I grew up in the 80's and was a rocker all the way through. When I heard Pearl Jam, I knew music was changing. The labels cheesed out 80's rock with power ballads. That testosterone had to go somewhere and grunge was it. The labels ruined it just like they do everything else.
I was there from roughly 1986 to 1990. I actually played in a band, called the Backstreet Boys, before the Backstreet Boys I could tell the scene was changing and decided to go back to school for production and engineering, low and behold, I ended up doing front of house for the Backstreet Boys, ha ha.
Considering what is going on in LA these days...it is crazy that the city had such a problem with bands passing out and posting flyers. I guess they would rather clean up a metric ton of human feces off of their sidewalks every week than clean up some flyers. The city has become a camp site and dumping ground for the mentally ill.
The 80s sunset strip scene, the music, the clothes, the hair, the parties the attitude was the best time of my youth. It will never ever be duplicated ❤
Brad, your recollection of the Sunset Strip is spot on. I was there at that time towards the tail end of that Era from 1987 through 1991. It was incredible! I also remember when it died. City Hall passed the no parking on the strip and banned all fliers. Do you remember when KNAC radio died? The song was Fade To Black by Metalica and before the end of that great song, the Mariachi music started playing. Game over. That was the final nail in the coffin. As a seasoned, road dog guitarist myself at 56 It is great to hear your stories personified. I really do relate to you, brother. Keep up the great work my friend! Salute!!!
Brad, I was in the purple haired Glam Punk Pop band The Zeros. We ruled the Strip from 1990-1992 got signed to Enigma/Restless and even painted the Whisky and Coconut Teaser buildings purple. We were leaving for our first tour in '92 as Teen Spirit and Evenflow were taking over the airwaves. It was disheartening to say the least. I watched our label follow the trend to seek out their own Nirvanawannabe. We started losing our label's support by year's end, and internal differences broke the band apart after 10 long years struggling for success together. Sadly we were only a haircut and 12 months away from beating Green Day to the punch. (I found out years later that Billie Joe had seen us and was a fan of our band, too).
Man great to have you here. I followed you guys and saw the whiskey painted purple in your honor. You guys were absolute legends and really there was no reason for the labels to do what they did. You guys would have been perfect for that era but it was like L.A. was just pulled from the list of possibilities for bands at that time. You guys should have been huge.
@@badbrad I appreciate that, thank you so much Brad. We were like Queen, The Beatles, KISS, and Sesame Street all rolled up into one LOL I love your channel and hearing your stories. I totally relate and get a good laugh or a good uplift from watching. All the best to you and your family.
1980, my room mate was in the band Gorilla, they performed at The Troubadour, and were handed 500 tickets to sell , they contacted the ticket printer directly, and ordered 1000 additional tickets. Placed these free tickets on windshields at every college in LA/ Orange county. They made the papers as selling out The Troubadour with a mile long line
@@badbrad I thought selling tickets in advance was like legally printing money, and my friend Michael(who was instrumental in doing the parties/band shows we did) well Michael's eyes lighted up, and lighted up like I have seldom seen, a light of joy went off inside him. We then could now know we were going to make money on our even in advance. We never lost money, but came close once before. Brad if everyone who said, "They were coming to your show for sure", did show up, how huge would your biggest crowd have been, lol?
Thanks for the stories Brad. I visited the Sunset Strip towards the tail end, it was a trip! But I remember seeing Poison on MTV and to me it was a band of 4 David Lee Roth-types. It became a caricature and I kinda knew the hair metal scene had peaked. But I still prefer the fun, celebration of life type music over brooding in a grunge dungeon.
agree. I only visited had a friend trying to make it right during that time. but there were 1000,s of bands. just way overload. Its like tiktoc now overload with everyone and their vids
Thank you for these stories! For those of us that are too young to have experienced the sunset strip in the 80’s, channels like yours give us insight into the time & scene!
I started hanging out on Sunset in 1980, I was 16. Sometimes we wold go to the end of the Strip, cruise down Doheny and hit up the Troubadour. I was never good at promoting with the flyers and all that… no one in my bands were. But we were good bands, good songs, good players, so we used to get on bills with bands who could promote. We were savvy enough to always get at least the 2nd time slot, and we built what we were doing like that. We played all the clubs: Gazarri's, Roxy, Troubadour, Club Lingerie, Coconut Teaser, Whiskey-a-Gogo (the night it reopened, played 'quarters' with Roth upstairs), Raji's, King King, Madame Wong's West, Powertools/The Scream in DTLA, The Country Club (Reseda), FM Station (No Ho)… and a lot of parties. Good times!
I was totally there from the mid 80s and still own a house in the valley where I am right now. bought a ranch outside Nashville about eight years ago and bought a house in Florida three years ago. The strip was amazing. I played lead guitar in a band that I brought out from the East Coast called "Brunette". After the labels passed the singer & his brother eventually became "Hardline" with neil schon from journey on guitar. I continued to live work and play in LA and played in several bands and got signed in a couple but never got the album on the shelf. Everything you’re saying is how it happened. It was an amazing time and I’m glad I was there to witness it. Keep up the good work Bad Brad.
Hey Chris, Bobby from the band Belgium. You guys got into town about the same time we did. A few months in, I remember reading in Kerrang Magazine, two new bands to watch on the west coast were Brunette and Belgium! We felt we were in good company. I never realized till recently that Hardline's big hit was originally a Brunette song. The labels passed on that? Goes ta show ya what we all were up against.
I hope you could one day do a revisit to this topic with a further deepened analysis and names, like whatever playlist people, what happened to radio and to TV, magazine journos etc. Didn't 3 conglomerates buy most radio stations in the US and the same with labels becoming owned by huge conglomerates? Didn't MTV's new boss of some kind essentially hate and block glam rock and metal? What happened with the venues, did they continue with pay-to-play, how long, did they change the bands they wanted to play primarily because of what was _promoted so much_ in medias? When record companies and medias are way too concentrated in one (or a couple) city or area, perceptions on public interest and market can more easily become too skewed. I think the 90's sudden change was a completely manufactured thing. People just don't suddenly stop liking what they like. Nobody I know has stopped liking something just because something else comes along. When a certain cuisine food works it freaking works forever. It is just that fewer restaurants might serve the same when people want to taste other style cuisine as well.
Grudge didn’t kill the Sunset Strip the Hollywood Sherrifs dept and the City Council did. With all the parking permits and regulations it became so difficult to park, many people stopped going up there. One night I came out of the Roxy and my car had been towed. It was an honest mistake. Instead of a ticket they towed me and I had to take the bus to Redondo Beach at 2am with two girls. It was dangerous. Downtown was infested with gangs and crime. I stopped going up there after that.
The 80s what a time! I saw Whitesnake & Motley Crue in Tacoma,WA 1987, truly miss all those awesome bands Ratt, Cinderella, Winger, Dokken, Tesla, Faster Pussycat, LA Guns too many… You knew times were changing when bands like Blue Murder got zero traction during the onset of Grunge. LA FM video would be cool.
Caught the "Valley of the Kings" video once on MTV and was blown away! Bought the cassette and wore it out. Blue Murder's debut album is as good or better than anything John Sykes did with Whitesnake IMO.
I worked as a stage manager and was on set for Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit video shoot in 91. At that point nobody really knew who they were. I'd never heard of them when my boss said "A band from Seattle called Nirvana is coming in for a one day shoot this Saturday, want to work it?" I said sure and I did. Of course once it debuted on MTV it was game over and marked a tectonic shift in the music industry. I wasn't all that impressed being a hard rock guy, but millions of others were lol! I think the 80's SS scene just kind of burned itself out coinciding with the rise of Nirvana and grunge, and the rest is history as they say. But it was definitely a unique period in Hollywood during that time that won't ever be repeated.
@@badbrad Yeah but you don't really realize its history till after the fact. At the time I thought "who wants to listen to this crap?" Boy was I wrong!
@@burkeshire601 The things is, I later borrowed my dad's copy of that record and really enjoyed listening to it...loved the drumming and the songs were good...
We all wish it came back. A lot of people grew up, got married, had kids, had to get straight jobs and had to get up for work in the morning. Increasing rent and inflation made people have to get better paying gigs. The bands that made it went on tour. There were a lot of reasons why that generation of rockers disappeared from the Strip.
@@badbradI was raised by older people 7-12 yrs older than me. Rock n Roll was in my DNA,hip hop fans destroyed it for me. You grew up in a different era but appreciate & understand everyone is different.
Something I noticed about Glamor, when working as a studio photographer. Hair, clothes, and makeup, can turn a mutt into a poodle. Most models are actually very average looking when they come in for a photo-shoot. Now that they're older, some of those glam band dudes are some kind of ugly, especially since cutting off long hair adds 20 years to their age. A tough life slog can really wear you down before your time. Appreciate the Sunset strip story.
Thank you. I can imagine without that makeup those models being plain Jane, Same could be said for the Glam Dudes, You could tell most of them were weird or just plain ugly looking and without all the hair and makeup they looked terrible. life kicks your butt...we all age but some better than others.
Hey Brad! New subscriber here, actually in Jacksonville, FL! 😊. I believe I found your channel, via Rick Beato's channel. Anyway, you're a great guitarist. I'm 58 as well, and moved to Florida from Wisconsin 24 years ago. I used to sing in a lot of bands in Madison, WI and a couple here in Jacksonville. Classic hard rock/metal. Thank you for all of these stories. They are fantastic.
@badbrad You're welcome! Yep, we do. I can play guitar 🎸 a little bit, but was mostly a singer. I haven't sang since 2005, after the band I was in broke up. I'm glad I'm here, too.
The people partying to metal bands on the strip in the 1980s were in their 20s. By 1990, the people were pushing or hitting 30, getting married, starting families. The kids that broke grunge were hitting their 20s in 1990, Gen X. Not really a mystery.
