Rockpedia

In short

Teenagers in the Californian desert with a petrol generator, a long way from anyone who could stop them.

The scene

There were no clubs, so they played in the desert: a flatbed of equipment, a generator, and whoever drove out. That arrangement did more to the music than any influence did. With no room to reflect off and no curfew, Kyuss tuned down, ran guitars through bass amplifiers and let songs run as long as they liked, and the result is a low, warm, enormous sound that is genuinely a product of playing outdoors. Every stoner rock band since has been trying to get back to it.