Southern California Spotlight: The Leaves - Too Many People/Love Minus Zero

Our final Southern California Battle of the Garage Bands entrant. What a rich well of music out of SoCal!

The Leaves hailed from Los Angeles. I thought that The Seeds discography was a mess with multiple releases of the same song with different catalogue numbers and different flip-sides. Man, let me tell you, The Leaves take the cake.

We focus today on The Leaves' first release, Too Many People/Love Minus Zero. It was released on the local label, Mira Records, and hit the stores in July of 1965. The A-side was composed by the band's first lead guitarist, Bill Rinehart and bassist, Jim Pons. Too Many People is a scorcher of an original. Wailing harmonica, pounding bass, double vocal attack from Pons and John Beck, snarly lyrics about fighting back against "the man" and some very nice Rickenbacker guitar leads.

With this first release, the flip-side was Bob Dylan's Love Minus Zero. A perfectly fine version, but ultimately a tepid number compared to the A-side.

Too Many People would be rerecorded for the band's LP. That rerecording is a greatly inferior version to what we have here on their debut single. The single would get released again, a full year after this initial release, with Girl From The East as the flip-side. That song would be released on no less than four straight singles from the band! And we haven't even touched on the three different recordings of Hey Joe that the band released in less than six months. Sheesh!

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard/Out Of The Question

The Seeds released their signature tune, Pushin' Too Hard, twice. The first time in November of 1965 on GNP Crescendo 364x with the flip-side of Out Of The Question. That release gave the title of You're Pushin' Too Hard. Then in July of 1966, they gave us a different release as GNP Crescendo 372x backed with Try To Understand, which had been released as an A-side months prior in February of 1966.

We feature today the first release of You're Pushing Too Hard/Out Of The Question (even though we picture the second release).

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Music Machine - The People In Me/Masculine Intuition

The second to last day of our epic Southern California Spotlight on the Battle of the Garage Bands.

No need for us to rehash the greatness of the Music Machine and the brilliance of Sean Bonniwell. We've talked about them at length. They've been written about at length. 

So let's turn to their second single, released in the first month of 1967, on Original Sound Records. The People In Me was to be the follow up to the bands monster garage number, Talk Talk. The record failed to do much. But it's greatness is evident. Everything here is great. Keith Olsen's bass work, Ron Edgar's bumble bee of a buzz guitar work, Bonniwell's elliptical lyrics.

The flip-side is the brilliant Masculine Intuition. What a b-side. It tells the tale of a love going bad and flips the usual coinage on it's head to give the song a cryptic feel. 

The check's on the table

And the pen's in your hand

And if that makes you happy

Then nothing else can

My mind's on the laundry 

Where you sleep away

If I had the gumption

Then I'd leave you today. 

My favorite part of the song is the bridge at 1:18 where Olsen really pushes the bass line to something special.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Standells - Why Pick On Me/Mr. Nobody

More So Cal Battle of the Bands has us in Los Angeles with the legendary party band turned, snarly garage band, The Standells.

We've talked about The Standells before. We've talked about producer and songwriter Ed Cobb before. We've lauded the brilliance of engineer Richie Podolor before. We've even done a whole series on the great Tower Records label. So we'll just spin the two songs.

Why Pick On Me gives us another great Ed Cobb composition of defiance. The flip-side, Mr. Nobody, was written by organ player, Larry Tamblyn. The single was the band's 9th release. But really the band was a different band after they got with Ed Cobb on Tower Records. So let's say this was their 3rd release on Tower. The single was released in October of 1966.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Other Half - Mr. Pharmacist/I've Come So Far

Day 12 of the So Cal Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands gives us The Other Half. The band hailed from Los Angeles and released 5 singles in their brief career.

Mr. Pharmacist was the A-Side of their debut single, released on G.N.P. Crescendo in November of 1966. It would be the only release on that label. The band would relocate to San Francisco and move to Acta Records after this debut. Mr. Pharmacist, written by singer Jeff Nowlen, is a raver in the first order. Baritone vocals, wailing harmonica, grimy guitar, and an absolutely brilliant guitar solo from Randy Holden. Holden had come over to The Other Half from LA garage band, The Sons of Adam.

