weird scenes inside the canyon

Headpress Publications 'the Gospel according to unpopular culture' latest release looks to be an excellent tome of wierdness from the music scene and the subculture surrounding Laurel Canyon. A place that many entered but few made it to the end of the decade and the early 70's. The stories are legion but not too many books tackle a subject which is still surrounded in mythology, especially now many of the participants are no longer around to confirm or deny the stories that have come out of that hippie dream.
The last decent analysis, if that's what you could call it, was the rivetting 'Waiting For The Sun' by Barney Hoskyns which first came out in 1996. Pick that up if you ever see one.
Now David McGown's 'Wierd Scenes Inside The Canyon' promises an equally compelling view from the heart of rock and roll in those halcyon 5 or more years.

"Members of bands like the Byrds, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, the Monkees,the Beach Boys, the Turtles, the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Steppenwolf, CSN, Three Dog Night and Love,along with such singer/songwriters as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, James Taylor and Carole King, lived together and jammed together in the bucolic community nestled in the Hollywood Hills."

Get that.. "bucolic community". Well that 'pleasant aspect of the countryside and country life' didn't last long.

"there was a dark side to that scene as well. Many didn’t make it out alive, and many of those deaths remain shrouded in mystery to this day. Far more integrated into the scene than most would like to admit was a guy by the name of Charles Manson, along with his murderous entourage. Also floating about the periphery were various political operatives, up-and-coming politicians and intelligence personnel – the same sort of people who gave birth to many of the rock stars populating the canyon. And all the canyon’s colorful characters – rock stars,hippies, murderers and politicos – happily coexisted alongside a covert military installation."

"One of the strangest, most iconoclastic books ever written about music" and if that hasn't peaked your interest then the underground world of Headpress is not for you.

WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE CANYON - Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream is available now as an exclusive, pre-release special edition hardback only from here at Headpress

the underground

Underground music first arose in the 60's with the bands reflecting pretty much the hippie ideals of the time. They'd be unrecognised commercially and grew with a select word of mouth audience and small scale live venues, often free or low cost that could be as easily held on the back of a truck or spontaneously in a small local venue. Sometimes self promoted or just an individual with no intent of making a profit. In support was the birth of the underground press giving vent to views that could guide or reflect the audience.
This early underground scene was carried forward in a similar fashion during the punk of the late seventies with a different agenda but carried a similar aesthetic, ie, in small venues, voiced opinions both political and social in fanzines and independent records sold to dedicated and often localised audiences. All were non-commercial unless they transformed otherwise, which was often accompanied by the phrase "sell out".
It was repeated in later decades with disco records created by nightclub DJ's, hip hop "from the streets" and heavy metal.
It's probably fare to say the heavy metal underground is still the largest community. To support that view take one look at the metal underground website with over a 1000 groups registered from around the world and few you will have heard or heard of.
In April this year new psychedelic rock groups appeared in strong numbers at a festival in Austin Texas, few of which would be heard commercially.
Independent record labels dealing in nothing but vinyl for a particular genre appear to be growing due to internet availability and that may be making a level playing field of anything that's been seen as underground in the past. One click and an entire sub-genre opens up. No word of mouth required.
".. music now transmitted laterally and collaboratively via the internet. You once had a series of gatekeepers in the adoption of a trend: the innovator, the early adopter, the late adopter, the early mainstream, the late mainstream, and finally the conservative. But now it goes straight from the innovator to the mainstream."
The Independent.
Alternatively you're quite likely to find a piece of music on YouTube made with all the same credibility as anything Underground in previous decades but has only a small amount of plays due to it not having been found.
It appears the underground today is so vast it's just a matter of whether you've clicked the link.

Here's The Black Angels - 18 Years.
Genre : New Psychedelic rock, Garage rock, (use to be Underground)