Orange County is known for its awesome beaches and weather, theme parks, and hot TV shows like The OC and Laguna Beach.  But rock n’ roll?  You might be surprised, but OC’s rocking roots run deep.

Surfin’ 60s
Back in the early 60s, Dick Dale was King of Surf Guitar.  He wasn’t just playing notes like anyone else, he was wresting his sound from OC’s briny deep.  Playing sensations more than sounds, he replicated the power and adrenaline of shooting the curl.  The Chantays’ Pipeline was two minutes of bass, reverb and chords churning like the ocean.  They may have been a one-hit wonder, but Chantays Avenue near Santa Ana High still bears the group’s name.  Jan and Dean’s ode to the waves of world-famous Huntington Beach in Surf City has grown into such a legend, the city has adopted it as its theme song and nickname.  Still sweet on the salt air, Dean Torrence continues to call Huntington his home. 

70s Soul
Remember Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield?  Better known as The Righteous Brothers, these two blue-eyed soulsters grew up in Santa Ana and Anaheim, respectively.  With sticky sweet love anthems that spanned into the 70s (and into the 80s) like You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling and Unchained Melody, they proved that OC produces music all over the map.  In fact, Jackson Browne – the prototypical sensitive 70s singer-songwriter – spent his teenage years attending Sunny Hills High in Fullerton, where his father taught.  He got his musical start playing open-mike hoot nights at assorted OC coffeehouses.

Punk Reigns the 80s
One of the most popular bands to emerge during the late-70s/early-80s first wave of OC punk, Agent Orange – formed by 14-year-old Mike Palm – sounded distinctly Orange County.  Injecting Dick Dale-inspired surf-guitar licks and overt melody lines amidst the usual punk thrashiness, they were among the first to tap into the underground skateboard subculture, putting their music on skate videos.  But the highest of Orange County punk royalty is still the tattooed, greasy-haired front man of Social Distortion:  Fullerton-grown Mike Ness.  Social D is one of the most ambitious bands to ever spring out of OC, recording self-defining classics like The Creeps, Moral Threat, 1945 and Mommy’s Little Monster right here.  A whole slew of new classics have followed over the years.  Who doesn’t know Ball and Chain and Story of My Life?  And we’re pretty sure there’s no OC band that could sell out as many House of Blues shows as Social D still does every year. 

And the Beat Goes On
OC’s musical history keeps growing.  There’s The Offspring: the pop-punk group that sold kajillions of records and, along with Green Day, made punk safe for suburban shopping malls.  Huntington Beach-native thrash-and-burn rockers Korn got their start here.  Pop powerhouse Sugar Ray still calls the OC home.  And what about those crazy up-tempo ska acts?  By now, you probably know that No Doubt hails from Anaheim (of course, this was back in the day when Gwen Stefani was still a brunette).  But the OC’s also stomping grounds to two of the brightest, most entertaining, rock n’ rolling ska bands ever: The Aquabats and Reel Big Fish. 

Rock on, Orange County. We’ll keep listening.

Guitar Gurus: So where were world-famous rock guitars born?  The OC, of course.  Crafted by Fullerton-native Leo Fender, the Fender guitar had a unique sound that struck a chord in the heart of rock n’ roll.  It changed rock forever, becoming the instrument of choice by the likes of Dick Dale, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.  What’s more, OC’s also home to Santa Ana-based Rickenbacker guitars – the self-same guitars favored by The Byrds and The Beatles.

Other Rockin’ OC Natives:  Junior Watson, The Crowd, Tim Buckley, The Cadillac Tramps, Big Sandy, The Supertones, Something Corporate, Lit, Art Davis, Lee Rocker, Jose Feliciano, US Bombs, Ron D Core, The Moseleys, Farside, Zebrahead, Save Ferris, The Noise, The Adolescents, Bare No Witness, No Questions Asked, Skippys Bigwheel, TSOL, and The Vandals.