Pop and rock
The "California Sound" was revealed to the world in the second half of the 20th century, in the early 1960s, with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. With their first single Surfin' in 1961, they embraced all the Californian archetypes - the beach, women, surfing - and the idyllic imagery of the region.
Formed by the Wilson brothers - Brian, Carl and Dennis, who grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles - Al Jardine and Mike Love, the Beach Boys made a name for themselves with sun-soaked, hedonistic songs that proved phenomenally popular with young audiences. In addition to the Californian sound, they set the standard for a precious pop style, with angelic vocal harmonies, refined, slightly sweet melodies and sophisticated arrangements, like a response to the Beatles across the Atlantic. The group's music soon took a more adult turn under the direction of the brilliant Brian Wilson, with the 1966 album Pet Sounds, which many music lovers consider to be one of the top 10 masterpieces of its genre. Exhausted by family tensions, drug abuse and a bitter rivalry with the Beatles, he eventually "dropped out" and let his band play live without him, contenting himself with composing and singing on the records.
If this wasn't the case at first, the term California sound has come to designate surf music by extension. A pure product of the Californian 1960s, it became popular in the hands of guitarist Dick Dale, nicknamed "The King of the Surf Guitar", the author of cult hits such as the famous Misirlou - heard on Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Although the style was initially derided as naive because of the theme of the songs - the surf, the beach - its contribution to rock was nonetheless undeniable.
The Californian Sound did not disappear with the next generation, far from it: it was transformed. The term is now applied to psychedelic rock, as well as to the San Francisco Sound. These soaring and/or anti-establishment rocks found a home in Hollywood and San Francisco, which had become the HQ of hippies and psychedelic culture. It was in June 1967 - two years before the famous Woodstock Festival - that the Monterey Pop Festival took place, one of the first musical events to embody the values and ideas of the nascent counterculture, and the start of the famous Summer of Love. Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane, not to mention Sly & the Family Stone, are just some of the illustrious names who helped give birth to the San Francisco Sound in the 1960s and 1970s.
On the L.A. side, the Byrds, Love and the wildly charming rock and drunken poetry of the Doors were the answer. The immortal emblem of edgy rock, Jim Morrison moved from his native Florida to Los Angeles in 1963 to study film at UCLA. He discovered Venice, where he met and befriended Ray Manzarek. Together with two other Californian musicians, they formed the Doors in 1965. After a chaotic start, Morrison, drugged on stage, went into indescribable trances, and the band released its first album in 1967. The song Light My Fire was a big hit. Strange Days, LA Woman, Soft Parade and Morrison Hotel followed, a series of masterpieces that few other bands could match. Audiences were as impressed by Morrison's excessive personality and strange poetry as they were by the band's flamboyant live performances. The Doors quickly achieved mythical status. Morrison never ceased to be the talk of the town, and his antics multiplied. Wanting to devote himself fully to writing poetry, he constantly threatened to quit the band and the stage. During a trip to Europe in 1971, he died of an overdose in Paris. The band outlived him, year in, year out, releasing a few records.
From then on, the term " California sound " encompassed a very wide range of styles and artists, all of them imbued with the Californian soul, caressing the folk of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell and many others. Young, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, or the rock music of Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Deftones, Queens of the Stone Age, Weezer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cake, Rage Against the Machine and more Each, with very different personalities, embodies a facet of California. While Rage Against the Machine is a reminder of the committed, anti-establishment Golden State, Red Hot are fun and funk, while Weezer represents the laid-back, detached spirit typical of the region. Guns N' Roses convey glam and eccentricity, while the fabulous Queens of the Stone Age contain the dryness of their native desert in their sound.
In the 2010s, the Californian indie rock scene took up the torch and a host of amazing bands emerged, including Ariel Pink, pope of the experimental indie scene, the Haim sisters, themselves full of Californian influences, Wavves, punk and sunshine, No Age, dark and hard as L.A.'s slums, and Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast, both very light-hearted.
The Coachella Music Festival is the big event in California for today's music scene. Located two hours from L.A. in the Indio Desert, it's a must-see in its category: Radiohead, Dr Dre, Snoop Dog, Beyoncé, Bjork, Outkast and Kanye West? All the greats have played here. The other not-to-be-missed event is Burning Man, which also takes place in a desert (in this case, Black Rock) and celebrates artistic creation and free expression through temporary installations, sculptures, floats, concerts, parties, performances and more. Less well known, but no less good, are two festivals in the San Francisco area that are well worth a visit. The first is the free Stern Grove Festival, held every Sunday afternoon from mid-June to mid-August since 1938 in an open-air amphitheatre surrounded by eucalyptus, fir and redwood trees. The eclectic program includes jazz, rock and performances by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Last but not least, the High Sierra Music Festival takes place in the heart of the Sierra Nevada, featuring rock, electronica, reggae, jazz and afrobeat.