@@miket.220 MTV and record labels flat out STOPPED pushing metal bands. 1992 was an election year and social engineering helped destroy the Sunset Strip scene. It's more obvious 30 plus yrs later looking back.
Yeah, thanks for posting this video. Grunge did not kill the sunset strip! And I would love to see a video on FM station. That was my favorite club and I think it was one of the best clubs ever in that era, in so many ways..
Hey Brad, new subscriber, enjoying the vids. I was playing the Strip from '88-'92 in a band called Belgium. As a matter of fact, we were on a bill or two with Shock at Gazzarri's. We thought you guys were one of the better bands playing at the time, along with Mad Moxy, Shame, The Wild, The Godz, bands that had substance to their tunes and showed they had some roots. Pay to play was never where it was at. Even if you broke even on the tix, you were still behind in the end. Other expenses like our billboard on the side of Gazzari's, retaining an entertainment lawyer, practice hall, etc., all put a strain on the telemarketer's paycheck that was trickling in on the side. Bill Gazzarri always treated us fairly though. Nothing but good to say about him. Aside from the dark spots, it was nuthin' but a good time!
didn't the Doors launch on the Sunset Strip too? I remember when bands had hotlines where you would call a number and it would go directly to a message. We used to find out where our favorite local bands were playing pre internet. In some instances bands would mail out newsletters to fans homes about tour dates every month or every quarter.
After rolling through the 80s, in my teens and early 20s, as a complete melodic hard rock/hair metal devotee, I ended up, last minute, at one of the first Lollapalooza shows. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry, Chili Peppers. I absolutely loved it. That was the first time I really felt that shift in the music industry. Except for a couple of radio singles, I really didn’t know any of the bands that day. I realized I had been in a cocoon of sorts, only listening to, basically, one genre of music like a religion. Whatever happened, Grunge, Country, Hip Hop, it needed to happen. I still listened to and went to the hair band shows. Def Leppard’s “Slang” is one of their best efforts. That came directly out of an influence from new bands and sounds.
We played a lot of Biker bars in Louisiana but I missed a lot of the girls flashing us because I kinda went into a trance when I played drums & sang and my eyes were closed most of the time. I remember feeling I should have been born in California instead of TX (we moved to Louisiana) but I was really good at Southern Rock/Country as far as singing goes. I didn`t enjoy playing drums on old Country Music but Southern/Classic Rock & Hank Jr were really fun. That`s what we had to play here. I loved the bands from California and the drums were easier than Country sleepers (not Van Halen though with a single bass drum) but I couldn`t hit those notes on vocals in the 80s. I didn`t know how then and it took a long time to figure out how to even get close or even fake some of it. 80s vocals were so HIGH pitched!
xenon1958 Hey Bobby, it was an amazing time. Your band was great. We were the 2nd artist/band to push that song, Danny Spanos being the 1st & hardline was the 3rd. It’s a great & catchy song but unlike today bands back then didn’t make it on 1 song alone and it wasn’t enough for Danny Spanos, Brunette, or Hardline with Neil Schon to have a fruitful career. Thanks for writing. Hope your well.
There were so many unique sounding bands in LA during the early/mid 90s, but problem was there was nowhere left for them to go anymore professionally. Bills don't pay themselves and the labels just weren't having it. I was in high school at the time and every other kid played guitar or drums, multiple bands, every kid wanted to be a rockstar etc, then by the time I went to college in 99 nobody played guitar anymore and there were no bands to join. At that time Techno was taking off and raves were the youth culture, but that only lasted til the early 00s when state governments shut that movement down too with sound ordinances and other laws against warehouse parties. Anyway learning an instrument takes time, and without even a tiny glimmer of gold at the end of that long road, unfortunately most kids don't venture down it unless they really love music, and for them to love music they had to first be exposed to it from somewhere. Anyway great vids, love to hear how it was and all the stuff I missed out on.
All good music dies at some point. Whether it was punk, disco, 80s Rock, or Grunge. They have their time and then go away, but the real fans of the music stick around and keep it going.
Would you consider doing a video on the overlap between the LA rock scene and the adult industry? Heard a few things about it but it doesnt get talked about much. I know a LOT of adult film performers, both male and female, would hang out at many of the same clubs as the rock scene.
Great video again as usual. During my stint listening to that genre, I NEVER could get into the bigger more successful acts. Something wasn't right and later on you found out why. I tended to like the B,C and D listers who really could play and bring it. They were hungry, but a lot of those acts where just a dog and pony show. Did that age well? Grunge didn't kill it, but it didn't help it either. A manager in the industry said you have four years to make your mark. From the time that teenager hits their freshman year, to the time they graduate highschool, that is your window. Then, another genre comes in and it is the new rage. The hairbands ego's, the fact that a lot of it was NOT music, just manufactured candy, over production and the fact that they got away from what it was really about killed it as well. People wanted true to form, real music and the grunge era gave them that. It stripped it down to the bare bones basics. I was not sold on that genre either, but there were some great bands with great songs in that era. When we were hanging out, I hit my jazz, funk, fusion stage. I wanted to see players BRINGING it on stage. I loved the funk metal genre and really hoped it would be the next big thing, but sadly that was not to be. 24/7 spyz, fishbone, living colour ect were all great bands.
@badbrad You are right..Fishbone are still great and should have been huge. I disagree with the original poster about Living Color though. To me, Vernon Reid is one of the most overrated guitar players. At least as a rock player, that is. He is responsible for some of the worst leads and solos ever recorded.
@@michaelr.4878 Vernon's riff though were def. solid. I recently saw Living Color open for Extreme and was quite impressed with the group as a whole...
So in other words, the public didn't choose Grunge. The record industry did, telling us all "this is what the people want.". And now this same industry seems to be a shadow of its former self. Maybe because it didn't represent the people it claimed to be making music for. You can't tell people what they want.
I worked an on -air talent/DJ in classic rock radio in the early to mid 2000’s and then in television news broadcasting. There is a saying in radio…. “People don’t know what they like, they like what they know.”
Might be off topic, but as a rocker who got into jazz fusion in the 80s, Southern California had a LOT of great fusion bands at the time that you could see for cheap and locally. Tribal Tech, Chick Corea Electric Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra (3rd band line up), Allan Holdsworth, as well as solo projects like John Pattitucci, Frank Gambale....that was the BEST time to see those groups in their prime. As far as Sunset? We played the Roxy, I was in a rock band with slap bass (Chili Peppers knockoff) and IMO by the time grunge came out I noticed that generation didn't really seem to go to concerts. People who liked 80s rock and older were the ones who patronized shows...grunge? Not so much. I just think the demand for live music died in general. After seeing all the above plus Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock while it could be argued MTV killed popular music fusion bands really pushed back with quality shows.
I hated playing the strip. I was in an Orange County based band…but it was kinda necessary even from 89-95 when I was doing it. The whole place is a ghost town now.
Sounds like we were both active on the strip around the same time. I practically lived at the FM Station. That place ruled. I think you're pretty accurate on what changed the "hang" part of the scene. That ordinance had a lot to do with it. Grunge was exciting and new, so was rap and pop country took the attention of a lot of the girls that were into pop metal. My wife included. 80's inspired rock music was getting stale at the top, a lot of them were breaking up or losing their singers. Labels, media and venues didn't want to have anything to do with anything that remotely reminded them of "80's Rock" of any kind. I'm still here and have been since the 90's and did see other big scenes spawn huge bands from LA and Orange County, but the epicenter wasn't the Sunset Strip it was scattered. I still gig very frequently here, but most of the activity is cover and tribute music. I'm ok with that at my age... nobody buys music anymore. haha!
I grew up in LA and was just entering high school and starting to go to shows in '86. All this hair metal crap was profoundly uncool. Wearing a GnR or Motley Crue shirt to school was a good way to get beat up. All the heshers were listening to thrash, hardcore/crossover, death metal, grindcore. Butt rock was done long before grunge showed up.
Yeah I get that, Thrash came in and did a number as well on the mainstream...but thrash notably Metallica ultimately became mainstream like they all do...
Our daughter moved from the bay area to L.A. in the 80's because of the music scene. While visiting I got to meet a lot of her friends that were musicians. At one point in her life Gilby Clarke was her brother in law. Lemmy hitting on my daughter at a MTV pool party. We had our L.A. shot until Bill Graham took our guitarist Hal Wagenet and put him in It's A Beautiful Day. Life goes on. Thank you for your videos. Rock On !
Hey Brad, very insightful channel. Did you ever meet the Nelson twins? They've also got some very cool stories about the old sunset boulevard. Keep up the good work!
what killed the scene ? LA , Rock in general ? Edward Van Halen. The last guitarist to move the needle. It took about 11 years to squeeze the last riffs from the master. Outside of G&R , music slowly died. What a run it was
As I've always said, Grunge didn't kill the Hair Bands. Hair Bands killed the Hair Bands. We loved our Ratts and GN'Rs, but by '91 there were so many cheesy rip-offs that we needed a change. Anything that is that popular for that long is going to get an equal and opposite reaction, and Grunge was it. I graduated in 1992. Of course, we didn't realize the scope of it at the time. I had Motley and Nirvana bumper stickers on my '76 Monte Carlo.
It hadn't gotten old for me and my friends in Atlanta. We loved seeing new bands on Headbanger's Ball and picking up Circus and Rip. I think labels recognized talents like Paul Gilbert and Vito Bratta were rare and could call their own shots, so they started going after pure power chord players with unmelodic songs that they could control.
Thanks for sharing man.really cool to hear about.when I was old enough to start listening to music Nirvana was blowing up,so I just missed it all.ive been a guitar player since back then and i appreciate all those bands.its sad how music is now.people often don’t know what they got til it’s gone..🤘🎶
SCOTUS ruled in Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins that leafleting is protected under the 1st Amendment. The leafleting in the Pruneyard case was of a political/social nature, but the ruling applies broadly to ALL leafleting. On the West Coast, the promotion issue may have hurt bands a day's road-trip away from Seattle and Portland, but nationally it was MTV's promotion of SUB:Pop bands that caused Cheese "Metal" to fall by the wayside.
