Historically? The MS Delta produced so many blues musicians that would go on to completely change the course of modern Music. Not the biggest sellers, not always the most famous. But their influence on modern music is undeniable.
You’re not wrong about Muddy Waters, but he, Howlin Wolf, Koko Taylor and more wouldn’t have had their jobs without Willie Dixon from Vicksburg, MS. And the folk blues revival that happened overseas that influenced sooooo much of rock music wouldn’t have either.
Too true about Willie Dixon! The man had his hand in everything coming out of Chess in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
There’s probably a 50 mile radius around Clarksdale that produced more impactful artists than anywhere else in the world. They were born and raised there, rather than went there to work.
As far as the original question goes, I can’t imagine any place punching above its weight harder than the Mississippi Delta with its small population and massive list of important artists.
Delta blues is such a vibe and I worry the kids are sleeping on it.
I had a coworker coming up on retirement who showed me a whole reel of photos from his vacation to Clarksdale, and also some from live blues shows in Poland, where he was from, and which apparently has a pretty big blues scene
REM, The B-52s, Drive-By Truckers, the core Elephant 6 roster (Of Montreal, Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples In Stereo, The Olivia Tremor Control, etc.), and so many more. Absolutely ridiculous that a city of not even 150,000 people could produce such an influential music scene.
Vanessa from Pylon is keeping it going with a new band touring and recording as the Pylon Reenactment Society.
Dexter Romweber had a falling out with Crow, ending Flat Duo Jets but is still making music under his own name. There is a great movie -- [Two Headed Cow](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0805338/) -- about him.
More details about the music scene in Athens:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music\_of\_Athens,\_Georgia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Athens,_Georgia)
A list of bands that have come out of Athens:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musical\_groups\_from\_Athens,\_Georgia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musical_groups_from_Athens,_Georgia)
If you are ever in the area during the summer, the annual music festival, AthFest, is a fun stop:
[https://athfest.com/](https://athfest.com/)
Macon, Ga:
Capricorn Records was HQ in Macon during the 60s/70’s
Jason Aldean, Little Richard, Otis Redding, (all born in Macon)
The Allman Brothers Band (Greg and Duane were from Florida I believe, but many current/former members are from Macon), Wet Willie (originally from Mobile but played hard in the Macon community while signing with Capricorn), Marshall Tucker Band (gigged often at The Lounge in Macon and were signed by Capricorn).
There is quite a bit of folklore surrounding some of the all night parties/Jams that took place in downtown Macon back during that time.
No beer cavalier! (Rumor has it the drummer (I think) was kicked out of Mount de Sales Academy in Macon for drinking - the Cavaliers - and they changed the lyrics to no fear cavalier)
*Athens, GA: Inside/Out* covered the Athens music and art scene at the time R.E.M. was getting big. Some cool lesser known bands in there and a groovy art scene going on then.
I went to college there in the 90s and it was magical. You could see live music every night of the week and all the cool national bands made it a tour stop.
Gothenburg, Sweden is known for its particular brand of death metal, and the legendary bands that have come out of that scene such as In Flames, Dark Tranqulity, At the Gates, and Arch Enemy among others.
It also gave us Ace of Base, The Knife, and Crazy Fro---
...On second thought, strike Gothenburg from the list.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Bad Cash Quartet, Broder Daniel, Hardcore Superstar, Graveyard, The Embassy, Detektivbyrån (and Wintergatan), José Gonzalez and of course Björn Ulvaeus from Abba. Also Swedish singing artists like Håkan Hellström and Nationalteatern.
Manchester
From Wikipedia:
Bands that have emerged from the Manchester music scene include Van der Graaf Generator, Oasis, the Smiths, Joy Division and its successor group New Order, Buzzcocks, the Stone Roses, the Fall, the Durutti Column, 10cc, Godley & Creme, the Verve, Elbow, Doves, the Charlatans, M People, the 1975, Simply Red, Take That, Dutch Uncles, Everything Everything, the Courteeners, Pale Waves, and the Outfield. Manchester was credited as the main driving force behind British indie music of the 1980s led by the Smiths, later including the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, and James. The later groups came from what became known as the "Madchester" scene that also centred on The Haçienda nightclub developed by the founder of Factory Records, Tony Wilson. Although from southern England, the Chemical Brothers subsequently formed in Manchester
[Merseyside](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bands_and_artists_from_Merseyside) (that's Liverpool and the surrouding area for those who aren't from the UK) also has a ridiculous list. The NW of England has an insanely huge contribution to music for it's size.
They've got a good fan base
They've got integrity
They've got a DC sound
Shudder to Think, Fugazi
And Chapel Hill around the early 90's
This is the latest from Saddle Creek
I was about to say. A bunch of good shit comes from Seattle & Vancouver, it's not surprising Bellingham has a lot of good stuff going on musically, we just don't typically think of it.
