Radio Free Hollywood #1

The pre-punk era of LA captured by Back Door Man and here in Radio Free Hollywood #1 is endlessly fascinating for those of us who love to marinate in the whos, whys and wherefores of the sparks that had to ignite to make that particular music scene as combustible as it became starting in 1977. But the argument here, in early 1977, is that the sparks have already ignited. There had recently been a “ground zero” event on August 24th, 1976 with The Pop!, The Dogs and The Motels playing a show in Hollywood, billed as an antidote to the fern bars, disco and cover bands plaguing greater Los Angeles. 

While it’s hard for me to imagine that these particular bands could be a catalyst of any kind, you take what you can get sometimes, don’t you? The opening editorial sets its mission as wanting to capitalize on what’s been growing out of that one live show. You’ve got people who write for Back Door Man taking part in this as well, including Phast Phreddie Patterson and Gregg Turner. To them, what’s happening is something they’re calling “street rock”, so accordingly there’s a big column looking at what’s going on called “Out in the Streets”. 

“At present, there are over a dozen good bands playing steadily on the Hollywood circuit, among them Quiet Riot, The Pop!, The Berlin Brats, The Dogs, The Motels, The Quick, The Boyz, Shock, Van Halen, Sway, Wolfgang and Zolar-X”. There’s even a letter to the editor talking about what a shredder of a guitarist Eddie Van Halen is. Street rock!! But as punk encroaches, Phast Phreddie, at least, is ready. He talks about some exciting new 45s and loves “(I’m Stranded)” by The Saints and the third Pere Ubu single. And I guess The Motels had a song at this point called “Whatever Happened to the Modern Lovers?”. This gives credence to just how barren and bereft rocknroll must have felt to so many who’d lived through the Sunset Strip-60s, and/or who marinated in The Stooges, MC5, Velvet Underground and even Can and Hawkwind. I’d certainly list 1976 as one of my bottom-five years to have been young and searching for hot raw sounds in the United States of America. 

But you can always pretend, right? That’s how you get a piece like “The Pop – Rock n Roll Monsters” by Gregg Turner. I guess I can sort of see if you’re into this sorta street rock/headbanger/AOR/vest-rock bullshit, a la Van Halen and Quiet Riot and The Pop!, you might see the arrival of bands like The Germs and The Weirdos and The Screamers in a few months as something of a threat – which could be why Turner and Vom were sending it up somewhat, only to reverse course and in a can’t-beat-’em-join-’em move, start the Angry Samoans in 1978.

Radio Free Hollywood #1 is basically one large sheet of newsprint folded up. I find it quite entertaining in its way, and I’m glad to have it around.