The state, it seemed, was as fertile in electric guitars as it was in fruits and vegetables. And certain California bands forged in the ’80s (Faith No More, Metallica), were still active, even if Metallica wasn’t good anymore. Mainstream-metal derivations, whether rigidly defiant in the form of Rage Against the Machine or coiled loosely in the form of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was California to the core, as were later metal outfits with heavier moods like Korn and the Deftones.

Pop-punk titans like Green Day, Blink-182, and the Offspring? All Californian.

As rock began to fracture permanently in the wake of Nirvana, it could seem as if a Golden State pedigree was the only thing tying the genre together.

The grunge-infested scrublands of the Pacific Northwest have been well-charted by historians, but then again, California, more diffuse and various, was rock’s true epicenter at the end of history. It’s no exaggeration to claim that the lion’s share of major ’90s rock music came from the West Coast.

Incubus band music