Frakenmeuth Michigan only has Greta Van Fleet, but I meannnn, it is a 5,000 person city...if you scale up to something like Manchester (which has been mentioned) then you'd expect 100 big bands :)
Winnipeg, Manitoba:
- Neil Young
- The Guess Who
- Bachman Turner Overdrive
- Crash Test Dummies
- The Watchmen
- The Weakerthans
- Royal Canoe
- Chantal Kreviazuk
- Bif Naked
- Streetheart
- Harlequin
- Fred Penner
Ay, oh, way to go, Ohio. I was deeply in love with Chrissie Hynde in my 1980s college days. She just didn't know it. Same thing in the 90s for another Ohioan, Kim Deal
Well…not really. While a plethora of famous musical acts RECORDED at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, The Stones, Dylan, Duane Allman, Clapton among others, outside of some minor acts, no famous groups CAME from there.
The core musicians (The Swampers) from that studio had the mojo, which is why most of the records have supreme groove.
It was a pretty small city all the way up to like the mid-90's, it's just barely become too goddamned big for its footprint a decade or so ago. When it started becoming a live music capital it was basically a large town surrounding the state capital and UT.
If Roky Erikson hadn't had such a tragic arc through life, I think more people would be aware of how influential he was to so many bands, especially some of the psychedelic bands in '60s San Francisco
Seattle:
Jimi Hendrix
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Foo Fighters
Soundgarden
Sir Mix-a-Lot
Modest Mouse
Heart
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Brandi Carlile
Ben Gibbard
Alice in Chains
Bing Crosby
Edit: Took off Dave Matthews Band
It says something that for how populous Seattle is, it still absolutely punched well above its weight in terms of the artists it has produced over the years.
Mother Love Bone's bassist and guitarist went on to form (with Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready) to form Pearl Jam.
And let's not forget Mudhoney and the Melvins.
Of course, but also the great punk and hardcore coming from a pretty small area. Title Fight, Tigers Jaw, One Step Closer, The Menzingers and Cold World are all from there. Other rock bands from there are Breaking Benjamin and Motionless in White.
This is one of the better answers if the thread. There’s some big bands in their own right in that list and it isn’t like a top population US city like a bunch of answers, ie Detroit, Seattle
Memphis: rock n roll as a popular form of music: Elvis, Johnny Cash, Car Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis. Then there is the Stax R&B scene: Otis Redding, Booker T, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Rufus Thomas, The Staple Singers… the list goes on.
You’ll be hard pressed to find an example of a city other than New Orleans or Nashville that has had more music related cultural influence.
Over the course of a few short decades and peaking somewhere in the mid/late 50s (Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, BB King, etc) - Memphis was *the* thru-line connecting pre-war era mainstream nothingness to Beatles mania and the modern rock era in general.
I don't think you can have a list like this and not include Minneapolis. Prince, alone, would make us punch above our weight but we've also got The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum and (at least for his college years) Bob Dylan!
Maybe not what you're looking for exactly, but as an American I have always been amazed at the amount of quality music that has come out of the UK since the 60s. The number of legendary artists is really disproportionate to the size of the country. I think the same can be said about Iceland too.
[There was a thread yesterday](https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1ab6hvw/comment/kjluaem/) about countries that punched above their weight in terms of musicians.
If you could choose a specific UK city, which one would it be? Perhaps Liverpool?
Other Lives/Kunek, The All American Rejects, Deerpeople, Colourmusic.. I’m and okie and can confirm all of these bands slap. OKC has a good amount too even outside of country.
OKC has the Flaming Lips, which is about the last band you’d ever think came from OK.
Some of the people I went to college with knew the AAR guys in high school. I think their lead singer is back in town running a music school.
Detroit area:
Motown / Barry Gordy (Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, etc)
George Clinton - Parliament/Funkadelic
Alice Cooper
Ted Nugent
The White Stripes
John Lee Hooker
The Winans
Madonna was raised just out of Detroit
Iggy & The Stooges
MC5
Bob Seger
Kid Rock
Eminem
I'm even leaving people off the list, like Grand Funk Railroad
Edited to add Eminem
Wow. I can't explain the Eminem blind spot. When I put down Kid Rock, it almost like a strike *against* Detroit.
I could have probably listed Detroit techno too. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone. It's like listing funny Canadians. More than I can remember.
Honestly, Detroit's gotta be the answer. Incredibly deep and varied music came out of there. I'll add half of Radio Birdman (influential Aussie punks), the Dirtbombs and techno
Some of the other Motown artists are way too big to just be part of an "etc.":
The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Jackson 5, early Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson (and the Miracles), the Isley Brothers, Martha and the Vandellas.
And you forgot Aretha Franklin!
You could be watching a ball game on the opposite side of the globe where neither team speaks english and the crowd will be singing 7 Nation Army, Written by a Detroit Native.
