Steve Berlin revisits Los Angeles during its most volatile creative period, the late 1970s and early 1980s, when rent was $170 a month and sewage regularly seeped into the Cathay de Grande, the basement club where Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs held their Monday night residency. Berlin recalls producing and playing on their newly reissued album Pigus Drinkus Maximus and joining Los Lobos after they’d spent years developing east of the LA River, completely off the west side scene’s radar. He also addresses the Graceland controversy head-on: Paul Simon’s failure to credit Los Lobos for writing the music to ‘All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints.’ Berlin also discusses his work with REM, producing Faith No More, and offers a moving tribute to Mavericks frontman Raul Malo.

Further information

Pigus Drunkus Maximus

Steve Berlin podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Steve Wynn – The Dream Syndicate, Matt Piucci – Rain Parade, John Cowsill and Vicki Peterson, Harold Bronson – founder of Rhino Records

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The post Gods Walking the Earth: Steve Berlin Remembers the LA Music Scene That Made Los Lobos and Top Jimmy appeared first on The Strange Brew .