THE LA ROCK SCENE OF THE 80'S

Matt Sorum (he was a short kid with wild curly blonde hair when I knew him in HS)

The problem with writing this is that…well…my memory of those years is really foggy. I no longer drink to the point of being intoxicated and I don’t use any drugs…but I have to admit I was a full-on party girl back in the day.

The three most famous clubs in LA are The Roxy, The Whiskey and The Troubadour. I can’t remember who I saw where or when or with whom…but I can say I had a great time! It was an exciting time in music for us here in So Cal. Here are a few bands I saw on “the scene”:

Guns N Roses

L.A. Guns

Skid Row

Kix

Ratt

Great White

Some of the guys I knew form high school got into the scene, and a few even made it big! It was very cool to seep people I knew show up on MTV videos and play on the radio! I’ve since lost track with all of these guys, but maybe you’ve heard of one or two of them:

Kenny Vera – vocals/guitar (don’t know what happened to him)

Ralph Saenz – vocals/guitar (is now with The Atomic Punks as DLR (it’s a Van Halen Tribute Band)

Scott Griffith – guitar (you know who he is if you read here, RIP Scott)

Paul Wilson drummer (drummer for??? Can’t remember!)

Matt Sorum drummer (went on to play drum with G&R and The Velvet Revolver)

Once after a show I got to meet Ratt and did a few tequila shooters with Steve Pearcey and got to hang out once with Robbin Crosby (RIP). At the time he was just another rocker that I met up with. It was fun to see him later and stake my claim to fame “I partied with that guy!”

I never met anyone from G n R but when I heard them the first time it was obvious they were way over the top as far as talent compared to most of the other bands out there Then of course there was Skid Row. I’m a female so to me Skid Row translates: Sebastian Bach. He was amazing to listen to and to look at!

I have to be honest, I was starting to pull away from the music scene a bit at this time, my tastes were changing and I found myself listening to more “down to earth” rock vs. the “sleaze glam rock” that played in these clubs. It was a fun time but eventually I moved on.