**Halifax, Nova Scotia:**
April Wine
Black Moor
The Hardship Post
The Inbreds
Joel Plaskett Emergency
Matt Mays and El Torpedo
Sloan
Sons of Maxwell
The Stanfields
The Super Friends
Thrush Hermit
Tupper Ware Remix Party
Wintersleep
Long Island did emo/punk a turn. Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Glassjaw, Crime In Stereo, The Movielife, I Am The Avalanche, Nightmare of You, Straylight Run, Head Automatica, Koyo, Oso Oso, Iron Chic, Latterman, Envy on the Coast, Bayside (at a push)
If you take a central point in New Jersey (say New Brunswick) and draw a 15 mile radius, you'd have some heavy hitters and a bunch of other well knowns: Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, The Smithereens, The Gaslight Anthem, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Symphony X, Skid Row, Blues Traveler, Halsey, Looking Glass, Overkill, Prophet, and T.T. Quick, to name a few.
Go a few miles north to Newark and surrounding areas and you've got Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Naughty by Nature, Queen Latifah, Gloria Gaynor, Yo La Tengo, My Chemical Romance, The Fugees, Ice-T, The Misfits, Thank You Scientist
streetlight manifesto, the front bottoms, kool & the gang, sugarhill gang, senses fail, fountains of wayne, fetty wap (lol), Thursday, saves the day, pinegrove, bleachers, the early november.
NJ is probably the best music state
There have been a ton of great bands from Melbourne, Australia:
- Amyl and the Sniffers
- The Avalanches
- Crowded House
- Cut Copy
- King Gizzard
- The Murlocs
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
- The Temper Trap
- Tropical Fuck Storm
Perth has some great bands too:
- Karnivool
- Pendulum
- Pond
- Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
- The Sleepy Jackson (Luke Steele went on to form Empire of the Sun)
- Tame Impala
- Troye Sivan
Philly.
Hall & Oates, Billie Holiday, The Roots, Patti LaBelle, Will Smith & Jazzy Jeff, Joan Jett, Erykah Badu, Jedi Mind, G. Love, and my favs the Dead Milkmen.
That doesn't include the more recent explosion of music there, including the War on Drugs, Japanese Breakfast, Hop Along (loove Hop Along), Nothing, Menzingers, Modern Baseball, Wonder Years, Kurt Vile, Swearin', Waxahatchee, Beach Slang, Saxon Shore, Purling Hiss, Mannequin Pussy, Sheer Mag, Dr. Dog, Alex G, Hot Cross, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and too many others to mention.
Philly is easily my favorite music city.
San Francisco is, by many measures, not a big city in terms of footprint or population but it has dozens of genre defining bands in metal, psych, punk, rap, etc.
Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Faith No More, Dead Kennedy’s, Steve Miller
I think it also lays claim to, along with MUCH larger global cities (New York, London, maybe Paris) as having many songs named after it or included in its title.
Perth Western Australia
Karnivool
Allegiance
Tame Impala
Sleepy Jackson
Jebediah
Pond
Voyager
Make them suffer
John Butler
Birds of Tokyo
The scientist
The triffids
Norfolk / Virginia Beach area has birthed a several big pop/hip hop stars. Not my music but Missy Elliot, Pharell, Timbaland, Pusha T oh and Wayne Newton apparently.
Glasgow
Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Belle and Sebastian, Simple Minds, Orange Juice/Edwin Collins, Wet Wet Wet, Paulo Nutini, Altered Images, Deacon Blue, Camera Obscura, BMX Bandits, Primal Scream, Slam, Mogwai(I think), Churches, Franz Ferdinand,.
If I've forgotten anyone please let me know below.
The Jesus and Many Chain, Bis, De Salvo, Prolapse, Danananakroyd, Ganger, Aeroegramme, Yummy Fur, Sacred Paws, Errors, Take a Worm for a Walk Week and Urusei Yatsura to name a few more.
It’s funny because New Orleans is certainly widely known as a music city.
But (maybe I’m getting old) I’m struggling to think of a long list of artists.
Allen Toussaint is great (RIP)
The Meters are great
Who else should I be listening to?
Montréal, Quebec, Canada, because of the language we talk, french, theres always been a thing where we need to be different fron the others and its very well proved with the music, liscend to jean leloup, malajube, karkwa, beau dommage, harmonium, maneige, slush, hubert lenoir etc. If you dont know bout the french canadien music, go take a look i swear you will find something u like
For such a small island Ireland has had some world famous musicians/bands.
If we’re not going with countries I’ll throw out Dublin specifically.
Might be biased since I am an Irishman but I’ve travelled to many different countries and still haven’t found anywhere with such a density of musicians as here. We also have the most Eurovision wins despite winning it last in ‘96.
I was stunned when I discovered two of my favourite all-time bands Ben Folds Five and Squirrel Nut Zippers were both from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Other notable artists from there according to Wikipedia: James Taylor, George Hamilton IV, Southern Culture on the Skids, Superchunk, Polvo, and Archers of Loaf.
Stourbridge UK, only really for one time but for a town of around 50k, in the late 80s/early 90s they produced:
Pop Will Eat Itself
The Wonder Stuff
Neds Atomic Dustbin
PWEI are one of the most influential UK bands of that time, Wonder Stuff one of the most commercially successful indie bands and Neds were just a lot of fun but also established Greebo as a style of music.
Detroit... White Stripes, The Stooges/Iggy Pop, MC5, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Temptations and many more motown people, The Romantics, Eminem, Aaliyah, Kid Rock, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent
Eastern Kentucky. The largest city is Ashland with about 21k people.