The punk
By the end of the 1970s, mild-mannered California had witnessed the emergence of a strong punk movement. Its taste for alternative lifestyles and its committed, resilient temperament contributed to the birth of several landmark bands, all revolving in one way or another around the mythical Alternative Tentacles label founded by the no less legendary Dead Kennedys. The band is led by the charismatic, mild-mannered Jello Biafra, a Californian by adoption (he was born in Boulder, Colorado in 1958). For a time (in 1979), he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of San Francisco against the governor of the time. The author of violent anarchist and sarcastic pamphlets against religion, conservatives - Reagan was one of his favorite targets - racism, propriety and Third World tyrants, Jello Biafra is more than just a punk singer: he is punk.
But what is commonly known as "California punk" came later. At the turn of the 1990s, a wave of bands - often more pop, more melodic, more fun too - breathed new life into the genre. In L.A., the band NOFX; in Orange County, The Offspring; in Anaheim, No Doubt; and in the Bay Area, Green Day and Rancid began to enjoy unprecedented success in the field, culminating in the 2000s with the commercial explosion of Green Day, The Offspring and Blink 182. Always edgy, less militant, often lighter and brighter than its predecessors, this Californian scene is turning punk, and indeed rock as a whole, on its head.
The country
It's not widely known, but there's a sub-genre of country music that's typically Californian: the Bakersfield sound. Developed during the 1950s and '60s, Bakersfield country was a reaction to the Nashville sound, which was becoming increasingly popular. With pioneers such as the Maddox Brothers and Rose and Wynn Stewart, country music returned to its roots and gained a stronger, more upbeat rhythm. In the 1960s, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, followed by Susan Raye in the next decade, popularized the Bakersfield sound.
Hip-hop
The other great Californian specialty is "West Coast" hip-hop. The history of Californian rap goes back to the early 1980s, when two L.A. collectives, Uncle Jamm's Army and World Class Wreckin' Cru, set the standard for the West Coast sound with their first singles. These groups included such iconic names as Dr. Dre, Egyptian Lover, Ice-T and DJ Yella. Some of them - Dre and Yella - went on to form the emblematic N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes), a response to East Coast rap, led by Public Enemy. Named gangsta rap, this Los Angeles-born rap (which gradually spread to San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, even Portland and Seattle) was characterized by its smell of sulfur, its violence and its heavy funk influences in the samples. Catching the attention of the American public and media with controversial tracks (including the famous Fuck tha Police) and a fresh aesthetic, N.W.A put California on the hip-hop map.
Following the group's dissolution, the early 1990s saw the emergence of the genre's benchmark albums (and artists): Ice Cube and his AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted in 1990, Dr. Dre and his album The Chronic in 1992, his protégé Snoop Dogg with Doggystyle in 1993, Latin Americans Cypress Hill and their album of the same name in 1991 and, of course, Tupac Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, in 1991. Less gangsta, the latter testifies to a growing social awareness and tackles racism, police brutality, poverty, drugs and more.
The popularity of West Coast hip-hop was undoubtedly amplified by the war between Death Row Records (L.A.) and Bad Boy Records (New York), run by Puff Daddy and featuring the illustrious The Notorious B.I.G (aka Biggie). A war that sadly culminated in the murders of Tupac Shakur in September 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in February 1997. Both have since developed a cult following.
During the 2000s, Californian rap faded into the background - despite a few successes, such as The Game - with the public only having eyes (or ears) for dirty south rap from Louisiana, Memphis and Atlanta.
It wasn't until the turn of the 2010s that West Coast rap really picked up again. First with the hyphy style, a sub-genre of hyper-bouncy rap embodied by DJ Mustard and Tyga (from L.A.) or the eccentric Lil B (from the Bay Area). Then, in the hands of new rappers such as YG, Tt Dolla Sign and above all the Odd Future collective led by the hilarious Tyler, the Creator, author(s) of a rap with a personality apart, very arty and a little strange... At the same time, the most beloved and, without doubt, most important rapper of his generation appeared: Kendrick Lamar. Born in Compton, an underprivileged suburb of Los Angeles, in 1987, Kendrick Lamar made an impression with his first mixtapes, making a name for himself with his elastic flow and hard-hitting lyrics on his debut album Section.80. His follow-up, good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), produced and mixed by Dr. Dre, is immediately considered a classic, and goes down as one of the most important albums in rap history. With his jewels To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, followed by DAMN in 2017 and finally Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022, Kendrick Lamar has succeeded in transcending the status of artist to become an icon, a voice of his generation. By the end of the 2010s, Black Lives Matter protests were proclaiming his lyrics as demands. A great artist and a proud Californian.
