California music, or music bred in California as a historic phenomenon, connotes something so specific and so varied at the same time that music itself wouldn’t be the same without the Golden State. It should be noted that California isn’t actually a word in Spanish but a word used to describe a place (a state of mind) in song. The lore is well-established, but it’s wild looking back to see how wide a swath of sounds and styles have been created by bands from California. Simultaneously freaky and dark, light and sunshine-derived. As a native myself, I have to remind myself that my state gave birth to both The Beach Boys AND NWA, Fleetwood Mac AND Rage Against the Machine. This is part of what makes Cali magic. You can see a clear call and response, an equal yin and yang reaction to previous musical movements, throughout the decades and often born within miles of each other.

Sly Stone — Medley

For instance, Sly Stone was a true California pioneer, merging soul, rock and funk together with joints like “Everyday People” and “Dance” (check here performed as a medley). He would eventually blow some minds at Woodstock but he was all Northern California. His counterparts Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and others also fused the blues with their own brand of jams. Down south in Los Angeles basin, Surf City and Malibu developed the iconic surf guitar and pet sounds of The Beach Boys, Dick Dale and The Surfaris. It wasn’t long before Laurel Canyon inspired Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young as well as The Eagles to brand California yet again. (The Eagles would single-handedly brand the state as a place of mystical, dreamlike qualities with their song “Hotel California.”) The late 70s evolved the sound yet again with punk and hardcore, all with a unique California twist. Dead Kennedys even made an anthem, “California Uber Alles” (see video) a middle-finger salute to then governor Jerry Brown and his brand of hippy fascism, or to what then frontman Jello Biafra felt his generation should rebel against.

The Eagles – “Hotel California”

Dead Kennedys – “California Uber Alles”

The period calmed down into pop domesticity with pop-punk as well-known as The Go-Gos and Oingo Boingo. Just as suddenly, a hair metal revolution took the Sunset Strip with bands as varied as Van Halen and Poison. Yet in another corner of LA, the ’80s was heralding a growth in DIY funk and body music, paving the way for acts like N.W.A. and LA-based hip-hop (an explosion in gangster memes) in the ’90s. This spirit led to opening doors for hybrids like The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction to take the stage, with no rules as their primary force. N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton” and ode to their slice of the Golden State still makes the grade as a seminal piece of California ephemera.

N.W.A. — “Straight Outta Compton”

By the time the aughts (00s) rolled around, everything was fair game and acts like Rage Against the Machine were bringing as much noise as Digital Underground offshoot Tupac, even then notorious for his Cali-centric flossing. Jane’s Addiction continued to wander across lines, while Weezer and Beck confused audiences with their amorphous genres that have since become uniquely California. More recently, mainstay quasi-villages like Silverlake have become fertile creative land for bands, producers and performers of every shade. One that took its name from a central liquor store (since renamed) and went on to huge success was the Silversun Pickups. While the business of music may have taken some harsh blows in the last decade, California seems to continue its musical legacy by attracting and nurturing talent.

Silversun Pickups — “Panic Switch”

Our friends at K-Swiss have taken it upon themselves, as a California company (born in 1966, a local heyday for music), to initiate April 2010 as the innaugural California Music Month. Coinciding with the launch of the Vintage California Classics, the sneaker that was first developed in the 60s. The brand will be working with rock historians at Rhino.com hosting classic albums, songs and giveaways. In celebration, we’re serving up a few finds we made of some classic performance videos from seminal California Classic artists. We look forward to what April has to offer.