The 129 Greatest OC Bands Ever!: 1 - 50

50. Jose Feliciano

Best known for being blind—okay, and also for his seething acoustic remake of "Light My Fire." Born in Puerto Rico, grew up in New York, but inexplicably relocated to Newport Beach in 1968 before he recorded "Light my Fire" and stayed in OC until the 1990s, a period that represents Feliciano at his artistic apex. Though "Light My Fire" is memorable, and his 1973 standard "Feliz Navidad" hopelessly cheery, Feliciano's greatest musical moment remains his blazing Latin-percussioned rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Game 5 of the 1968 Detroit Tigers-St. Louis Cardinals World Series. It enraged a war-weary nation, upset that Feliciano dared desecrate the national anthem, and Dixie Chick-like boycott cries swarmed radio airwaves. But the world had already listened: a year later, Jimi Hendrix went loco in Woodstock with his version, and Francis Scott Key's song has never been complacent since.

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