"Los Angeles" | ||||
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Single by Frank Black | ||||
from the album Frank Black | ||||
A-side | "Los Angeles" | |||
B-side | "I Heard Ramona Sing" | |||
Released | March 9, 1993 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 4:08 | |||
Label | 4AD/Elektra | |||
Songwriter(s) | Frank Black | |||
Producer(s) | Eric Drew Feldman, Black Francis | |||
Frank Black singles chronology | ||||
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"Los Angeles" is the debut solo single written and performed by Frank Black. It was the first track on his solo debut album Frank Black , released in 1993. [1] It served as the main theme song for the short lived but cult favorite VH1 talk show Late World with Zach . It was also featured in the soundtrack of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland as well as in Girl Skateboards' 2003 video Yeah Right!, in which the song played during Eric Koston's video part.
Also, a music video was made for the song featuring Black himself. The music video was featured on an episode of MTV's Beavis and Butt-head , and was directed by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. [2]
The song starts off with an acoustic guitar introduction. An electric guitar riff is heard after that. With an interlude back into acoustic guitar music, it ends with helicopter noises.
Asked about the lyrical inspiration, Black said, "Well, mostly I had to get it done as someone from 4AD was flying in the next day to listen. It's loosely a sci-fi poem with a kind of Blade Runner outlook, i.e., futuristic Los Angeles." [3]
Pixies is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band consisted of Black Francis, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal and David Lovering (drums). They disbanded acrimoniously in 1993 but reunited in 2004. After Deal left in 2013, Pixies hired Kim Shattuck as a touring bassist; she was replaced that year by Paz Lenchantin, who became a permanent member in 2016.
Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black. After releasing two albums with record label 4AD and one with American Recordings, he left the label and formed a new band, Frank Black and the Catholics. He re-adopted the name Black Francis in 2007.
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