Music of California

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In the

Official state symbols

The official

Many groups of Indigenous peoples of California lived and continue to live within the current geographic boundaries of California, before and since colonization by Europe.

In the late 19th century, American Indian music began to be incorporated by classical composers throughout the country, known as the Indianist movement. In San Francisco, Carlos Troyer published compositions like Apache Chief Geronimo's Own Medicine song, with a piano accompaniment by Troyer.

Early foreign influences

The earliest Spanish and English explorers in California encountered Native Americans and established missions to convert them to Christianity. Chanted prayers and hymns were often used, and choirs were eventually formed; many missions formed Native American choirs among recent converts.

As California's European, Asian, and African population increased in the 19th century, the state became the earliest

The state's large Mexican population brought traditional folk guitar to California, including virtuoso Luis T. Romero. The Spanish missions in California brought European music to the area. From the late 18th century to the late 19th century, many visitors to California remarked on the uniqueness of the Spanish language music in California. This music was distinctively Californian, different from both Mexican and Spanish music of the time (though many elements are found throughout these traditions).

With the arrival of many Americans from the East Coast, as well as immigrants from as far away as China, however, Spanish folk music began to dwindle in popularity in California.

Mexican American musical artists from California vary widely in musical genre, from traditional Mexican music to Alternative Metal; among the most celebrated are Zack de la Rocha (of Rage Against the Machine), Chris Montez, Chino Moreno (of the Deftones), Ozomatli, Jenni Rivera, Los Tigres del Norte, Robert Trujillo (of Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, and Infectious Grooves), La Santa Cecilia, Carlos Santana, and Ritchie Valens.

1930s and 1940s

Western swing

1950s and 1960s

Bakersfield sound

In the 1950s and early 1960s, country music was dominated by the slick Nashville sound that stripped the genre of its gritty roots. The town of Bakersfield saw the rise of the Bakersfield sound as a reaction against Nashville, led by people such as Buck Owens and future star Merle Haggard.

Folk

California was an important part of the

Chicano artists Ritchie Valens, the Champs, Cannibal & the Headhunters, thee Midniters, the Premiers, the Blendells, and El Chicano emerged from southern California in this period.

Pop

Vocal group

The Standells, the Seeds, the Leaves, and the Music Machine formed in the Los Angeles area. Count Five, Syndicate of Sound, and the Chocolate Watchband formed in San Jose.

Psychedelic rock

The late 1960s saw San Francisco rise as the center for psychedelic rock and a mecca for

Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, both from Antelope Valley, started their aggressively experimental music careers during the late 1960s.

The band Iron Butterfly is another noted California psychedelic band, coming out of San Diego.

San Francisco psychedelic scene

This era began in about 1965, when The Matrix, the first folk club in San Francisco, opened; Jefferson Airplane, then a newly formed and unknown band, performed that night. Later that year, a band known as the Warlocks became the Grateful Dead, performing at The Fillmore, which was to become a major musical venue in the area. Jefferson Airplane became the first San Francisco psychedelic band signed to a major label, followed soon after by Sopwith Camel. In 1966, the first acid test was held, and the use of the drug LSD became a more prominent part of psychedelic rock, and music in general. One of the first albums from the scene was Country Joe and the Fish's Electric Music for the Mind and Body (1967). A year later, the band Blue Cheer released Vincebus Eruptum, which launched a national hit with a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues"; Blue Cheer is now regarded as a progenitor of heavy metal.

Experimental

The San Francisco Tape Music Center was founded in 1962 by composers Morton Subotnick, born in Los Angeles, and Ramon Sender. Under a commission, synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla, born in South Gate, created his first modular synthesizer in 1963 and started Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments.

The Mothers of Invention was formed in 1964 in Pomona, California, originally known as the Soul Giants, the band's first lineup included Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada, and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist following a fight between Collins and Coronado, the band's original saxophonist/leader. Zappa insisted that they perform his original material, and on Mother's Day in 1965, changed their name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded that the name be changed, and so "out of necessity," Zappa later said, "we became the Mothers of Invention."

1970s and 1980s

The early part of this era was dominated by

The Tubes, who mixed progressive rock with wild theatricality, and Journey, formed from among some of Carlos Santana's sidemen and eventually experiencing a peak as one of the most popular AOR acts in the United States, were virtually the only acts from San Francisco to gain any sort of fame in the mid-1970s. During the 1980s, Journey found further success, as did Huey Lewis and the News who combined elements of pub rock with doo-wop and soul, and Starship which formed from its earlier incarnation of Jefferson Starship.

Californians Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s and were a key part of the band's multi-platinum success.

Punk rock in California

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Los Angeles

Los Angeles' original late 1970s punk scene received less press attention than their counterparts in New York or London, but it included cult bands the Screamers, the Germs, the Weirdos, the Dils, the Bags, 45 Grave (founded by Paul B. Cutler), Nervous Gender, and X.

Other Los Angeles-area punk and hardcore groups of the era include

In

The area had a big hand in the

Berkeley experienced a hardcore boom led by Fang. Berkeley also saw hardcore fusing with heavy metal to form thrash metal and bands like Possessed, Faith No More, Metallica, and Exodus.

Also in the mid-late 1980s hardcore, pop punk, and ska punk bands gained a following with bands such as

San Jose

The Bay Area thrash scene was centered around Los Angeles and San Francisco in the 1980s and 1990s. Bands associated with this scene include Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus, Vio-lence, Suicidal Tendencies, Dark Angel, Death Angel, D.R.I., Testament, Forbidden, Defiance, and Evildead.

Alternative rock

Wall of Voodoo multiple-drum-machine and Farfisa organ laden recordings with wild guitars and clever and desert wise road lyrics out of central Hollywood Boulevard and Selma Avenue wild life started the New wave trend in Southern California late 1970s early 1980s.

The Cretones added power pop guitar riffs and thoughtful lyrics with a touch of humor and sarcasm in the late 1970s early 1980s. They attracted the attention of Linda Ronstadt, who recorded three of their songs on her new wave album Mad Love, titled after the Cretones' song.

At the same time that

Inspired by bands like the Gun Club and Ohio transplants the Cramps, cowpunk bands such as Tex & the Horseheads, and Blood on the Saddle arose from Los Angeles in the 1980s.

The

Faith No More and Primus formed in San Francisco in the 80s. Los Angeles' Red Hot Chili Peppers steadily built up media attention with their first recordings in the mid-to-late-1980s, and went on to become one of the world's premier rock bands in the following decade. Santa Cruz spawned Camper Van Beethoven in the mid-1980s. Jane's Addiction would arise out of Venice in the late 1980s.

Experimental

The Los Angeles Free Music Society was formed in 1973 and produced the group Smegma.

The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo was an American surrealist street theatre troupe, formed by performer and director Richard Elfman in 1972. The group was led by Richard until 1976, when his brother Danny Elfman took over. The group evolved into an experimental musical theatre group, performing songs from the 1930s-40s and original material. In 1979, Danny Elfman wished to pursue a new direction as a dedicated rock band and the group reformed as Oingo Boingo. Several Mystic Knights band members continued with the new band including Steve Bartek, Leon Schneiderman, Dale Turner, and Sam 'Sluggo' Phipps.^[5][6]

Hip hop

During the 1980s,

Called "