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| Paisley Underground: the 1980s LA psychedelic scene that inspired Prince | Paisley Underground: the 1980s LA psychedelic scene that inspired Prince |
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| When Steve Wynn moved back to Los Angeles in 1980 after finishing college, he looked at the music being made in his home city and realised he was out of step. "The idea that you'd make music with long, unscripted and unstructured jams. The idea that you were into 60s garage bands. The idea that you'd play one chord until your arm fell off. All the things that we thought were exciting and cool couldn't have been less fashionable." | When Steve Wynn moved back to Los Angeles in 1980 after finishing college, he looked at the music being made in his home city and realised he was out of step. "The idea that you'd make music with long, unscripted and unstructured jams. The idea that you were into 60s garage bands. The idea that you'd play one chord until your arm fell off. All the things that we thought were exciting and cool couldn't have been less fashionable." |
| The curious thing is that what Wynn wanted to do with his band the Dream Syndicate turned out to be, albeit briefly, intensely fashionable. Fashionable enough that Prince named his Paisley Park song and label and studio after the psychedelic LA band scene that was known as the "Paisley Underground", and for it to be a big influence on his album Around the World In a Day. Not only that but it has had enough of a lasting effect for Wynn to be able to revive the Dream Syndicate and bring them to London at the end of this month to perform their debut album, The Days of Wine and Roses – now regarded as one of US alt-rock's early classics. | The curious thing is that what Wynn wanted to do with his band the Dream Syndicate turned out to be, albeit briefly, intensely fashionable. Fashionable enough that Prince named his Paisley Park song and label and studio after the psychedelic LA band scene that was known as the "Paisley Underground", and for it to be a big influence on his album Around the World In a Day. Not only that but it has had enough of a lasting effect for Wynn to be able to revive the Dream Syndicate and bring them to London at the end of this month to perform their debut album, The Days of Wine and Roses – now regarded as one of US alt-rock's early classics. |
| What's more, some of the other Paisley Underground bands have returned. The Three O'Clock (who were signed by Prince to Paisley Park) were asked by the Coachella festival to reform and play there (and got on to Conan O'Brien's show in the process). The Rain Parade have reformed. And the sound of these bands is starting to crop up again, notably in the music of the young LA band Allah-Las, who are avowed fans. | What's more, some of the other Paisley Underground bands have returned. The Three O'Clock (who were signed by Prince to Paisley Park) were asked by the Coachella festival to reform and play there (and got on to Conan O'Brien's show in the process). The Rain Parade have reformed. And the sound of these bands is starting to crop up again, notably in the music of the young LA band Allah-Las, who are avowed fans. |
| The tag Paisley Underground was first coined in 1982 as a joke by Michael Quercio, the young leader of the Three O'Clock. "We were being interviewed by a local paper called the LA Weekly," he recalls. "The writer asked me: 'So, what do you call this new scene of you and the Bangs [later the Bangles], and the Rain Parade and the Dream Syndicate?" And I said: 'Oh, it's the Paisley Underground.' I didn't think much of it – it was just an off-the-cuff remark. It wasn't until a couple of months later that the other papers started picking up this name and started to write about the scene and call it that." | The tag Paisley Underground was first coined in 1982 as a joke by Michael Quercio, the young leader of the Three O'Clock. "We were being interviewed by a local paper called the LA Weekly," he recalls. "The writer asked me: 'So, what do you call this new scene of you and the Bangs [later the Bangles], and the Rain Parade and the Dream Syndicate?" And I said: 'Oh, it's the Paisley Underground.' I didn't think much of it – it was just an off-the-cuff remark. It wasn't until a couple of months later that the other papers started picking up this name and started to write about the scene and call it that." |
