Music of California
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Template:USstatesmusic In the United States, California is commonly associated with the film, music, and arts industries; there are numerous world-famous Californian musicians. Punk rock, country, hip hop, and heavy metal all developed partly in California.
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Official symbols
The official state song of California is "I Love You, California", written by F. B. Silverwood and composed by Alfred Frankenstein of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. It was designated the state song in 1951. Other songs, including "California, Here I Come", have also been candidates for additional state songs since 1951, but in 1988 "I Love You, California"'s official ness was confirmed.
California also has an official fife and drum band, the California Consolidated Drum Band, which was so designated in 1997.
The state's official folk dance is the square dance, which has been found in California since at least the Gold Rush.
Native American music
Main article: Native American music
Native Americans of many different kinds lived in California prior to the discovery of the New World by Europe. Most of the tribes were culturally related to each other, as well as to the Yuman-speaking peoples of Arizona and New Mexico. They use a relaxed vocal technique, in stark contrast to Native Americans from much of the rest of North America. The songs of this area are non-strophic, and are characterized by the use of a rise, a section of a song which is slightly higher in pitch than the rest of the song. This technique is absent or rare outside of the California-Yuman area, known only among some tribes on both coasts of North America.
In the late 19th century, Native American music began to be incorporated by classical composers throughout the country. In San Francisco, Carlos Troyer published compositions like Apache Chief Geronimo's Own Medicine song with a piano accompaniment by Troyer. He also later published two Zuni songs.
Early foreign influences
The earliest Spanish and English explorers in California encountered Native Americans and established missions to convert them to Christianity. Chanted prayers and hymns were often used, and choirs were eventually formed; many missions formed Native American choirs among recent converts.
As California's European, Asian and African population increased in the 19th century, the state became the earliest West Coast territory admitted to the United States. As on the East Coast, music at the time was dominated by popular minstrel shows and the sale of sheet music. Performers included the Sacramento-born Hyers Sisters and Black Patti. The state's large Mexican population brought traditional folk guitar to California, including virtuoso Luis T. Romero. Chinese immigrants came to California to work on the transcontinental railroad and soon became a large minority in the state; the San Francisco Chinese Opera House was built in 1880, though two years later saw the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in order to prevent more immigration. The visit of King Kalakaua of Hawaii in 1874 saw the Hawaiian national anthem, "Hawaii Ponoi" (written by the king) set to music by Henry Berger. In the 1880s, Carlos Troyer became a prominent composer, incorporating Spanish and Zuni influences. Polish composer Chevalier Anton de Kontski's Polish Patrol and Awakening the Lion were also quite popular.
Spanish music in California
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The Spanish missions in California has brought European music to the area. From the late 18th century to the late 19th century, many visitors to California remarked on the uniqueness of the Spanish language music in Caifornia. This music was distinctively Californian, different from both Mexican and Spanish music of the time (though many elements are found throughout these traditions).
With the arrival of many Americans from the East Coast, as well as immigrants from as far away as China, however, Spanish folk music began to dwindle in popularity in California. Charles Lummis, himself an immigrant to California, recorded many kinds of Spanish and Native American folk music for the Southwest Society of the Archaeological Institute of America.
Later in the 20th century, other revivalists like Gabriel Eulogius Ruiz and Al Pill helped keep Spanish-California traditions alive.
1950s and 60s
Bakersfield Sound
Main article: Bakersfield Sound
In the 1950s and early 1960s, country music was dominated by the slick Nashville sound that stripped the genre of its gritty roots. The town of Bakersfield, California saw the rise of the Bakersfield sound as a reaction against Nashville, led by people like Buck Owens and future star Merle Haggard.
Surf rock
Main article: Surf rock
In the early 1960s, youth in southern California became enamored with surf rock groups, many instrumental, like The Chantays and The Surfaris. Surf rock is said to have been invented by Dick Dale with his 1961 (see 1961 in music) album "Let's Go Trippin'". Surf rock's popularity ended in the mid-1960s with the coming of psychedelic music.
Psychedelic rock
Main article: Psychedelic music
The late 1960s saw San Francisco and Hollywood rise as the center for psychedelic rock and a mecca for hippies. Haight-Ashbury became a countercultural capital, and bands like Jefferson Airplane, Loading Zone, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, The Charlatans, Big Brother & the Holding Company and the Grateful Dead helped to launch the blues- and folk-rock scene; other bands, like Moby Grape and The Flamin' Groovies used a more country-influenced sound, while Cold Blood incorporated R&B. Of all these bands, the Grateful Dead were undoubtedly the longest-lasting of all. They continued recording and performing for several decades under the leadership of Jerry Garcia, experimenting with a wide variety of folk, country and bluegrass, and becoming a part of the jam band phenomenon.
