Underground Music Cultures and Music-Making in Los Angeles: 'Imaginary Cities' [Hardcover]

This book focuses on the relationships between underground urban music cultures in Los Angeles and specific urban imaginaries related to music practices, far away and sometimes in stark opposition to the commodified image of the city crafted by urban planners and associated urban stakeholders. Rather than this commodified city, and the imaginary city of the mind, it examines the accidental, tangential life of a mirage. The city that appears in the distance is one that is formed by songs and music-making. The book shows how counter urban imaginaries emerge and are performed through diverse underground music making practices, giving rise to alternative ways of seeing the city.

Introduction: 'Imaginary Cities', a Methodological Approach to Study Music Cultures and Associated Music-Making Practices in a City Context; S?bastien Darchen, Damien Charrieras and John Willsteed.- L.A and the Psychedelic Scene of the 1960s; Marek Jezinski.- How L.A Defined the Punk Scene - An interview with Patricia Morrison; John Willsteed.- The Gun Club: Cosmopolitanism, Decadence and the 'Outsider' Persona in the Contemporary City; S?bastien Darchen.- Interview with Hudley Flipside: Music, Magazines in Los Angeles, 1979-1989; John Willsteed.- California Deathrock Music Culture: Origins and Evolution - Interview with Jenn Bats; S?bastien Darchen.- The Paisley Underground: The Mythic Scene and Los Angeles Legacy of the Neopsychedelic 80s; Leonard Nevarez.- Lost Angeles: Slayer's Imaginary Hell City; Mark Kammerbauer.- 'Comin' out the slums! It's da hoodlums': South Gates Cypress Hill and the Struggle to Survive Los Angeless Transformation into a Global City; Victor Hugo Viesca.- Heroin Narratives and Outlaw Images of Punk Rock and Alternative Rock Musicians in Los Angeles; Melanie Ptatscheck.- Bad Attitude: Music Culture in L.A - Interview with Chris Morris; John Willsteed.- Rock Music, Los Angeles, and Old(er) Age: Following Lines of Flight; Michael W. Pesses.-l“8