and raised in Los Angeles. Los Angeles cannot claim Emo, Screamo, Crunk Rock, or Electro music. Have we missed something? Why is it that Los Angeles can longer pride itself in pioneering new music scenes? Where is that new musical movement that can take the city by storm? Are the uprisings just smaller now? Is the demise of labels the partial culprit? Let’s find out.