Go ahead, call us a bunch of culture-less, lily-white suburbanites with a partiality to flip-flops and right-wing politics. Those kind of labels never cease to amuse us. Because one thing that instantly dooms most of the tired cliches ascribed to OC is the music–the one-of-a-kind frustration, aggression, soul, righteousness, smartassery and freaky hallucinations that erupt from our niche in pop culture's ever-changing iPod shuffle. Breaking barriers and surprising the shit out of people is just something our bands have always been good at…Google it. Whether some of them qualify as longtime legends or brilliant flashes in the pan, there's no denying that the most influential acts in OC's music scene are forever incapable of sticking to one kind of sound. In the spirit of recognizing the best our county has to offer (in totally subjective fashion), we hit you with a list of the top 25 greatest bands to erupt from behind the Orange Curtain.–Nate Jackson
See Also:
* Top 10 Wally George Band Interviews From the Hot Seat
*BLOK to Headline an Extra-Spooky Edition of Plugged Into Local at Alex's Bar, Oct. 24
*Ask a Failed Musician: Success is Influence
]
25. Manic Hispanic
There are two things Orange County residents can expect when Cinco de Mayo comes around: a moratorium on Mexican-hating– all in the name of a goodwill drink fest– and a Manic Hispanic concert. This Orange County band that started in 1992 has made their mark in the music scene by taking punk classics, such as The Descendents' “Milo Goes to College” and “Group Sex” by the Circle Jerks
and Chicanofying them into satirical covers such as “Mijo Goes to Jr.
College” and “Grupo Sexo.” The band itself is a conglomerate of O.C.
punk history, their members summoned from the likes of The Cadillac
Tramps, Agent Orange and The Adolescents. Without a doubt, no other band better
represents the cultural mosh pit that is Orange County: the classic
white majority meshing with the Hispanic soon-to-be majority.
24. Agent Orange
One of the most popular bands to emerge during the late '70s/early '80s first wave of OC punk, Agent Orange–formed by a cranky, pissed-off 14-year-old named Mike Palm–sounded distinctly Orange County, as opposed to the mostly slash-and-burn approach perpetrated by their peers Social Distortion and the Adolescents. That's because they injected Dick Dale-inspired
surf-guitar breaks and more overt melody lines amidst all the usual
thrashiness. In 1981, they released the Living In Darkness album, which
included “Bloodstains”–not just a classic OC punk tune, but a classic
tune period. The band's largest following, though, came via an
army of skateboarders. They were one of the first bands to tap into the
then-still-kinda-underground subculture, putting their music on the
soundtracks of various skate videos. After all this time, Palm still
hasn't gotten a real job, and still tours as Agent Orange with a
revolving lineup of players.
23. The Growlers
Throughout their six years as a band, the Growlers have amassed a handful of bragging rights that no other OC bands of their generation can claim. The list includes playing Coachella twice (if you count the double weekend this year), garnering praise and production help from Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, becoming lightning rods for South County hipsterdom
and creating a sound which combines the irrefutable twang of OC's
surf rock culture with haunting, San Francisco-born psychedelics. Since
releasing their 25-track opus Greatest Hits in 2008, the Dana Point band–branded by the woebegone vocals of Brooks Nielsen–continues
to prove that they are a band to follow and we're sure they get off on
that…even though they're often thought of as masters of the “I don't
give a fuck” attitude personified in their music.As they prepare to
launch their latest studio album Hung at Heart, we watch admirably as they continue to let their freak flag fly.
22. Save Ferris
There have been a handful of bands within Orange County that rode ska's third wave on the coattails of Reel Big Fish's hit “Sell Out.” After that Huntington Beach band died out on mainstream radio, the majority of ska acts followed suit–many except for a a band orignially dubbed Los Pantelones. The band would ultimately come to be known as Save Ferris— they decided on a name change and nicked the title off of Ferris
Bueller's Day Off, as they were pushed into mainstream success after
their cover of Dexy's Midnight Runners' “Come On Eileen.” Their first album in 1997, It Means Everything,
is undoubtedly their most successful with hits like “Superspy.” The
band's fame died out by their sophomore album as they transitioned into a
pop rock genre and eventually disbanded in 2002. Save Ferris could have
had the same fate as other ska acts, but in the prime of the third wave
ska revival, they were and continue to be one of the leading pioneers
in the genre. Despite their early end, they were able to create an album
that is still prominent and cherished by OC ska fans.
[
21. Atreyu
In the annals of American metalcore circa 2004, you couldn't find a more impressive rise to fame than Atreyu. It's amazing to think that Yorba Linda,
often considered one of the quietest cities in OC, produced one of the
most aggressive, throat-shredding troupes in the counties history. But
by pairing the psychotic screams of frontman Alex Varkatzas with the
melodic range of drummer Brandon Saller on 2004's Suicide Notes and
Butterfly Kisses, the band struck a combination that made them
trendsetters in the genre. It's also worth mentioning that few bands
could pull off as many cover songs (i.e. “Epic” by Faith No More and Bon
Jovi's “You Give Love a Bad Name”) in a way that made us smile and
simultaneously shit our pants with fear. Despite their recent hiatus in
2011, all the band members have gone on to establish their own
well-received side projects. Meanwhile fans await their return–don't
throw away your eyeliner and black fingernail polish just yet,
kids–they'll be back.
