What's Your Hometown's ContributionTo Music?

oh and i once lived in a little place called witton gilbert in durham which was home to a few prefab sprouts funnily enough, they called one of their albums "from langely park to memphis"...langely park is a neighbouring town, i suppose from "witton gilbert to memphis" wasn't catchy enough!.....strange ol world

My sister swears that Adam Ant once lived in BS, but there is no evidence of this. A couple of no-hoper indie bands have hailed from this most Daily Mail-ish of towns and maybe even released a few singles back in 1992, but they soon gave up the struggle and went back to their foundation courses.

So it kinda leaves it to me to put it on the map. Although, to be honest, why bother?

Lincoln was a little more promising with a couple of members of B- Movie coming straight outta Sincil Bank, and 'John Peel favourites' The Cigarettes (well he played their singles).

Hometown since 1990, Twickenham, is, of course a hotbed of music. Pete Townshend has lived here for yonks, 'tho he's from Shepherds Bush. Ross MacManus lives three streets away from me, and still gigs round here, as do sixties freakbeat heros The Downliners Sect (see Nuggets 2 box set) and The Strawbs still play in various configurations (incl Dave Lambert also of The Fire of 'My Father's Name is Dad' fame). Robin Guthrie lives and has a studio here. Ian MacLagan of The Small Faces is from Whitton, which is strictly Hounslow, but learned how to bunk off college and drink in The Albany by Twickenham railway station, upon which Rod Stewart was reputedly 'discovered'. I'm not sure if that's true. Also from TW1 - appalling transit van indie fools The Senseless Things. Good name chaps.

Subhumans (punk band from nearby Melksham) recorded their first album there. That's about it.

Peter Gabriel comes to buy his paper from the newsagents. Does that count?

I'm now in Bristol...which people always assume to be a really happening place, musicwise - Massive Attack, Portishead etc. etc., but these people don't actually do anything locally. Indie labels Subway (Flatmates, Groove Farm etc.) & Sarah were also Bristol-based.

As for bands, Pigbag & The Brilliant Corners spring to mind.

Carmel (erm, from Carmel) hails from Brigg, believe it or not...

Also from Grimsby - Steve Currie from T-Rex

dave, as -if- you post here. :) arcade fire is the shit, and they kick leonard cohen and GYBE!'s asses, twice. arcadefire.com for some muffled live stuff. glories will be heard in the coming months.

sean [kyla says hi]

What's wrong with prefab sprout?

I currently live in Costa Mesa, CA, home of Supernova (yay!) and, erm, Sugar Ray. Trust me, I'd do something about that if I could. However, to make up for it, my cross-the-street neighbors Chris and Scott are better known as Papa Byrd, being both good DJs and musicmakers.

Dom, you seem to have some problem with the fact that the gloriously wonderful Bauhaus comes from Northampton.

there was a band called American TV Cops who got played on the radio a bit in the early 90s, and a much better band called gloy, who didn't.

just down the road tho: tamworth....home to julian cope, wolfsbane and birdland.

that part of the midlands is a cultural wilderness. i'm glad i dont live there any more. whinge.

my hometown is too small to have contributed anything. my birth town contributed, doh, slipknot.

Let's see...hmmm. New York City: Kiss, The Velvet Underground, the Fugs, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Television, the Ramones, Blondie, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, the Heartbreakers, the Plasmatics, Agnostic Front, Murphy's Law, Cro-Mags, Kraut, DNA, Mars, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Pussy Galore, Swans, Sonic Youth, Heart Attack, D-Generation, Helmet, Band of Susans, the Toasters, Urban Blight, the Dictators, Prong, Missing Foundation, Rat at Rat R, Live Skull, Cop Shoot Cop, the Undead, the Black Snakes, Firewater, Skeleton Key, the Lounge Lizards, Suicide, Anthrax, the Beastie Boys, Run-Dmc, LL Cool J, Kurtis Blow, Laurie Anderson, the Strokes, Interpol...oh, fuck, and a bunch more.

10 minute drive (the singer)
20 minutes drive (also the singer - we're proud of this)

San Diego itself is another matter entirely. I didn't live THERE, after all. ;-)

Hoboken's done pretty well for a small town, methinks.

not that anyone will hear them, probably.

Indianapolis, Indiana USA

Indiana as a state has also spawned Michael Jackson (actually all of the Jacksons), Axl (as noted above), David Lee Roth & Johnny Cougar which is a pretty odd lot.

