Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run.
Eric Reed Boucher, known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys.
The Germs were an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, originally active from 1976 to 1980. The band's "classic" lineup consisted of singer Darby Crash, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Lorna Doom and drummer Don Bolles. They released only one album, 1979's (GI), produced by Joan Jett, and were featured in Penelope Spheeris' seminal documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization, which chronicled the Los Angeles punk movement. The Germs disbanded following Crash's suicide in 1980. Their music was influential to many later rock acts, and Smear went on to achieve greater fame performing with Nirvana and Foo Fighters.
Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 in San Francisco, California. It was used by Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single "California Über Alles". After realizing the potential for an independent label, they released records for other bands as well. Dead Kennedys guitarist East Bay Ray and vocalist Jello Biafra formed Alternative Tentacles, but Biafra became the sole owner in the mid-1980s. Alternative Tentacles no longer owns the rights to Dead Kennedys recordings after a 2000 lawsuit.
Bruce Wayne Campbell, known by his stage name Jobriath, was an American rock musician and actor. He was the first openly gay rock musician to be signed to a major record label and one of the first internationally famous musicians to die of AIDS.
The Fartz were a hardcore punk band that was founded in 1981 and were one of the first well-known bands in their genre from Seattle, Washington. They were signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Record label. They were notable not only for playing incredibly fast and heavy music, but also for their politically and socially conscious song lyrics that criticized government policies, religious hypocrisy, racism, sexism, and poverty. Throughout their musical career they championed a blue collar, working class perspective on life.
The Quick were a mid-1970s power pop band based in Los Angeles. The Quick were influenced by 1960s British Invasion bands and 1970s British glam bands, as well as by fellow Angelenos Sparks.
Flipside, known as Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine, was a punk zine published in Whittier and Pasadena, California, from 1977 to 2002. The magazine was associated with its own record label, Flipside Records, releasing vinyl records and compact discs beginning in 1978.
Chris Paul Carter is an American disc jockey and music/film producer based in Los Angeles.
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.
The Hollywood Squares were an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1977. They are probably best known for their song "Hillside Strangler". Released in a very limited edition on the trio's own Square Records label, the issue quickly sold out and has since become a highly sought-after collectible. The single has reappeared in various bootleg incarnations over the years including the 1989 compilation album Killed By Death #1. The original master tapes were used on the LP and CD Hillside Strangler: Restrangled, released in 2006.
Beneath the Shadows is the second studio album by the American hardcore punk band T.S.O.L., released in 1983 through Alternative Tentacles. With the addition of keyboardist Greg Kuehn to the lineup, the band moved away from punk rock in favor of a gothic rock sound in the vein of later releases by the Damned and Siouxsie and the Banshees, alienating much of their hardcore audience in the process. Though the album was critically well received and led to the band being featured in director Penelope Spheeris' film Suburbia, it was largely rejected by their fanbase within the punk scene.
Beach Blvd is a seminal compilation album featuring early Californian punk rock bands.
Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco was a Los Angeles nightclub located at 7561 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip from late 1972 until early 1975. It catered to the glam rock movement. The club was infamous for widespread drug use and hosting underage girls at parties, but it was also a popular spot among rock stars, including Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, and Iggy Pop.
Rodney Bingenheimer is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of Rodney on the ROQ, a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ-FM from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also managed a Los Angeles nightclub called Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco.
We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of LA Punk is an oral history of the Los Angeles punk scene written by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen. It was released in 2001 by Three Rivers Press.
Triclops! was an American, San Francisco and Oakland-based acid punk/progressive rock band, formed in 2005. They released two full-length albums, a 7" picture disc single, and an EP on noted independent record labels Gold Standard Laboratories, Alternative Tentacles, and Sick Room Records. Triclops! includes members of noted bay area bands Victim's Family, Fleshies, Bottles and Skulls, and Lower Forty-Eight. The band went on hiatus in 2010 following the release of their second full-length Helpers On The Other Side, with the members remaining busy in their older bands and new projects. Triclops! guitarist Christian Eric Beaulieu's current project is as the primary songwriter for Los Angeles-based band Anywhere, which also features progressive punk luminaries Mike Watt and Cedric Bixler-Zavala. Phil Becker drums for Pins of Light, while singer John Geek plays bass and sings in Street Eaters and bassist Larry Boothroyd is a member of Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine.
The Barb Wire Dolls are a grunge/punk rock band from Greece, based in the United States. They were championed by Lemmy on whose personal record label their third and fourth albums were released.
Richard James Simpson, formerly known as Richard James, is an American singer and guitarist. He is a son of Renate Hoy, an actress born in Germany, and attorney Raymond C. Simpson. He grew up in the South Bay region of California and had an older brother Charles "Rock" Halsey who was a member of Rock Bottom & the Spys.
The Hollywood Stars are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in late 1973 by manager/impresario Kim Fowley. The band was created as a West Coast answer to the New York Dolls during the height of the popularity of the glam rock genre. The band signed with Columbia Records in 1974 and with Arista Records in 1976, releasing one self-titled LP with the latter label in 1977 and opening for The Kinks on their Sleepwalker tour the same year. The band's song "Escape" was recorded by Alice Cooper and released on the album Welcome to my Nightmare (1975), while their song "King of the Night Time World" was recorded by Kiss and released on the album Destroyer (1976). Two archive albums recorded in 1974 and 1976 were released in 2013 and 2019 to critical acclaim, prompting the band to reform in 2018.
