Punk rock in California
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.
History
Pre-1976
had a very strong glam rock scene in the early 1970s, mostly centered on the club Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, run by Rodney Bingenheimer, who later, as a disc jockey for KROQ's Rodney on the ROQ radio show, did much to promote LA punk bands. Many figures from this earlier scene would play notable roles in the later punk scene.In the mid-1970s from 1974 to 1975 a wave of proto-punk bands emerged from Los Angeles, including the Flyboys and Atomic Kid.
The Runaways, an all-female teenaged band featuring Joan Jett, Sandy West, and Micki Steele, formed in Los Angeles in 1975 under the management of Kim Fowley. The band combined elements of glam rock, hard rock, and proto-punk rock. The group would become one of the first punk or punk-adjacent bands anywhere to release recordings, with their self-titled debut LP and its single "Cherry Bomb" released the following year.
1976–1979
Starting in 1976, following recent releases of recordings by punk bands such as the Ramones, a number of punk bands formed in the Los Angeles and Orange County area. Among these bands were the Dils, the Zeros, the Weirdos, the Screamers, the Germs, the Dickies, Bags, X, and the Go-Go's. Many bands also formed in the San Francisco Bay, including The Nuns, Crime, Avengers, Negative Trend, The Mutants, The Sleepers, The Offs and Dead Kennedys. California punk of this period was musically very eclectic, and the punk scene of the time included a number of bands whose sound crossed over to art punk, experimental punk, new wave, electropunk, punk-funk, rockabilly, deathrock and hard rock.Emergence of hardcore punk
In 1978 in Southern California, the first hardcore punk bands arose, including Middle Class, Black Flag, Vicious Circle, Fear, and the Circle Jerks. Hardcore bands and fans tended to be younger than the art punks of the older LA scene and came mainly from the suburban parts of the Los Angeles area, especially the South Bay and Orange County. This resulted in a rivalry between the older artsy "Hollywood" scene and the hardcore "suburban", "surf punk", or "beach punk" scene. Those in the "Hollywood" scene often disliked what they saw as the musical narrowness of hardcore and the violence associated with "suburban" punks, while the "suburban" punks looked down on what they perceived as the lack of intensity of older "Hollywood" bands and the fashion consciousness of "Hollywood" punks.The Penelope Spheeris documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, shot in early 1979 and early 1980, documents the period when the older LA punk scene was being completely taken over by hardcore. It features performances by bands from both scenes. Decline was filmed in part at punk shows sponsored and promoted by David Ferguson, who in 1979 formed CD Presents, a label that would record and promote a number of pioneering groups from the California punk scene. Ferguson and CD Presents organized New Wave 1980, the first festival gathering and showcasing punk bands from all over the West Coast.
By 1979, hardcore had displaced the Hollywood scene and become the dominant expression called hardcore punk in both Northern and Southern California. By this time, many of the older punk bands had broken up or become relatively inactive. A few of these, such as X and The Go-Go's, went on to mainstream success as punk or new wave bands.
1980–1984
In the early 1980s in California, hardcore was the dominant form of punk and aggressive music. Notable hardcore bands active in that period included the Circle Jerks, Black Flag, the Adolescents, Minutemen, Descendents, T.S.O.L., China White, Agent Orange, the Vandals, Love Canal, Wasted Youth, Social Distortion, D.I., White Mice, Channel 3, Dr. Know, the Mentors and NOFX in Southern California, and the Dead Kennedys, Flipper, MDC, and Verbal Abuse in the San Francisco Bay Area.Though hardcore became dominant during this period, punk also began to diversify. Agent Orange had a noticeable hardcore party surf rock influence, while the Angry Samoans were strongly influenced by 1960s garage rock. Other bands such as the Joneses and Tex and the Horseheads became popular for playing a form of punk rock influenced by simple rock n roll without the ultra-fast beat of most hardcore bands.
Black Flag, T.S.O.L., Fear, D.I., the Adolescents, Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I. and others influenced later metal bands such as Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica. These hardcore bands also created a crossover sound: the genres of thrash and early metalcore grew out of this fusion.
The hardcore scene, particularly in Los Angeles and Orange County, gained a reputation for violence at shows due to the formation of several hardcore punk gangs. The topic of violence at punk concerts was featured in episodes of the popular television shows CHiPs and Quincy, M.E., in which Los Angeles hardcore punks were depicted as being involved in murder and mayhem. In the early 1980s, punk concerts increasingly became sites of violent battles between police and concertgoers, particularly in Los Angeles, but also in San Francisco. Henry Rollins argued that, in his experience, the police caused far more problems than they solved at punk performances. At one point, Black Flag was in fact under heavy surveillance by police who were convinced that the band was the cover for a drug ring.