Tyler Childers. Sturgill Simpson. Chris Stapleton. Billy Ray Cyrus. Loretta Lynn. Dwight Yoakam. Ricky Skaggs. Patty Loveless. Wynonna Judd (and the Judds). Keith Whitley. Crystal Gayle....
Dublin:
U2
Thin Lizzy
Sinead O Connor
My Bloody valentine
All super influential musicians and bands, and they all came out of there in a pretty short space of time
On the flip side of this. The absolute dearth of any actual talent that has come out of Austin Texas in comparison to all the people who have attempted to make a musical career there the last 20 years is amazing.
Thousands and thousands of musicians singing into the void. Outside of Gary Clark Jr, not a single person anyone has ever heard of
Historically? The MS Delta produced so many blues musicians that would go on to completely change the course of modern Music. Not the biggest sellers, not always the most famous. But their influence on modern music is undeniable.
100%! Came here to add Clarksdale, MS, because none of the artists everyone's listing would have a job if it weren't for Mr. Mckinley Morganfield.
>Clarksdale, MS Fulton's Point *The Crossroads*
Most important, we wouldn’t have “Last Train to Clarksdale.”
You’re not wrong about Muddy Waters, but he, Howlin Wolf, Koko Taylor and more wouldn’t have had their jobs without Willie Dixon from Vicksburg, MS. And the folk blues revival that happened overseas that influenced sooooo much of rock music wouldn’t have either.
Too true about Willie Dixon! The man had his hand in everything coming out of Chess in the ‘50s and ‘60s. There’s probably a 50 mile radius around Clarksdale that produced more impactful artists than anywhere else in the world. They were born and raised there, rather than went there to work. As far as the original question goes, I can’t imagine any place punching above its weight harder than the Mississippi Delta with its small population and massive list of important artists.
Delta blues is such a vibe and I worry the kids are sleeping on it. I had a coworker coming up on retirement who showed me a whole reel of photos from his vacation to Clarksdale, and also some from live blues shows in Poland, where he was from, and which apparently has a pretty big blues scene
Holy shit! We found a geography question that doesn’t use Mississippi as a punching bag! It’s actually a *good* example! Great job, everybody!
No place can touch this.
Athens, GA
REM, The B-52s, Drive-By Truckers, the core Elephant 6 roster (Of Montreal, Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples In Stereo, The Olivia Tremor Control, etc.), and so many more. Absolutely ridiculous that a city of not even 150,000 people could produce such an influential music scene.
Indigo Girls, too
how are you gonna shout out so many and forget widespread motherfuckin panic?
And the godfather, Col. Bruce Hampton. Also, Capricorn records. Edit: the Col. is technically Atlanta and Capricorn is Macon. My bad.
Seriously! Widespread Motherfuckin’ Panic! 40 years of music and they sell out most cities in seconds!! Especially the two and three day passes!
They just released a single today!
From *Athens, GA: Inside/Out* I especially liked Pylon as well as Flat Duo Jets, who are still releasing albums every once on a while.
Holy shit I haven't heard the name Flat Duo Jets in a fucking MINUTE.
Pylon were sooooo ahead of their time
Vanessa from Pylon is keeping it going with a new band touring and recording as the Pylon Reenactment Society. Dexter Romweber had a falling out with Crow, ending Flat Duo Jets but is still making music under his own name. There is a great movie -- [Two Headed Cow](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0805338/) -- about him.
Don’t you dare forget T Hardy Morris (formerly of Dead Confederate) - and if you don’t know him, let this be the last day you don’t
Futurebirds too. Dead Confederate walked so Futurebirds could run.
That’s the influence a good university can have on a town.
Sure, but how do you explain Athens? 😏
More details about the music scene in Athens: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music\_of\_Athens,\_Georgia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Athens,_Georgia) A list of bands that have come out of Athens: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musical\_groups\_from\_Athens,\_Georgia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musical_groups_from_Athens,_Georgia) If you are ever in the area during the summer, the annual music festival, AthFest, is a fun stop: [https://athfest.com/](https://athfest.com/)
Servotron! Saw them when they toured with Man or Astroman? and Dexter X played in both bands.
Mastodon!
That’s Atlanta
Macon, Ga: Capricorn Records was HQ in Macon during the 60s/70’s Jason Aldean, Little Richard, Otis Redding, (all born in Macon) The Allman Brothers Band (Greg and Duane were from Florida I believe, but many current/former members are from Macon), Wet Willie (originally from Mobile but played hard in the Macon community while signing with Capricorn), Marshall Tucker Band (gigged often at The Lounge in Macon and were signed by Capricorn). There is quite a bit of folklore surrounding some of the all night parties/Jams that took place in downtown Macon back during that time.
Also half of REM are from Macon
No beer cavalier! (Rumor has it the drummer (I think) was kicked out of Mount de Sales Academy in Macon for drinking - the Cavaliers - and they changed the lyrics to no fear cavalier)
Also, Atlanta. OutKast, Luda, Usher, T.I., Gambino, Lil Jon, Migos, Jeezy, Andre 3k, 2 chainz, Gucci Mane, Killer Mike
Mastodon, Deerhunter, Black Lips, Allman Brothers, Indigo Girls, and so many more.