Again, you nailed it Brad. I still go back to LA regularly, flying my home/studio here in AZ,... having family in Glendale CA. Anyway, I don't even know where bands play anymore out there. It seems rock itself is dead all around. I'm with you... I wish it would have never ended. Nothing else since has replaced that incredible era. I miss it all the time. P.S. Eddie and Allen changed my life. You know who I mean. ha Best, Robby
8:12 You saying the street would have bigger crowds, I totally agree and know what you mean...at one event I had(you know, those Parties with bands I was talking about : ), I actually rented a person's yard a BIG yard, I went door-to-door around a neighbor hood and asked people to rent me their yard, and found a good location... and had a band that performed and looked like the WHO and the lead singer looked like Roger Daultry, and we had two other opening acts. We had over 500-700 people. It started at 6 and went till midnight. I saw people for YEARS who said they were at that party. Also, it was free beverages, I had a huge round corrugated metal cow watering thing filled with ice and brews, and had to make a couple $300 beer runs(beer was $5 per case in bulk), then had to close it down when it got a bit wild(too many beverages consumed, no doubt), and later some bikers decided to attend(lol) but that event made us know we had to go indoors for crowd control(collecting money). Our snow fence idea did not work, lol, at one point. I could see it was going to be so big, in advance, I hired my Dad to take the money at the door/entry point.
I can listen to these stories all day! I’m from Portland Oregon and had a chance to visit there in the early 90’s when there was still a hint of that world. They made it illegal to hang flyers here too. Really made it difficult to promote. Thanks for making these videos! I thoroughly enjoy them!
I hear ya there but I was on the strip and there were bands fusing all kinds of different styles on that scene. It wasn't all the same hair metal crap but that is what the labels signed.
I moved to southern California in 1972, living in Topanga Canyon. It was the cheapest place and the greatest place to live at that time. Little Feat and Neil Young were a couple of my neighbors. The Strip was a magical place at that time. I was out of there before the big hair days. My take on LA was that whatever you wanted, it's there, but there's a WHOLE LOT that you want absolutely nothing to do with.
I used to send tapes to collage radio stations and tickets too. It helped a lot. I remember one was in riverside and they would see us play at the troubadour.
@@badbrad Thank you. I was at the Whiskey a go-go last month watching the Dead Daisies play . so its nice to know the clubs are still there. At least you can make music with a small budget and post it on social media. You couldn't do that 35 years ago lol
I had a band, D’Molls, that was very much a part 😮of the 80s Sunset Strip scene. Everything he so eloquently says is 100% true! My drummer, Billy (Dior) McCarthy wrote a book, “Beat Me Till I’m Famous,” which nicely complements this video.
For myself in seeing interviews how the 80’s rockers were saying as the early 90’s came on and Seattle was being pushed by the record company’s and plus the alienation of m t v ! That where I think it comes from! I also will say there were awesome new bands that were coming out ! Badlands ,saraya , lynch mob , slaughter , cry of love , brother cane and more! I feel like bands were getting away from the spandex era and hair spray ! I felt music would have gone with these bands in the early 90’s in a 60’s kinda vibe ! I thought that was goin be the new style n scene ! ⚡️space ace Ron⚡️
@@badbrad My favorite memories of playing there were playing on nights with Mighty Joe Young (STP) and Red Square Black who had John Lowery (John 5). I'm certain we crossed paths. I played in Frozen Ghost, Shyboy, Lastad and a couple dozen other bands.
Fascinating, man. I’m sure someone will make a VR video game, where you can walk around the strip on a Saturday night. Complete with an awesome soundtrack.
I was there, living off of the Strip from late 86 to mid 92 on Gardner Street, around the corner from the Guitar Center. I was 26 at the time and doing all that you talked about here, passing out flyers and doing everything we thought we needed to do to "make it". Problem was, we refused to do the make up, spandex, and hairspray thing and by not doing that, we couldn't get any record company to give us the time of day. They were only interested in bands that looked like Poison, Motley Crue and the rest. It had nothing to do with music and all about looks. Overall, it was a great experience. I got to play all of the famous clubs you mentioned, but the best part of it all for me was getting to meet and sometimes hang out with my musical heroes. Lemmy, Ian Paice, Glenn Hughes, Aerosmith, Johnny Depp, (just kidding). I never did "make it." (I probably would've died from a drug overdose), but i gave it a shot. Cool video, rock on!
Man we lived it. I wasn't into all that glam nonsense either. I've often thought the same thing, if I had made it then, might not be around now. Thanks for tuning in!
Just found your channel and have been loving it. Great insight here about the flyers, and got me thinking: do you remember that documentary about the Sunset Strip, and in it someone said " What killed the Sunset Strip? Parking. What brought it back? Uber" I didn't fully understand the backstory on their comment. I get how taking an Uber solves any problem of finding a spot down there, but did something change back in the day where it became extra hard to park down there for a night out?
In the fall of '91, it was like someone flipped a switch. The '80's were officially over. No more bright lights, big city, bold colors or good times. Now it was greasy haired, flannel wearing, self annointed "mifits" who "didn't feel like they fit in", out moaning in a wheat field somewhere, only to go home and suck at guitar on purpose, or gansta-rap which was somehow even LESS fun. Like the industry was selling misery, where as ten years before, we had Diamond Dave and King Edward singing "JUMP!"
@@badbrad Oh I know, I was out there from January 90 to December 99. Played the strip as a drummer/back up singer the first half of the 90's with Blood Flower Stew, then played guitar and sang lead the second half with Bonnis Herd. Got to the point around '93-'94 where we were headlining the Whiskey and the Roxy weekends and got some labels coming out and got some offers, but as I'm sure you know, a lot has to go right from that point forward for it to mean anything and things worked out in the long run. Regardless, your band sounds familiar and I was out there pounding the pavement from the Whiskey to Gazzarri's around the same time and it was exactly like that. Great times, great stories and I'm glad I found your channel. By the way, there are some vids on You Tube of the Strip from '91.Check it out, it's wild deja vu and you'll probably see someone you know. Cheers!
The bands got overexposed, believed their own hype, got drug problems, began infighting after their first album, ran out of songwriting talent after their first album, put out shitty records, then disbanded. Just some of the ways those bands faded away. As for the decline of LA, thet would take too long.
Some bands simply made bad decisions about what to put on their first album. White Sister were a rather promising outfit, but the debut album on EMI seemed like "hard rock variations in D minor." It should not be seen as surprising that the label dropped them for disappointing sales.
There were too many bands being promoted based on their image and not the music. The record companies did this and then moved on from them when the Seattle scene jumped off.
Florentine Garden used to have some killer shows it wasn't just the strip.And Hollywood Denny's late at night was full of leather.Bordners bar and grille man awesome times
What a cool video Brad , great insight , some old pricks in Hollywood banning flyers really kinda ruined the sunset strip club scene , man that was such a cool scene in the 80s and early 90s , this video was really awesome and cool to hear how you adapted and built up your bands following , kind of word of mouth and being personable to the people you met handing out the flyers
up in canada our acdc tribute back in late 80s, early 90's was full time doing the "A" circut, then the bottom fell out. the beavis and buthead appearance mocking winger rock seemed like D day, we all ended up giving up full time almost overnight it felt. then grunge, no vocal harmonies, no guitar solos, we all quit and went to playing weddings on weekends lol...
The corporate merging to a single playlist director RUINED radio and rock in general. Essentially the telecom act of 92 or whatever killed rock radio. Like the Ramones song "do you remember lyin in bed with the covers pulled up over your head? Do you remember rock n roll radio?" I have some great memories of listening to Z104.5 The Edge in Tulsa as a kid.
@@badbrad i heard you say "Playlist director" and it triggered me. In 97 tony from z104 played "My Own Summer" by the deftones 4 times in a row on the day it debuted! He just wanted to keep hearing it and knew we did too!
As far as I can tell there's no rock scene with new young original bands happening ANYWHERE these days. There's plenty of legacy acts but the kids seem to have dropped the ball on moving rock and roll forward. Like you mentioned it's laptops and content creation, they'd rather be a youtube star than a rock star. Or maybe I finally became that old curmudgeon, but I just don't see it, I even tried to search out some young local bands to offer to be their manager, none to be found. Now, get off my lawn!!! PS congrats on nearly reaching 5k subscribers, you've been busy. I hoped on board just under 2k I think. Cheers from the FL panhandle.
@@badbrad Looking forward to it, you're a great story teller on topic that's of great interest to me. You should think about writing a book as well, it's quite easy to self publish these days if I'm not mistaken.
WASP's Blackie lived in my NoHo condo complex concurrent with a gorgeous POC girl named Paula who went on to cheer for the Lakers and have a superstar turn of her own. IYKYK. Soooooo many stories, even from a never-was who was only in outer orbit of the Strip scene. Leaving LA in 1991 is one of my best decisions.
Come to think of it, I went in that area or close around 80-82 twice, and saw various out-there styles. 8:40 I was staying in Orange County(7:07). 6:55
Grunge did do In a lot of bands. Country also had a hand in it, too. I remember a lot of people I went to school with that heard that Garth Brooks album back in 1990 and that's all it took. It was crazy.
Brad ever run across these 2 bands. ANVIL? OR RAIL. Both of these bands are still out there plugging away at it. RAIL last I checked still has 4 original members. they were MTV basement tape winners.
