04/28/2026
Waitakere Walks
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Let's Head to the Rock Corporation
Can you believe this lineup from 1978 in VAN NUYS! Currently the location of a panel beater/body shop. Like Van Nuys needed another one! The Valley and punk. I remember a lot of shows at the Country Club and later at BeBop Records but that was the next era. So were the shows at Devonshire Downs and Godzillas. Technically, I lived closer to the Rock Corporation (great name that one!) than Fiberglass, but it would have been close as to who could bike there first. What was so great about first wave LA punk were all the weekend MATINEE shows! The Whiskey had them as well. What comes to mind when I think SFV punk hall of fame are the Dickies, Shock, FEAR, Bad Religion, RF7, Killroy, etc. What I don't think of when I think of Van Nuys are following folks heading there (intentionally): the Eyes, F-Word, Simpletones, Controllers, Plugz, X, Middle Class, Bags, Flesh Eaters, etc. Did the Germs play the Rock Corporation? Claude Bessy in the valley, please. Can any readers share what the venue was actually like.
Posted by Papa Jon at 4:31 PM
Labels: Bad Religion, Bags, Claude Bessy, Controllers, F-Word, Fear, Killroy, Middle Class, Plugz, RF7, Shock, Simpletones, the Dickies, the Eyes, The Flesh Eaters, the Rock Corporation, X
5 comments:
AnonymousAugust 19, 2014 at 6:45 PM
Great place. First gig I ever played, in Feb 77. "The Hotsh Band". Felt like a rock god!!!
Later as lead guitar/vocalist with the Hollywood Squares in July '78 and with the Firm (pre-Jimmy Page/Paul Rodgers ripoff of our name) in 1979,
For Dokken, the Knack, Rotters, and other great bands it was exposure, if not necessarily money (although I do remember getting something for the gig, maybe gas money home)..
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Papa JonAugust 25, 2014 at 3:59 PM
Thanks for writing in! Always wondered what that Hotsh Band 45 from 1976 was like?
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Danny RuizMay 14, 2016 at 10:03 PM
Hey, The Germs played the September 17th show. It was our (The Simpletones) first gig. The Rock Corp. had a bar, a big room and a tall stage. The sound guy was a hippie w/long hair. The chick that worked the door was 17 years old.
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roddyDecember 26, 2018 at 2:01 AM
We found a new home for Heavy Metal hard Rock not having to go over the hill to Starwood or Whisky.......Jeff Simons kind of a Biker opened up the club and was always there in his "Office" where he was either getting High or Getting or Both as the bands played....... My biggest Thrill was seeing Van Halen before the made it Super Big and Dokken Who I loved and house bands such as .......... Lots of Music most nights and lots of Chicks and Cheap booze and smoke.........
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AnonymousJune 5, 2023 at 9:00 PM
I remember someone getting stabbed to death there and cops were taking our IDs at the door and asking what we saw, heard, etc and the one cop was commenting about how young I was and then told me that I had beautiful eyes.. was strange times.. but at least he wasn’t rude to me like the cops at Starwood.. I was a punk so most cops didn’t like that back then.
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