(Here’s a long post, but one that answers a lot of questions about our earliest prehistory … Many thanks to Steve Thorn for writing the following piece exactly 30 years ago and to Mikel Toombs for scanning and sending it to Che Underground: The Blog.)
“This is ‘The History of San Diego Rock ‘N’ Roll, Part One: A Sleeping Town Wakes Up’ by Steve Thorn, from Kicks #3,” Mikel writes. “11/1979. Perhaps Steve — I believe he now writes for San Diego Troubadour — can chime in with Part Two.”
“The only thing happening in San Diego County is Eno and closet homosexuality.” — Kim Fowley, quoted in Phonograph Record Magazine.
The above quote from Sunset Strip’s famous rock impresario is one of the many snide remarks that have been hurled at San Diego and its people for years. Fowley’ s comment is not the most famous barb, however; that distinction belongs to satirist Mort Sahl, who once said, “There are only two things to do in San Diego — visit the zoo or join the Navy.”
As a native San Diegan, I’ve beeh buried over the years with comments made by immigrants to the county, telling me that San Diego has shallow musIcal roots, particularly in rock ‘n’ roll. A little research into the city’s musical past, however, reveals this is not the case at all.
