High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Paisley Underground is an early genre of alternative rock, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s. The term "Paisley Underground" is generally referenced to a joke ascribed to Michael Quercio of the band The Three O'Clock. The term was most likely first coined at an early morning post-show conversation at Los Angeles' Pantry (24 hour restaurant) between Michael Quercio (The Three O'Clock), Tom Betts (a friend, who was wearing a navy blue button-down shirt with paisley cuffs that night), and Karl Precoda (Dream Syndicate).