The flip-side of the single ain't so bad either. I've Come So Far features a pounding rhythm and a less aggressive approach, vocally and otherwise, than on the A-side. To this listener it reminds us a lot of the work that Zakary Thaks of Corpus Christi, Texas were doing at that time for J-Beck Records. Great guitar work from Holden and Yardbirds styled interplay with the harmonica. Plus it drops a Kinks reference in the lyrics. In fact, the vocals sound so different that I believe it may be Westen singing, and not Nowlen. Sadly I don't own this record and can't even tell you who composed this track. Ugh!

From left to right the band was Nowlen, Larry Brown on bass, Randy Holden on lead guitar, Danny Woody on drums and Geoff Westen on rhythm guitar.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: The Starfires - I Never Loved Her/Linda

Day 9 of the So Cal Region of the Battle of the Garage Bands has us spinning a brutally awesome double sided rocker from Los Angeles band, The Starfires. 

I really know very, very little about this band. The Starfires appear to have been Chuck Butler on vocals, Dave Anderson on guitar, Sonny Lathrop on rhythm guitar, Freddy Fields on bass and Jack Emerick on drums. The band released a few singles and this is their first record, released in 1965 on G.I. Records. Bassist Freddy Fields composed both sides. 

For our money, the A-Side is the stronger of the two cuts. I Never Loved Her is clearly written by a bassist! And a bassist who is tired of being teased and bugged to death about some not so hip gal with whom he really never had that much interaction. Dudes, he only gave her one ride home. Her house was on the way home! Leave Freddy alone. Well at least all the teasing gave us a cool song. Chuck Butler swings back and forth between a snarly growl and a soft croon as the bass just grooves along. 

The flip-side has a great little warble of a guitar riff throughout. Linda is an evil girl. We have no idea what she did to be so evil but we do know this about her. "Linda, she is an evil schemer. Linda, she is a Stanley Steemer." Man, that must be bad!

The band put out three more records over the following two years. One more for G.I. Records and two for Yardbird Records. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Southern California Spotlight: Love - 7 And 7 Is.../No. 14

It's all about the sevens today. Day 7 of the Southern California region of the Battle of the Garage Bands has us, naturally, spinning the incendiary 7 And 7 Is.

We've written extensively about one of our favorite bands, Love. So we are largely going to let the music stand on it's own 7 inches.

The A-Side from this groundbreaking Hollywood band, 7 And 7 Is was performed largely by Arthur Lee himself. Guitar, vocals, most of the drums and perhaps bass too. The abstract words probably aren't as abstract as they seem on first listen. In an interview in Ugly Things magazine a few years back, lead guitarist Johnny Echols suggests that the song has a lot to do with Arthur as a 14 year old kid dealing with his journey into manhood and living with not so engaged family members who didn't always treat him well. In it Arthur Lee recounts watching his dad get his feet too close to the fireplace as his aged dog stared direct into the fire.

If I don't start cryin' it's beacuse that I have got no eyes
My father's in the fireplace and my dog lies hypnotized
Through a crack of light I was unable to find my way
Trapped inside a night, but I'm a day and I go oop bip bip, oop bip bip yeah!

The title is a reference to the shared birthday of March 7 between he and the gal with whom he was smitten, Anita "Pretty" Billings.

The flip-side is, very logically, No. Fourteen. The song was an outtake from the first album's recordings.

The single was released on Elektra Records in July of 1966, the band's second single.

Southern California Spotlight: The Satans - Makin' Deals/Lines and Squares

Back to So Cal with our regional Battle of the Garage Bands. Today we embrace The Satans. Nothing is known about The Satans. Nothing. Some claim they are from Fullerton, California. Some have thought they hailed from New Orleans. But me? I think this is not really a band. I think this was a studio creation. Let me explain. 

Bob Summers, the gentleman who arranged and produced the number was an independent record producer who worked with Mike Curb and his business, Sidewalk Productions. At the time of this release, in May of 1966, Mike Curb was spearheading a number of Biker exploitation films that played up all things taboo: drugs, rape, murder hell and motorcycle gangs that went by the names of The Devil's Angels, The Born Losers and, of course, The Satans. 

Posit this release, the inaugural release for Manhattan Records, into that paradigm and strong signs point to this song being a studio creation perhaps intended to be used in one of the soundtracks of a Russ Meyers directed film produced by Mike Curb. Bob Summers wrote, produced, arranged for a variety of labels and released a few numbers under his own name. He would go on to write a number of TV theme songs, including the theme for Grizzly Adams. 

