Songs About Los Angeles: The Ultimate LA Playlist

The City of Angels has long been the source of great songs. The boulevards, blocks and canyons of Los Angeles have been the inspiration, both lived and imagined for countless artists from N.W.A. to the Eagles, Jan & Dean to Joni Mitchell.

This city fascinates from afar. Whether you have only dreamed of LA, you’ve lived there or just visited, it is a city that gets under your skin. Somewhere between dream and reality, songs have been forged in the city and about it. Music Landmarks like Doug Weston’s Troubadour, recording studios like Sunset Sound, even the smog above LA have become part of the musical story.

This curated playlist of Los Angeles songs brings those diverse strands together. I have built, what I hope is a playlist of LA songs that mix the old and new, spanning the vinyl era of the Flying Burrito Brothers to the cassette era of N.W.A. and beyond.

Set beside my companion New York songs playlist, the difference between the two coasts is immediately clear. Where New York arrives in song as urgency, steel, and rapid-fire ambition, Los Angeles arrives in a softer, stranger light—a place of fractured myths, endless horizons, and gorgeous disillusionment. Two iconic American cities, two different vibes.

So kick back, grab a drink and enjoy the songs whilst I share some of the stories behind the ultimate Los Angeles soundtrack.

Songs with "L.A." or "Los Angeles" in the Title: The Direct Anthems

To capture the true essence of the city, we must start with the tracks that put the location directly on the label. These are the records that address the myth of the metropolis head-on, balancing celebratory pop with the underlying strangeness of the West Coast.

“I Love L.A.” – Randy Newman (1983)

Perhaps no song carries the visual depth of the city quite like Randy Newman’s satirical masterpiece from Trouble in Paradise (1983). While the roaring chorus has turned it into a stadium anthem, Newman’s trademark irony runs deep. He sketches a sun-drenched, top-down drive through the micro-neighbourhoods of Glendale, Century City, and the South Central streets, celebrating the superficial glamour of the city while quietly nodding to the underlying friction of the era. It is a cinematic postcard painted in brilliant, complicated colours.

“Drinking in L.A.” – Bran Van 3000 (1997)

The beauty of the Los Angeles myth is that it is often projected most vividly by outsiders. Bran Van 3000 were not an LA band at all; they were a loose, multilingual collective from Montreal, but they captured the absolute essence of West Coast drift. The track came from a literal image: James Di Salvio waking up face down on a manicured Hollywood lawn after a heavy night in West Hollywood, forgetting what on earth he was doing there. It catches the city at its most hungover, beautiful, and faintly absurd.

“City of the Angels” – Bill Withers (1976)

Featured on Naked & Warm (1976), Bill Withers brings a warm, laid-back soul perspective to the city’s complex geography. Written during a transitional period in his career, the track captures the feeling of arriving in Los Angeles with nothing but expectations, searching for the warmth of the “L.A. lady” while navigating the massive freeway sprawl. Withers’ organic groove grounds the city, making the intimidating metropolis feel deeply human.

The Vinyl Era: Canyon Folk and Sunset Strip Rock (1967–1984)

This is the historic heart of The Vinyl Historian. Between the late sixties and the mid-eighties, physical constraints shaped an explosion of creativity. These tracks capture the legendary acoustic and electric movements that turned hillside cabins and historic clubs into sacred ground.

“Love Street” – The Doors (1968)

A gentle, pastoral detour from the dark psychedelia of Waiting for the Sun (1968). Jim Morrison wrote “Love Street” about Rothdell Trail—the quiet residential road situated directly behind the Laurel Canyon Country Store. Morrison and Pamela Courson lived in a small bungalow there, watching the local bohemian characters drift by. When Morrison sings of the “store where the creatures meet,” he is paying tribute to the physical hub of the canyon scene. It is a gorgeous, sunlit snapshot of old Laurel Canyon.

“Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)” – The Mamas & The Papas (1968)

Originally released as a single in 1967 before appearing on The Papas & The Mamas (1968), this track documents the literal migration of folk-rock nobility into the Hollywood Hills. John Phillips wrote the lyric to contrast the dark, damp streets of New York with the airy, redwood-scented promise of Laurel Canyon. With its soaring, symphonic harmonies, the track serves as a historical gateway into the peaceful, communal atmosphere that defined the late-sixties West Coast sound.

“Ladies of the Canyon” – Joni Mitchell (1970)

The title track of her landmark album Ladies of the Canyon (1970) is a brilliant piece of acoustic folklore. Joni Mitchell lived at 8217 Lookout Mountain Avenue, and this song serves as a domestic portrait of her neighbours—women who baked bread, made pottery, and kept the bohemian flame alive in the hills. Through Mitchell’s intricate guitar tunings and soaring vocal, the canyon becomes more than a place; it becomes a state of mind that still echoes through the hills today.

“Blue Jay Way” – The Beatles (1967)

Written on a Hammond organ in a rented home high in the Hollywood Hills, George Harrison’s contribution to Magical Mystery Tour (1967) is a masterpiece of jetlagged disorientation. Harrison was waiting for publicist Derek Taylor, who had become hopelessly lost in the thick, swirling fog creeping up from the Pacific. The track’s heavy, psychedelic phasing perfectly captures the eerie, surreal atmosphere of the hills at twilight. The house itself carries another layer of pop folklore; it is the same residence where Simon & Garfunkel tracked the legendary handclap rhythm for “Cecilia”.

“For What It’s Worth” – Buffalo Springfield (1966)

While often treated as a broad protest standard, Stephen Stills wrote this track as a direct, highly localized response to the Sunset Strip curfew unrest of late 1966. When local businesses and police attempted to shut down the youth-dominated nightlife along the Strip, clashes erupted outside Pandora’s Box. The track is tied to a real stretch of Sunset Boulevard, capturing the exact moment when the youth culture of Los Angeles began to push back against the old guard.

“Bad Night at the Whiskey” – The Byrds (1969)

Taken from Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969), this heavy, claustrophobic track directly addresses the tense, post-riot atmosphere surrounding Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip. The Byrds, who had helped establish the Strip’s folk-rock dominance, find themselves looking at the scene as it began to turn dark, paranoid, and commercialized. It is a crucial transition record, marking the end of the peace-and-love era.

“The Sad Cafe” – Eagles (1979)

Closing out The Long Run (1979), “The Sad Cafe” is Don Henley’s elegiac tribute to The Troubadour and Dan Tana’s restaurant, the physical spaces that nurtured the Eagles’ early careers. It is a retrospective look at a vanished era; the clubs are still standing, but the bright, innocent feeling that once united the singer-songwriter community has been worn down by fame, excess, and time. It is the sound of the seventies turning to grey.

“Walking On Sunset” – John Mayall (1968)

British blues pioneer John Mayall visited Los Angeles in 1968, fell in love with the geography, and never went back. He recorded Blues from Laurel Canyon (1968), a conceptual album documenting his relocation. “Walking On Sunset” features the driving, propulsive keyboard work of Mayall alongside Mick Taylor’s fluid blues guitar, capturing the raw excitement of an outsider navigating the historic venues and neon signs of the Strip for the first time.

“Surf City” – Jan & Dean (1963)

Co-written by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, “Surf City” is the ultimate expression of early sixties Southern California optimism. Released on Surf City and Other Swingin’ Cities (1963), its famous “two girls for every boy” lyric projected a sunlit fantasy of endless beaches, woodie wagons, and perfect waves to listeners around the world. It is the foundational pop myth of Los Angeles before the counterculture added its complicated shadows.

“Sin City” – The Flying Burrito Brothers (1969)

Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman crafted this chilling country-rock warning from The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969). Writing from a green shag-carpeted apartment in West Hollywood, Parsons uses the town’s music business machinery, cheap motels, and earthquake vulnerabilities to paint Los Angeles as a modern Babylon. It stands as a brilliant, acoustic-electric cautionary tale about the seductions and moral hazards of the West Coast dream.

“River Song” – Dennis Wilson (1977)

The opening track of Dennis Wilson’s solo masterpiece Pacific Ocean Blue (1977)—recorded at Brother Studios in Santa Monica—offers a stark, bruised contrast to the Beach Boys’ sun-drenched harmonies. Wilson looks at the sprawling metropolis with visible weariness, singing of a city where he can "only see a block or two." Supported by a roaring gospel choir and a heavy piano arrangement, “River Song” is a passionate, soulful plea to escape the smog and concrete of Los Angeles for the clean water of the mountains.

“Sick Again” – Led Zeppelin (1975)

Written during their legendary residency at The Beverly Hills Hotel and the Riot House (now The Andaz West Hollywood), Jimmy Page and Robert Plant tracked this heavy guitar groover for Physical Graffiti (1975). The song captures the absolute peak of mid-seventies rock excess on the Sunset Strip, reflecting on the scene’s physical and moral exhaustion. It is rock mythology with a postcode—dark, gritty, and incredibly loud.

Cinematic Nights and Hollywood Illusions

Los Angeles is a city built on the film industry, and its soundtrack is naturally layered with cinematic drama. These tracks explore the twilight world of the silver screen, looking behind the glowing marquees to find the disillusionment and paranoia hiding in the shadows.

“Hollywood Nights” – Bob Seger (1978)

With its double-drum driving rhythm, this standout track from Stranger in Town (1978) captures the breathless, overwhelming velocity of arriving in Los Angeles as an outsider and falling under the spell of a “Hollywood lady.” Seger’s vocal is raw and desperate, painting a picture of high-altitude houses in the hills and the irresistible, dangerous pull of the city’s glamorous illusions.

“Cracked Actor” – David Bowie (1973)

By the time David Bowie tracked Aladdin Sane (1973), his own mid-seventies life had descended into a theatrical blur of excess and paranoia. “Cracked Actor” is a sleazy, hard-rocking portrait of an ageing Hollywood star prowling Sunset Boulevard, attempting to buy back his youth. It is a brilliant, brutal look at the city’s obsession with youth and surface-level beauty, delivered with Bowie’s signature cinematic flair.

“The Garden Of Allah” – Don Henley (1995)

Don Henley uses the physical demolition of the historic Garden of Allah Hotel on Sunset Boulevard—once home to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Errol Flynn, and Joni Mitchell—as a broader metaphor for the city’s habit of tearing down its own history. Taken from Actual Miles: Henley’s Greatest Hits (1995), the track is a dark, atmospheric spoken-word piece where the devil returns to Los Angeles and finds that the locals have successfully outdone him in greed and commercialization.

“Say Goodbye to Hollywood” – Billy Joel (1976)

Written immediately after Billy Joel decided to pack up his California life and return home to New York, this track from Turnstiles (1976) uses a massive, Phil Spector-inspired wall of sound to say farewell to the West Coast dream. The song is a celebration of survival, acknowledging the seductive charm of the city while choosing to escape before the illusions harden into reality.

“Love Theme From Chinatown” – Jerry Goldsmith (1974)

Goldsmith’s haunting, trumpet-led score for Roman Polanski’s masterpiece Chinatown (1974) is the definitive sound of Los Angeles noir. It captures the dry, dusty heat of the San Fernando Valley, the corruption of the city's water infrastructure, and the tragic romance of a town built on secrets. It is entirely wordless, yet it tells the story of the city’s dark history more vividly than almost any lyric.

“MacArthur Park” – Richard Harris (1968)

Written by Jimmy Webb and released on A Tramp Shining (1968), “MacArthur Park” is a sprawling, seven-minute orchestral pop epic. Webb used the actual park in Westlake—with its yellow cotton shirts, old men playing checkers, and muddy lake—to write a brilliant, highly dramatic allegory of a broken relationship. Despite its eccentric cake-in-the-rain metaphor, Harris’s dramatic delivery makes it one of the most memorable and beloved symphonic pop records of the era.

“Gone Hollywood” – Supertramp (1979)

The opening track of the classic album Breakfast in America (1979) tells the classic story of a struggling artist arriving in Los Angeles with high hopes, only to be beaten down by the cold reality of the music business. The track’s shifting movements—from anxious saxophones to soaring choruses—perfectly capture the transition from desperation to eventual acceptance.

“Tiny Dancer” – Elton John (1971)

Few songs carry the physical atmosphere of Los Angeles so lightly and so clearly. Bernie Taupin’s lyric from Madman Across the Water (1971) gives us the famous “L.A. lady” line, drawing on his first visits to The Troubadour and the dusty, sunlit boulevards of the city. The song is affectionate, warm, and grounded, focusing on real people, headlights on the highway, and late-night music rather than postcard landmarks. It remains one of the most enduring anthems of the West Coast dream.

Modern L.A. and Street-Level Realities (1985–Present)

As the vinyl era faded into the digital age, a new generation of artists emerged to reclaim the streets of Los Angeles. These tracks strip away the pastoral folk myths of Laurel Canyon and the old Hollywood glamour, presenting instead the raw, real, and vibrant street-level experiences of the modern metropolis.

“Straight Outta Compton” – N.W.A. (1988)

The title track of Straight Outta Compton (1988) completely shattered the sun-drenched, easy-going California narrative. Anchored by Dr. Dre’s heavy, relentless beat and Ice Cube’s explosive opening verse, the track put the geographical reality of Compton directly on the musical map. It was a raw, unfiltered report from the front lines of South Los Angeles, establishing hip-hop as the new dominant force in the city's musical soul.

“It Was a Good Day” – Ice Cube (1992)

A brilliant, laid-back narrative that details a single day of peace and calm in South Central. Ice Cube avoids his usual explosive delivery, using an Isley Brothers sample to sketch a beautifully grounded portrait of everyday neighbourhood routine—the Lakers on television, a game of dominoes, clear weather, and a day moving without trouble. In a city so often defined by extremes, this brief stretch of calm is a powerful, cinematic triumph.

“Under the Bridge” – Red Hot Chili Peppers (1991)

Anthony Kiedis wrote this deeply personal hymn to Los Angeles for Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) while processing his own isolation and recovery from addiction. The "bridge" in the song represents a dark, shadier physical corner of the city where Kiedis hit his lowest point. He turns the city into his only true companion, describing its streets, concrete overpasses, and quiet hills as active participants in his inner life. It is a bruised, beautiful love letter to the real Los Angeles that hides beneath the palms.

“City of Stars” – Justin Hurwitz, Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling (2016)

The Oscar-winning centerpiece of the La La Land (2016) soundtrack captures the quiet, tentative hope of chasing a dream in modern Los Angeles. Filmed extensively at Griffith Observatory and across empty, late-night studio lots, the track is intimate and delicate. It perfectly represents the vast distance that can exist between two people searching for connection in a city of millions.

“Bel Air” – Lana Del Rey (2012)

Featured on her Paradise (2012) EP, Lana Del Rey uses her signature cinematic, dream-pop aesthetic to explore the twilight mythology of the wealthy enclave of Bel Air. Her breathy vocals, layered over slow piano chords and strings, turn the exclusive neighbourhood into a mystical, high-altitude sanctuary. It is a modern continuation of the classic "Hollywood illusion" theme.

“Pink Pony Club” – Chappell Roan (2020)

Before appearing on The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess (2023), “Pink Pony Club” was released as a breakout single, telling the story of a girl leaving the conservative Midwest to find her true self on the stage of a fictional gay club in West Hollywood. It is a high-energy, modern synth-pop anthem of self-realization, celebrating West Hollywood as a safe haven of self-expression, dance, and glitter.

“San Andreas Fault” – Natalie Merchant (1995)

The opening track of her solo debut Tigerlily (1995) looks at the fragile, shifting nature of the West Coast dream. Merchant uses the literal geological fault line running beneath California as a metaphor for the temporary, unstable nature of fame, fortune, and human life in Los Angeles. It is a quiet, thoughtful, and deeply evocative warning that everything built on the sand can easily slide into the sea.

“Valley Girl” – Frank Zappa & Moon Zappa (1982)

Frank Zappa enlisted his teenage daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, to deliver a sharp, satirical monologue mocking the distinct slang and superficial lifestyle of the San Fernando Valley. Released on Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch (1982), the track became an accidental pop hit, immortalising phrases like "gag me with a spoon" and "totally tubular" in the global consciousness, highlighting the hilarious cultural divide between the Valley and the Hollywood Hills.

Next Stop: New York!

While Los Angeles songs are defined by their wide-open spaces, neon-lit paranoia, and quiet hillsides, the sound shifts entirely when you cross the country. Where L.A. leans towards myth and distance, New York demands your immediate attention with steel, speed, and hard edges.

Once you have finished drifting through these West Coast canyons, head over to our companion guide to the best New York songs to experience the grit, urgency, and raw energy of the opposite coast. Put the two side-by-side, and the contrast becomes part of the pleasure.