One of the most crankable tunes from the later Seventies and early Eighties new wave scene is Missing Persons’ riff-o-matic strutter, “Walking in L.A.”

Most folks who know and care about Missing Persons recognize them for their heavy synthesizers and particularly punkette lead vocalist Dale Bozzio’s pipsqueak rim shots. She savvily dropped them with precise timing as accent marks at the end of verse lines, most famously to the point of delightful annoyance in “What Are Words For.” Or in this song’s case, as a snarky pop at the tail of “Walking in L.A.”‘s” choruses to punch out an “ay-ay!”

All to juice up her former husband Terry Bozzio’s jab at the pretentious elite of Los Angeles circa 1982. Also reportedly cooking up this juicy number in reaction to many local comedians of the day poking fun at everyone in the city driving around aimlessly. Likely to peacock behind the wheel more so than for actual commuting purposes.

What I love best about this song aside of the biting sarcasm and Dale Bozzio’s jagged huffing are those punchy, snapcase guitars. You can’t not plow this sucker into the open air from the rolled down windows of your car. No doubt the precise subtext behind the message Missing Persons was dropping here.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.