Good Morning!
Today we’re listening to “Walking In L.A.” by Missing Persons
1997: 25 years ago next month, my company sent me to new hire training in Los Angeles.
The 3 of us from Portland made friends in class, and one night, a local guy took us on a driving tour of the city. It was late(ish), but we couldn't figure out why the streets were empty. When I asked, he just said, "man, no one walks here." and laughed. Fair enough.
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1979: Almost 20 years before that, Dale and Terry Bozzio met and married after meeting while working with Frank Zappa. Guitarist Warren Cuccurullo worked with Zappa on his Joe's garage record and met the couple. Two became 3, and Missing persons were born. The band convinced Cuccurullo's father to finance their first EP and recorded it at Zappa's studio. The trio first used session musicians to flesh out their sound before later adding bassist Patrick O'Hearn and keyboardist Chuck Wild, and three became 5
Two years after recording that first EP, the band signed with Capitol and re-released the EP, selling ~250000 units. They then went back into the studio; the result being was 1982's "Spring Session M," an anagram of "Missing Persons" (heh).
Released in October of 1982, the record peaked at #17 on the Billboard 200 and ultimately went Gold. It also spawned four singles: "Words," "Windows," "Destination Unknown, "and my favorite, "Walking In L.A."
Like many bands, Missing Persons burned bright and burned fast; The Bozzios divorced, and Cuccurullo went on to spend over 15 years with Duran Duran. He will be included when the band is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month
2022: Missing Persons' most significant legacy might be how underrated they are and how many other bands/artists they've influenced over the years. I recently picked up a copy of the record. Listening to it again, I found myself listing off artists standing on their shoulders.
And of course, even today, nobody walks in L.A.
More:
Of course the top track goes to the legendary Walking In L.A., a song propelled to attention from the bands famous sped-up performance of the track at the ill-fated US Festivals in 1983. Although the track is noticeably slower on the album, that doesn't diminish the quality of the Rock on display. The guitar playing is still fierce, the drumming is still heavy, and Dale's vocals still bring energy.
Read the rest of the review here.
Listen:
“Walking In L.A.” by Missing Persons| Spring Session M, 1982
Click the record to listen on your platform of choice.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this track!
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Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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Nice song, but I really like the story you tell with it.
Just got around to listening to this Kevin, I'd never heard of Missing Persons but I like it. As you say you can definitely hear some onward influences (from a song recorded back in '82) and, if nothing else, going by their Artist picture on Spotify they definitely had an impact on Duran Duran's choice of hairstyles! Tim