I , was there 5 months ago at the sunset strip passed by the whisky a _gogo , viper room is on the opposite street then The Rainbow 🌈 bar & grill , they have a mural of lemmy of motorhead outside the open bar.
was there all through the late 70s and 80s watched the scene change a few times . was a iconic period of music in Hollywood during those 20 yrs. was fun watching bands come of age from struggling to get a gig at FM Station let alone the Roxy ( pay to play was a hard gig man ) to selling out stadiums , once the industry got set in its formula driven bullshit all the real talent got silenced either u sound like everyone else or your out .. got to play some cool stages and meet some great cats wouldn't change a thing
Of course it did. When Nirvana came out it was over. I mean i was there too and saw the shift happen overnight. It held out til spring of 92 but it was dead by the summer
@badbrad the hair bands had pretty much transitioned into wannabe grunge acts by 94. Firehouse was the last to have a Top 20 hit in 94 but that was a ballad. Throw in Beavis & Butthead and hair bands were not cool at the time. And I love 80s rock
It's all about money and property value. That's why crimes go unreported so the crime stats don't hurt the property value. People that were looking to sell real estate on the sunset strip back then thought the night club scene had too many hoodlums which was a red flag for buyers.
Also, alcohol prices are contributing to lower consumption: when a single beer costs as much (or more) as a six pack does at a convenience store, then why would I want to drink much inside of the club? Examples: current day single tallboys are $10 versus $8 for an entire six pack of the same beer at convenience stores (or cheaper elsewhere). Bottles of water are $4 versus $4 for an entire case of the same bottles at the grocery store.
We had chicks who would sneak airplane bottle whiskey into the clubs so the beer would last longer and cost far less....and for those who were not light weights, going in a bit buzzed was another smart economic policy.
You must be a Hair Metal enthusiast. Yeah Grunge definitely killed off Hair Metal. The bands (Motley, Poison, Warrant, Winger admitted it at the time). I saw it happen. There’s no question that Hair Metal was still The Thing in Summer 1991. But by November ’91 it was all over for all those bands. All over.
Scenes are for only a season. It's like Athens Georgia, REM, Pylon, Love Tractor, and the B-52's. There were so many bands coming out of there. Nashville had a good rock scene with bands like the Piggy's, Web Wilder, the Georgia Satellites, and Jason and the Scorchers. You said you weren't there at that time, they banned fliers on phone poles. They killed the Elliston Place scene. Exit Inn survives but not like it was. Peace.
One of the worst elements of the scene IMO were the magazines "Rock City News" "LA Rock Review" etc. They gave little constructive feedback to the bands and a humourous amount of reviews ended with "better check this band out now before they are headlining the Forum" Awful.
@@badbrad If I was in them I would keep them as well. I never really got anywhere with music, but I did get instantly turned down because my features "weren't feminine enough!" WTF? Anyways love the stories I am subscribed
Starcrawler is a young Sunset Strip band. They played the Roxy and made quite a noise before Covid. Have a listen and tell me what you think. I'm 65 now went through the 60's 70's 80's 90's 00's
I was checking them out and enjoyed what I saw...they are raw. They did a song called I love L.A. and I did a response song with my band Stone Padre called "I hate L.A.". I like what they do, it's a little unpolished in a good way.
@@badbrad It's a Starcrawler song. All my friends think I'm crazy for liking this band but Mike Campbell and Elton John like this band. Not what sure they are doing now
I think Guns n Roses & Metallica showed people you could wear cool street clothes, write great songs, sell records and pull groupies without wearing pink spandex. Spandex and capezio dance shoes are tough to explain at 2am in a 7-11. Unless you're trying to make some side $$.
Hip hop,feminism,and imploding demographic rates are what made rock n roll go the way of horses and buggies. MTV pushed feminism & hip hop relentlessly post 1992.
I didn’t like grunge when it first came out. Although, “hair metal” had jumped the shark at that point in my opinion. Everything had lost its edge and was becoming more produced. Motley Crue had horns in some of their songs! Gone were the shout at the devil days. Gone were the wanted man by Ratt. Only to be replaced with Blues sounding numbers like Way Cool Jr. It just felt like it had run it’s course. Like grunge was getting back to what made hair metal cool. The hard edge.
The way I see it.... It's all about GENERATIONAL change... When you hit60+ .... You can see it clearly.... Because you've lived through a couple of cycles. Generalizing the US music Industry/Youth Culture scenes (Skinny.. but I think on point): 1940s-- NYC-- Jazz 1950s-- NYC-- Folk 1960s-- LA-- Hippies 1970s-- NYC-- Punk Rock 1980s-- LA-- Hair Bands 1990s-- NYC-- Rap 2000s-- Global-- Internet BLOWS the whole idea of LOCALIZATION Obviously each Genre BLENDS into the next and you can find a place for: Singer Song Writer Grunge Hip Hop Country But, hey... I'm way too analytical.
@@badbradyeah...by the mid '90s I'd say the pre-internet tech (digital production and distribution) revitalized the industry and brought a whole new twist to what once HAD to be a scene... Think Beck.
Napster (the FIRST digital effort which scared the music DISTRIBUTION industry powers) and the whole Apple $1 a song deal (essentially selling single songs again vs albums) together with the millennium copyright act in 2000... is where the change was CEMENTED ... These deals killed off the HUMAN side of the Industry which you talk about in this vid.
I grew up in the 80's and was a rocker all the way through. When I heard Pearl Jam, I knew music was changing. The labels cheesed out 80's rock with power ballads. That testosterone had to go somewhere and grunge was it. The labels ruined it just like they do everything else.
You ain't lying....
💯
It was a social engineering program, flip of the switch. Out goes the fun and in comes the self loathing.
@@michaelwills1926 Agreed.
@@badbradwhat year did they shut the flyers down?
I was there from roughly 1986 to 1990. I actually played in a band, called the Backstreet Boys, before the Backstreet Boys I could tell the scene was changing and decided to go back to school for production and engineering, low and behold, I ended up doing front of house for the Backstreet Boys, ha ha.
OMG that is wild....
Great story!
You were FOH for BSBs? You might know my cousin Doug Kimball. He was FOH for a shit load of different bands. I think BSBs as well briefly
Crazy how things work out, thanks for the great story!
😂 👌
Considering what is going on in LA these days...it is crazy that the city had such a problem with bands passing out and posting flyers. I guess they would rather clean up a metric ton of human feces off of their sidewalks every week than clean up some flyers. The city has become a camp site and dumping ground for the mentally ill.
It is crazy when you think about it.
it is now SKID ROW
@@ernieflanaganstingraybassm1463 yep
@@badbrad well sir i have alot of family in Boca but i cant breath in the summers there my brother Brad !!
@@ernieflanaganstingraybassm1463 yes very hot!
The 80s sunset strip scene, the music, the clothes, the hair, the parties the attitude was the best time of my youth. It will never ever be duplicated ❤
Man it was epic!
Long live the 80s, the last decent decade of Western Civilization.
Brad, your recollection of the Sunset Strip is spot on. I was there at that time towards the tail end of that Era from 1987 through 1991. It was incredible! I also remember when it died. City Hall passed the no parking on the strip and banned all fliers. Do you remember when KNAC radio died? The song was Fade To Black by Metalica and before the end of that great song, the Mariachi music started playing. Game over. That was the final nail in the coffin. As a seasoned, road dog guitarist myself at 56 It is great to hear your stories personified. I really do relate to you, brother. Keep up the great work my friend! Salute!!!
Thank you for chiming in and backing up my testimony. Sometimes it all seems like a dream now. Thank you so much and Salute!
Thank you. Yea, when I was 18 in 1984, I wanted to go out to Hollywood. I didn't take that path. For me, looking back, it was the right thing.
@@PaulLoughrin me too. But lin my late 20s. I guess I knew I didn't have the drive or survival skills. I still wish I had more nerve.
Brad, I was in the purple haired Glam Punk Pop band The Zeros. We ruled the Strip from 1990-1992 got signed to Enigma/Restless and even painted the Whisky and Coconut Teaser buildings purple. We were leaving for our first tour in '92 as Teen Spirit and Evenflow were taking over the airwaves. It was disheartening to say the least. I watched our label follow the trend to seek out their own Nirvanawannabe.
We started losing our label's support by year's end, and internal differences broke the band apart after 10 long years struggling for success together.
Sadly we were only a haircut and 12 months away from beating Green Day to the punch. (I found out years later that Billie Joe had seen us and was a fan of our band, too).
Man great to have you here. I followed you guys and saw the whiskey painted purple in your honor. You guys were absolute legends and really there was no reason for the labels to do what they did. You guys would have been perfect for that era but it was like L.A. was just pulled from the list of possibilities for bands at that time. You guys should have been huge.
@@badbrad I appreciate that, thank you so much Brad. We were like Queen, The Beatles, KISS, and Sesame Street all rolled up into one LOL
I love your channel and hearing your stories. I totally relate and get a good laugh or a good uplift from watching. All the best to you and your family.
@@JoeNormal Thanks so much Joe, best to you as well.!
@@badbrad ✌️💜✌️
The Zeros were a great live band! Saw you a bunch..
Scenes are always built on shifting sands. Cheers Brad!
Man you know it.
1980, my room mate was in the band Gorilla, they performed at The Troubadour, and were handed 500 tickets to sell , they contacted the ticket printer directly, and ordered 1000 additional tickets. Placed these free tickets on windshields at every college in LA/ Orange county. They made the papers as selling out The Troubadour with a mile long line
That's pretty smart.
@@badbrad I thought selling tickets in advance was like legally printing money, and my friend Michael(who was instrumental in doing the parties/band shows we did) well Michael's eyes lighted up, and lighted up like I have seldom seen, a light of joy went off inside him. We then could now know we were going to make money on our even in advance. We never lost money, but came close once before. Brad if everyone who said, "They were coming to your show for sure", did show up, how huge would your biggest crowd have been, lol?
Thanks for the stories Brad. I visited the Sunset Strip towards the tail end, it was a trip! But I remember seeing Poison on MTV and to me it was a band of 4 David Lee Roth-types. It became a caricature and I kinda knew the hair metal scene had peaked. But I still prefer the fun, celebration of life type music over brooding in a grunge dungeon.
