Quote:
Originally Posted by Beaudry
When we were old enough to pile into my RX3 and head from Santa Barbara to LA in the mid-80s for shows, the hardcore scene was pretty much over, though we saw some good gigs at the Olympic (Circle Jerks, Vandals, Fear et al) but mostly the postpunk thing was happening, Butthole Surfers and Alien Sex Fiend and those characters. I was there for the July '86 riot at a Cramps show at the Palladium (there was a similar incident at a Ramones show about two months later). The LAPD, whom I now revere, were very quick to hassle kids and crack heads, God bless 'em. Here's five-0 at the Palladium in 1984:
 lapl
My impression of LA at the time? It was pretty bleak. And comparatively treeless—few of the now-giant sidewalk-destroying ficus had been planted, or at least had grown much. The smog was like pea soup. I just recall thinking it a giant concrete hellscape. In another clip from The Decline here's Eugene, at 8:15, summing up life in LA, 1980:
Q: The pent-up aggression, where does that come from?
Eugene: Well with me it just comes from, like, living in the city, just seeing all the ugly old people, and just the *ing buses, and just the dirt, that's what I see all the time, so I'm just *ing bummed, thinking about that.
When I moved here in the mid-90s it was still the LA of the riots, crack, and you had to seek out your fun. LA seemed just emerging from the intellectual vacuity of the 1970s. Yes, now we have immigration and homelessness and overdevelopment, but my God has this place gentrified. And has trees. More to the point, in relation to the NLA thread, barely a day goes by, certainly not a weekend, where there isn't some amazing LA history-related activity, whether it be tours or lectures or film screenings or what-have-you. I'd say we're living in a golden age, but of course we wouldn't recognize it as such, during. |
Beaudry, that's a fascinating and relevatory take on LA. It reflects the opinion I often heard when I was living in the USC dorms in the early '80s from non-Angelenos who looked at the morning haze and called it smog. Of course, if it had all been smog and not 75% fog, we would all have been dead, but then, all most of these people ever saw of LA was the route between USC and LAX.
I, on the other hand, grew up in the Crescenta Valley, and my range was mostly Pasadena and Glendale, which were at the time open and heavily treed. Traffic congestion was minimal, and only occurred at rush hour.
My own comparison of then with now is naturally the opposite of yours, but I'd say we're both right. We have simply witnessed the proceedings from different vantage points.
Regarding Black Flag, their appearances hereabouts had the reputation of attracting violent malefactors. Justified or not, this made the group
persona non grata with officials all over the area.
I recall once that they were booked to play a daytime gig at La Cañada High School. Everybody got tickets. But the show never came off, because the Sheriffs compelled the school officials--who had NO CLUE who this group was--to cancel it.
Too bad. It would have been epic.
EDIT: Writing this dislodged some additional info from my memory. I did not recall it quite correctly. This was supposed to be a stealth gig; the group booked it because it was as far away as possible from any problems. They just wanted to play. But somehow word got out, and punkers--who, shall we say, were very conspicuous in those environs--gathered in advance of the show, which alarmed school officials, who cancelled the show and summoned the Sheriffs to break things up.
For my part, I've known a lot of punkers, and they were just people. Punk was all about getting back to the basics of rock for most of them, at least in musical terms.