| Soon the Long Ryders and Green on Red were embraced as part of the scene and so there were six groups, each with distinct identities. The Dream Syndicate were the intense, droning band (The Days of Wine and Roses, with its snarling, fiery guitars and Wynn's enervated vocals stands as the scene's masterpiece); the Three O'Clock were the peppy powerpoppers; the Bangles were the female Beatles; the Long Ryders took the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield as their inspiration; the Rain Parade mimicked the moment where beat pop started going psychedelic; and Green on Red pumped up the organ for a garage rock sound. | Soon the Long Ryders and Green on Red were embraced as part of the scene and so there were six groups, each with distinct identities. The Dream Syndicate were the intense, droning band (The Days of Wine and Roses, with its snarling, fiery guitars and Wynn's enervated vocals stands as the scene's masterpiece); the Three O'Clock were the peppy powerpoppers; the Bangles were the female Beatles; the Long Ryders took the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield as their inspiration; the Rain Parade mimicked the moment where beat pop started going psychedelic; and Green on Red pumped up the organ for a garage rock sound. |
| All the groups had been inspired by punk. And all of them had turned against it. "We felt we were in this fascist punk environment," says Matt Piucci, who played guitar in the Rain Parade. "We thought punk had become exactly what it rebelled against, which was that there was an actual status quo: you had to be loud and you had to be fast, you had to be sweating and screaming." | All the groups had been inspired by punk. And all of them had turned against it. "We felt we were in this fascist punk environment," says Matt Piucci, who played guitar in the Rain Parade. "We thought punk had become exactly what it rebelled against, which was that there was an actual status quo: you had to be loud and you had to be fast, you had to be sweating and screaming." |
| "None of us were very good at being punks," says Sid Griffin, singer and guitarist in the Long Ryders. "Most of us had pretty decent backgrounds, so there was no cultural or economic status that on a personal level had stung us so much that we wanted to bite back against society. 'What are you rebelling against?' 'Er, nothing.'" | "None of us were very good at being punks," says Sid Griffin, singer and guitarist in the Long Ryders. "Most of us had pretty decent backgrounds, so there was no cultural or economic status that on a personal level had stung us so much that we wanted to bite back against society. 'What are you rebelling against?' 'Er, nothing.'" |
| The lack of rebellion and angst – and the fact that all the bands lived within a few blocks of each other in West Hollywood, bar the Three O'Clock who were off in the South Bay suburbs – meant the Paisley Underground was, at first, a tight-knit scene, with bands playing on each other's bills and attending barbecues in each other's backyards. Where grunge-era Seattle had rain, heroin and backbiting, the Paisley Underground had sunshine, hamburgers and friendship. "In June of 82," Quercio remembers, "we all took a trip to Catalina Island – the Dream Syndicate, the Bangles, some guys from the Rain Parade – we all went out there and just kind of camped out. There was nothing else like this going on." | The lack of rebellion and angst – and the fact that all the bands lived within a few blocks of each other in West Hollywood, bar the Three O'Clock who were off in the South Bay suburbs – meant the Paisley Underground was, at first, a tight-knit scene, with bands playing on each other's bills and attending barbecues in each other's backyards. Where grunge-era Seattle had rain, heroin and backbiting, the Paisley Underground had sunshine, hamburgers and friendship. "In June of 82," Quercio remembers, "we all took a trip to Catalina Island – the Dream Syndicate, the Bangles, some guys from the Rain Parade – we all went out there and just kind of camped out. There was nothing else like this going on." |
| A slew of indie releases, led by The Days of Wine and Roses – "it would not have surprised me if you had told me that 30 years later I would still be talking about that record, because I felt it was something really good," Wynn says – brought the majors sniffing, and all six of the core bands were signed, often to ill effect. Only the Bangles broke through to the mainstream, and that took the involvement of Prince. | A slew of indie releases, led by The Days of Wine and Roses – "it would not have surprised me if you had told me that 30 years later I would still be talking about that record, because I felt it was something really good," Wynn says – brought the majors sniffing, and all six of the core bands were signed, often to ill effect. Only the Bangles broke through to the mainstream, and that took the involvement of Prince. |
