BLACK HISTORY MONTH: ROCK AND ITS REDEEMERS

As we assess the impact of the wildfires in L.A., we consider the extraordinary musical heritage of the city, and the many musicians and musical institutions affected by this disaster. And as we prepare our Black History Month special issue, the historically Black neighborhoods of Altadena and environs that were ravaged by the Eaton fire are close to our hearts.

Los Angeles music figures prominently in our BHM special, which ponders the history of rock & roll through a Black-music lens. As recent experience has reminded us, we must be vigilant in preserving the historical record.

In this excerpt from last year's issue, we revisit the story of a vital figure in the history of L.A. punk, as told by writer Zach Rabiroff.

Glen “Spot” Lockett's career began with a riot. It was 1979, and Lockett was at an outdoor show for L.A. punks Black Flag at Polliwog Park in the South Bay seaside town of Manhattan Beach. Lockett had been playing occasional gigs as the bassist for the group (then called Panic) for the better part of a year, killing time between freelance writing assignments and low-wage service jobs, but it was on that afternoon that he first saw the band’s music drive the crowd into a rolling boil, and all hell break loose.

As Black Flag kept playing, and the audience kept fighting, Lockett had only one thought, as he would recall in an address to the Red Bull Music Academy: “I got to record this band before they get killed.” It was one of those destiny-defining moments that musicians are powerless to resist, and it would set Lockett on the path to becoming the foremost producer of the Los Angeles punk scene—and a figure whose influence extended to such artists as Nirvana, Green Day, Rancid and far beyond.

It was a surprising turn of events for a 29-year-old Los Angeles kid, who just a few years earlier had been listening to synth-heavy prog-rock groups like Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Even more surprising, looking back from our vantage point 44 years later, is the fact that the man who would become the formative record producer of a quintessentially white music scene was Black. But it was typical of Lockett, who over the next two decades would come to shape the sound and style of the genre that would take on the name of hardcore. Lockett’s work would be a bridge from the inclusive, diverse influences of his youth into the grunge, punk-pop and college rock scenes that would color the countercultures of the coming years. Paradoxically though, his work would also be one of the first steps in segmenting and siloing the punk scene, making that kind of musical diversity ever harder to find.

Read the rest here.