Interview: Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on Top Jimmy & Rhythm Pigs, La Bamba, The Blasters & More

In this episode of the LEGENDS: Podcast by All Day Vinyl, producer/musician Steve Berlin of Los Lobos dives into the chaotic world of Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs, recounting how a hard-living local legend became the heart of an unforgettable Los Angeles roots and cow-punk scene. The band’s lone album - Pigus Drunkus Maximus - has just been reissued on Blind Owl Albums and its an incredible document of early L.A punk and rock history.

Berlin explains how the band’s loose, rotating lineup became legendary at the Café de Grande and drew everyone from punk icons to Hollywood personalities (Van Halen recorded a song called Top Jimmy in tribute to Jimmy; and Jimmy can be seen with John Doe in the Decline of Western Civilization.

In addition to our conversation about Top Jimmy, Steve and host Scott Dudelson discuss early days with the Blasters and Los Lobos, the brotherly bond that keeps Los Lobos together after 50 years, an upcoming band documentary and behind the scenes stories recording both the La Bamba soundtrack (with Willie Dixon and Carlos Santana) and Graceland with Paul Simon (for which Los Lobos wrote ”All Around the World or Myth of the Fingerprints” but never received credit or royalties).

This episode is a deep, personal look at LA music history told by a musician and producer who lived it.

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