Hollywood's Sunset Strip area produced bands like The Byrds, The Doors, Love, Buffalo Springfield, and The Seeds. The Byrds went on to become a major folk-rock act, helping to popularize some of Bob Dylan's compositions and eventually launching the careers of folk-rockers like David Crosby and country-rock fusionist Gram Parsons.
The band Iron Butterfly is another noted California psychedelic band, coming out of San Diego.
San Francisco psychedelic scene
This era began in about 1965, when The Matrix, the first folk club in San Francisco, opened; Jefferson Airplane, then an newly-formed and unknown band, performed that night. Later that year, a band known as The Warlocks became the Grateful Dead, performing at the Fillmore, which was to become a major musical venue in the area. Jefferson Airplane became the first San Francisco psychedelic band signed to a major label, followed soon after by Sopwith Camel. In 1966, the first acid test was held, and the use of the drug LSD became a more prominent part of psychedelic rock, and music in general. One of the first albums from the scene was Country Joe and the Fish's Electric Music for the Mind and Body (1967). A year later, the band Blue Cheer released Vincebus Eruptum, which launched a national hit with a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues"; Blue Cheer is now regarded as a progenitor of heavy metal.
1970s and 80s
The early part of this era was dominated by country rock acts such as The Eagles and Poco, and singer-songwriters such as Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell. There were also funk acts that were prominent such as War from the South Central district of Los Angeles, and Sly and the Family Stone and Tower of Power from Oakland. Santana blended rock, jazz, funk and Latin music. This period also saw a number of difficult to classify acts arising who did not sell many records, but proved to be very influential on things to come, such as Kim Fowley and Captain Beefheart, both of whom had been active in the 1960s but reached their artistic peaks during this era, and Sparks, all from Los Angeles. Fowley would go on to manage and produce the all-female proto-punk group, The Runaways.
The Tubes, who mixed progressive rock with wild theatricality, were virtually the only act from San Francisco which would gain any sort of fame in the mid-1970s.
Hair metal
Main article: Hair metal
Hair metal arose along the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in the 1970s with bands like Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, and later Poison and quickly became known for anthemic hard rock and power ballads, as well as band members' distinctively feminine make-up, hair, and clothing in spite of the scene's macho posturing. This scene would die out in the 1990s due to grunge and Britpop.
Punk rock
Main article: Punk rock
Los Angeles' original late 70s punk scene received less press attention than their counterparts in New York or London, but it included cult bands The Screamers, The Germs, The Weirdos, The Dils, The Bags and X.
Hardcore
Main article: Hardcore punk
South Bay
In the South Bay, American hardcore punk was born with bands like Black Flag and the Minutemen, who formed in the mid- to late 1970s. San Pedro, Hermosa Beach, Wilmington, Manhattan Beach and Hawthorne spawned more locally famous acts like Red Cross, who would later incorporate garage rock, power pop and glam influences into their sound and change their name to Redd Kross, The Last, Circle Jerks, The Skrews, Saint Vitus, The Descendents, and Saccharine Trust. The famous movie about the hardcore scene, The Decline of Western Civilization, was shot in this area, largely in an abandoned church in Hermosa called the Creative Craft Center.
Los Angeles
Youth Brigade of Los Angeles were a group from LA who eventually became known for founding the Better Youth Organization (BYO), which advanced the hardcore scene and humanist ideals. Other Los Angeles-area hardcore and punk groups included Wasted Youth, UXA, Dr. Know (featuring former child star Brandon Cruz), Legal Weapon and The Mentors (originally from Seattle), along with future underground stars NOFX.
