Co-founding Mazzy Star and Rain Parade member David Roback died five years ago today, February 24, 2020. Roback passed away at age 61 after a battle with cancer.
Roback first gained attention with the retro-psychedelic band The Rain Parade. The group was part of the 1980s Los Angeles scene known as the Paisley Underground, which spawned such other 1960s-influened acts as The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate, Green on Red, and The Three O’Clock.
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Roback played guitar, and shared lead-vocal and songwriting duties in The Rain Parade. In 1983, shortly after the band released its debut album, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip, David left to form a new group with Dream Syndicate bassist/singer Kendra Smith.
That band, which also featured drummer Keith Mitchell, initially was called Clay Allison, but eventually changed its name to Opal.
In 1984, Roback also oversaw a 1984 covers album called Rainy Day that featured various members of the aforementioned Paisley Underground bands. The album included songs by the Buffalo Springfield, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, and Big Star.
While Opal was touring in support of its 1987 debut album, Happy Nightmare Baby, Smith quit the band. Hope Sandoval was brought on as the new lead singer, and the group was soon rechristened Mazzy Star.
With Sandoval fronting the group and co-writing songs with Roback, Mazzy Star created dreamy, folk- and psychedelic-influenced indie-pop songs. The band enjoyed its biggest success with its second album, So Tonight That I Might See (1993). The record featured the group’s most popular tune “Fade into You.”
Known for his reclusiveness, Roback only worked sporadically during the last decade or so of his life.
In commemoration of the anniversary of his passing, here are four great songs from Roback’s various musical projects:
“I Look Around” – The Rain Parade (1983)
Roback wrote and sang “I Look Around,” one of the many psych-rock gems on Emergency Third Rail Power Trip. The song features David’s song, dreamy vocals and showcased lead guitarist Matt Piucci hypnotic riffs.
“All Souls” – Kendra Smith, David Roback, Keith Mitchell (Opal) (1984)
In 1984, Roback, Smith, and Mitchell released an EP under their own names titled Fell from the Sun. The four-song collection featured four melodic tunes that veered from delicate acoustic folk to dreamy psychedelia. One of the tracks, “All Souls,” co-written by Roback and Smith, is an eerily beautiful acoustic love song.
“Happy Nightmare Baby” – Opal (1987)
By the time Opal released its debut album, the band had developed a heavier, slightly edgier psychedelic-rock sound. Happy Nightmare Baby’s title track, also co-written by Roback and Smith, finds David channeling the fluid slide-guitar style of The Doors’ Robby Krieger.
The song’s keyboard lines, meanwhile, are clearly influenced by The Doors’ Ray Manzarek.
“Fade into You” – Mazzy Star (1993)
“Fade into You” marked the pinnacle of Mazzy Star’s success, and remains popular to this day.
The hypnotic indie-pop song about unrequited love was co-written by Roback and Sandoval. It reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Alternate Airplay chart and No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The popularity of “Fade into You” helped propel Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See to No. 36 on the Billboard 200. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA in 1995 for sales of more than 1 million in the U.S.
“Fade into You” has been used in many TV shows and movies, including Starship Troopers, American Horror Story, True Blood, CSI: NY, Desperate Housewives, Gilmore Girls, American Honey, and Burlesque.