Cities like Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and neighboring Reno, Nevada followed San Francisco and Los Angeles, creating their own underground hardcore scenes. Local promoter Stuart Katz brought punk rock to Sacramento in the early 1980s, starting off with shows in auditoriums at McKinley Park. Katz eventually opened Club Minimal in South Sacramento, booking early hardcore acts such as Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Flipper and Crucifix, as well as local bands. The police department soon shut down the club, but Katz led a 1960s style peaceful protest inside the lobby of City Hall, joined by more than a hundred punk rockers. The protest made the cover page of the Sacramento Union.
Nardcore
Nardcore is a hardcore punk movement that originated in the Oxnard suburbs of Silver Strand Beach and Port Hueneme. Early bands of the nardcore scene include Agression, Dr. Know, False Confession, Ill Repute, Habeas Corpus, Stalag 13, RKL and Scared Straight.Around 1977, the first group in the area was a Moorpark band called the Rotters, emulating the new sounds of English punk rock. After playing a few parties for high school age audiences, Agression latched onto the style. The younger, future members of Dr. Know and Ill Repute were in the audiences saying "Oh, we can do that."
The first venues to regularly host punk shows in the Oxnard area were Casa Tropical, Town and Country, Skate Palace, and Casa de la Raza.
The local skate scene played heavily in the scene, many people riding in backyard half pipes or breaking into backyards with empty pools to skate. "We were all skaters before we were punkers," said Brandon Cruz, singer for several Nardcore bands.
There was and still is a strong sense of unity and community among the generations of Nardcore bands. Some unity came from the coverage by a local publication called 60 Miles North, which began in 1983 initially as a xeroxed flyer for an Alley Cats concert in nearby Camarillo. Ill Repute singer John Phaneuf says "Goldenvoice played a big role in getting the Oxnard scene big in L.A."
Much of the early promotion of nardcore was due to Mystic Records, in Hollywood, California, and its founder Doug Moody, and promotion director, Mark Wilkins. Mystic launched many bands onto vinyl which helped them form relationships with the music industry.
By combining the words "Oxnard" and "hardcore", the name is a reference to the Oxnard, California hardcore punk scene. Brandon Cruz credits Dr. Know guitarist Ismael Hernandez as the originator of the term. This coastal suburban community, sixty miles north-west of Los Angeles, California, was the spawning ground for many hardcore punk bands of the early 1980s and became a hotbed for punk and skate bands. Their collective sound became known as "Nardcore." Nardcore was popularized by the bands themselves, with a little help from Mystic records, Doug Moody and Mystic Promotion Director Mystic Mark Wilkins over a series of Vinyl Releases in the early 1980s. Nardcore tends to have a lot of the same characteristics as skate punk; however, it has a sound closer to traditional hardcore punk. A congealing of the style was the eponymous compilation LP release in 1984.
1984–1992
By the mid-1980s, many major punk acts such as Black Flag and Dead Kennedys, had broken up. Other bands that had remained such as T.S.O.L. and Circle Jerks began to change their sound in favor of more hard rock or metallic directions while other bands such as D.I., Agent Orange and the Adolescents continued on with their standard Punk Rock sound and released new material throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s. In 1985, Bad Religion reemerged from a hiatus and returned to Punk Rock with their 2nd EP, Back to the Known, featuring a sound that would later be continued and expanded on with albums like Suffer and No Control. During this time period a new generation of bands emerged, influenced by their early 80s predecessors. This new scene would produce bands such as ALL, Chemical People, Guttermouth, Urban Scum, Jughead's Revenge, Lagwagon, the Offspring, Pennywise, Face to Face, and Big Drill Car, and in San Francisco, No Use for a Name, Jawbreaker, the Lookouts, and the Swingin' Utters.In the late 1980s and early 1990s, San Diego was home to a burgeoning post-hardcore scene centered on bands like Pitchfork, Rocket From the Crypt, and Unwritten Law. Several of these bands played important roles in the so-called math rock movement.
The Bay Area punk scene began to flourish in the late 1980s. In 1987, Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong started ska-punk band Operation Ivy. Other Bay Area bands were Mr. T Experience, Isocracy, Green Day, Samiam, and Crimpshrine. Over the next 20 years the Bay Area punk scene formed such influential punk bands such as Swingin Utters, Rancid, One Man Army, the Forgotten, AFI on record labels such as Sympathy for the Record Industry and Dead to Me.
While many of the second wave bands still retained the speed and anger of the first wave bands, others focused on a more melodic Ramones approach featuring lighthearted lyrics about relationships and other non-political situations.
In the early to mid-1990s, bands like Bad Religion, Social Distortion and the Offspring achieved large-scale success, being played on MTV as well as mainstream radio. Up until that point, only alternative format FM stations like KROQ 106.7 in Los Angeles, KWOD 106.5 in Sacramento, 91X in San Diego, Live 105 in San Francisco and Channel 92.3 in San Jose, as well as local public and college radio stations such as KDVS 90.3 in Davis played punk music.