Orange County
In Orange County, the band Middle Class, from Santa Ana, was probably the most influential; their "Out of Vogue" is sometimes considered the first hardcore recording. The original hardcore bands in Orange County came from the Fullerton area, where The Adolescents, Agent Orange and Social Distortion formed. Social Distortion would later incorporate blues, country and early rock influences into their sound and become one of America's premier roots rock bands. Farther north, Huntington Beach was also an influential center of hardcore, and is known as the origin of slamdancing. Huntington bands like Vicious Circle, True Sounds of Liberty and The Crowd had a reputation for being aggressive and sometimes violent, while Uniform Choice, a somewhat later band, became known as one of the few prominent straight edge band from the West Coast. True Sounds of Liberty (TSOL) was perhaps the most infamous for violence, and for an abrupt and unpopular change towards proto-Gothic rock and, much later, Aerosmith-style heavy metal as the scene developed; future underground stars The Vandals evolved from TSOL's eventual breakdown. Other Orange County bands included Suicidal Tendencies, (who were from Venice but were associated with Orange County hardcore), China White, Circle One, Shattered Faith, and Channel 3. The Dils were originally from Orange County but later relocated to San Francisco.
San Francisco
Main article: San Francisco hardcore
Outside of New York, London, and Cleveland, San Francisco probably had the earliest punk scene, at least as far back as 1976. The scene was aided by San Francisco's legendary laidback attitude towards alternative lifestyles, and the legendary record label Alternative Tentacles. Crime and The Nuns were first, followed by Chrome, The Mutants, VKTMS, The Contractions, Angst, The Sleepers, Pop-O-Pies, Sick Pleasure (aka Code of Honor), Crucifix, The Offs, Negative Trend, The Avengers (band), SSI, Flipper and Pink Section. The most influential San Francisco hardcore band was the Dead Kennedys, whose frontman, Jello Biafra, became a noted social activist even after the band's dissolution (Biafra is also noted at the inventor of stagediving). Many hardcore bands moved to San Francisco, including legends MDC, as well as Verbal Abuse, DRI, The Dicks and Rhythm Pigs (all from Texas).
San Diego
San Diego's hardcore scene was never highly evolved, though The Neutrons gained limited success, eventually changing their name to Battalion of Saints.
San Fernando
Also of note is the band Bad Religion, who hailed from the western San Fernando Valley and were only marginally associated with hardcore punk rock from the South Bay area. The punk scene in the eastern San Fernando Valley was closely tied in with that of nearby Hollywood and produced bands such as The Dickies, Fear, and The Angry Samoans.
Berkeley
Berkeley, California experienced a hardcore boom led by Fang. Berkeley also saw hardcore fusing with heavy metal to form thrash metal and bands like Slayer, Possessed, Faith No More, Metallica, and Exodus.
Berkeley would later become a magnet for pop-punk bands like Green Day.
San Jose
San Jose's most famous hardcore band was Whipping Boy, who played with local bands like Tongue Avulsion and The Faction.
Skacore
Main article: Skacore
In the 1980s, skacore bands like Operation Ivy - two of whose members formed Rancid in the 1990s - became popular, primarily in southern California and in the Long Beach area. During the middle of the next decade, descendants like Sublime, Rancid, and No Doubt became mainstream sensations.
Alternative rock
Main article: Alternative rock
At the same time that Gothic rock began in the United Kingdom, a parallel death rock scene evolved in Los Angeles out of the punk scene, with bands like 45 Grave and Christian Death.
Inspired by bands like The Gun Club and Ohio transplants The Cramps, cowpunk bands such as Tex & the Horseheads, Blood On The Saddle, and The Lazy Cowgirls arose from Los Angeles in the 1980s.
The Paisley Underground scene would arise out of Los Angeles in the mid-1980s around Redd Kross, The Three O'Clock (originally The Salvation Army), The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate and others. In a completely different vein, the Red Hot Chili Peppers also first came to national attention about the same time with their mix of punk, funk, rock, and theatricality, although they would not become a huge-selling act until the end of the decade.
Santa Cruz spawned Camper Van Beethoven in the mid-1980s.
Jane's Addiction would arise out of Venice in the late 1980s.
During the grunge era of the early 1990s, Los Angeles became less important nationally as a source of alternative rock, and bands like The Nymphs, The Hangmen and The Miracle Workers never got the attention they might have if from Seattle. The only internationally popular bands that came out of Los Angeles during this time were Hole and Stone Temple Pilots.
Thrash metal
Main article: Thrash metal
The Bay Area thrash scene was centered around San Francisco in the 1980s and 1990s. Bands associated with this scene include Metallica, Exodus, Vio-lence, Death Angel, D.R.I., Testament, Forbidden, Defiance.
Hip hop
Main article: Hip hop music
Also during the 1980s, hip hop music flourished in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, especially Watts and Compton. Derived from New York City, hip hop drew upon primarily Jamaican and East Coast influences, though early 1970s black nationalist poets The Watts Prophets were also notable.