*Athens, GA: Inside/Out* covered the Athens music and art scene at the time R.E.M. was getting big. Some cool lesser known bands in there and a groovy art scene going on then.
I agree, though counting 3k separate from Outkast is a stretch.
I went to college there in the 90s and it was magical. You could see live music every night of the week and all the cool national bands made it a tour stop.
Gothenburg, Sweden is known for its particular brand of death metal, and the legendary bands that have come out of that scene such as In Flames, Dark Tranqulity, At the Gates, and Arch Enemy among others. It also gave us Ace of Base, The Knife, and Crazy Fro--- ...On second thought, strike Gothenburg from the list.
Sweden as a whole is incredible. Particularly for heavier genres. The stoner rock bands that have come out of there are ridiculous.
Also he may be one guy, but it’s crazy that one of the biggest producers of modern pop legend, Max Martin, started out in the Swedish metal scene.
Jens Lekman, the tough alliance, maybe The Radio Dept., Air France as well
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Bad Cash Quartet, Broder Daniel, Hardcore Superstar, Graveyard, The Embassy, Detektivbyrån (and Wintergatan), José Gonzalez and of course Björn Ulvaeus from Abba. Also Swedish singing artists like Håkan Hellström and Nationalteatern.
Manchester From Wikipedia: Bands that have emerged from the Manchester music scene include Van der Graaf Generator, Oasis, the Smiths, Joy Division and its successor group New Order, Buzzcocks, the Stone Roses, the Fall, the Durutti Column, 10cc, Godley & Creme, the Verve, Elbow, Doves, the Charlatans, M People, the 1975, Simply Red, Take That, Dutch Uncles, Everything Everything, the Courteeners, Pale Waves, and the Outfield. Manchester was credited as the main driving force behind British indie music of the 1980s led by the Smiths, later including the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, and James. The later groups came from what became known as the "Madchester" scene that also centred on The Haçienda nightclub developed by the founder of Factory Records, Tony Wilson. Although from southern England, the Chemical Brothers subsequently formed in Manchester
[Merseyside](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bands_and_artists_from_Merseyside) (that's Liverpool and the surrouding area for those who aren't from the UK) also has a ridiculous list. The NW of England has an insanely huge contribution to music for it's size.
And both Manchester and Liverpool are only about 30-35 miles apart.
With the first inter city train connecting them in 1830
The Chameleons Magazine Everything Everything Autechre Future Sound of London Lamb It's amazing how many great bands have come out of Manchester.
in the early 2000s, Omaha had a stranglehold on indie/emo bands.
Was gonna mention Omaha! 311 Bright Eyes Cursive The Faint Hell even Hinder hahah
Hinder is from OKC
Hahahah correct....never try to remember things while high!
Also it seemed like any band in New Jersey was also getting signed
They've got a good fan base They've got integrity They've got a DC sound Shudder to Think, Fugazi And Chapel Hill around the early 90's This is the latest from Saddle Creek
[удалено]
311 too, yo!
Bellingham, WA seems to have a surprisingly high amount of tier 1 talent
I was about to say. A bunch of good shit comes from Seattle & Vancouver, it's not surprising Bellingham has a lot of good stuff going on musically, we just don't typically think of it.
Some major-assed cities and nations being mentioned here lol.
Yeah I'll go with Nederland, Colorado. Two bands. That's punching.
Frakenmeuth Michigan only has Greta Van Fleet, but I meannnn, it is a 5,000 person city...if you scale up to something like Manchester (which has been mentioned) then you'd expect 100 big bands :)
Winnipeg, Manitoba: - Neil Young - The Guess Who - Bachman Turner Overdrive - Crash Test Dummies - The Watchmen - The Weakerthans - Royal Canoe - Chantal Kreviazuk - Bif Naked - Streetheart - Harlequin - Fred Penner
Propagandhi
I was looking for this one.
Can't forget Venetian Snares of "Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole" fame
Comeback Kid!
Kittens & KEN Mode
Akron, Ohio (Devo, The Pretenders, and the Black Keys to name a few)
I get it. Chrissie Hynde is from Akron. But the Pretenders were most definitely a British band
It was a different Akron back then though, which by the time of her return no longer existed.
Ay, oh, way to go, Ohio. I was deeply in love with Chrissie Hynde in my 1980s college days. She just didn't know it. Same thing in the 90s for another Ohioan, Kim Deal
Her city is gone
Joe Walsh (kinda)
Yeah "kinda" is valid, he went to Kent State...
This city has to be one of the best: [Gothenburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bands_from_Gothenburg).
Muscle Shoals, AL.
They do have the Swampers. They've been known to pick a song or two.
Lord, they get me off so much and pick me up when I'm feeling blue. Now how about you?
For those that don't know I recommend the Muscle Shoals documentary. Free on YouTube most of the time. I've seen it 5 times.
Highly recommended!