| "He saw the video for Hero Takes a Fall and was just intrigued by the band," says Bangles guitarist Vicki Peterson. "He started showing up at shows. We'd find out after we left the stage and before we did the encore: 'Prince is here and he'd like to play with you.' OK, here's my guitar. At one point he presented us with a cassette tape of two songs – 'Here: do you want to record these?' And one of them was Manic Monday. We picked that song – it felt pretty Banglesish, like something we could have written. He said if we wanted to use the tracks we could just sing it. Well, thank you very much – but we'll rerecord it." | "He saw the video for Hero Takes a Fall and was just intrigued by the band," says Bangles guitarist Vicki Peterson. "He started showing up at shows. We'd find out after we left the stage and before we did the encore: 'Prince is here and he'd like to play with you.' OK, here's my guitar. At one point he presented us with a cassette tape of two songs – 'Here: do you want to record these?' And one of them was Manic Monday. We picked that song – it felt pretty Banglesish, like something we could have written. He said if we wanted to use the tracks we could just sing it. Well, thank you very much – but we'll rerecord it." |
| "He was a distant figure," Quercio says of the Three O'Clock's time on Paisley Park. "We met him once. He had opened up the Paisley Park studio complex in Minneapolis and had people come out. We all went to a party after his concert in Minneapolis. I remember being in a shuttle bus from the hotel to the party. I get on the bus, and it's me with George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Wendy and Lisa, and Apollonia. Everybody's very quiet and everybody's staring at me. Finally, Mavis Staples, who's sitting next to me, puts her hand on my knee and very nicely says: 'Who are you, honey?'" | "He was a distant figure," Quercio says of the Three O'Clock's time on Paisley Park. "We met him once. He had opened up the Paisley Park studio complex in Minneapolis and had people come out. We all went to a party after his concert in Minneapolis. I remember being in a shuttle bus from the hotel to the party. I get on the bus, and it's me with George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Wendy and Lisa, and Apollonia. Everybody's very quiet and everybody's staring at me. Finally, Mavis Staples, who's sitting next to me, puts her hand on my knee and very nicely says: 'Who are you, honey?'" |
| Griffin used to say of his and the other bands' chances of success: "I'd really like to be the one to make a million bucks and go platinum, but if I don't I'd just as soon it was you." And when the Bangles broke through, he hoped the Long Ryders might be pulled through on their coattails. It didn't happen, and for Peterson at least, the Bangles' success was a double-edged sword, thanks to "a combination of forces interior and exterior to the band". She fought to keep the group as a garage band and lost – "My bandmates didn't care and they wanted to change musically. The only record I can listen to is [the debut album] All Over the Place. And I thought that one was overdone." | Griffin used to say of his and the other bands' chances of success: "I'd really like to be the one to make a million bucks and go platinum, but if I don't I'd just as soon it was you." And when the Bangles broke through, he hoped the Long Ryders might be pulled through on their coattails. It didn't happen, and for Peterson at least, the Bangles' success was a double-edged sword, thanks to "a combination of forces interior and exterior to the band". She fought to keep the group as a garage band and lost – "My bandmates didn't care and they wanted to change musically. The only record I can listen to is [the debut album] All Over the Place. And I thought that one was overdone." |
| One by one, the groups disintegrated, as groups will. But all of them look back on that era with happiness, albeit in varying degrees. "I had a vague idea that maybe three, four, five of us would break through to the charts and we would be a noted scene in the way San Francisco had the Dead and the Airplane," Griffin says. "Of course, we didn't. I was wrong. I was a naive kid from Kentucky. But to this day, when somebody's talking about rock scenes, the Paisley Underground makes it." | One by one, the groups disintegrated, as groups will. But all of them look back on that era with happiness, albeit in varying degrees. "I had a vague idea that maybe three, four, five of us would break through to the charts and we would be a noted scene in the way San Francisco had the Dead and the Airplane," Griffin says. "Of course, we didn't. I was wrong. I was a naive kid from Kentucky. But to this day, when somebody's talking about rock scenes, the Paisley Underground makes it." |
| The Dream Syndicate perform The Days of Wine and Roses at Dingwalls, London, on 24 May. Go to Guardian.co.uk/music for an oral history of the Paisley Underground, told by the participants. | The Dream Syndicate perform The Days of Wine and Roses at Dingwalls, London, on 24 May. Go to Guardian.co.uk/music for an oral history of the Paisley Underground, told by the participants. |
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