Four DLR's that's kinda true....
I think part of the downfall could be attributed to over-saturation of bands that were too similar to other bands. It just got old to people.
yeah that's something I failed to mention....
@@badbradIt seems like about every 10 years everything shifts and man, time really flies by
@@hannahreese1629 It does indeed.
agree. I only visited had a friend trying to make it right during that time. but there were 1000,s of bands. just way overload. Its like tiktoc now overload with everyone and their vids
Thanks for sharing these stories Brad! It's truly sad that these iconic places are basking in their former glory.
Like a museum remnant of times past....
Thank you for these stories! For those of us that are too young to have experienced the sunset strip in the 80’s, channels like yours give us insight into the time & scene!
Thank you for tuning in!
I started hanging out on Sunset in 1980, I was 16. Sometimes we wold go to the end of the Strip, cruise down Doheny and hit up the Troubadour. I was never good at promoting with the flyers and all that… no one in my bands were. But we were good bands, good songs, good players, so we used to get on bills with bands who could promote. We were savvy enough to always get at least the 2nd time slot, and we built what we were doing like that. We played all the clubs: Gazarri's, Roxy, Troubadour, Club Lingerie, Coconut Teaser, Whiskey-a-Gogo (the night it reopened, played 'quarters' with Roth upstairs), Raji's, King King, Madame Wong's West, Powertools/The Scream in DTLA, The Country Club (Reseda), FM Station (No Ho)… and a lot of parties. Good times!
That's awesome...good to meet you!
@@badbrad … you too!
You lazy fuckers. Not wanting to do the work on the ground with flyers and stuff well I hope you are happy working a day job to this day.
Great to hear your reminiscences... I'd love to hear more. Thanks
More to come!
I was totally there from the mid 80s and still own a house in the valley where I am right now. bought a ranch outside Nashville about eight years ago and bought a house in Florida three years ago. The strip was amazing. I played lead guitar in a band that I brought out from the East Coast called "Brunette". After the labels passed the singer & his brother eventually became "Hardline" with neil schon from journey on guitar. I continued to live work and play in LA and played in several bands and got signed in a couple but never got the album on the shelf. Everything you’re saying is how it happened. It was an amazing time and I’m glad I was there to witness it. Keep up the good work Bad Brad.
Mighty Joe Young from the strip became STP.
STP = Stone Temple Pilots!
Wow
You know the guys from tribe of gypsies? Roy Z ?
Hey Chris, Bobby from the band Belgium. You guys got into town about the same time we did. A few months in, I remember reading in Kerrang Magazine, two new bands to watch on the west coast were Brunette and Belgium! We felt we were in good company. I never realized till recently that Hardline's big hit was originally a Brunette song. The labels passed on that? Goes ta show ya what we all were up against.
I hope you could one day do a revisit to this topic with a further deepened analysis and names, like whatever playlist people, what happened to radio and to TV, magazine journos etc. Didn't 3 conglomerates buy most radio stations in the US and the same with labels becoming owned by huge conglomerates? Didn't MTV's new boss of some kind essentially hate and block glam rock and metal?
What happened with the venues, did they continue with pay-to-play, how long, did they change the bands they wanted to play primarily because of what was _promoted so much_ in medias?
When record companies and medias are way too concentrated in one (or a couple) city or area, perceptions on public interest and market can more easily become too skewed.
I think the 90's sudden change was a completely manufactured thing.
People just don't suddenly stop liking what they like. Nobody I know has stopped liking something just because something else comes along.
When a certain cuisine food works it freaking works forever. It is just that fewer restaurants might serve the same when people want to taste other style cuisine as well.
Grudge didn’t kill the Sunset Strip the Hollywood Sherrifs dept and the City Council did. With all the parking permits and regulations it became so difficult to park, many people stopped going up there. One night I came out of the Roxy and my car had been towed. It was an honest mistake. Instead of a ticket they towed me and I had to take the bus to Redondo Beach at 2am with two girls. It was dangerous. Downtown was infested with gangs and crime. I stopped going up there after that.
Man I forgot how tough it was to find a parking spot. Your right.
The 80s what a time! I saw Whitesnake & Motley Crue in Tacoma,WA 1987, truly miss all those awesome bands Ratt, Cinderella, Winger, Dokken, Tesla, Faster Pussycat, LA Guns too many…
You knew times were changing when bands like Blue Murder got zero traction during the onset of Grunge.
LA FM video would be cool.
Blue Murder should have been huge!
@@badbrad’Riot’ what a tune!
Caught the "Valley of the Kings" video once on MTV and was blown away! Bought the cassette and wore it out. Blue Murder's debut album is as good or better than anything John Sykes did with Whitesnake IMO.
@@imarriedabrkfsttaco3737 They were a great band.
Amen!! Blue Murder!
I worked as a stage manager and was on set for Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit video shoot in 91. At that point nobody really knew who they were. I'd never heard of them when my boss said "A band from Seattle called Nirvana is coming in for a one day shoot this Saturday, want to work it?" I said sure and I did. Of course once it debuted on MTV it was game over and marked a tectonic shift in the music industry. I wasn't all that impressed being a hard rock guy, but millions of others were lol! I think the 80's SS scene just kind of burned itself out coinciding with the rise of Nirvana and grunge, and the rest is history as they say. But it was definitely a unique period in Hollywood during that time that won't ever be repeated.
Wow man you were there to witness it....
@@badbrad Yeah but you don't really realize its history till after the fact. At the time I thought "who wants to listen to this crap?" Boy was I wrong!
@@burkeshire601 The things is, I later borrowed my dad's copy of that record and really enjoyed listening to it...loved the drumming and the songs were good...
We all wish it came back. A lot of people grew up, got married, had kids, had to get straight jobs and had to get up for work in the morning. Increasing rent and inflation made people have to get better paying gigs. The bands that made it went on tour. There were a lot of reasons why that generation of rockers disappeared from the Strip.
True!
Younger white men my age in the 90's sold their Soul for hip hop,so to speak.
I didn't fit in with my age group,they all hated rock n roll.
@@E.C.2 I could appreciate it for what it was....I can find something to like in everything....
@@badbradI was raised by older people 7-12 yrs older than me. Rock n Roll was in my DNA,hip hop fans destroyed it for me. You grew up in a different era but appreciate & understand everyone is different.
@@E.C.2 I get it. Everyone's perspective is different...we all have our own lense.
Something I noticed about Glamor, when working as a studio photographer. Hair, clothes, and makeup, can turn a mutt into a poodle. Most models are actually very average looking when they come in for a photo-shoot. Now that they're older, some of those glam band dudes are some kind of ugly, especially since cutting off long hair adds 20 years to their age. A tough life slog can really wear you down before your time. Appreciate the Sunset strip story.
Thank you. I can imagine without that makeup those models being plain Jane, Same could be said for the Glam Dudes, You could tell most of them were weird or just plain ugly looking and without all the hair and makeup they looked terrible. life kicks your butt...we all age but some better than others.
Hey Brad! New subscriber here, actually in Jacksonville, FL! 😊. I believe I found your channel, via Rick Beato's channel. Anyway, you're a great guitarist. I'm 58 as well, and moved to Florida from Wisconsin 24 years ago. I used to sing in a lot of bands in Madison, WI and a couple here in Jacksonville. Classic hard rock/metal. Thank you for all of these stories. They are fantastic.
Thanks for the sub! Sounds like we got a lot in common. Glad to have you here…
@badbrad You're welcome! Yep, we do. I can play guitar 🎸 a little bit, but was mostly a singer. I haven't sang since 2005, after the band I was in broke up. I'm glad I'm here, too.
Hi! I live in Jacksonville Bchs. Where's the local Rock/ METAL scene?
🤘🎸 all my old stomping grounds have faded away..
@susanscharch5562 Hey there! Cool! I'm not sure. Monkeys in Orange Park? Otherwise, that was sad, when they closed the Freebird Cafe.
Did Rick do something with Brad or name drop him? I would be curious to check that episode out.
The people partying to metal bands on the strip in the 1980s were in their 20s. By 1990, the people were pushing or hitting 30, getting married, starting families. The kids that broke grunge were hitting their 20s in 1990, Gen X. Not really a mystery.
True but that doesn't describe what happened on a street level.
@@miket.220 MTV and record labels flat out STOPPED pushing metal bands. 1992 was an election year and social engineering helped destroy the Sunset Strip scene. It's more obvious 30 plus yrs later looking back.
Gen x was born between the years of 1965 to 1980. Not the 90s😂😂
@@thedoc9062 Gen X is really about 1965 to about 1976. Gen Y is about 1977-1985
@@miket.220
Y or millennials were born between 1982 and 1994. Not in the 70s
Yeah, thanks for posting this video. Grunge did not kill the sunset strip! And I would love to see a video on FM station. That was my favorite club and I think it was one of the best clubs ever in that era, in so many ways..
I need to do that!
The crap i pulled in the FM station, unbelievable
91606 forever!!!
Hey Brad, new subscriber, enjoying the vids. I was playing the Strip from '88-'92 in a band called Belgium. As a matter of fact, we were on a bill or two with Shock at Gazzarri's. We thought you guys were one of the better bands playing at the time, along with Mad Moxy, Shame, The Wild, The Godz, bands that had substance to their tunes and showed they had some roots. Pay to play was never where it was at. Even if you broke even on the tix, you were still behind in the end. Other expenses like our billboard on the side of Gazzari's, retaining an entertainment lawyer, practice hall, etc., all put a strain on the telemarketer's paycheck that was trickling in on the side. Bill Gazzarri always treated us fairly though. Nothing but good to say about him. Aside from the dark spots, it was nuthin' but a good time!