Now to the record. Makin' Deals was composed by "The Satans". In it's brief 2:08 of eternal life, our singer poses as the devil and offers up all sorts of deals to the listener. He also poses the question, "can you guess my name?" This has led many to wonder if The Rolling Stones may have got ahold of this record when they were touring California at the time that this record was released. That is because the Rolling Stones asked the very same question in their very similarly themed recording, Sympathy For The Devil, which was recorded on the 4th of June, 1968. 

The flip-side is a straightforward jangly number called Lines And Squares. This one also gets writing credit from "The Satans". But the reality is that the lyrics are taken from a poem of the same name written by A.A. Milne. How satanic is it to steal from the author of Winnie The Pooh? 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side. 

Southern California Spotlight: The Roosters - One Of These Days/You Gotta Run

More SoCal Battle of the Garage Bands. The Roosters hailed from Westchester, California, home of the infamous, Randy's Donut Shop. That particular part of Los Angeles was known for it's rich surf scene (and late night donuts). Then the British Invasion hit and the bands began growing their hair long and ditching the silver suits for Chelsea Boots and vests. The Roosters were clearly influenced by local heroes, The Byrds. Hell, even the name comparison could make you cocksure of that one. The singer of The Roosters was Ray Manginin, lead guitarist was Tim Ward. Levitt Earhart on guitar, Floyd Fletcher on bass, and Jim Peters on drums rounded out the rest of this poultry in motion band. The band recorded four singles, two independent releases and two for Phillips Records. But by the time they got to Phillips, the band's creative force had shipped out to Vietnam.

We turn now to the band's debut single. Tim Ward wrote both sides of their 1966 debut single for the micro label, Progressive Sounds of America. The A-Side is the show stopper.

One Of These Days first came to my attention via a comp released in the 80s. Jangly 12 string guitar, minor chord progressions, tight harmonies, nice little funky rhythm change at the chorus and put down lyrics make this one of the best to come out of Los Angeles. And that's saying a lot.

You Gotta Run is damn fine as well. It has a real Beau Brummels sound to it. Not as strong, but it shows the band had talent. For days.

Richie Podolor (working under the pseudonym Richie Allen), the man who engineered many a fine Standells and Chocolate Watchband record for Ed Cobb, was the producer of this fine single.

In one interview (noted below), Ray Manginin suggests that this single was not released for sale, only in promo form. It's a shame they never had a chance to see how this record might play out. Oh well, makes it more rare!

Check out an interview over at Flower Bomb Songs with lead singer Ray Manginin for more info.

Southern California Spotlight: The Grains Of Sand - That's When Happiness Began/She Needs Me

Day three of our SoCal Region of The Battle of the Garage Bands takes us back to Los Angeles. Today's entrant shows that you don't have to record for a tiny label in a small town like in Delaware or Corpus Christie, Texas to go virtually unnoticed. Musical anonymity can happen right in the heart of one of the music meccas of the world.

The band in question is The Grains Of Sand, featuring David Hodgkins on guitar and harmonica, Douglas Mark on lead guitar, Rich Brand on bass and Willie Shider on drums (Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine plays drums on the plug side and I'm not sure who is on vocals). The band has the rare distinction of putting out two of the all time greatest garage singles. Today we feature their first release.

The song is the superbly crafted That's When Happiness Began released on Valiant records in February, 1966 and written by the songwriting brothers and Valiant recording artists, Don and Dick Addrisi.  The brothers would soon score a mega hit with their penning of the saccharin Never My Love, as recorded by fellow Valiant artists The Association.

Attesting to the hit potential of today's song, That's When Happiness Began has the unique distinction of being recorded in three different continents by four different acts, all in 1966 (in addition to the GoS, this was recorded by The Montanas in the UK, Mike Furber and the Bowery Boys in Australia and Gwynn Owen in New Zealand in that order). How this little non-hit wonder so efficiently made its way around the world boggles this Flip-Sider's mind; in any case, it was The Grains Of Sand who released it first and frankly did it best. Regardless, the song didn't go anywhere, partly, I am sure, because Valiant records, as part of the label's stated intent to the band, did not put a valiant effort behind it at all. Instead, after its all-too-brief heyday, this single gathered dust until the excellent What A Way To Die garage compilation surfaced it around 1983. Even among the stiff competition on that comp, Happiness stands out with its great melodic hook, harmonica solo and stomping beat, and was among the first songs in the genre to etch an indelible groove in this listener's ear.

