Paisley Underground

[holyzombiejesus]

Wikipedia says... Paisley Underground is a subgenre of jangle pop[1][2] that originated from California. It was particularly popular in Los Angeles, reaching a peak in the mid 1980s. Paisley Underground bands incorporated psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and guitar interplay, owing a particular debt to 1960s groups such as Love and the Byrds, but more generally referencing a wide range of pop and garage rock revival.

I say... Got a compilation today where 4 of the PU bands (Bangles, Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate and The Three O'Clock) cover each other's songs and it got me thinking about the songs and bands I particularly liked. Mostly Opal and Rain Parade stuff like Harriet Brown and You Are My Friend. Roback rules this school. I was never really taken with the Three O'Clock and know next to nothing about the Bangles outside of their hits. Would like recommendations though....

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

Dunnooo about this scene all that much but Scott Miller's Game Theory were apparently very loosely associated with this whole kind of scene (according to wikipedia at least) and he/they is/are one of my favourite guitarry power pop artists of all time ever. so I might check out some recommendations.

[MidnightShambler]

Dream Syndicate are fucking great, although for some reason the album Medicine Show is really hard to find, it's not on any streaming services and I've never found it in a shop. Although to be fair I haven't exhausted every avenue, you could probably buy it online without much trouble. It's got their best song on it 'Bullet With My Name On It', which is just fantastic.

Thin White Rope are my favourite band of the scene though. Check out 'Moonhead', that's probably the best introduction to them.

[McChesney Duntz]

I was going to plump for Game Theory as well. Their main connection to the whole Paisley Underground thing was via Miller's long-time friendship and occasional collaboration with The Three O'Clock's Michael Quercio (who produced their Distortion EP and became an official member of GT in their final, terminal days; Miller also wrote one of the best songs on The Three O'Clock's Arrive Without Travelling LP, which is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYrLvlGewA), as well as simple geographical proximity to most of those bands (GT emerged from the same Davis, CA scene that produced Thin White Rope; Miller was also pretty tight friends with the Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn as well, now that I think of it). Yeah, pretty great stuff, and a bit of a personal hero - Miller's suicide five years ago fucking devastated me in ways that few rock 'n' roll deaths have. But that's as may be. (I recommend GT's The Big Shot Chronicles as a good way in, followed by the fucking awesome sprawl of Lolita Nation, which - ahem - I bloviate upon at insensate length right here - https://whambinobotmach2.blogspot.com/2016/03/retreatretrieve-1-lo-lee-ta-nay-shun.html.)

If you're looking for further material by most of the already-mentioned individuals (with Roback taking the lead), 1984's Rainy Day album is pure PU blisskrieg, and hey, look, it's on the YouTube in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui2VjVqgM_U

And as for the Syndicate's Medicine Show, this may well not work outside of the States, but here's a playlist in the event that it does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5Og-DnwgvI&list=PL1xzVxfhZAvmyqujPhVLIYNPZEduyryQQ

Oh, and for what it's worth, Opal's Happy Nightmare Baby is one of my favorite records of any description from the whole of the eighties. Not much else exists officially by them, but there's a pretty swell bootleg or two out there if you're so inclined.

And the best Bangles album by some distance is their first, All Over The Place. And Sixteen Tambourines by the Three O'Clock is pretty awesome, if, y'know, a bit twee.

[Neomod]

I bought a couple of the Rain Parade albums at the time. No Easy Way Down is a slow burn banger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNT9XuyrPIk

Oh and the Going Down to Liverpool 12"

[McChesney Duntz]

Off subject: Neomod, your avatar tag raised a smile - I, too, always thought that's what Su Tissue was actually singing.