To get California Day on Rock Town Hall rolling we’re posing a set of “Going to California”-themed questions that ask for your gut responses. We’ll keep it mellow, though. Why don’t you put down the top and follow us up the Pacific Coast Highway? Our special Going to California Edition of Dugout Chatter follows the jump!
After surfing, what outdoor activity do you most readily associate with California rock?
What role, if any, does the phenomenon of Psychic Oblivion play in a) the LA Hardcore scene and b) the ’80s LA Hair Metal scene?
What California-associated rock band or artist strikes you as being least likely to have been “California born and bred?”
Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg?
What non-California-based musician is least likely/equipped to ever “go California?”
Let’s say you’ve “gone California,” in a rock ‘n roll sense. Maybe you moved there, a young rocker seeking fame and fortune, or maybe you’ve settled there, an established rocker wanting easier access to the industry, the Pacific ocean, and some killer bud. In rock terms, please describe your Going to California Fantasy. If you’ve already gone to California or grew up having no choice, feel free to share your rock reality or your unfulfilled notions of what it means to rock in California.
I look forward to your responses!
California Rockers: Capt. Beefheart, Steel Pole Bathtub, Dead Kennedys, Comets on Fire, Crash Worship, Flipper, Survival Research Laboratories, Swell, Pavement yadda yadda. It’s not all hippies, its lot of weirdness as well.
-db (formerly of San Fran)
Psychic Oblivion plays a more direct role in hardcore than in hair metal, I would say, although there’s a connection in hair metal too.
There’s a lot of “wanting out” (The Germs) or “rising above” (Black Flag) in hardcore. It’s different than earlier versions of PO in that what it wants away from is urban corruption and degradation, which in earlier generations one escaped by going to California, and now one has to escape it in California too–big bummer there. Of course “rising above” is as much overcoming as transcending, so it’s tricky, but there’s still more than a bit of getting out of it all.
Hair metal on the other hand celebrates the classic indulgences of rock and roll, sex, money, and drugs, but it does so while blithely unaware that the Eagles have already been down that road and told everyone that it leads nowhere. So I think of the hair metals as POs in training, finding themselves a few years later in drug and alcohol rehab at a fancy rehab center where ocean views are a must and the only mohitos are alcohol free. I had an alcohol free mohito once and boy was it nasty.
Excellent explanation, Father of Psychic Oblivion, Townsman Mwall! Thanks.
After surfing, what outdoor activity do you most readily associate with California rock?
– I can’t tell you precisely, but it has something to do with a “woodie”.
What California-associated rock band or artist strikes you as being least likely to have been “California born and bred?”
CCR
What non-California-based musician is least likely/equipped to ever “go California?”
Lou Reed
If you’ve already gone to California, feel free to share your rock reality or your unfulfilled notions of what it means to rock in California.
I lived in SF from ’88-’93 – see “It Never Rains In Southern California” by Albert Hammond.
Rock fantasies notwithstanding, good times out there. Excellent skiing, burritos, live music, earthquakes, etc
Driving with the top down.
I’ll yield to mwall on this, as I’ve never grasped the concept.
The Byrds.
Ice Cube, I guess. Snoop seems to have transformed himself into the male equivalent of a skank.
Dee Dee Ramone.
I used to think it would be cool to be able to afford a nice place in a good neighborhood in SF, but after visiting a number of times I realize I’d never be able to deal with the pod people out there. So now I’m thinking more along the lines of an abandoned ranch in the SoCal desert with lots of dune buggies, people willing to kill at my command, and a tangential association with the Beach Boys.
‘After surfing, what outdoor activity do you most readily associate with California rock?’
Partying on a beach.
‘What role, if any, does the phenomenon of Psychic Oblivion play in a) the LA Hardcore scene and b) the ’80s LA Hair Metal scene?’
Who’s going to question the man who came up with that concept? Not I.
‘What California-associated rock band or artist strikes you as being least likely to have been “California born and bred?”‘
That’s a Flamin’ Groovies quote. It applies to them as well as anyone.
‘Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg?’
Cube in his prime.
‘What non-California-based musician is least likely/equipped to ever “go California?”‘
Lou Reed
‘In rock terms, please describe your Going to California Fantasy. If you’ve already gone to California or grew up having no choice, feel free to share your rock reality or your unfulfilled notions of what it means to rock in California.’
I would have lived in a place overlooking the ocean, jammed with Zevon and Browne, and had a fling with Joni.
Mwall, I was going to say that hair metal was more PO than hardcore, but reading your response you convinced me I was wrong. I don’t know whether that’s the highest compliment one can pay on RTH, but it’s certainly the rarest.
After surfing, what outdoor activity do you most readily associate with California rock?
Standing in line.
What role, if any, does the phenomenon of Psychic Oblivion play in a) the LA Hardcore scene and b) the ’80s LA Hair Metal scene?
Don’t they have to go mellowly into the night for that? I kinda thought the world just slammed the door shut on those two things.
What California-associated rock band or artist strikes you as being least likely to have been “California born and bred?”
Jawbreaker.
Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg?
I guess Snoop Dogg. I don’t like ice cubes that much. Crushed ice is really cool, though.
What non-California-based musician is least likely/equipped to ever “go California?”
Charlie Watts
Let’s say you’ve “gone California,” in a rock ‘n roll sense. Maybe you moved there, a young rocker seeking fame and fortune, or maybe you’ve settled there, an established rocker wanting easier access to the industry, the Pacific ocean, and some killer bud. In rock terms, please describe your Going to California Fantasy. If you’ve already gone to California or grew up having no choice, feel free to share your rock reality or your unfulfilled notions of what it means to rock in California.