And then there's my 'other' home town of Penarth, the other side of Cardiff, where I lived for 18 years, whose twin claims to fame are the Paget Rooms (see Man's "Live at the Paget Rooms, Penarth" live album) and being the birth place of Christian rocker Martyn "Dolphins make me cry" Joseph who used to come to our school and play Cliff Richard songs in our assemblies, and hand out signed LPs to teachers who promptly binned them (I know, I saw them do it).

Now I live in East Devon & it isn't much better, apparently the woman who danced with Hawkwind is from Exeter. Oh, and Eddie and the Hot Rods play the pub down the road from me on Friday (but aren't they from Southend ?)

Oh and how could you forget Teignmouth's finest?

I've now moved to the west end of Glasgow and can't even pop out to the local newsagent without tripping over a (very) minor celebrity. But it doesn't seem quite so exciting as the time in 1978, sitting on the train from Dunfermline to Edinburgh and Fay Fife said hello to me because I was carrying the Atlantic records 'This is Soul' album. She said it was cool that young punks were into Soul and that this was one of her favourite records. I was so thrilled she thought I was a 'young punk' that I didn't tell her it was my only soul album at the time.

The only other band I can think of (apart from a few dodgy 2nd generation punk bands) was "The Milltown brothers"

Erm ... I used to live just outside Dartford where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards came from. I think that counts.

Cheshunt, Herts = CLIFF RICHARD!!!

And no dissing Bauhaus up there, ya hear?

not much cop down here in portsmouth you know...

saying that im actually friends with jim from the band and hes a top bloke.

note to self* "must not generalize band members as idiots if their music is bad"

i'm sure there are better answers, i am just not trying very hard

you can bomb it now, if you like.

Slade - the drummer went to my school, several, several years before I got there.

The Wonderstuff, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Pop Will Eat Itself.

Oh.

Prince/Revolution - most of the orig. Revolution went to my school.
John Denver - lived in Edina. My mum skinned her knee outside his house and he rescued her and invited her to his birthday party.
Replacements (durrr)
One of Urge Overkill from here

People living in my present manor include Jason Pierce, Bobby Gillespie, Beth Orton, Debbie Gooch from MBV

Oh and from this thread I can safely say that the FAP for when I visit Mpls will be at the Triple Rock. 'Irish Car Bombs' optional. And I swear Nate must know my best friend there.

Could be here all day listing them, but apart from the obvious, John Mayall, Ewan MacColl, King of the Slums, Easterhouse, MC Tunes, Frank Sidebottom.

I've just done a quick search to see if anything is going on there now, bringing me actual quotes like this one: "We are a heavy metal band out of Pueblo. We are planning on bringing real metal back, no more of this Limp Bizkit bull shit! We usually play the Pixie Inn and we've played the state fair." (I wish them more luck than industrial wankers Pope on a Rope had when I was young.)

The triple rock should be plated in gold for this alone: they serve tator tots.

It will all change when Hystereo become Ireland's first successful dance act.

We're responsible for Beefheart, Minutemen, Beach Boys, Joan Jett, The Gun Club, NWA/Dre/Snoop, The Germs, Horace Tapscott and pretty much nothing else that comes to mind.

Inland Empire all up in heezy fo sheezy!

Paul K & the Weathermen, Groovezilla, Chad Sexton the drummer from 311, Ten Foot Pole, Nine Pound Hammer, Bela Fleck wasn't born here but lived here for a long time, that's all the biggeez I can think of right now.

Probably the most influential music artist to come out of DC, however, was Duke Ellington.

Killdozer were pretty influential in their way. The Madison punk scene didn't have the national impact on the culture that the '60s radicals did, but it was one of those places all the bands went to and made friends. The Crucifucks dedicated an album to Wisconsin. I heard Henry Rollins's dad lives there and that's why he always came through. Lots of bands still make a point of going there.

Other bands of note: Timbuk 3, Mecht Mensch, Tar Babies, Old Skull, Imminent Attack, Appliances-SFB, Rainer Maria, Garbage/Butch Vig, Ben Sidran, Joel Paterson, Jesse Hozeny. Butch Vig cut his teeth on recording punk for a decade before Nevermind, and did the Nevermind demos in Madison, for whatever impact that had. The place has been a longtime home to Clyde Stubblefield (the Funky Drummer), but I'm stretching.

Mostly, Madison just has a really active college and community radio scene, a city of really active fans, and it always has. We had MTV before most cities, and have always treated the Minneapolis underground as practically mainstream. Atmosphere draws as many people in Madison as in Minneapolis. So generations of UW college students come away thinking this is the norm around the country, but it really isn't.