The earliest forms of Los Angeles hip hop were hardcore hip hop artists like Ice-T (whose mid-80s "6 'N Da Mornin'" is arguably the first West Coast gangsta rap track) and a kind of dance music called electro hop. Among the most popular electro hop groups was the World Class Wrecking Cru, which included future star Dr. Dre, among others. In 1989, Dr. Dre, along with Eazy-E and Ice Cube, released Straight Outta Compton under the name N.W.A. The album took many hip hop fans by surprise, as it single-handedly placed West Coast hip hop on the map and quickly moved gangsta rap into the mainstream.
1990s and 2000s
Hip hop
In 1991, Dr. Dre's solo debut, The Chronic, made West Coast hip hop and Death Row Records the dominant sound in hip hop, drawing primarily upon George Clinton's P-Funk for samples and the general, slow, lazy funk. Death Row Records soon acquired Tupac Shakur, Warren G and Snoop Doggy Dogg as a feud developed between the East and West Coasts. In the mid-90s, Shakur and his rival Notorious B.I.G. were both shot and killed. Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight was imprisoned, and most of the label's acts tried to leave. The lack of leadership helped put New York, Atlanta and New Orleans on the top of the hip hop charts.
In the 1990s, underground hip hop flourished in the San Francisco Bay Area. Early pioneers included Too $hort and E-40; their success helped pave the way for new performers like RBL Posse, whose 1992 "Don't Gimme No Bammer" achieved some crossover success. San Francisco's thriving undergroud rap scene, producing somewhat well known rappers such as Andre Nickatina.
Indie rock
Main article: Indie rock
In the mid-1990s, Beck came out of the Silver Lake (a neighborhood in Los Angeles) indie rock scene. Los Angeles has also produced the folky singer-songwriter Ross Altman.
The early 2000s have seen the emergence of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club from San Francisco.
Music festivals and organizations
California hosts many well-known music festivals in a wide variety of fields, including the California WorldFest, Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, Summer Solstice Folk Music, Dance and Storytelling Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Redwood Coast Jazz Festival, San Francisco Free Folk Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, Wild Iris Folk Festival, Live Oak Music Festival, Adams Avenue Roots Festival, High Sierra Music Festival, Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Contest and the Claremont Spring Folk Festival. The Monterey Pop Festival, held in 1967, is perhaps the most famous concert in California's history; the show launched the international careers of performers like Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Otis Redding and Janis Joplin. Music organizations in the state include the Musical Heritage Society, Community Arts Music Association, Arrowhead Music Association, San Diego Friends of Old-Time Music, Intersection Folk Dance Center, California Traditional Music Society, Kumu Hula Association of Southern California, Southern California Uilleann Pipers Club, and the Celtic Regional Arts Institute of California. There is also an organization that gives out California Music Awards. Other institutions include the Center for World Music and the WorldBeat Cultural Center in San Diego and the Scandinavian music center Northern California Spelmanslag in Mendocino.
Classical music in California
California has a number of established orchestras, including the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra, Fremont Symphony Orchestra, Oakland East Bay Symphony (formed in 1988 by combining two older organizations), Inland Empire/Riverside County Philharmonic, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra (1929), Peninsula Symphony Orchestra (1949), Santa Rosa Symphony (1928), Monterey Symphony Association, and the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra (1932). The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, founded in 1919 by the wealthy philanthropist William Andrews Clark, Jr., is one of the most prestigious symphonies in the country. The Redlands Symphony Orchestra, established in 1950, is another prominent orchestra, having been the state's highest rated orchestra by the California Arts Council for several years. The San Luis Obispo Symphony, founded in 1954, is known internationally, having toured Spain.
20th century avant garde composer John Cage was born in Los Angeles.
References
- Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. 2001. ISBN 0-922915-717-7
- Nettl, Bruno. Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents. Prentic Hall. Prentice Hall. Inglewood, New Jersey. 1965.
External links
- California Music Awards (http://www.californiamusicawards.com/) (formerly the Bammies)
- collection of 19th century Californian sheet music (http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~mkduggan/neh.html)
- California Worldfest (http://www.worldmusicfestival.com/) (an annual gathering of world musicians)
- WPA recordings of 1930s folk music from California (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html)
- The California Traditional Music Society (http://www.ctmsfolkmusic.org/)
- California Association for Music Education (http://www.calmusiced.com/index_about.htm)
- timeline of psychedelic rock in San Francisco (http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/rock.html)
- collection of California sheet music (http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~mkduggan/neh.html)