Question: What do all these songs have in common:
- La Cienega Just Smiled - Ryan Adams
- Melrose - Tangerine Dream
- Hollywood - Thin Lizzy
- Lost in Hollywood - System of a Down
- Ventura Highway - America
Answer: They are all songs about roads in Los Angeles.
But why do so many people write about roads in Los Angeles?
It could be because Los Angeles is a wonderful place and people have such good memories of it that they want to write a song.
As we know from previous visits (http://sevenflagsovertexas.me/index.php/blog2/item/62-in-and-out-and-about-in-la) Los Angeles, and California in general, has long had a love affair with the motor vehicle. The reason why In-N-Out and other drive through fast food places became popular is largely to do with the fact that everyone was driving wherever they went. So its not really surprising that when someone thinks of Los Angeles they think of a road.
So with decades of cars and roads you would imagine that Los Angeles would have a really well designed road system that gets people quickly and easily to where they want to be. Perhaps it would be busy in the morning and evening rush hours, just like it is in other large cities, but otherwise stress free allowing one to drive happily in one’s convertible to somewhere like Santa Monica beach.
Sadly this is far from the truth. Having now driven through Los Angeles at most times of the day and night I can confirm that the main roads are permanently jammed. The above picture shows the scene in Northern LA at 6:30am. Admittedly this could have been down to rush hour but the situation never changed for the 2 hours it took to get through to freedom on the south side around Anaheim (home of Disneyland).
Its no surprise that marijuana is available in California for medicinal purposes. How else can residents of LA get through a week of driving to and from work in this traffic? And, like Houston, there’s no chance of walking (unless for a drunken bet).
So the conclusion is that Adams, Froese, Lynott, Tankian and Bunnell all wrote those songs while they were stuck in traffic.
I suppose there are some benefits to LA traffic then.
Sunday, February 13, 2011