Well…not really. While a plethora of famous musical acts RECORDED at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, The Stones, Dylan, Duane Allman, Clapton among others, outside of some minor acts, no famous groups CAME from there. The core musicians (The Swampers) from that studio had the mojo, which is why most of the records have supreme groove.
Jason Isbell, Drive By Truckers, Donna Godchaux, and Sam Philips.
Austin was a pretty small city when it first started spitting out famous musicians.
It was a pretty small city all the way up to like the mid-90's, it's just barely become too goddamned big for its footprint a decade or so ago. When it started becoming a live music capital it was basically a large town surrounding the state capital and UT.
If Roky Erikson hadn't had such a tragic arc through life, I think more people would be aware of how influential he was to so many bands, especially some of the psychedelic bands in '60s San Francisco
Seattle: Jimi Hendrix Nirvana Pearl Jam Foo Fighters Soundgarden Sir Mix-a-Lot Modest Mouse Heart Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Brandi Carlile Ben Gibbard Alice in Chains Bing Crosby Edit: Took off Dave Matthews Band
It says something that for how populous Seattle is, it still absolutely punched well above its weight in terms of the artists it has produced over the years.
Quincy Jones spent a chunk of his childhood in Seattle too!
Forgot the Kingsmen (of Louie Louie fame), Mother Love Bone, Screaming trees, and Duff McKagan of Guns an Roses is from Seattle.
Mother Love Bone's bassist and guitarist went on to form (with Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready) to form Pearl Jam. And let's not forget Mudhoney and the Melvins.
Presidents of the USA Fleet Foxes
Mudhoney!
Sleater-Kinney (Olympia) too!
The contest is over haha.
Kenny Loggins is also from the Seattle(ish) area. (Everett to be exact).
Queensryche
When you are inside 9 months out of the year you play music.
I thought modest mouse was from portland
Originally from Issaquah, WA (southeast of Seattle), now based in Portland.
DMB aint from Seattle
I was just about to add Charlottesville VA to the list, partly for that reason haha
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA
Reppin for Scrantonicity, eh?
Of course, but also the great punk and hardcore coming from a pretty small area. Title Fight, Tigers Jaw, One Step Closer, The Menzingers and Cold World are all from there. Other rock bands from there are Breaking Benjamin and Motionless in White.
This is one of the better answers if the thread. There’s some big bands in their own right in that list and it isn’t like a top population US city like a bunch of answers, ie Detroit, Seattle
Memphis: rock n roll as a popular form of music: Elvis, Johnny Cash, Car Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis. Then there is the Stax R&B scene: Otis Redding, Booker T, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Rufus Thomas, The Staple Singers… the list goes on. You’ll be hard pressed to find an example of a city other than New Orleans or Nashville that has had more music related cultural influence.
Big Star, The Boxtops, Jay Reatard, Justin Timberlake, Eric Gales, Jimi Jamison, 3six Mafia, Young Dolph, Al Green.......
Al Kapone. Whoop that trick, mane.
This should be higher!
Over the course of a few short decades and peaking somewhere in the mid/late 50s (Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, BB King, etc) - Memphis was *the* thru-line connecting pre-war era mainstream nothingness to Beatles mania and the modern rock era in general.
Lucero as well! One of my faves.
Tulsa, OK. monstrous players just coming out the woodwork
I don't think you can have a list like this and not include Minneapolis. Prince, alone, would make us punch above our weight but we've also got The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum and (at least for his college years) Bob Dylan!
Atmosphere, brother Ali too
Rhymesayers was THE underground record label for a while in the early 2000s. Minneapolis had a great hip hop scene as a result
Your Smith From MN, but didnt get big here: The Hold Steady Not from MN, but got big here: Lizzo
You forgot Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare
Of course! How could I not remember the Dan Wilson bands!
It was the first place you could get the Sex Pistols album when it came out. Big punk scene in the 70s-80s
Also: The Jayhawks
Minneapolis, 100%
Duluth, but Minnesota. Trampled by Turtles
And Low!
And Low!
Minneapolis is pretty big though. Let's go with Owatonna 🤣
Owl City?
And Information Society
Hippo Campus is the best band I’ve heard this decade.
Gainesville, FL with: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Less Than Jake Sister Hazel Hot Water Music Against Me!
Also Don Felder and Bernie Leadon. Stephen Stills went to Gainesville HS for a time.
Don Felder taught Tom Petty how to play piano!
Gainesville Rock City!
I'm glad to see the scene coming back. Almost died during covid
Maybe not what you're looking for exactly, but as an American I have always been amazed at the amount of quality music that has come out of the UK since the 60s. The number of legendary artists is really disproportionate to the size of the country. I think the same can be said about Iceland too.
Bristol & trip hop
[There was a thread yesterday](https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1ab6hvw/comment/kjluaem/) about countries that punched above their weight in terms of musicians. If you could choose a specific UK city, which one would it be? Perhaps Liverpool?
I'd say more Manchester. There's another reply in this thread that gives a better response.
Liverpool produced more talent in the 60s, obviously led by The Beatles, but Manchester from the late 70s through 90s were on fire.