In fact, his hometown of L.A. is home to one of California's finest rap clubs: Playhouse. Located in the former Fox Theatre building, it boasts an excellent line-up of impressive headliners.
Classical music
Although not part of the big five (the name given to the five most prestigious American orchestras: New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra), California is home to two prestigious, top-quality ensembles. First, the San FranciscoSymphony, one of the country's finest. Founded in 1911, it has acquired worldwide renown over the course of the century thanks to the direction of such excellent conductors as Japan's Seiji Ozawa in the 1960s, the American Michael Tilson Thomas who accelerated its reputation between 1985 and 2020, and now the excellent Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen. The ensemble performs at Davies Symphony Hall, a beautiful auditorium seating almost 3,000. A golden opportunity to see it for free is at the aforementioned Stern Grove Festival.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, for its part, is forward-looking and focused on contemporary creation, and has succeeded in establishing itself in the land of classical music as America's most avant-garde, innovative and daring orchestra. It is led by the charismatic Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel - who also happens to be Music Director of the Paris Opéra - which confirms that, among his many gifts, this young conductor possesses that of ubiquity.
During the regular season, the ensemble performs at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the iconic Frank Gehry-designed building in Downtown. If the architecture of the venue seems to undulate to the sound of the music, the acoustics, designed by the expert of concert hall experts, Yasuhisa Toyota, are reputedly perfect.
But if California is associated with the musical avant-garde, it's also because some of its proudest exponents were born here. Starting with John Cage, a great experimenter who questioned notions of aesthetics and performance. Composer and pianist Henry Cowell, another influential figure in American avant-garde music and a great innovator of the piano, is a native of Menlo Park, in the Bay Area. Another Oakland native is Harry Partch, one of the first twentieth-century Western composers to work systematically with micro-tonal scales (tones and intervals not found on Western instruments, which revolutionized the melodic scale used until then).
Last but not least, we must mention Terry Riley, a Californian composer who pioneered the minimalist school alongside Philip Glass, and is revered for his 1964 work In C. Let's not forget to mention Harold Budd, another avant-garde composer, first a respected figure on the minimalist scene, then a collaborator with other avant-gardists such as Brian Eno and Robin Guthrie.
Jazz
When we think of jazz in the United States, we first think of the New Orleans, Chicago or New York scenes. Yet California has an equally formidable, if less renowned, jazz scene. Not to mention the fact that the oldest and most famous jazz festival in the USA has been held every year since 1958 in Monterey, south of San Francisco(Monterey Jazz Festival). The region's jazz icon is Dave Brubeck (1920 - 2012) and his quartet, who took San Francisco and the Bay Area by storm in the 1950s, and the country as a whole shortly afterwards. Often associated with the "cool jazz" aesthetic, some of his hits have become standards of the genre, including In Your Own Sweet Way, Take Five, the fabulous Blue Rondo à la Turk and The Duke . An outstanding melodist, highly technical and recognizable by his elegant style, Dave Brubeck symbolizes West Coast jazz (a subgenre of cool jazz typical of California) alongside other lesser-known but equally beloved musicians across the Atlantic: Vince Guaraldi, a pianist as talented as he is prolific, Bobby Hutcherson, vibraphonist and marimbist who notably signed the excellent Components in 1966 on the prestigious Blue Note label, Tom Harrell, widely regarded as one of the best jazz trumpeters of the last twenty years and, more recently, rising stars such as guitarist Julian Lage and the new vibraphone sensation Sasha Berliner.
Eric Dolphy, saxophonist and great improviser who has truly renewed the vocabulary of his instrument, Don Cherry, trumpeter and jazz fusion pioneer inspired by traditional African and Middle Eastern music, and more recently trumpeter Kamasi Washington and bassist Thundercat, two jazzmen who regularly collaborate with the world of hip-hop.
There's no shortage of opportunities to listen to jazz in San Francisco. The Fillmore Jazz Festival, the largest jazz festival on the West Coast, is free of charge, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival, held throughout June, is renowned for its dense, well-thought-out program. The latter takes place in the SFJAZZ Center, a center dedicated to jazz, including a 700-seat hall, rehearsal rooms, a digital music lab and a restaurant. Since its opening in 2013, the venue has gained international renown for the quality of its line-ups.
Among San Francisco's other notable stages, Biscuits and Blues and Bix are two clubs that have become jazz institutions in the city. In Oakland, it's impossible not to mention Yoshi's Jazz Club, one of the best jazz clubs in all of California, with a fine Japanese restaurant. The world's best jazzmen come here to perform. Jazz lovers won't want to miss it.