It's just a great song. Yet what takes this single to the upper stratospheric reaches of garagedom, commonly known as Mount Garagemore, is the Flip-Side, She Needs Me.  After a few beats, the song hits us with an ear-bending, reverb-soaked, era-defining guitar motif with few parallels. Just brilliant in all respects. The lyrics then deliver a lonesome, urgent sense of yearning that is coupled with an economical use of words calling to mind By My Side by Australia's The Elois. Words and music are by band members David Hodgkins and Willie Shider:

She needs me!
Wants love!
Then why can't she accept me? 

She wants me, she loves me, she needs me, she says she do!
Well, she wants me, she loves me, she needs me, say you do! 

Can she see?
My heart will never be free! 

Well she wants me, she loves me, she needs me, she says she do!
Well she wants me, she loves me, she needs me, says she do! 

I'll take her!
God knows I won't forsake her!

Flip-side talks about the band's second single here. Photograph of band and certain information are from the interview of Rich Brand on the excellent 60sgaragebands.com site.

Enjoy and until next time, we'll see you on the Flip-Side.

Elektra Records Spotlight: The Doors - Break on Through and End of the Night

Break On Through

End Of The Night

Day four of our Elektra Records spotlight has us, perhaps predictably, moving from Love to The Doors. The two bands were closely tied and it was in fact members of Love that first brought The Doors to the attention of Jac Holzman and Paul Rothchild in the Spring of 1966. It would be a fateful introduction for all involved.

It was immediately clear to all that Elektra Records had something bigger on hand than anything they had ever had before. The Doors were the complete package: charisma, sound, musicianship, songwriting skills, willing to tour and work hard. Perhaps sensing they had finally got one over on Columbia and Capitol records, Elektra Records put everything they had into the band including preferential treatment for studio time and marketing dollars. Elektra would give the band a picture sleeve for the debut single and they even filmed the band on stage to make a video to promote the new band. Not exactly a common move in 1967. Meanwhile, the agoraphobic Love would languish in the mountains above Hollywood, literally looking down at a billboard promoting The Doors' inaugural album. Arthur Lee and his band would be left to watch The Doors make the circuit of TV shows promoting their explosive debut single, Break On Through.

The prophetically titled Break On Through, primarily composed by guitarist Robbie Krieger, was released in February of 1967, weeks after the release of the album and seven months after the song was recorded. The Flip-Side of the debut single, End Of The Night, also appeared on the debut album. It's a gentle number that really showcased Robbie Krieger's under appreciated guitar skills.  

Shout out to staff engineer Bruce Botnick and producer Paul Rothchild for elevating these recordings to a new level. 

Elektra Records Spotlight: Love - Stephanie Knows Who and Orange Skies

Stephanie Knows Who

Orange Skies

Elektra Records...day three. 

Day one of this series talked about how Elektra President, Jac Holzman, narrowly missed out on the hottest band on the Sunset Strip due to a moment of hesitation (you can read that article here). Day two talked about how staff producer, Paul Rothchild, flew to Chicago to sign a racially-mixed buzz-creating band before they could get stolen away. (you can read that article here). But that band wasn't about to become hit makers. Not by a long shot.

Day three has us here, learning from those two experiences and filled with Love. 

Elektra Records combined their first two forays into the world of rock-n-roll and finally got the rock band they were looking for on their third attempt. A bona fide Sunset Strip sensation (like The Byrds) and racially mixed band (like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) who created songs like few others could. The band was Love and featured a roadie from The Byrds and a charismatic frontman in Arthur Lee. The band hit it right out of the gate for Elektra Records with their massive reimagining of Burt Bacharach's My Little Red Book. That single charted at No. 52 nationally and finally gave Elektra a rack upon which they could hang their hat. They were real players with a real rock band.

Paul Rothchild and Jac Holzman gave the band great latitude to experiment in the studio. That resulted in one of the wildest (and complicated to record) singles in Love's impressive sophomore release, Lee's A-bomb of a song, 7&7 is.... 

We feature today the first pressing of the band's third single for Elektra Records. This single was released in October of 1966 as Stephanie Knows Who with a Flip-Side of Orange Skies. Two weeks later the single was unceremoniously withdrawn and Stephanie Knows Who was replaced with the more radio friendly, She Comes In Colors. All three songs appeared on the band's wonderful second full length album, Da Capo.

Stephanie Knows Who was written by Arthur Lee and tells the tale of a girl with whom he was rather smitten. According to an interview with Johnny Echols in Ugly Things Magazine, Stephanie had a way about her that had many in the band fawning over her. She used to string along Arthur Lee pretty good and in turn she was his muse for both this song, and the replacement A-Side. The Flip-Side was written by rhythm guitarist, Bryan MacLean, the former roadie for The Byrds. Arthur sings over Bryan's usual saccharine lyrics and is able to pull them off with sincerity. Not easy to do when you have stanzas about cotton candy! Who knows, perhaps Stephanie may have been the muse here again.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Elektra Records Spotlight: The Beefeaters (aka The Byrds) - Please Let Me Love You and Don't Be Long

We're going to spend this week looking at some records from the Los Angeles based Elektra Records. Elektra was formed in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt and focused on re-releasing old classical music records whose copyright had lapsed.

Like every sensible human being who had seen The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan show on February 9, 1964, Holzman saw the future of music in America. He decided he needed to sign a modern rock act. But who? Who should be the first rock act on the label? There was a band called The Byrds that were getting some attention down on Sunset Strip. The band had recorded a number of demos at World Pacific Studios and they were shopping the masters around. A trepidatious Holzman decided to take a chance on the band, but for reasons that are murky at best, Holzman decided to release the record under a fake moniker, the very British sounding one of The Beefeaters. The record flopped. Not surprising. Elektra had no skin in the rock-n-roll game, The Beefeaters didn't exist and fans of The Byrds didn't even know they released their first record. 

While Holzman pondered what to do next, Miles Davis, who could also see the future of rock in America, got wind of this new group and their debut single. He called his A&R man at Columbia, Allen Stanton, and told Stanton about an LA group he should check out. By the time Holzman had called The Byrds back to sign them, they were signing with Columbia Records just days after Holzman released their first record. 

The Byrds would soar to great heights with their mega-label support and Holzman would lick his wounds and try to learn from his mistake. But more on that tomorrow. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The Turtles - Almost There

The Turtles weren't exactly known for  hard edge rock-n-roll, but this may change your mind (a little). 

The Turtles released their first single in July of 1965. That single, on White Whale Records, was a harmless cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. But the lucky kid that bothered to flip the record over was treated to an original composition by the band's lead singer, Howard Kaylan. That song is Almost There, a pounding beat number reminiscent of The Kinks' instrumental, Revenge. The song tells the tale of a young man on a journey to see his girl. The poor lad has to travel 10 miles everyday just to see his baby. Thank goodness, like all Angelenos, he had a car to use to see her, bye and bye. 

It appears that this single is not only the first record ever released by the Los Angeles band, but also the first record ever released by the short lived White Whale Records. Not a bad start for either. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The Decades - I'm Gonna Dance/On Sunset

I'm Gonna Dance

On Sunset

I don't know a whole lot about this fuzzed out pop-raver. The Decades probably hailed from the Los Angeles area and released their one and only single in 1967 on Era Records. The Decades, whoever they are, get writing credit for both sides. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this band was a studio creation doing a one-off.

The catchy A-Side, I'm Gonna Dance, has a classic duel between a flute and a fuzz guitar. Fluzz Rock? Doesn't every song have that?

The Flip-Side is real interesting. Probably not for everyone, but I love it. On Sunset has that abstract feel to it that reminds us of some of The Chocolate Watchband's more exploratory work or the work of early Frank Zappa or the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. 

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side! 

