One year ago: Brendan Mullen

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Brendan Mullen helped launch the punk rock music scene on the West Coast in the 1970s.

‘Everything started with him,’ said veteran promoter Paul Tollett of Goldenvoice Presents.

Mullen, who died a year ago at age 60, founded the Masque punk rock club in Hollywood that created an underground space for musicians and fans who felt alienated from mainstream society.

‘For the record, I never claimed to have ‘started punk in L.A.,’’ Mullen wrote in his book ‘Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley,’ published in 2007.

‘I’d prefer the Masque epitaph to be ‘Where the SoCal scene originally came together.’’

Former Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn praised Mullen as ‘a tireless worker on behalf of his musical passion. He played an absolutely essential role in making the L.A. punk-rock scene one of the great musical scenes ever in America.’

Mullen’s obituary appeared in The Times on Oct. 13, 2009.

-- Keith Thursby