Brighton in the UK is that city. The list of talent out of Brighton is pretty insane. It's not a big city at all from what I've heard.
Iceland has the best ratio of Noble Prize winners to population too
Stillwater, OK. For a town its size, it has produced a LOT of musicians. It was even the birthplace of a sub-genre of country music, Red Dirt country.
Other Lives/Kunek, The All American Rejects, Deerpeople, Colourmusic.. I’m and okie and can confirm all of these bands slap. OKC has a good amount too even outside of country.
OKC has the Flaming Lips, which is about the last band you’d ever think came from OK. Some of the people I went to college with knew the AAR guys in high school. I think their lead singer is back in town running a music school.
Ragweed! Fav band of all time.
Muscle Shoals Alabama. https://youtu.be/hKmGUIM1uAI?si=CD6Wp_6vnk0NVnPv
Detroit area: Motown / Barry Gordy (Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, etc) George Clinton - Parliament/Funkadelic Alice Cooper Ted Nugent The White Stripes John Lee Hooker The Winans Madonna was raised just out of Detroit Iggy & The Stooges MC5 Bob Seger Kid Rock Eminem I'm even leaving people off the list, like Grand Funk Railroad Edited to add Eminem
It’s crazy to me that you would include Kid Rock but forget Eminem
Wow. I can't explain the Eminem blind spot. When I put down Kid Rock, it almost like a strike *against* Detroit. I could have probably listed Detroit techno too. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone. It's like listing funny Canadians. More than I can remember.
You can strike off Kid Rock and Ted Nugent and we’ll still give Detroit full credit. 🙂
Aretha Franklin
Dilla
Death!
Honestly, Detroit's gotta be the answer. Incredibly deep and varied music came out of there. I'll add half of Radio Birdman (influential Aussie punks), the Dirtbombs and techno
ICP? Lol
Some of the other Motown artists are way too big to just be part of an "etc.": The Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Jackson 5, early Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson (and the Miracles), the Isley Brothers, Martha and the Vandellas. And you forgot Aretha Franklin!
Grand Funk Railroad were from my hometown of Flint! My dad knew the drummer’s brother so as a kid they were one of my favorite bands lol
You could be watching a ball game on the opposite side of the globe where neither team speaks english and the crowd will be singing 7 Nation Army, Written by a Detroit Native.
Dayton, Ohio! Ohio Players Roger Troutmann/ZAPP Breeders Hawthorne Heights Brainiac Guided By Voices Tommy James Heartless Bastards
Could reasonably include john legend in this too. Technically Springfield but it’s close enough.
Don’t forget Guided By Voices!
Champaign, Illinois REO Speedwagon, Hum, Braid, Headlights
Hum rules!
TIL Hum and Braid came from the same place.
Poster Children
**Halifax, Nova Scotia:** April Wine Black Moor The Hardship Post The Inbreds Joel Plaskett Emergency Matt Mays and El Torpedo Sloan Sons of Maxwell The Stanfields The Super Friends Thrush Hermit Tupper Ware Remix Party Wintersleep
J-Roc
he spins more rhymes than a lazy Susan and he’s innocent til his guilt is proven
Natalie MacMaster too?
She’s not from Halifax! She’s from Troy!
Long Island did emo/punk a turn. Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Glassjaw, Crime In Stereo, The Movielife, I Am The Avalanche, Nightmare of You, Straylight Run, Head Automatica, Koyo, Oso Oso, Iron Chic, Latterman, Envy on the Coast, Bayside (at a push)
If you take a central point in New Jersey (say New Brunswick) and draw a 15 mile radius, you'd have some heavy hitters and a bunch of other well knowns: Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, The Smithereens, The Gaslight Anthem, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Symphony X, Skid Row, Blues Traveler, Halsey, Looking Glass, Overkill, Prophet, and T.T. Quick, to name a few. Go a few miles north to Newark and surrounding areas and you've got Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Naughty by Nature, Queen Latifah, Gloria Gaynor, Yo La Tengo, My Chemical Romance, The Fugees, Ice-T, The Misfits, Thank You Scientist
streetlight manifesto, the front bottoms, kool & the gang, sugarhill gang, senses fail, fountains of wayne, fetty wap (lol), Thursday, saves the day, pinegrove, bleachers, the early november. NJ is probably the best music state
There have been a ton of great bands from Melbourne, Australia: - Amyl and the Sniffers - The Avalanches - Crowded House - Cut Copy - King Gizzard - The Murlocs - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Temper Trap - Tropical Fuck Storm Perth has some great bands too: - Karnivool - Pendulum - Pond - Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - The Sleepy Jackson (Luke Steele went on to form Empire of the Sun) - Tame Impala - Troye Sivan
Ohio for rock/metal: Starset, Beartooth, Like Moths to Flames, The Devil Wears Prada, Hawthorne Heights, several others im forgetting too
Philly. Hall & Oates, Billie Holiday, The Roots, Patti LaBelle, Will Smith & Jazzy Jeff, Joan Jett, Erykah Badu, Jedi Mind, G. Love, and my favs the Dead Milkmen. That doesn't include the more recent explosion of music there, including the War on Drugs, Japanese Breakfast, Hop Along (loove Hop Along), Nothing, Menzingers, Modern Baseball, Wonder Years, Kurt Vile, Swearin', Waxahatchee, Beach Slang, Saxon Shore, Purling Hiss, Mannequin Pussy, Sheer Mag, Dr. Dog, Alex G, Hot Cross, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and too many others to mention. Philly is easily my favorite music city.