I suppose I’d like to play a place like the LA Forum, but as nice as some things are about California, I’ve really been glad to be home the few times I was there. It’s too crowded for me. I think a two week residency playing at the Anchor Steam Brewery for free, fresh Anchor Steam would be cool. then maybe the same thing at Sierra Nevada.
I’m surprised that no one’s mentioned skating (i.e. skateboarding) yet. I mean, they invented modern skating as we know it out there by adopting surfing styles to pools, et al.
Snoop had a brief window of greatness in the early ’90s and most of it is on one record (Dr. Dre’s The Chronic). With that said, I’m not much of a fan of the stuff that album inspired and prefer old-school, mainly New York-based rap much more. However, an exception was always NWA. Cube wins this one in a landslide just for his verses in “Straight Outta Compton”. Who knew that he was really just a mild-mannered actor then as opposed to his studio gangsta persona, but hey, that record still feels vital even after 20 years.
Lou Reed and Dee Dee Ramone are great answers, so I’ll add Johnny Thunders to this list.
I would’ve loved to be part of the late ’70s Hollywood or SF punk scene or maybe the Laurel Canyon scene in the late ’60s and early ’70s. And I know that this isn’t a fantasy per se, but on occasions when I’ve gone out there, I play appropriately-themed songs like The Shocking Blue’s “California Here I Come” and more well-known stuff like Joni’s “California”, “California Dreamin'” and Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California”.
After surfing, what outdoor activity
Hangin’.
What role, if any, does the phenomenon of Psychic Oblivion play in a) the LA Hardcore scene and b) the ’80s LA Hair Metal scene?
My take was that punk rock in general, with its dissatisfactions and so on, implies not just impetus, but direction. I always found hair metal from anywhere to embody psychic oblivion. Punk bands talk a lot about doing things, changing things. Hair metal, to the extent that they have “lyrics” in a conventional sense, and to the extent I’ve ever heard them, seem about valuing the now, in a very non-buddhist way. PO!
What California-associated rock band or artist strikes you as being least likely to have been “California born and bred?”
I have to go with Beefheart, there. And Steve, explain the Byrds, who I always felt were the personification of much about CA that bugs me. Yu mean Parsons and his influence?
Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg?
I’ll have a salad.
What non-California-based musician is least likely/equipped to ever “go California?”
The fellows from Kraftwerk.
Let’s say you’ve “gone California,” in a rock ‘n roll sense.
I’ve had a good time as an auslander in the bay area. When touring, as we came over that one last rise on – I-10, is it? – that comes across from Texas? Anyhow, as the miasma that is L.A. hove into view, I honestly felt myself reaching for my inner handgun for road rage I was yet to feel. Sometimes New York gives me a feeling of foreboding when you come up from Jersey and first see it. I think, “Boy *that’s* a big mistake. We’re doomed as the dominant life force on the planet.” I have California Engagement Disorder, I admit. L.A. is the epitome of a lot of it, and SF is in some ways more so, in concentrated areas. So my fantasy of “going California” consists mostly of leaving it.
Doin’ blow on somebody’s outdoor patio.
Also going with CCR here. Can you picture Fogerty ever doing anything that people have pointed to as outdoor California activities here? Fogerty surfing? Fogerty rollerskating? Fogerty at a beach party? Surfin’ Fogerty, on his board all decked out in jeans, flannel shirt and neckerchief, makes me think of Batman and the Joker having their surfing contest in full costume in that beach episode of the Adam West show.
Snoop, because he knew his limitations and created a persona that can’t really be tarnished. Cube has fallen so far that even Eugene Levy must look at his career trajectory and feel embarrassed for him.
BigSteve said:
BigSteve is right again, Stamos really does has a pretty sweet life.
Dining outside, with some spectacular view.
Although I used a Flamin’ Groovies quote, Fogerty was the correct answer. Mads props to those of you who nailed the reasons why.
Cube. He’s almost a role model for me.
I’d arrive from the East Coast an already established artist, maybe a tour or two before complete burnout. I’d likely settle in Marin County, where I’d have a simple studio contstructed. I’d grow the moustache of my dreams, possibly with a little soul path, a la Frank Zappa. I’d dress in unbleached cotton – peasant shirts, jeans tied with a rope, sandals – but it would be clear from my casually groomed locks, which would not suffer from the humidity its about to absorb here on the East Coast, that I’m no stinking hippie. Then, locale and Look established, I’d record a few hours a day, hike the hills, spend long evenings in cafes, hang around a campfire with my family and friends until the wee hours, and after about 12 years, release a cheesy facsimile of the great music I’d done when I was younger. I might even have a hit song based around a baseball term. And I’d somehow be forced to sue myself for ripping off an earlier work that is owned by my original publisher.
sorry to be cynical, but DRIVING! are you kiddin me? it’s a half hour in a car to anywhere in LA.
i don’t think Psychic Oblivian applies very much to the genres you just mentioned. (oddly enough, i feel it applies heavily to the music of The Sisters of Mercy, Mission U.K., and Fields of the Nephilim(sp?))
American Music Club
I’ll go with Eddie Murphy.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
My California fantasy starts with not knowing how I got there. I wake up in a bed with a panoramic view of the ocean, up on a cliff, but not too high up. Suddenly, Pink Floyd’s Us and Them fades in at the perfect volume from a stereo system I cannot see.
Identity theif, Jocelyn Kirsch walks into the room wearing only an anklet and holding a tray with a cafe ole and a cigarrette. my balls are like rocks.
After a lengthy morning, i go to the garage and get into my 1970 Mercury Monterey and drive to a studio in the Hollywood hills. There, my producer, Barry(Gibb) introduces me to my band for this session, Jeff Porcaro, Carlos Alomar, Nigel Harrison, and Benmont Tench.
Barry gives the signal, and Alan (Parsons) hits record. We make musical history.
and do bong hits.