Madison's impact is more obvious in politics and humor and movies: in the Wisconsin school of history, in the peace movement, the Zucker Brothers movies, Chris Farley, David Lynch, and the Onion. No local band has ever had that kind of impact...

Now, I know that Tracy Lords isn't really a musician, but her movies are a great backdrop no matter what album you're listening to.

And yes, as far as I know, AOR really did form while applying at Electric Boat (though I feel compelled to point out that they called Providence home.)

...and sonia.

To echo Dave225's earlier post: Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the Electric Eels, Scrawl.

To elaborate: New Bomb Turks, Gaunt, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Great Plains, Royal Crescent Mob, Howlin' Maggie, RJD2 (& the MHz crew).

Too bad I live in Brighton Beach in Melbourne, Australia.

Frank Zappa
David Lindley
Michael Stewart
Chris Strachwitz
(others are there beginning to bloom now ... including Franklin Bruno, Ben Harper ... while others had already blossomed but have enriched the area by dropping by for a time, Leonard Cohen and so on)

oh, and gene kelly!!

What's a hometown anyway?

"the city or town where one was born or grew up; also : the place of one's principal residence"

So you're half right.

I swear there's more from Brum, though... Bally Sagoo springs to mind but I ain't sure why.

FAXED HEAD claim to hail from there, but this is an elaborate hoax.

Some real bands from the town:

Power Salad, The Unibombers, Affluence, etc.

Hell, that's more than anything from Santa Monica or Pacific Palisades, CA.... what, the Treacherous Jaywalkers? Mustard?

And she was on the Manics' "Motorcycle Emptiness" so she definitely counts.

Brighton Beach contributed Norman Cook, right?

Well, depends on yr definition of hometown as described above. I was gonna claim our Quentin for Reigate, Surrey, since that's a. where hw was born and b. my nearest town.

Well, it would be if I were currently living in the UK.

Which I'm not.

So I guess I'll say...oh no! The Vines! Oh no!

*bows head*

-- sharivari

Somewhere in Buckinghamshire, I'd wager. I'm sure we lived mext door to Val Doonican when I was little...in fact I'm pretty sure my sister broke his greenhouse.

You also forgot the Boo Radleys michael.
...and sonia.

i forgot frankie goes to hollywood,too.i may be back...

From the Metroplex:
Old 97's
half of the Butthole Surfers
Stevie Ray Vaughan (proud for "Life By The Drop," shamed because of everything else)
the Toadies
Deep Blue Something
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians

Niels Henning Ørsted Petersen (jazz bass)
Aqua (aargh. And yes, the chick was Norwegian, but she hangs out)
and of course, cowpunk originators D-A-D. Oh, and Mew. Whiners.

Junior Senior don't count, they're gay hicks from Jylland.

but then they broke up;
since then all babies are fine
and dwarfs speak forwards

Ha! I can top that

then- Vicksburg, MS: Willie Dixon
now- Memphis (you know the roster), but recently: f'n SALIVA, brother!

cheee-rist, what happened?

coming up:
Clem Snide & Califone
Sea and Cake
Broken Social Scene (?)
Erase Errata
Songs: Ohia
The Shins

...and a very special Oblivians reunion on Halloween

take advantage, Mem can go months without seeing any interesting, non-local acts.

the area of rural Arkansas I grew up in can claim Al Green and Charlie Rich and, if you use a 30-mile radius or so, Louis Jordan, Levon Helm, and Conway Twitty.

I moved to Memphis in high school and live there now. We currently claim Justin Timberlake and American Idol's Trenyce.

Re: the above discussion -- there are SO MANY good shows coming through town lately and I have no idea why. When was the last time we had two potentially great indie rock shows on the same night in the middle of the week?

Gimme an R !

We gave the world Sidewinder, bits of the Church, Nick Dalton (who worked with Evan Dando on "Shame about Ray"), the Falling Joys, and errm... I'm sure there must be someone else I've forgotten.

Teenage Head
The Vapids
Simply Saucer
Junior Boys

Sonic Unyon Records

David Byrne lived here briefly
Ian Astbury went to high school here

and apparently when Hawkwind tried crossing from the US into our border city, Lemmy got nailed with drugs, eventually leading to his dismissal from Hawkwind, eventually leading to the fucking formation of Motorhead!

Within about 5 miles AC/DC and The Hardons were born. People really like Gibson SG's around here.

