HOLLYWOOD EDEN

Vivid look at the burgeoning Los Angeles rock-and-roll scene of the late 1950s and early ’60s.

The exuberant music created by groups like the Beach Boys with upstart record producers like Phil Spector reflected “a time and place [that] felt like it had been made for teenagers,” asserts veteran rock writer Selvin. Far from the established music-business center in New York City, kids barely out of high school basically stumbled into the record-making process through their love for rhythm and blues and the growing sense that they were part of a special culture. Avatars of this culture identified in the first chapter include blond, handsome Jan Berry, a rebellious rich kid whose taste for fast cars would later be voiced in the songs of his duo, Jan and Dean; and his University High School classmate Kathy Kohner, whose ecstatic diary entries about breaking into the male-dominated world of surfing inspired her screenwriter father to write a bestselling novel (later made into a movie) titled with her nickname: Gidget.Berry and Kohner were among those who created a “modern mythology…unique to the inspirations and aspirations of California,” writes Selvin. Unfortunately, they are also only two of the deluge of names he showers on readers in the first few chapters—fly-by-night record companies, songwriters, A&R men, shady managers, et al.—in such abundance that only the most fanatical rock history aficionado could keep them all straight. The confusion eases as the narrative progresses through such paradigm-setting hits as “Surf City” and “He’s a Rebel,” and Selvin’s less-than-elegant prose works well to capture the seat-of-the-pants brio of California record production. As the political and cultural mood darkened in the mid-’60s, songs like “Eve of Destruction” reflected a new seriousness and curtailed the sun-and-fun phase of California rock. The author uses Berry’s cataclysmic 1966 car crash, followed by recovery to an altered, more limited life, as an emblematic finale.

Could be more lucidly presented, but Selvin’s depth of knowledge is impressive and his enthusiasm contagious.