01 HAIM: Los Angeles, 2020
Los Angeles fascinates people, attracts them and swallows them. “Los Angeles, give me a miracle, I just want out from this”, begins the song of the Haim sisters, born and raised in the San Fernando Valley northwest of LA. Their hometown is identity-forming and yet overwhelming, to leave them and still be happy his remains a dream.
02 BRUCE & TERRY: Summer Means Fun, 1964
Future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston and aspiring producer Terry Melcher were riding the surf sound wave. A few years later, Melcher would refuse to get Charles Manson a record deal. The rejected man eventually sent his murderous family to Melcher’s former home on Cielo Drive in August 1969.
03 LANA DEL REY: Venice Bitch, 2018
From Malibu and the surf sounds head south to Venice Beach and the port of Marina del Rey. A scene in a summery, melancholic atmosphere, in which the songs of the LA noir icon Lana play out.
04 BOBBY WOMACK: “Across 110th Street,” 1973
Like Del Rey, the song “Across 110th Street” actually hails from the East Coast (across 110th Street in Manhattan is Harlem). But it’s transformed into a West Coast song since it rode the streets of LA at night on Pam Grier’s lips on the soundtrack to Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.
05 KENDRICK LAMAR: Alright, 2015
Continue to Compton, home of Kendrick Lamar, the NWA heir. The district is considered one of the most dangerous places in the United States. This track became the anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement.
06 BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD: For What It’s Worth, 1966
Back to 1966 and the Sunset Strip Curfew Riots. Hippies protested that a curfew was supposed to stop the unbridled partying and clashed with the police. Stephen Stills was inspired by this for this song.
07 MOTLEY CRUE: “Girls Girls Girls”, 1987
Just around the corner from the club, on a side street, the members of Mötley Crüe ransacked an apartment in the 1980s. If you follow Sunset Boulevard northeast, you will reach the Chateau Marmont, scene of many rock star extravaganzas.
08 EAGLES: Hotel California, 1976
At the Eagles’ Hotel California, the traveler becomes a prisoner. The legendary city is like a suction: “This could be Heaven or this could be Hell.”
09 THE BYRDS: I Wasn’t Born To Follow, 1968
The desire to escape, to live independently and freely, remains. With the leitmotif of the road movie “Easy Rider” one dreams of the picturesque countryside, but initially only ends up in the Hollywood Hills.
10RYAN GOSLING: City of Stars, 2016
With the view over the city and the Hollywood sign in the back, the anonymous juggernaut becomes a very personal sea of stars. “Is this the start of something wonderful and new?/ Or one more dream that I cannot make true?” sings Ryan Gosling in “La La Land”.