Good times indeed. Thank you for sharing your story! Salute
didn't the Doors launch on the Sunset Strip too? I remember when bands had hotlines where you would call a number and it would go directly to a message. We used to find out where our favorite local bands were playing pre internet. In some instances bands would mail out newsletters to fans homes about tour dates every month or every quarter.
Yes!
After rolling through the 80s, in my teens and early 20s, as a complete melodic hard rock/hair metal devotee, I ended up, last minute, at one of the first Lollapalooza shows. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry, Chili Peppers. I absolutely loved it. That was the first time I really felt that shift in the music industry. Except for a couple of radio singles, I really didn’t know any of the bands that day. I realized I had been in a cocoon of sorts, only listening to, basically, one genre of music like a religion. Whatever happened, Grunge, Country, Hip Hop, it needed to happen. I still listened to and went to the hair band shows. Def Leppard’s “Slang” is one of their best efforts. That came directly out of an influence from new bands and sounds.
Great post.
We played a lot of Biker bars in Louisiana but I missed a lot of the girls flashing us because I kinda went into a trance when I played drums & sang and my eyes were closed most of the time. I remember feeling I should have been born in California instead of TX (we moved to Louisiana) but I was really good at Southern Rock/Country as far as singing goes. I didn`t enjoy playing drums on old Country Music but Southern/Classic Rock & Hank Jr were really fun. That`s what we had to play here.
I loved the bands from California and the drums were easier than Country sleepers (not Van Halen though with a single bass drum) but I couldn`t hit those notes on vocals in the 80s. I didn`t know how then and it took a long time to figure out how to even get close or even fake some of it. 80s vocals were so HIGH pitched!
Your best vid so far Cheers
G Lenny from Denver
Thank you so much!!! That is much appreciated.
xenon1958 Hey Bobby, it was an amazing time. Your band was great. We were the 2nd artist/band to push that song, Danny Spanos being the 1st & hardline was the 3rd. It’s a great & catchy song but unlike today bands back then didn’t make it on 1 song alone and it wasn’t enough for Danny Spanos, Brunette, or Hardline with Neil Schon to have a fruitful career. Thanks for writing. Hope your well.
There were so many unique sounding bands in LA during the early/mid 90s, but problem was there was nowhere left for them to go anymore professionally. Bills don't pay themselves and the labels just weren't having it. I was in high school at the time and every other kid played guitar or drums, multiple bands, every kid wanted to be a rockstar etc, then by the time I went to college in 99 nobody played guitar anymore and there were no bands to join. At that time Techno was taking off and raves were the youth culture, but that only lasted til the early 00s when state governments shut that movement down too with sound ordinances and other laws against warehouse parties. Anyway learning an instrument takes time, and without even a tiny glimmer of gold at the end of that long road, unfortunately most kids don't venture down it unless they really love music, and for them to love music they had to first be exposed to it from somewhere. Anyway great vids, love to hear how it was and all the stuff I missed out on.
All good music dies at some point. Whether it was punk, disco, 80s Rock, or Grunge. They have their time and then go away, but the real fans of the music stick around and keep it going.
Excellent observation
…I’d say every 10 years for a while. 50’s, 60’s,70’s etc all different
@@stephenfiore9960 That makes sense...
Would you consider doing a video on the overlap between the LA rock scene and the adult industry? Heard a few things about it but it doesnt get talked about much. I know a LOT of adult film performers, both male and female, would hang out at many of the same clubs as the rock scene.
Good idea!!!
That would be a great topic!
Great video again as usual. During my stint listening to that genre, I NEVER could get into the bigger more successful acts. Something wasn't right and later on you found out why. I tended to like the B,C and D listers who really could play and bring it. They were hungry, but a lot of those acts where just a dog and pony show. Did that age well? Grunge didn't kill it, but it didn't help it either. A manager in the industry said you have four years to make your mark. From the time that teenager hits their freshman year, to the time they graduate highschool, that is your window. Then, another genre comes in and it is the new rage. The hairbands ego's, the fact that a lot of it was NOT music, just manufactured candy, over production and the fact that they got away from what it was really about killed it as well. People wanted true to form, real music and the grunge era gave them that. It stripped it down to the bare bones basics. I was not sold on that genre either, but there were some great bands with great songs in that era. When we were hanging out, I hit my jazz, funk, fusion stage. I wanted to see players BRINGING it on stage. I loved the funk metal genre and really hoped it would be the next big thing, but sadly that was not to be. 24/7 spyz, fishbone, living colour ect were all great bands.
Fishbone should have been huge....It all comes and goes so quick...just like life.
@badbrad You are right..Fishbone are still great and should have been huge. I disagree with the original poster about Living Color though. To me, Vernon Reid is one of the most overrated guitar players. At least as a rock player, that is. He is responsible for some of the worst leads and solos ever recorded.
@@michaelr.4878 Vernon's riff though were def. solid. I recently saw Living Color open for Extreme and was quite impressed with the group as a whole...
@@badbrad Very true!
King's X were amazing. Should've been the next thing. They still sound incredible. Never heard a tighter live band.
So in other words, the public didn't choose Grunge. The record industry did, telling us all "this is what the people want.". And now this same industry seems to be a shadow of its former self. Maybe because it didn't represent the people it claimed to be making music for. You can't tell people what they want.
They are the taste makers the gatekeepers
I worked an on -air talent/DJ in classic rock radio in the early to mid 2000’s and then in television news broadcasting. There is a saying in radio…. “People don’t know what they like, they like what they know.”
That's exactly what the labels have always done though. That's how it works. Look at the junk the kids have to choose from today.
@@zerastarchild2849 💯
Might be off topic, but as a rocker who got into jazz fusion in the 80s, Southern California had a LOT of great fusion bands at the time that you could see for cheap and locally. Tribal Tech, Chick Corea Electric Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra (3rd band line up), Allan Holdsworth, as well as solo projects like John Pattitucci, Frank Gambale....that was the BEST time to see those groups in their prime. As far as Sunset? We played the Roxy, I was in a rock band with slap bass (Chili Peppers knockoff) and IMO by the time grunge came out I noticed that generation didn't really seem to go to concerts. People who liked 80s rock and older were the ones who patronized shows...grunge? Not so much. I just think the demand for live music died in general. After seeing all the above plus Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock while it could be argued MTV killed popular music fusion bands really pushed back with quality shows.
Excellent post. I think we lived in the golden age of music. Then look at classic YES nothing to rival that now.
I hated playing the strip. I was in an Orange County based band…but it was kinda necessary even from 89-95 when I was doing it. The whole place is a ghost town now.
It sure is.
Sounds like we were both active on the strip around the same time. I practically lived at the FM Station. That place ruled. I think you're pretty accurate on what changed the "hang" part of the scene. That ordinance had a lot to do with it. Grunge was exciting and new, so was rap and pop country took the attention of a lot of the girls that were into pop metal. My wife included. 80's inspired rock music was getting stale at the top, a lot of them were breaking up or losing their singers. Labels, media and venues didn't want to have anything to do with anything that remotely reminded them of "80's Rock" of any kind. I'm still here and have been since the 90's and did see other big scenes spawn huge bands from LA and Orange County, but the epicenter wasn't the Sunset Strip it was scattered. I still gig very frequently here, but most of the activity is cover and tribute music. I'm ok with that at my age... nobody buys music anymore. haha!
Great post and highly accurate. Thanks for dropping by.
@@badbrad All good. I really enjoy the channel. Keep up the great work.
@@ArmandoVegaTV Thank you! Will do.
I grew up in LA and was just entering high school and starting to go to shows in '86. All this hair metal crap was profoundly uncool. Wearing a GnR or Motley Crue shirt to school was a good way to get beat up. All the heshers were listening to thrash, hardcore/crossover, death metal, grindcore. Butt rock was done long before grunge showed up.
Yeah I get that, Thrash came in and did a number as well on the mainstream...but thrash notably Metallica ultimately became mainstream like they all do...
Our daughter moved from the bay area to L.A. in the 80's because of the music scene. While visiting I got to meet a lot of her friends that were musicians. At one point in her life Gilby Clarke was her brother in law. Lemmy hitting on my daughter at a MTV pool party. We had our L.A. shot until Bill Graham took our guitarist Hal Wagenet and put him in It's A Beautiful Day. Life goes on. Thank you for your videos. Rock On !
Wow that is amazing!! Cheers
Hey Brad, very insightful channel. Did you ever meet the Nelson twins? They've also got some very cool stories about the old sunset boulevard. Keep up the good work!
I have not. I had an ex who worked on the set of the their first video shoot.
what killed the scene ? LA , Rock in general ?
Edward Van Halen. The last guitarist to move the needle. It took about 11 years to squeeze the last riffs from the master. Outside of G&R , music slowly died. What a run it was
There were some other guys that brought some stuff to the table guitar wise but it got a bit ridiculous.
As I've always said, Grunge didn't kill the Hair Bands. Hair Bands killed the Hair Bands. We loved our Ratts and GN'Rs, but by '91 there were so many cheesy rip-offs that we needed a change. Anything that is that popular for that long is going to get an equal and opposite reaction, and Grunge was it.
I graduated in 1992. Of course, we didn't realize the scope of it at the time. I had Motley and Nirvana bumper stickers on my '76 Monte Carlo.
I hear you!
It hadn't gotten old for me and my friends in Atlanta. We loved seeing new bands on Headbanger's Ball and picking up Circus and Rip. I think labels recognized talents like Paul Gilbert and Vito Bratta were rare and could call their own shots, so they started going after pure power chord players with unmelodic songs that they could control.
Perhaps
You are the earliest rising rock performer on earth
I'm grinding hard on the back nine of life.
yes he is and that shows that my friend is far from lazy right #badbrad
@@ernieflanaganstingraybassm1463 Rise and Grind.