20. Fu Manchu
It's easy to dismiss Fu Manchu as San Clemente's answer to That 70's Show,
since the music they make is a sound seemingly designed to fire up a
zillion bongs. Brand them “stoner rock” if you must, but they're really
just a great, honest, blue-collar metal band–graduates of the Sabbath school of eardrum bleeding, with songs about pool skating, surfing, El Caminos, Mongoose BMX bikes, the beach, driving around, Dogtown, UFOs and vans (both the Chevy and
slip-on shoe variety). This year, the band announced that they've begun
work on a new album–looks like these guys are firing one up for
another round.
19. Dusty Rhodes and the River Band
Few bands
literally had the vast majority of OC's local music scene rallying behind them like
the loveable Anaheim-bred bunch known as Dusty Rhodes and the River
Band. Few triumphant moments from the last half-decade remain as crystal
clear to us the sight of Dustin Apodaca wreaking havoc on an accordion,
shouting lyrics at the top of his lungs with hell fire in his gut with the
band rollicking behind him. Their sound–an amalgam of gypsy punk, gang
vocals and Eagles-inspired folk could literally slap a smaile on anyone
in the audience. The power to win people over with their charms resulted
in a stack of OC Music Awards, brushes with mainstream success and a
handful of albums like 2007's “First You Live” that still stand as a
true testament to the wild west element of OC's aural landscape.
[
18. The Vandals
The Vandals shows circa 1980 tended to attract rough
punk crowds, which got the attention of cops, which helped get them
banned from clubs and cities everywhere. Songs like “The Legend of Pat
Brown,” about a real-life Vandals fan who tried to mow down some police
with his car, and “Anarchy Burger (Hold the Government)” didn't exactly
endear them to authority figures, either. Their biggest fuck-you,
though, was “Urban Struggle,” a middle finger aimed at the country music
shitkickers who used to hang at Zubie's, a since-demolished Costa Mesa cowboy bar on Placentia Avenue that was next door to the fabled also-since-demolished Cuckoo's Nest punk
club. The Vandals are still around and more popular than ever–though
there are virtually no original members left (save for Joe Escalante,
the sole constant member since 1980) their fans are mostly under 20,
and their current music isn't nearly as provocative as it once was,
unless you think that tunes about Internet dating are somehow dangerous.
17. Ignite
As
the history of OC hardcore becomes more and more,uh, historical
(Revelation Records turned 25 this year!), it becomes necessary to look
back at bands like Ignite who not only represented the SoCal chapter of
this genre during its heyday, but also distinguished themselves
simultaneously as one of the most aggressive, socially conscious and
musically proficient to come out of the local scene and make it big.
Since their formation in 1993, the band–fronted by new Pennywise
frontman and Colonel Guile-look-a-like Zoli Teglas–has remained a
guitar chord-chugging tour de force that are as melodic as they are menacing.
16. Young The Giant
As
far as bands that have proven themselves to potentially be the next
arena-filling rock band to come out of Orange County, plenty of people
(including us) have their money on Young the Giant. Of course, the one
thing that might actually allow them to do that is the fact they don't
put that kind of pressure on themselves. With a sound as triumphant as
it is natural, Irvine's favorite indie rock quintet have become the kind
of band you want to root for–pairing the wide-eyed innocence with
accomplished musicianship and arrangements that have earned the respect
of rock gods like Morrisey. That alone should be all you need to
know. But incase you need something more, run a You Tube search of their
performance of “My Body” on the 2011 MTV Music Awards and tell us these
guys aren't rock stars. Of course, they've grown by leaps and bounds
since then and their forth-coming album on Roadrunner Records promises a
whole new world of growth for the band.
15. Dick Dale
As he will be the first to tell you–using the third person, even–Dick Dale is
a phenomenon. The style of surf guitar he created in the early '60s
(or, as he tells it, mid-'50s) wasn't just a different way of playing
notes, but a sound he wrested from the briny deep. Dick doesn't play
notes so much as he does sensations, replicating the power and
adrenaline of shooting the curl and that other surferly stuff. He was
great in the '60s, and in the '80s, he recovered from a long bout of
lounge-itus to again reclaim his barnacle-encrusted crown as King of the
Surf Guitar. One standout performance was at a 1991 concert tribute to Leo Fender.
The late guitar maker had provided the tools that facilitated Dale's
then-new sounds in the '60s, and Dale did him proud, using his Fender Strat, his reverb unit and his blond Showman amp to conjure up dive-bombing pterodactyls of sound.
Follow us on Twitter @OCWeeklyMusic and like us on Facebook at Heard Mentality.