...and eventually leading to the composition of the song "America", featuring this couplet:

America / Cold as death
Up to Canada / Crystal meth!

My hometown of Owen Sound, Ontario produced W.W.1. flying ace Billy Bishop but no musicians or musical events of note. So instead, I'll mention the second place I lived: Sarnia, Ontario, which gave the world Max Webster and Kim Mitchell.

Bryan Ferry
Dave Stewart
The Angelic Upstarts
The Toy Dolls
Red Alert
Leatherface
Kenickie
The Futureheads
The Golden Virgins

Tommy Ramone was born here as Erdélyi Tamás.
Composers Ligeti and Kurtag spend a lot of time here, but none of them actually lives here, I think.

Absolutely noone else.

Sadly, I know that Harlow is responsible for two big hits (in Britain) from about 1986/87. Nick Kamen (of the Levis launderette
advert) singing 'Each Time You Break My Heart' and Glenn Hoddle
(then playing for Spurs) who sang 'Diamond Lights' with mullet-sporting Chris Waddle. I think Linda Lusardi and Michael Barrymore also used to live there. It's really not a great place.

(from Berkhamsted, Herts)

Exmouth band Headtime made a couple of singles for Cherry Red in the early 1990s, but that's the only Exmothian musicians I know. Though one of them was from Teignmouth.

Once again, with Duncan from Blue, Sidmouth's superiority is proved!

I feel awful - I was at school with Headtime, and I'd utterly forgotten their moment of startdom...

I'm tring to remember which of them I knew. Ed...Something? It was a big school...

Stil in touch with Ed & Paul, have almost been in touch with Dave K in the last couple of years but he seems to be avoiding me. And who can blame him?

Biggest secondary school in Europe or something?

Jim, NOW I'm glad I googleproofed.

. . . and of course, the infamous Spinal Tap greeting, "Hello, Cleveland!"

Céline Dion (we're very sorry about that)
Leonard Cohen
Corey Hart
The Stills
Godspeed Y!BE
Les Georges Leningrad
Tiga
Melissa Auf Der Mar
Mylène Farmer
Trans X
Men Without Hats
Benoit Charest
Rufus Wainright
Bran Van 3000
Nancy Martinez
Stars
Simple Plan
Unicorns
Doughboys
Aldo Nova
France Joli
Rational Youth
Oscar Peterson

I forgot about Voivod, I'm sure there's more. I don't know if Luba and The Box are known outside of Canada? Maybe Sam Roberts and Misstress Barbara?

The Sissor Sisters
Two of the Members of the Backstreet Boys

I say huge ass in the best possible way.

We had a lot of Punk bands that didnt really go anywhere and Danny Lohner who was in a bunch of those bands is in Nine Inch Nails.

35 miles north, Elvis Presley.

Aside from Roland Kirk, Scrawl, and the New Bomb Turks, none of my favorite Columbus-ites have a national or international rep. But we have Roland Kirk, and therefore we win.

from Tartu, 'stonia - BIZARRE

THIS THREAD HAS BEEN LOCKED BY THE SPANGLY POP POLICE

this local yokel made a terrible rap song and taped the video around my depressing hometown

[note video cliche #400: making a video that highlights the artists hometown]

Mogwai.
Tho I was born in bellshill so thats about 3 million bands from there and I spent the 1st 5 years of my life in east kilbride aka jamc country and aztec camera

Kenny Loggins. I'm friends with his nephew.

Unfortunately, "happy hardcore" community college bands and their immature high school groupies.

My wife's 'hood produced The Judds, Ashely included, Billy Ray Cyrus, and was the spot where Bascom Lamar Lunsford recorded "Mole in the Ground." Also, Chuck Woolery. And Lee Majors attended community college there for a bit. My town may have produced the oral aficionado youtubed above, but I've avoided it for a long time, so I don't know.

Columbia, MO is my adopted hometown. Mahjongg, Cave, Jerusalem and the Starbaskets, Warhammer 48K, Untamed Youth, Jon Sheffield, many others

And The Incontinentals! Though they moved to Columbia from Kirksville. The best of the bunch, I say. Their drummer's in Mahjongg.

Unfortunately, "happy hardcore" community college bands and their immature high school groupies.

Glasgow or Lanarkshire?

That vid appears to be from Butler, NJ, so not my homie.

Glasgow or Lanarkshire?

Actually, a suburb of Chicago.

lol wow

Obviously the other hardcore then.

It's the kind-of town that makes you want to hang yourself. but psychos pay 400k to live in that rotting dumpster of white trash northern rednecks

Marilyn Manson and Enoch Light

to the extent i have a hometown, it's rochester ny. to the extent rochester has contributed to music, its contribution has been lou gramm and chuck mangione. (and late '70s/early '80s almost-made-its duke jupiter.)

(and the eastman school of music, of course.)

Columbia, MO is my adopted hometown. Mahjongg, Cave, Jerusalem and the Starbaskets, Warhammer 48K, Untamed Youth, Jon Sheffield, many others

― "80s Baby" (Z S), Friday, 2 January 2009 02:06 (1 hour ago) Permalink
And The Incontinentals! Though they moved to Columbia from Kirksville. The best of the bunch, I say. Their drummer's in Mahjongg.

― erasingclouds, Friday, 2 January 2009 02:08 (1 hour ago) Permalink

Don't forget White Rabbits, Brett James and Sheryl Crow!

The Blues, and Fall Out Boy

Oh shit, forgot about White Rabbits! I even had their wikipedia entry up!

Well, if someone's going to mention Columbia, I'll just go ahead and say that I'm very proud that Dazzling Killmen are from St. Louis. Also, I think you could count Uncle Tupelo, right? Right.

Ballyclare, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland - Andy Cairns from Therapy?

That's it. It does have a population of less than 10,000 though.

Belfast, my adoptive home, has Van Morrison, Brian Kennedy, Stiff Little Fingers and David Holmes. Surprisingly few - The Undertones, Ash and Snow Patrol are all from elsewhere in NI.

Dublin.

Sorry.

some guy out of g4

Andreas Tilliander, Sophie Rimheden, Son Kite/Minilogue... all household names

Smegma lived in my hometown back in the 70s. It was their interim spot post-California, pre-Portland.

Good ol Corvallis, OR.

Tragically, Little sodding Boots.

Also Section 25, Tunnelvision, Dave Ball and Chris Lowe (both of whom went to my school: damn, that was a good synthpop department we had), Ian Anderson, Graham Nash and, er, Ian Stewart out of Skrewdriver.

The Feeling are from the town where I was born. Yeah, sorry. Also the cartoonist who co-created Gorrilaz. As for where I grew up, absolutely no-one...

DC usually claims Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Brown, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Bad Brains, Henry Rollins, etc.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford!

Durham NC: J.D Loudermilk and Clyde McPhatter.

Durham is also the home to Merge Records and plenty of other 90s artifacts that have been priced out of Chapel Hill, but are puttering along nicely, thank you.

craig david, artful dodger, the valley slags

Jimmy Eat World!

The place where I was born, 25 Ta Life

TAVARES

Waterford is to blame for Val Doonican, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Brendan Boyer and the Royal Showband, half the original Nirvana, and me.

where original Nirvana = Rainbow Chaser dudes, not something involving Chad Channing

Northern Pikes

Surprisingly, I seem to the third person on this thread from the home of Paolo Nutini, David Sneddon and Momus. but our greatest contribution to music is my username, courtesy of Gerry Rafferty.

Calgary claims leslie feist, chad van gaalen, women, chixdiggit, huevos rancheros, the stampeders.
Joni Mitchell went to art college here. I think one of the guys in Country teasers is from here.
Jann Arden is from here.

Me.

Louisville, Kentucky would produce a long list, mostly because I wouldn't want to leave out all the bands that I loved seeing there growing up that other people outside of Louisville wouldn't know. There are some usual suspects that are brought up in terms of who made it outside of Louisville (Will Oldham, David Grubbs, David Pajo, Slint, Squirrel Bait, Rodan, Rachel's, Crain, June of 44 were my era, but I left in 89). But growing up in Louisville made you not care so much about what people outside of Louisville thought about whether what you and your friends did mattered or not (in a good provincial way rather than in a bad provincial way).

/Durham is also the home to Merge Records

...and Sugar Hill Records

of the ones people may have heard of: Cadence Weapon, SNFU, the Smalls, and sort of KD Lang.

Fall Out Boy

The Gestures.

montreal's next big thing for sure: the arcade fire.
they are amazing and they are recording this summer but have some live mp3s somewhere on a website. they make gybe! look like a bunch of wankers (oh wait, they are!)
― ddd, Wednesday, July 3, 2002 8:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

nice call, ddd, if yr out there.