Thanks for sharing man.really cool to hear about.when I was old enough to start listening to music Nirvana was blowing up,so I just missed it all.ive been a guitar player since back then and i appreciate all those bands.its sad how music is now.people often don’t know what they got til it’s gone..🤘🎶
Rock on!
SCOTUS ruled in Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins that leafleting is protected under the 1st Amendment. The leafleting in the Pruneyard case was of a political/social nature, but the ruling applies broadly to ALL leafleting.
On the West Coast, the promotion issue may have hurt bands a day's road-trip away from Seattle and Portland, but nationally it was MTV's promotion of SUB:Pop bands that caused Cheese "Metal" to fall by the wayside.
Yes I hear ya there.
You would make a perfect narrator for a documentary on this place and time.
I would love to do that
Again, you nailed it Brad.
I still go back to LA regularly, flying my home/studio here in AZ,... having family in Glendale CA.
Anyway, I don't even know where bands play anymore out there.
It seems rock itself is dead all around.
I'm with you... I wish it would have never ended. Nothing else since has replaced that incredible era. I miss it all the time.
P.S. Eddie and Allen changed my life. You know who I mean. ha
Best, Robby
EVH and Holdsworth...two legends. Seems it's all a distant memory....
@@badbrad Sadly...it's heartbreaking to me.
@@Rel6956 man I agree...
8:12 You saying the street would have bigger crowds, I totally agree and know what you mean...at one event I had(you know, those Parties with bands I was talking about : ), I actually rented a person's yard a BIG yard, I went door-to-door around a neighbor hood and asked people to rent me their yard, and found a good location... and had a band that performed and looked like the WHO and the lead singer looked like Roger Daultry, and we had two other opening acts. We had over 500-700 people. It started at 6 and went till midnight. I saw people for YEARS who said they were at that party. Also, it was free beverages, I had a huge round corrugated metal cow watering thing filled with ice and brews, and had to make a couple $300 beer runs(beer was $5 per case in bulk), then had to close it down when it got a bit wild(too many beverages consumed, no doubt), and later some bikers decided to attend(lol) but that event made us know we had to go indoors for crowd control(collecting money). Our snow fence idea did not work, lol, at one point. I could see it was going to be so big, in advance, I hired my Dad to take the money at the door/entry point.
😮
I can listen to these stories all day! I’m from Portland Oregon and had a chance to visit there in the early 90’s when there was still a hint of that world. They made it illegal to hang flyers here too. Really made it difficult to promote. Thanks for making these videos! I thoroughly enjoy them!
Wow did not know that. Thanks for tuning in!!!
When everything & everyone starts to sound the same & look the same, it’s time for a change. That kills a genre of music every time.
I hear ya there but I was on the strip and there were bands fusing all kinds of different styles on that scene. It wasn't all the same hair metal crap but that is what the labels signed.
I moved to southern California in 1972, living in Topanga Canyon. It was the cheapest place and the greatest place to live at that time. Little Feat and Neil Young were a couple of my neighbors. The Strip was a magical place at that time. I was out of there before the big hair days. My take on LA was that whatever you wanted, it's there, but there's a WHOLE LOT that you want absolutely nothing to do with.
Oh ya!!
I used to send tapes to collage radio stations and tickets too. It helped a lot. I remember one was in riverside and they would see us play at the troubadour.
That is smart!
@@badbrad Thank you. I was at the Whiskey a go-go last month watching the Dead Daisies play . so its nice to know the clubs are still there. At least you can make music with a small budget and post it on social media. You couldn't do that 35 years ago lol
I had a band, D’Molls, that was very much a part 😮of the 80s Sunset Strip scene. Everything he so eloquently says is 100% true! My drummer, Billy (Dior) McCarthy wrote a book, “Beat Me Till I’m Famous,” which nicely complements this video.
Thanks for passing this on to Billy. D'Molls were a big part of that scene. Great to have you here.
For myself in seeing interviews how the 80’s rockers were saying as the early 90’s came on and Seattle was being pushed by the record company’s and plus the alienation of m t v ! That where I think it comes from! I also will say there were awesome new bands that were coming out ! Badlands ,saraya , lynch mob , slaughter , cry of love , brother cane and more! I feel like bands were getting away from the spandex era and hair spray ! I felt music would have gone with these bands in the early 90’s in a 60’s kinda vibe ! I thought that was goin be the new style n scene ! ⚡️space ace Ron⚡️
Black Crowes, Craker, Cake, Meat Puppets
Those bands should have been huge.
Do an FM Station post!!! I can't count how many times I played there.
I need to!!!
@@badbrad My favorite memories of playing there were playing on nights with Mighty Joe Young (STP) and Red Square Black who had John Lowery (John 5). I'm certain we crossed paths. I played in Frozen Ghost, Shyboy, Lastad and a couple dozen other bands.
@@gener2842 Very Cool and glad to have you here.....Thank you!
It's been a Latin club for years now. I can remember when it was known as Filthy McNasty's. 91606 forever!
Fascinating, man. I’m sure someone will make a VR video game, where you can walk around the strip on a Saturday night. Complete with an awesome soundtrack.
That would be awesome!
I was there, living off of the Strip from late 86 to mid 92 on Gardner Street, around the corner from the Guitar Center. I was 26 at the time and doing all that you talked about here, passing out flyers and doing everything we thought we needed to do to "make it". Problem was, we refused to do the make up, spandex, and hairspray thing and by not doing that, we couldn't get any record company to give us the time of day. They were only interested in bands that looked like Poison, Motley Crue and the rest. It had nothing to do with music and all about looks. Overall, it was a great experience. I got to play all of the famous clubs you mentioned, but the best part of it all for me was getting to meet and sometimes hang out with my musical heroes. Lemmy, Ian Paice, Glenn Hughes, Aerosmith, Johnny Depp, (just kidding). I never did "make it." (I probably would've died from a drug overdose), but i gave it a shot. Cool video, rock on!
Man we lived it. I wasn't into all that glam nonsense either. I've often thought the same thing, if I had made it then, might not be around now. Thanks for tuning in!
@@badbrad 👍
1416 N Gardner Apt #1 from around 94 to 97 Axle's girlfriend lived in the apt before me and my old lady at the time moved in
Just found your channel and have been loving it. Great insight here about the flyers, and got me thinking: do you remember that documentary about the Sunset Strip, and in it someone said " What killed the Sunset Strip? Parking. What brought it back? Uber"
I didn't fully understand the backstory on their comment. I get how taking an Uber solves any problem of finding a spot down there, but did something change back in the day where it became extra hard to park down there for a night out?
It was always hard to find a spot. Usually had to walk after finding one a pretty good ways.
In the fall of '91, it was like someone flipped a switch. The '80's were officially over. No more bright lights, big city, bold colors or good times. Now it was greasy haired, flannel wearing, self annointed "mifits" who "didn't feel like they fit in", out moaning in a wheat field somewhere, only to go home and suck at guitar on purpose, or gansta-rap which was somehow even LESS fun. Like the industry was selling misery, where as ten years before, we had Diamond Dave and King Edward singing "JUMP!"
It was a little less obvious on the strip but that is exactly what happened.
@@badbrad Oh I know, I was out there from January 90 to December 99. Played the strip as a drummer/back up singer the first half of the 90's with Blood Flower Stew, then played guitar and sang lead the second half with Bonnis Herd. Got to the point around '93-'94 where we were headlining the Whiskey and the Roxy weekends and got some labels coming out and got some offers, but as I'm sure you know, a lot has to go right from that point forward for it to mean anything and things worked out in the long run. Regardless, your band sounds familiar and I was out there pounding the pavement from the Whiskey to Gazzarri's around the same time and it was exactly like that. Great times, great stories and I'm glad I found your channel. By the way, there are some vids on You Tube of the Strip from '91.Check it out, it's wild deja vu and you'll probably see someone you know. Cheers!
The bands got overexposed, believed their own hype, got drug problems, began infighting after their first album, ran out of songwriting talent after their first album, put out shitty records, then disbanded. Just some of the ways those bands faded away. As for the decline of LA, thet would take too long.
Sure alot of truth here.
Some bands simply made bad decisions about what to put on their first album. White Sister were a rather promising outfit, but the debut album on EMI seemed like "hard rock variations in D minor." It should not be seen as surprising that the label dropped them for disappointing sales.
There were too many bands being promoted based on their image and not the music. The record companies did this and then moved on from them when the Seattle scene jumped off.
Indeed.
And the music industry is doing exactly the same thing today because that's what they do
@@jacklbrt but that's poo poo
Florentine Garden used to have some killer shows it wasn't just the strip.And Hollywood Denny's late at night was full of leather.Bordners bar and grille man awesome times
Yeah those were the days man!
It's hard to explain to young people today.How cool it was before cell phones
They can't understand the concept of a landline and answering machines...
What a cool video Brad , great insight , some old pricks in Hollywood banning flyers really kinda ruined the sunset strip club scene , man that was such a cool scene in the 80s and early 90s , this video was really awesome and cool to hear how you adapted and built up your bands following , kind of word of mouth and being personable to the people you met handing out the flyers
Thank you!🙏 it was a very cool
Time.
Great stories from the greatest decade. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
up in canada our acdc tribute back in late 80s, early 90's was full time doing the "A" circut, then the bottom fell out. the beavis and buthead appearance mocking winger rock seemed like D day, we all ended up giving up full time almost overnight it felt. then grunge, no vocal harmonies, no guitar solos, we all quit and went to playing weddings on weekends lol...
Man that sounds familiar.....similar path here.
The corporate merging to a single playlist director RUINED radio and rock in general. Essentially the telecom act of 92 or whatever killed rock radio.
Like the Ramones song "do you remember lyin in bed with the covers pulled up over your head? Do you remember rock n roll radio?"
I have some great memories of listening to Z104.5 The Edge in Tulsa as a kid.
Wow!
@@badbrad i heard you say "Playlist director" and it triggered me.