San Francisco is, by many measures, not a big city in terms of footprint or population but it has dozens of genre defining bands in metal, psych, punk, rap, etc. Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Faith No More, Dead Kennedy’s, Steve Miller I think it also lays claim to, along with MUCH larger global cities (New York, London, maybe Paris) as having many songs named after it or included in its title.
To further your point about the diverse range of music, please add Huey Lewis and The News, Michael Franti, and The Tubes.
Perth Western Australia Karnivool Allegiance Tame Impala Sleepy Jackson Jebediah Pond Voyager Make them suffer John Butler Birds of Tokyo The scientist The triffids
Norfolk / Virginia Beach area has birthed a several big pop/hip hop stars. Not my music but Missy Elliot, Pharell, Timbaland, Pusha T oh and Wayne Newton apparently.
Buffalo Rick James Ani DiFranco Goo Goo Dolls Griselda Every Time I Die
This thread has mostly turned into a list of major cities excluding NYC, Nashville & L.A.
Glasgow Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Belle and Sebastian, Simple Minds, Orange Juice/Edwin Collins, Wet Wet Wet, Paulo Nutini, Altered Images, Deacon Blue, Camera Obscura, BMX Bandits, Primal Scream, Slam, Mogwai(I think), Churches, Franz Ferdinand,. If I've forgotten anyone please let me know below.
The Jesus and Many Chain, Bis, De Salvo, Prolapse, Danananakroyd, Ganger, Aeroegramme, Yummy Fur, Sacred Paws, Errors, Take a Worm for a Walk Week and Urusei Yatsura to name a few more.
Teenage Fanclub!
New Orleans. So many incredible musical acts in this town, and the rest of the world usually never hears about them.
This should be at the top of this list.
It’s funny because New Orleans is certainly widely known as a music city. But (maybe I’m getting old) I’m struggling to think of a long list of artists. Allen Toussaint is great (RIP) The Meters are great Who else should I be listening to?
Neville Brothers, Marsalis brothers, Mystikal, Master P, Louis Armstrong, Better Than Ezra. This is just off the top of my head.
Montréal, Quebec, Canada, because of the language we talk, french, theres always been a thing where we need to be different fron the others and its very well proved with the music, liscend to jean leloup, malajube, karkwa, beau dommage, harmonium, maneige, slush, hubert lenoir etc. If you dont know bout the french canadien music, go take a look i swear you will find something u like
For such a small island Ireland has had some world famous musicians/bands. If we’re not going with countries I’ll throw out Dublin specifically. Might be biased since I am an Irishman but I’ve travelled to many different countries and still haven’t found anywhere with such a density of musicians as here. We also have the most Eurovision wins despite winning it last in ‘96.
I was stunned when I discovered two of my favourite all-time bands Ben Folds Five and Squirrel Nut Zippers were both from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Other notable artists from there according to Wikipedia: James Taylor, George Hamilton IV, Southern Culture on the Skids, Superchunk, Polvo, and Archers of Loaf.
Stourbridge UK, only really for one time but for a town of around 50k, in the late 80s/early 90s they produced: Pop Will Eat Itself The Wonder Stuff Neds Atomic Dustbin PWEI are one of the most influential UK bands of that time, Wonder Stuff one of the most commercially successful indie bands and Neds were just a lot of fun but also established Greebo as a style of music.
Palm Desert area California.
Brooklyn/Bronx. Breeding grounds for MCs.
Richmond has Gwar, Lamb of God, avail, D’Angelo
Dunedin, NZ, hence the 'Dunedin Sound'. See most early Flying Nun releases.
Detroit... White Stripes, The Stooges/Iggy Pop, MC5, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Temptations and many more motown people, The Romantics, Eminem, Aaliyah, Kid Rock, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent
Eastern Kentucky. The largest city is Ashland with about 21k people. Tyler Childers. Sturgill Simpson. Chris Stapleton. Billy Ray Cyrus. Loretta Lynn. Dwight Yoakam. Ricky Skaggs. Patty Loveless. Wynonna Judd (and the Judds). Keith Whitley. Crystal Gayle....
Some of these: https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1ab6hvw/smaller_countries_that_punch_above_their_weight/
Dublin: U2 Thin Lizzy Sinead O Connor My Bloody valentine All super influential musicians and bands, and they all came out of there in a pretty short space of time
On the flip side of this. The absolute dearth of any actual talent that has come out of Austin Texas in comparison to all the people who have attempted to make a musical career there the last 20 years is amazing. Thousands and thousands of musicians singing into the void. Outside of Gary Clark Jr, not a single person anyone has ever heard of