The Greatest Musical City (Nominations Thread)
- Thread starter El Jefe
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danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Yes, put me down for that, too.
Motown, MC5, The Stooges, Alice Cooper, Insane Clown Posse, Amp Fiddler, Derrick May. etc.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
Glasgow
Manchester
Liverpool
New York
LA (wildcard because I likes 1980s LA punk)
Manchester
Liverpool
New York
LA (wildcard because I likes 1980s LA punk)
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
i'd love to have been able to put bath, but i can only think of the korgis, tears for fears and climie fisher
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Naw, you've got quite distinct stuff going on. In the early 80s there was that whole split between bands who thought they could sing (Echo and the Bunnymen), and bands who were proud they couldn't (the Fall).
It's difficult to decide how to count cities. Is it where an act were born or brought up, where they formed, or where they were based? If the latter, Glasgow certainly bats above it's average with the Jesus & Mary Chain, Mogwai and the Delgados.
If it's as a base, then Sheffield also gets a mention, if only for Warp records and it's associates. Of course, the likes of Aphex, Squarepusher, Prefuse73, et al don't actually originate individually from Sheffield.
If it's as a base, then Sheffield also gets a mention, if only for Warp records and it's associates. Of course, the likes of Aphex, Squarepusher, Prefuse73, et al don't actually originate individually from Sheffield.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Yeah, but people gravitate to scenes: Nashville is definately a scene, but many non Nashvillians go there.
twistedAM
Left Of The Dial
Why a wild card? It's probably top of the list in influence and on sales. 60s hippies, 80s punks and cockrockers and a million mainstream acts as well. If you;re gonna exclude LA on grounds that no one comes from there then you'll have to exclude London.
I'd add:
Minneapolis
and of course:
Chapel Hill, NC
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
Detroit, almost freakishly prodigious.
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
This is the thing about Detroit -- so many born or brought up there: Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Arethra Franklin, Smokey Robinson.
kained&able
Here for the football.
new york!
home of hip hop.
and ramones and loads of other stuff.
dave
home of hip hop.
and ramones and loads of other stuff.
dave
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
Jamaica. It's not a city, but has a smaller population than many of the cities here - think of the incredible amount of quality music that has come out of that place - it's astounding! There must be something in the water.
Chicago - 100's of blues artists (Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Robert Nighthawk, Tampa Red), Rock n' Roll (Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry)Jazz, Chess and Maxwell street (although in the past tense)
Memphis- Blues again (B.B.King, Junior Parker, Memphis Minnie) and many of the blues artists that ended up in Chicago cut their teeth in Memphis first (Howlin' Wolf). Plus Sun, Staxx, Country artists (J Cash etc), birthplace of rock n' roll (Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis etc)
New Orleans- Without doubt (IMO) the most important music City on the planet. Blues (again) (Champion Jack Dupree, Professor Longhair, Archibald, Earl King) Jazz (Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, James Booker) , Zydeco (well most of them, Clifton Chenier etc) , Cajun (as zydeco), Funk (Lee Dorsey, Eddie Bo) and literally 100s of other artists who were either born or worked mainly in New Orleans.
Detroit- R&B/Soul (Motown/Tamla, Little Willie John),Blues (John Lee Hooker, Maceo Merriweather, Eddie Kirkland), Rock n' roll (Bill Haley, MC5, Iggy and Stooges) Some Jazz artists, Funk (Paliament/ Funkadelic)
Other cities have bits and pieces but these are the main 4 IMO.
Memphis- Blues again (B.B.King, Junior Parker, Memphis Minnie) and many of the blues artists that ended up in Chicago cut their teeth in Memphis first (Howlin' Wolf). Plus Sun, Staxx, Country artists (J Cash etc), birthplace of rock n' roll (Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis etc)
New Orleans- Without doubt (IMO) the most important music City on the planet. Blues (again) (Champion Jack Dupree, Professor Longhair, Archibald, Earl King) Jazz (Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, James Booker) , Zydeco (well most of them, Clifton Chenier etc) , Cajun (as zydeco), Funk (Lee Dorsey, Eddie Bo) and literally 100s of other artists who were either born or worked mainly in New Orleans.
Detroit- R&B/Soul (Motown/Tamla, Little Willie John),Blues (John Lee Hooker, Maceo Merriweather, Eddie Kirkland), Rock n' roll (Bill Haley, MC5, Iggy and Stooges) Some Jazz artists, Funk (Paliament/ Funkadelic)
Other cities have bits and pieces but these are the main 4 IMO.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Nobody would deny they are important, but are there no cities outside America worthy of note for their musical heritage?
Depends what sort of music you like. Most of the "non-american" music I like doesn't seem to originate from any particular city.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
So Factory, Chemikal Underground, Postcard, Probe Records, etc mean nothing to you?
Exactly (I don't even know who they are)
Maggot
The Cake of Liberty
Good selection, apart from Montreal - what did the Quebecois ever do for us?
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
You haven't heard of Factory Records? 
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
You haven't heard of Factory Records?
Well yeah but not the others. Never paid much attention to the Manchester scene TBH.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
London
Just mentioned this to my house mate and we managed to cobble together the following list...
Sex Pistols
The Rolling Stones
Queen
Throbbing Gristle
David Bowie
The Kinks
X-Ray Spex
Yes
The Clash
The Who
Wire
Led Zeppelin
Cream
Elton John
T.Rex
Not 100% sure about all of these, please correct me if i'm wrong. But this list surely gives London a huge shout.
Not only that, but i'm neglecting to mention the huge number of smaller scenes that have centred around London during the last twenty odd years...
Just mentioned this to my house mate and we managed to cobble together the following list...
Sex Pistols
The Rolling Stones
Queen
Throbbing Gristle
David Bowie
The Kinks
X-Ray Spex
Yes
The Clash
The Who
Wire
Led Zeppelin
Cream
Elton John
T.Rex
Not 100% sure about all of these, please correct me if i'm wrong. But this list surely gives London a huge shout.
Not only that, but i'm neglecting to mention the huge number of smaller scenes that have centred around London during the last twenty odd years...
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Sam: I see you were born in 1974. So you were 10 in 1984. Did you never hear New Order, Happy Mondays, Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio?
You probably missed Joy Division, but you should have been aware of Blue Monday (New Order tune).
Are you from the UK?
I suggest you rent 24 Hour Party People. I haven't seen it myself, but I'm told it tells the story well.
You probably missed Joy Division, but you should have been aware of Blue Monday (New Order tune).
Are you from the UK?
I suggest you rent 24 Hour Party People. I haven't seen it myself, but I'm told it tells the story well.
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Postcard was pivotal to my musical education, so I'm probably biased. But it was a Glasgow indie label (when that meant something, rather than just a genre) in the very early 80s, which introduced a certain post punk philosophy to people like me. Did you hear Orange Juice, the Go Betweens, Josef K, Aztec Camera?
Chemikal Underground is another influential Glasgow label, set up in the 90s by the Delgados.
Its roster included Mogwai, Arab Strap, Magoo, Aereogramme, Sluts of Trust, Mother and the Addicts.
If you don't know Mogwai and Arab Strap, you should put that right promptly.
lol, yes I have heard of all of the above and I think I have seen 24 hr party people too (got Steve Coogan in it?), just ain't into that sort of thing really.
(I quite like the smiths tho') <throws manchester a crumb>
danny la rouge
Ninja swords for all disabled people
Ah, I see. But I'm interpreting the thread as being about cities of musical influence, not cities who produced scenes I was necessarily into (although I was into Factory and the Glasgow scenes). I do think that was the OP's intention.
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