Bobby Parker - Watch Your Step

Bobby Parker hailed from the tiny town of Los Angeles, California. Starting in the mid-50s Parker began work as a hired gun, working for such acts as Bo Diddley, Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. Parker recorded a small handful of singles under his name and we feature today his second solo single, released on V-Tone Records in July of 1961. The song is the Parker composed, Watch Your Step, and it became a favorite of the harder British Invasion bands. Dig that bitchin' guitar tone.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The Music Machine - Hey Joe

Damn near verything that Sean Bonniwell and his Music Machine touched was brilliant. It should be no surprise then that The Music Machine did a great and unique version of Hey Joe. The band, led by Sean Bonniwell with Ron Edgar, Mark Landon, Keith Olsen and Doug Rhodes, recorded their brooding version of Hey Joe in 1966 for their debut album, Turn On The Music Machine. It was released as a single in 1968 on Original Sound Records after the band lineup had transmogrified and signed to Warner Brothers Records where they were billed as The Bonniwell Music Machine. It was Original Sound Records' last attempt to get blood from a stone.

The Flip-Side of this lovely single, with it's lovely picture sleeve, was the equally lovely original number, Wrong, also recorded in 1966.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

The Tangents - Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?

There is something I love about this version of Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go? It's so very aggressive, so very straightforward, so very Los Angeles. And for good reason, The Tangents hailed from the city of angels and played the clubs on and off of The Strip often. Terry Topolski, Bob Shelton, Warren Brodie and Jim Janesick recorded their version of Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go? for the Hollywood based Impression label in the Spring of 1966, about the same time The Leaves put out their third version. I see that Dino Valenti was still getting writing credit despite him not really writing the song.

Impression Records put out some kick ass stuff like The Sloths and The Dirty Shames.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!

Song of the Week: X - Nausea

[originally posted 4/6/09]
I'm reposting this as I still have Ray Manzarek on the mind. We've already posted his work as a performer, and here we touch on his work as a producer. 

The year was 1977. The town, Los Angeles. The Eagles have replaced the Beach Boys as the pimps of California culture. The Carpenters represent the "get in the back of the Van and get mellow" sound of LA. Gary Wright is performing the truly retched Dream Weaver (worse song ever?) so a bunch of vapid, spandex wearing roller skaters can get their wheels moving down Venice Beach.

Someday in that year. Somewhere in that town. A man acerbically calling himself John Doe walked to a poetry reading in Santa Monica where he met a recent Florida transplant named Christine Cervenka. Neither of our protagonists had a taste for the pop culture music of the day and they quickly started sharing their passion for something different. Later that year they would marry and form a band with rockabilly enthusiast Billy Zoom and drummer DJ Bonebreak. In keeping with his established anti-hero theme, John Doe would name the band X and Christine rechristened herself Exene. The malcontents quickly created a buzz in the small club circuit and caught the watchful eye of The Doors organist, Ray Manzarek, who would get the band a record contract and produce their first album, Los Angeles.

Recorded in January of 1980, and released a few months later, Los Angeles would not only prove to be a huge break from the music norms laid down by the top-selling acts of the day, but it was also quite different than the other California Hardcore bands like The Germs or The Circle Jerks who were also at the vanguard of a new and very important scene. Where bands like The Germs would tout their lack of musical ability as a badge of honor in a virtuoso/Steely Dan crazy world, the members of X actually had musical talent and weren't afraid to show it. And, similarly, X was very different from their British punk comrades as well. Where British punk bands like GBH (Great Britain's Hell) relied on shock value to get their message across, X found their shock value in not being outlandish. It was all in the approach to the music. It was a message of back to basics. 

Los Angeles painted a beautifully grimy view of the world and tinseltown was the canvass. It was a world where violent rape was swept under the rug (Johnny Hit And Run Pauline), where the gritty dark-side of the city of angels turned a wide-eyed girl into a homophobic, racist who flees in fear back to her small town (Los Angeles) and where the material culture of Los Angeles is exposed as soul sucking and self abusive (Sex and Dying In High Society). In their world Los Angeles wasn't the glamour town seen on The Love Boat. It was a town that would make your soul sick. Sick, so sick, that you prop your forehead upon the sink and say "oh Jesus Christ my head is going to crack like a bank."  Where tonight you'll fall asleep in clothes so late like a candy bar wrapped up for lunch. That's all you get to taste. Like poverty and spit. Poverty and spit. Your bloody red eyes will turn to Nausea. A dark song with a relentlessly catchy barre chord riff that moves along with purpose and confidence. A Hammond B3 organ (very, not punk) played by Manzarek pounds away at the listener. You close your eyes and realize you're talking out of harmony now. You can't remember what you said. Cut it out! You feel retarded now. You take the scissors to your head. It's Nausea.