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[edit]
Pre-1976[edit]
Los Angeles 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, 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, managed by Kim Fowley, formed in Los Angeles in 1975, and combined elements of glam rock, hard rock, and early 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.[1]
1976–1979[edit]
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 (originally from Carlsbad), the Zeros (originally from Chula Vista), the Weirdos, the Screamers, 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/experimental punk, new wave, electropunk, punk-funk, rockabilly, deathrock and hard rock.
Art[edit]
The proliferation of punk concerts and albums in California generated a like proliferation of flyer and album cover art. Some of the artists involved in producing art for the early punk scene later went on to greater notability. Mark Vallen, a painter and graphic artist, was associated with the early LA punk scene; his work was featured on a number of fanzine and album covers. Gary Panter was also closely associated with the early LA punk scene and produced the Screamers distinctive logo. Raymond Pettibon (brother of Greg Ginn of Black Flag) was similarly associated with the LA hardcore scene, especially Black Flag and the Minutemen, producing Black Flag's distinctive "four bars" logo. Winston Smith, a San Francisco collage artist, was associated with Dead Kennedys and also did a piece of artwork named "God Told Me to Skin You Alive" for Green Day's fourth album Insomniac.
While a few bands like Green Day, the Offspring, and AFI appear on major labels, many of the bands are signed to local independent punk labels. Many of these labels were started by local musicians as a way to sell their own bands' records, but grew into labels with a large roster of bands. Some of these labels include: