Before there was Mazzy Star…

Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” swept onto the charts in 1994 as if from nowhere, bubbling up like sea foam before retreating into the velvety moonlit darkness.

Apologies for the purple prose. But Mazzy Star has an otherworldly quality that does make one wax poetic.

When the alt-rock combo from Los Angeles topped out at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100, their sole entry in pop lure was a misty, meditative daydream, a gentle bit of magic in a time of angst and heavy riffage.

And that was basically it. Mazzy Star’s hazy, lost-in-love single was the band’s lone flirtation with stardom. Isolated though it may have been, it was not a momentary lapse of reason. The moment was a decade in the making.

The Paisley Underground

This story begins in Los Angeles of the early ‘80s. Punk and New Wave were already dominant forces in popular music. A number of bands concentrated in L.A. shared punk’s DIY attitude, but also worshipped at the altar of psychedelic pioneers like The Byrds, The Doors, and Love.

This scene proved a hotbed for bands that would mostly attain cult status (The 3 O’Clock, Dream Syndicate, The Long Ryders, Green on Red). Only one of these bands would go on to major mainstream success (The Bangles).

But arguably the finest single record to emerge from this blink-of-an-eye moment is the debut album from The Rain Parade. The Rain Parade was the brainchild of L.A. native, guitarist, and future co-founder of Mazzy Star, David Roback.

The Rain Parade

Roback’s first noteworthy band was called Unconscious, and included future Bangle Susanna Hoffs and his brother Steven Roback. They never recorded an album together, instead splintering into two of the scene’s most important pillars.

1981 saw the formation of both the Bangles and the Rain Parade. While the former would go on to massive MTV-era success, the latter would record just one landmark album before splintering. The Rain Parade released their full-length debut LP – Emergency third Rail Power Trip – in 1983.

It didn’t make much of a blip on the pop radar. But it proved one of the era’s most enduring records, lodged perfectly between the incense-and-peppermints pop of its closest influences and the dream-pop that it would directly inform.

It also attracted the devotion of a young folk-rock duo called Going Home. Singers Hope Sandoval and Sylvie Gomez followed The Rain Parade intently. Gomez managed to slip backstage one night and hand delivered the duo’s demo to Roback.

But after just one album, Roback departed. His brother and bandmates did their best on a follow-up EP and one more full-length in 1985. But for a few highlights, the writing was on the wall. The Rain Parade folded by 1986.

Rainy Day, Clay, and Opal

Roback proved quite the restless journeyman. Upon leaving the Rain Parade after just one album, Roback formed Rainy Day with then-girlfriend Kendra Smith.

Smith had been a member of Dream Syndicate, whose own 1982 record—Days of Wine and Roses—also stands as a classic of the Paisley Underground sound.

After one 1984 record, Rainy Day morphed into Clay Allison.

By 1987, this band became Opal. Together, Roback and Smith issued their debut album–Happy Nightmare Baby.

The album scored Opal an opening slot on tour with Jesus and Mary Chain. Sandoval joined on backing vocals.

Unfortunately, the tour proved fractious for Roback and Smith’s relationship. The latter abruptly exited the band mid-show, throwing down her guitar in anger and exiting the stage during a performance at the Hammersmith.

Meanwhile

When Smith exited Opal, Roback promoted Sandoval as her replacement.

What began in 1987 as a continuation of Opal ultimately evolved into Mazzy Star. Sandoval took over lead vocals and co-songwriting duties on the way to Mazzy Star’s 1990 debut, She Hangs Brightly.

The Rough Trade release was not a commercial success, but earned the emergent band high critical praise for its original sound. Then, in 1990, the U.S. Rough Trade label folded. Left without a home, Mazzy Star was swallowed up by Capitol Records. It proved a fortuitous event.

By the time of their sophomore release, 1993’s So That I Might See, they enjoyed major label support. It paid off with a surprise alt-rock radio hit.

Hope Sandoval’s wispy singing and Dave Roback’s hypnotic playing made “Fade Into You” a landmark recording of the ‘90s.

For a glimpse at just how straight a line you can draw from Mazzy Star’s lone hit to Dave Roback’s Rain Parade…

It was the band’s artistic and commercial high point.

After one more album, Mazzy Star disbanded.

Hope Sandoval went on to record several bewitchingly beautiful records with her own group – the Warm Intentions, as well as one more reunion album with Mazzy Star in 2013.

Sadly, Roback’s death in 2020 would scrap chances of any future reunion.

The good news is that Roback and his Paisley Underground compatriots left us with a wealth of music. Though the scene itself was short-lived, its lasting influence is pretty obvious from the playlist below: