A great overview on rock music scenes of late
I was reading an excellent story on how Portland might very well be the next indie rock city on the map...and there was this excellent summary at the end...they even mention HALIFAX and SLOAN!! Check it out:
San Francisco
(1965-70) Haight-Ashbury Psychedelia
Scene: Bohemian fuelled by doses of LSD; attracted drifters, dropouts and peaceniks. Freakville, USA. Landmark venues were the Winterland and Bill Graham's Fillmore.
Heard: Roots-based music evolves into jazzier hypnotic rock performed by the Charlatans, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Carlos Santana.
Record label: Autumn Records.
Essential listening: Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow (1967); Moby Grape's self-titled debut (1967).
Today: The music thrived well into the seventies, but now the city produces nothing remarkable.
New York
(1974-80) Punk/New Wave
Scene: Shabbily attired youths flocked to CBGBs, a graffiti-splattered club in the Bowery.
Heard: Glammy punk precursors, the New York Dolls; accelerated, deafening, power-chord rock from the Ramones and Television; poetic rock from the Patti Smith Group; sleek pop from Deborah Harry-led Blondie; and quirky, smart pop from the Talking Heads.
Essential listening: 1976's self-titled debut from the Ramones; Talking Heads: 77 (1977).
Today: Johnny Ramone is dead, and CBGBs is dying.
Athens, Ga.
(1977-83) College Town Alt-Rock
Scene: Small, liberal college town outside Atlanta was the unlikely setting for quirky indie-rock outburst. Venues range from house parties to the smallish Tyrone's and the 40 Watt Club.
Heard: Campy rompers the B-52's; jangly guitar rock from R.E.M.; brooding dance rock from Pylon and Love Tractor.
Record label: DB Records (actually based in Atlanta).
Essential listening: R.E.M.'s Murmur (1983); the B-52's Time Capsule: Greatest Hits (1998).
Today: Bohemian underground scene still alive, though not much has been heard from Athens since oddball singer-songwriters Vic Chesnutt and Jack Logan emerged in the 1990s.
Manchester
(1980s) Madchester
Scene: Grimy working-class city where a career as a pop musician was an appealing alternative to factory work. Epicentre for the late dance-rave era was the Hacienda Club.
Heard: Melancholy new-wave pop (Joy Division, the Smiths) gave way to trippy dance music from Happy Mondays and Stone Roses.
Record label: Factory Records.
Essential listening: Joy Division's Closer (1980); Happy Monday's Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990).
Today: Factory records shut down in 1992; the Hacienda, 1997. But the town is a continuous source of bands, recently producing Oasis, Elbow, the Doves and Badly Drawn Boy.
Seattle
(1990-94) Grunge
Scene: Pleasant coffee-drinking city overwhelmed by flannel-wearing punk-rock enthusiasts.
Heard: Loud, fuzzy punk-based rock 'n' roll played unsmilingly by Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Record label: Sub Pop.
Essential Listening: Nirvana's Nevermind (1991); Soundgarden's Superunknown (1994); Pearl Jam's Ten (1991).
Today: By the time Nirvana's Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994, record labels were already looking for the Next Seattle.
Halifax
(1993-95) The Next Seattle
Scene: After local grunge-pop group Sloan signed with Geffen Records in 1992, record labels descended on the misty Maritime town looking for Nirvana sound-alikes. Venues were the Double Deuce nightclub and Club Flamingo.
Heard: Grungy Beatlesque power pop from Sloan; harder rock from Thrush Hermit; Jale; Eric's Trip.
Record label: DTK Records.
Essential listening: Sloan's One Chord to Another (1996).
Today: Sloan moved to Toronto years ago, but the Haligonian pop scene carries on with less outside interest.
Detroit
(1998-2003) Garage Rock Revival
Scene: Long a musical hotbed, the Motor City was a breeding ground for rhythm and blues in the 1950s, Motown's soul-pop in the '60s, punk rock in the '70s, and techno in the '80s. The more recent garage-rock revival draws on all those musical influences, except for the dance-orientated techno sounds. Key venue is/ was the sprawling Magic Stick complex.
Heard: Blues-based low-fidelity guitar rock from the White Stripes, Von Bondies, Detroit Cobras, Soledad Brothers, and Dirtbombs.
Essential Listening: White Stripes' White Blood Cells (2001) and the Dirtbombs' Ultraglide in Black (2001).
Today: Still thriving, though the media buzz has waned a bit.
San Francisco
(1965-70) Haight-Ashbury Psychedelia
Scene: Bohemian fuelled by doses of LSD; attracted drifters, dropouts and peaceniks. Freakville, USA. Landmark venues were the Winterland and Bill Graham's Fillmore.
Heard: Roots-based music evolves into jazzier hypnotic rock performed by the Charlatans, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Carlos Santana.
Record label: Autumn Records.
Essential listening: Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow (1967); Moby Grape's self-titled debut (1967).
Today: The music thrived well into the seventies, but now the city produces nothing remarkable.
New York
(1974-80) Punk/New Wave
Scene: Shabbily attired youths flocked to CBGBs, a graffiti-splattered club in the Bowery.
Heard: Glammy punk precursors, the New York Dolls; accelerated, deafening, power-chord rock from the Ramones and Television; poetic rock from the Patti Smith Group; sleek pop from Deborah Harry-led Blondie; and quirky, smart pop from the Talking Heads.
Essential listening: 1976's self-titled debut from the Ramones; Talking Heads: 77 (1977).
Today: Johnny Ramone is dead, and CBGBs is dying.
Athens, Ga.
(1977-83) College Town Alt-Rock
Scene: Small, liberal college town outside Atlanta was the unlikely setting for quirky indie-rock outburst. Venues range from house parties to the smallish Tyrone's and the 40 Watt Club.
Heard: Campy rompers the B-52's; jangly guitar rock from R.E.M.; brooding dance rock from Pylon and Love Tractor.
Record label: DB Records (actually based in Atlanta).
Essential listening: R.E.M.'s Murmur (1983); the B-52's Time Capsule: Greatest Hits (1998).
Today: Bohemian underground scene still alive, though not much has been heard from Athens since oddball singer-songwriters Vic Chesnutt and Jack Logan emerged in the 1990s.
Manchester
(1980s) Madchester
Scene: Grimy working-class city where a career as a pop musician was an appealing alternative to factory work. Epicentre for the late dance-rave era was the Hacienda Club.
Heard: Melancholy new-wave pop (Joy Division, the Smiths) gave way to trippy dance music from Happy Mondays and Stone Roses.
Record label: Factory Records.
Essential listening: Joy Division's Closer (1980); Happy Monday's Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990).
Today: Factory records shut down in 1992; the Hacienda, 1997. But the town is a continuous source of bands, recently producing Oasis, Elbow, the Doves and Badly Drawn Boy.
Seattle
(1990-94) Grunge
Scene: Pleasant coffee-drinking city overwhelmed by flannel-wearing punk-rock enthusiasts.
Heard: Loud, fuzzy punk-based rock 'n' roll played unsmilingly by Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Record label: Sub Pop.
Essential Listening: Nirvana's Nevermind (1991); Soundgarden's Superunknown (1994); Pearl Jam's Ten (1991).
Today: By the time Nirvana's Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994, record labels were already looking for the Next Seattle.
Halifax
(1993-95) The Next Seattle
Scene: After local grunge-pop group Sloan signed with Geffen Records in 1992, record labels descended on the misty Maritime town looking for Nirvana sound-alikes. Venues were the Double Deuce nightclub and Club Flamingo.
Heard: Grungy Beatlesque power pop from Sloan; harder rock from Thrush Hermit; Jale; Eric's Trip.
Record label: DTK Records.
Essential listening: Sloan's One Chord to Another (1996).
Today: Sloan moved to Toronto years ago, but the Haligonian pop scene carries on with less outside interest.
Detroit
(1998-2003) Garage Rock Revival
Scene: Long a musical hotbed, the Motor City was a breeding ground for rhythm and blues in the 1950s, Motown's soul-pop in the '60s, punk rock in the '70s, and techno in the '80s. The more recent garage-rock revival draws on all those musical influences, except for the dance-orientated techno sounds. Key venue is/ was the sprawling Magic Stick complex.
Heard: Blues-based low-fidelity guitar rock from the White Stripes, Von Bondies, Detroit Cobras, Soledad Brothers, and Dirtbombs.
Essential Listening: White Stripes' White Blood Cells (2001) and the Dirtbombs' Ultraglide in Black (2001).
Today: Still thriving, though the media buzz has waned a bit.
posted by Catonia at 5:44 PM
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