In 97 tony from z104 played "My Own Summer" by the deftones 4 times in a row on the day it debuted! He just wanted to keep hearing it and knew we did too!
As far as I can tell there's no rock scene with new young original bands happening ANYWHERE these days. There's plenty of legacy acts but the kids seem to have dropped the ball on moving rock and roll forward. Like you mentioned it's laptops and content creation, they'd rather be a youtube star than a rock star. Or maybe I finally became that old curmudgeon, but I just don't see it, I even tried to search out some young local bands to offer to be their manager, none to be found. Now, get off my lawn!!! PS congrats on nearly reaching 5k subscribers, you've been busy. I hoped on board just under 2k I think. Cheers from the FL panhandle.
Man you're right....tough to find young bands for sure. Thank you for the well wishes. Yes been very hard at work. More to come.
@@badbrad Looking forward to it, you're a great story teller on topic that's of great interest to me. You should think about writing a book as well, it's quite easy to self publish these days if I'm not mistaken.
WASP's Blackie lived in my NoHo condo complex concurrent with a gorgeous POC girl named Paula who went on to cheer for the Lakers and have a superstar turn of her own. IYKYK.
Soooooo many stories, even from a never-was who was only in outer orbit of the Strip scene. Leaving LA in 1991 is one of my best decisions.
I hear you!
So Paula Abdul dated Blackie Lawless?
Come to think of it, I went in that area or close around 80-82 twice, and saw various out-there styles. 8:40 I was staying in Orange County(7:07). 6:55
There ya go
@@badbrad And I was visiting from Kansas/Kansas City area I had been to New York so I saw some wild outfits
Grunge did do In a lot of bands. Country also had a hand in it, too. I remember a lot of people I went to school with that heard that Garth Brooks album back in 1990 and that's all it took. It was crazy.
That is nuts...
Brad ever run across these 2 bands. ANVIL? OR RAIL. Both of these bands are still out there plugging away at it. RAIL last I checked still has 4 original members. they were MTV basement tape winners.
I , was there 5 months ago at the sunset strip passed by the whisky a _gogo , viper room is on the opposite street then The Rainbow 🌈 bar & grill , they have a mural of lemmy of motorhead outside the open bar.
Right on!!!
Did you ever see Shark Island back in the day? Man, they were good....!!!
Yes I did see them and my bass player told me that Axl stole a lot of his moves.
was there all through the late 70s and 80s watched the scene change a few times . was a iconic period of music in Hollywood during those 20 yrs. was fun watching bands come of age from struggling to get a gig at FM Station let alone the Roxy ( pay to play was a hard gig man ) to selling out stadiums , once the industry got set in its formula driven bullshit all the real talent got silenced either u sound like everyone else or your out .. got to play some cool stages and meet some great cats wouldn't change a thing
Yes in spite of it all wouldn’t change a thing
Dee Snider talked about how one day he was riding a limo, to selling his home in a season selling everything. It was just that fast.
It’s a tough biz
Of course it did. When Nirvana came out it was over. I mean i was there too and saw the shift happen overnight. It held out til spring of 92 but it was dead by the summer
I mean I was there in 91, not on the sunset strip in 91
That’s a simplified answer and the clubs in L.A. were still booking non grunge acts in 93 and 94.
@badbrad the hair bands had pretty much transitioned into wannabe grunge acts by 94. Firehouse was the last to have a Top 20 hit in 94 but that was a ballad. Throw in Beavis & Butthead and hair bands were not cool at the time. And I love 80s rock
@@jasonwall319 Yeah they all kind of transitioned even the grunge bands...many had glam roots.
awesome insight YA!
Thank you
It's all about money and property value. That's why crimes go unreported so the crime stats don't hurt the property value. People that were looking to sell real estate on the sunset strip back then thought the night club scene had too many hoodlums which was a red flag for buyers.
Solid point!
The 80’s was a magical time in Southern Cali. Thank you Corporate America for another victim of your greed and incompetence.
Most of the strip will be gone to make way for condos
Also, alcohol prices are contributing to lower consumption: when a single beer costs as much (or more) as a six pack does at a convenience store, then why would I want to drink much inside of the club? Examples: current day single tallboys are $10 versus $8 for an entire six pack of the same beer at convenience stores (or cheaper elsewhere). Bottles of water are $4 versus $4 for an entire case of the same bottles at the grocery store.
Yeah man…this!!
We had chicks who would sneak airplane bottle whiskey into the clubs so the beer would last longer and cost far less....and for those who were not light weights, going in a bit buzzed was another smart economic policy.
You must be a Hair Metal enthusiast.
Yeah Grunge definitely killed off Hair Metal. The bands (Motley, Poison, Warrant, Winger admitted it at the time). I saw it happen. There’s no question that Hair Metal was still The Thing in Summer 1991. But by November ’91 it was all over for all those bands. All over.
I was in a band on the strip. We had hair but our music was different. None of that mattered once the labels started pushing grunge.
Scenes are for only a season. It's like Athens Georgia, REM, Pylon, Love Tractor, and the B-52's. There were so many bands coming out of there. Nashville had a good rock scene with bands like the Piggy's, Web Wilder, the Georgia Satellites, and Jason and the Scorchers. You said you weren't there at that time, they banned fliers on phone poles. They killed the Elliston Place scene. Exit Inn survives but not like it was. Peace.
Peace bro.....
One of the worst elements of the scene IMO were the magazines "Rock City News" "LA Rock Review" etc. They gave little constructive feedback to the bands and a humourous amount of reviews ended with "better check this band out now before they are headlining the Forum" Awful.
ha ha yes....tho I still got the mags with my band in it but yeah there was no constructive criticism they wanted you to buy ad space....
@@badbrad If I was in them I would keep them as well. I never really got anywhere with music, but I did get instantly turned down because my features "weren't feminine enough!" WTF? Anyways love the stories I am subscribed
@@bocephus517 Thanks Bo....my band was too athletic looking we never did the glam thing but we still did our thing...
Not trying to be funny, but when I saw a Pretty Boy Floyd video, I knew the "Hair Band" genre was over.
I hear ya. I wasn't a fan of that type of L.A. band...
Great vid dude whoever u are....ill chk ur page out see if u hav some old vids of ur bands peace
Yeah check out Shock at Goodies...
Title absolutely true. Eagerly looking forward to this.
It’s a good one. Now I think I could do an addendum because I thought of a few more factors but this is a boots on the ground perspective
@@badbrad Checking it out now!
We all know that old saying: Be nice to the people you meet on your way up, you'll see them again on your way down.
Oh ya!
Things get old. It happens. Even Mozart had various lows and highs. But creativity is the ultimate reward.
True!
Starcrawler is a young Sunset Strip band. They played the Roxy and made quite a noise before Covid. Have a listen and tell me what you think. I'm 65 now went through the 60's 70's 80's 90's 00's
I was checking them out and enjoyed what I saw...they are raw. They did a song called I love L.A. and I did a response song with my band Stone Padre called "I hate L.A.". I like what they do, it's a little unpolished in a good way.
@@badbrad Check out "Bet My Brains"
@@keithfink2364 is that band or song?>
@@badbrad It's a Starcrawler song. All my friends think I'm crazy for liking this band but Mike Campbell and Elton John like this band. Not what sure they are doing now
@@keithfink2364 Ah ok...they def. have a vibe....wonder what they are up to.
9:06 best echo and answer sound bite ever!
thank you.
I think Guns n Roses & Metallica showed people you could wear cool street clothes, write great songs, sell records and pull groupies without wearing pink spandex. Spandex and capezio dance shoes are tough to explain at 2am in a 7-11. Unless you're trying to make some side $$.
lol
LA Guns always gets overlooked..
Solid band saw them live back in the day.
Hip hop,feminism,and imploding demographic rates are what made rock n roll go the way of horses and buggies. MTV pushed feminism & hip hop relentlessly post 1992.
Interesting Theory...
Josh Todd was in Slam Hound. They have some cool stuff on YT
I'll have to check them out...
Do you remember the band redline? They played at all the usual places back then
Sounds familiar.
I didn’t like grunge when it first came out. Although, “hair metal” had jumped the shark at that point in my opinion. Everything had lost its edge and was becoming more produced. Motley Crue had horns in some of their songs! Gone were the shout at the devil days. Gone were the wanted man by Ratt. Only to be replaced with Blues sounding numbers like Way Cool Jr. It just felt like it had run it’s course. Like grunge was getting back to what made hair metal cool. The hard edge.
Valid point. It had jumped the shark.
The way I see it....
It's all about GENERATIONAL change...
When you hit60+ ....
You can see it clearly....
Because you've lived through a couple of cycles.
Generalizing the US music Industry/Youth Culture scenes (Skinny.. but I think on point):
1940s-- NYC-- Jazz
1950s-- NYC-- Folk
1960s-- LA-- Hippies
1970s-- NYC-- Punk Rock
1980s-- LA-- Hair Bands
1990s-- NYC-- Rap
2000s-- Global-- Internet BLOWS the whole idea of LOCALIZATION
Obviously each Genre BLENDS into the next and you can find a place for:
Singer Song Writer
Grunge
Hip Hop
Country
But, hey... I'm way too analytical.
That's a very solid analysis but the West Coast Rap thing was also huge maybe even more than the NYC.
@@badbradyeah...by the mid '90s I'd say the pre-internet tech (digital production and distribution) revitalized the industry and brought a whole new twist to what once HAD to be a scene... Think Beck.
Napster (the FIRST digital effort which scared the music DISTRIBUTION industry powers) and the whole Apple $1 a song deal (essentially selling single songs again vs albums) together with the millennium copyright act in 2000... is where the change was CEMENTED ...
These deals killed off the HUMAN side of the Industry which you talk about in this vid.
Very good vision you have.
Like you.. I lived it...
But I was on the non-creative side of the industry during '95-'05.
Saw the whole thing fall apart.