4 Albums About California That Aren’t by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

If you’ve got a lot of love for California or plan on kicking off a road trip to the Golden State, you’ll need a solid playlist of California-centric tunes. These four albums are some of the best records about California you’ll find, and they don’t include Red Hot Chili Peppers’s whole discography. 

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Let’s dive in! You might just find your new favorite album.

1. ‘Hotel California’ by Eagles

Well, we couldn’t leave Hotel California by Eagles off of this list. It’s essential. This iconic rock album was released in 1976 and is probably Eagles’ most well-known work globally. The whole of this record is a concept album about what it was like to relocate to Los Angeles in the 1970s, and it’s not entirely positive. 

Much of this record is a love letter to the city, but songs like “Victim Of Love” and “New Kid In Town” paint a picture of the more sordid, difficult aspects of Los Angeles.

2. ‘L.A. Woman’ by The Doors

This has to be one of the most classic albums about California of the 20th century. L.A. Woman by The Doors was released in 1971, and there isn’t a blues rock album out there quite like it. This album is a certified ode to California, the lifestyle that comes with it, and the dirt and grime of the city’s underbelly. This record just sounds like the 1970s.

3. ‘Suffer’ by Bad Religion

Nothing’s more California-oriented than classic hardcore punk. This melodic hardcore record was released in 1988 and is one of Bad Religion’s greatest pieces of work. Suffer is a standard in punk rock history, and even though it didn’t chart that well upon its release, it is still considered one of the most important punk records of all time.

4. ‘Pet Sounds’ by The Beach Boys

Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys is so much more than another entry on our list of albums about California. It’s one of the most important musical works of the 20th century. Not only has it become The Beach Boys’ most lauded work, but it’s also one of the most influential albums in the history of rock music. 

Songs like “Surfin’ USA” and “California Girls” are considered some of The Beach Boys’ more California-leaning tunes, but the whole vibe of Pet Sounds is more California than any of their other works.

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