Los Angeles Music - The Music From the City of Angels

By Arjun Collier

Being one of the most important cities in the world for the film industry, it is no wonder that Los Angeles is also one of the most important sites in the world for the recorded music industry. Even some of its landmarks, like Capitol Records, which is shaped like a stack of albums, is representative of the music culture that's inherent in the city.

The A&M Recording outfit has long occupied a studio off Sunset Boulevard, which was built by Charlie Chaplin. The Warner Brothers also built a major recording business in addition to their already-successful film business. On the other hand, Rhino Records made a business out of digging through archives of music, repackaging and reissuing them for new audiences.

A Little Music History

Los Angeles music, during the 1930s and 1940s, were mostly vibrant African-American music. It came from a small community. A handful of musical artists would congregate around Central Avenue and play. These communities spawned a number of great talents including Charles Mingus, Buddy Collette, and Gerald Wilson. However, this partial music scene disappeared during the '50s.

When the '60s came, LA's music was thriving again. However, this time it was more concentrated on bands rather than blues men. Los Angeles music became a breeding ground for bands like The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Doors. Plenty of hard rock came out of Los Angeles, such as the likes of Van Halen from Pasadena, Motley Crue, and Guns N' Roses. You also have some of the biggest thrash metal acts in the world: Slayer and Metallica.

During the '90s came rock bands like Korn and the funk band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Punk rock also took its claim in Los Angeles music; bands like X, Black Flag, and Wasted Youth were among its promoters.

Modern Los Angeles Music

Even though the city has produced few internationally successful acts, the modern music scene in LA is a thriving community. Here are some musicians of today and yesterday that are proud to have started from the LA music scene.

Audioslave. This is an American hard rock supergroup that was formed in LA, California, in 2001. The band consists of former Sound Garden vocalist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of another LA band Rage Against the Machine, namely Tom Morello (lead), Tim Commerford (bass), and Brad Wilk (drums). Their sound was initially just dubbed as a mix of their two former bands. But when the album came out, it was clear that they had created a sound that was distinctly theirs.

The Beach Boys. The Beach Boys are an American rock band that was formed in 1961. They gained popularity for their tight vocal harmonies and lyrics that reflect what its like to live and be in a California youth culture. Their vocalist Brian Wilson's creative ambitions later transformed them into one of the more artistically innovative groups that earned them critical praise and influenced many musicians.

Today the Los Angeles music scene is mostly composed of diverse types of music. From hip-hop to rock and rap, the list is endless and so are the artists that represent Los Angeles.

Arjun has written for many Internet publications and enjoys technical issues and new product releases like the Kidde Smoke Alarms and the new models of Kidde Smoke Alarms

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