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Los Angeles Scene · 1981–1991

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Sunset Strip

Active 1981–1991 Place Los Angeles Centred on The Whisky a Go Go and the Rainbow

In short

A mile and a half of Los Angeles where image counted as much as music, and both paid.

The scene

In the early 1980s the Strip's clubs ran on pay-to-play and flyers, and looking like a band was the first qualification for being one. Mötley Crüe and Ratt opened the way; between 1986 and 1990 the genre owned the American charts. It ended abruptly and completely: Nevermind arrived in 1991 and the same labels that had signed anything with hairspray stopped returning calls.

What happened