Paisley Underground bands incorporated psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and guitar interplay, owing a particular debt to 1960s groups such as Love and the Byrds, but more generally referencing a wide range of pop and garage rock revival.
[1] The term "Paisley Underground" originated in late 1982, and took root with a comment made by Michael Quercio of the band the Three O'Clock, during an interview with the LA Weekly alternative newspaper.
[2] As the event was later reported: Quercio was close friends with Lina Sedillo who was the bass player with local punk band Peer Group, who had played on the same bill as The Salvation Army on occasion.
"[6][7] Green on Red came on as a cousin to the Doors; Rain Parade a melodic melding of Love, the Beatles, Big Star, and the Velvet Underground; the Long Ryders honored Gram Parsons and Buffalo Springfield; the Three O'Clock owed debt to the Bee Gees and the Monkees; the Bangles recalled the Mamas & the Papas, and so on.
[9] The Suspects were a Davis-based predecessor to Dream Syndicate, formed in 1979 by guitarist Steve Wynn and bassist Kendra Smith (who were both disc jockeys at college radio station KDVS at the time), with Russ Tolman on lead guitar and Gavin Blair on drums.
[10] When Wynn and Smith left for Los Angeles in 1981 and formed Dream Syndicate, Tolman and Blair remained in Davis and started up True West.
Quercio and Game Theory frontman Scott Miller co-wrote "The Girl with the Guitar (Says Oh Yeah)", a Paisley song described as timeless and poignant,[11][12] which first appeared on the Three O'Clock's Arrive Without Travelling.
[2] Although many of the Paisley Underground groups released at least one album on a major label, by far the most commercially successful band to emerge from the movement was the Bangles, who had several mainstream hits in the 1980s, reaching number 1 in the United States with the single "Walk Like an Egyptian" in 1986.
[17] In 2005, Rhino released Children of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era, 1976–1995, a four-CD box set which anthologized many Paisley Underground and related bands.
[21][22] The group played both weekends of Coachella, appeared on the late-night talk show Conan, embarked on a brief concert tour, and released several archival recordings.