Novels from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s
I wrote Mountain View in the late 90s while living in San Francisco. I recently came across some old photos in a box, taken from the window of the room where I used to write.
I left SF in 2000. All my friends were moving away (mostly to the East Bay or Brooklyn) and the place was really starting to change.
I really do miss 80s/90s SF sometimes! What an incredible time and place.
Miss the N Judah!
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I woke up this morning thinking about SF Bay Area radio in the 80s and how I discovered new music. When I was younger, I mostly listened to the rock station KOME (don’t touch that dial, there’s KOME on it!”). I was in 7th grade and listening to KOME on December 8, 1980 when it was announced that John Lennon had been shot.
KQAK “The Quake” launched in 1982 with a new format that consisted of new wave, punk rock, post-punk, reggae and ska—one of the first commercial stations in the country to play this kind of music. A buddy and I used to drive up to San Francisco early in the morning to be part of the studio audience for the morning show with Alex Bennett. I first heard bands like The Smiths and The English Beat on KQAK.
Sadly The Quake went off the air in 1985, but by then I had started listening to KFJC, a college station based at Foothill College, that would play, literally, anything. I discovered so much punk rock through that station and learned about so many local $5 shows–Dead Kennedys, Butthole Surfers, Red Hot Chili Peppers. I was listening to KFJC in 1989 when I first heard Negative Creep by Nirvana. I immediately drove down to the Mountain View Tower Records and bought Bleach on vinyl. I managed to see Nirvana in 1990 at the Kennel Club in San Francisco (along with Tad and Dickless).
Those years and those sounds ended up shaping the world of my novel Mountain View.
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Mountain View is set during the summer of 1988. That same year I walked into The Starving Musician in Santa Clara and bought a Fender Mustang and this Boss DS-1 to use in the garage/punk band I was playing in.
A year later Kurt Cobain would make that same combo famous on Bleach. I managed to see Nirvana in SF at the Kennel Club in 1990 when they came through with Tad and Dickless. Full set here:
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Toward the end of Mountain View there is a section describing a short movie I saw in elementary school called Paddle To The Sea.
I’ve been surprised by how many people have commented about the Paddle To The Sea section. Mostly Gen X folks. So maybe the movie was more widespread than I thought. The movie was originally made in 1966 and I probably saw it in second grade in the mid-70s.
Have you seen it? Did it make a big impression on you? I really captured my imagination at the time and I still think it’s pretty great.
The movie is on YouTube:
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I had a lot of fun working on the cover designs with Geoffrey Bunting. I wanted them to be inspired by and refence some of my favorite punk rock covers from the 80s.
Did you know that Grant Hart of Husker Du designed the cover of Hootenanny?
I was really into Mattel Football (first released in 1977) when I was a kid, and featured it pretty heavily on page 36 of Mountain View. And I still have it today!
Funny thing is, reading it now I realize I was talking about Football II (the green one, released in 1978) which also had reverse. My buddy had that one.
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The word “Coke” appears 20 times in Mountain View and 17 of those are for the drink.
The Faction is my favorite Bay Area skate punk band. Dark Room with Let’s Go Get Cokes came out in 1985 and I’ve had it in my collection ever since! Steve Caballero rhythm guitar! Artwork by Lance Mountain!
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