As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of the gospel song, "The Old Rugged Cross" in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912.

nice one PW. I'm coming up balls on Jackson. George Clinton & Tha Nuge lived there at various points, but did not come of age there.

O_o on GC in Jackson

I think the Nuge takes up all of lower peninsula. He purportedly had a lake house on Swain's lake in Concord when I swam there in summers.

GC lived in Brooklyn near MIS. He kept a very low profile. I used to think this was an urban legend until I ran into the man himself at Chicago O'Hare & yep, he confirmed it. He's moved since, I believe.

Nuge lived in the Hanover Horton area, which is out near Concord I believe. He must have been there for a while b/c his kids went to public school there and everything. Also, he owned a bow & Arrow shop in the city proper w/ a dance studio next door which was run by his wife. I have a friend who used to babysit for him or something. I've met his son a few times. Nice dude, actually. Yep, Nuge was like Jackson's unofficial spokesmayor. Do you remember the zebra-striped billboard on 94 which read "Welcome to Nuge Country?"

3rd Bass - and Rockaway Beach by the Ramones. The odd thing is the unlikeliest people are familiar with that song - I could meet the Prime Minister and he'd start singing it.

I live in Bandung, Indonesia. The native language here is called Sundanese and the language has been used by DJ Koze for his track "I Want To Sleep". If you want the translation I can provide it.

No, I'm good

from my one suburb of seattle, parts of
sunny day real estate, modest mouse, sleater-kinney, murder city devils, lync
from when i lived there
mark arm went to my high school, i think
long time before me

Is there any other band from Santa Monica, CA other than, er, Everclear?

MC5, Funkadelic, Temptations, Dennis Coffey, Aretha Franklin, Juan Atkins, Underground Resistance, Derrick May, White Stripes, Rare Earth, etc., etc.

I live in Bandung, Indonesia. The native language here is called Sundanese and the language has been used by DJ Koze for his track "I Want To Sleep". If you want the translation I can provide it.

― dan138zig (Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr), Saturday, January 3, 2009 9:01 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

actually, I'm kind of curious.

Nuge lived in the Hanover Horton area, which is out near Concord I believe.

Yeah, Swain's Lake is in Concord. That was my summer swimming hole in the 70s/early 80s. About a 15 minute drive.

De La Soul apparently came from my hometown.

xpost: lol yeah that is why I mentioned it. It is interesting to have run across someone randomly on ILX with whom to share details of shit like Concord and Paka Plaza. Go figure.

O_o on GC in Jackson

I think the Nuge takes up all of lower peninsula. He purportedly had a lake house on Swain's lake in Concord when I swam there in summers.

― Crackhead #2 (PappaWheelie V), Saturday, January 3, 2009 7:32 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

Paka Plaze shows your AGE, since it's been called something else for decades...

I'm quite happy to have Spoon as our hometown guys. I've seen them close to a dozen times over the past decade, watched them evolve. It's been pretty fun.

Jackson Crossing, I believe

xp

yeah, the reason I mentioned that is b'c you dropped the Paka Plaza detail on a different thread, & I was all O_o. Yeah, it has been JC since the early 90's probably. Did you ever go to local metal/punk shows at the Michigan Theatre?

no, i wasn;t rock fan then. i moved in late 83/early 84, so was all disco turned late funk turned electro as I got into music and left for florida

and then, hometown became, uh, limp bizzy

ah, a bit before my time. You missed out on the thriving Jackson hardcore/(redneck)thrash & death metal scene of the early 90s. I'm not sure how many of the bands were actually any good, but at least there were a lot of them around.

It Bites, though that's if you count the village of Egremont as being part of Whitehaven.

Brian Higgins, the guy behind Xenomania.

A proud history, I'm sure you'll agree.

Hometown, what is that? :)

I guess Siggerud, my homeplace, couldn't be considered a "town" even. Its only contribution to music internationally is one fourth of the boyband A1, Christian Ingebrigtsen. Nationally, you can add his dad, Stein Ingebrigtsen, who was a huge Norwegian popstar in the 70s.

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Bernie Clifton

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Poisoned Electrick Head

Christ. Sorry.

Anyway:

You missed out on the thriving Jackson hardcore/(redneck)thrash & death metal scene of the early 90s. I'm not sure how many of the bands were actually any good, but at least there were a lot of them around.

hey Pillbox you ever hear of Production Grey? They were from Homer, which was (is) my hometown...they were prolley more mid-90s than early-90s but there was a rumour going around my high school that they were signed to Interscope for a short while...?

But I lived in Jackson for a while...went to Hunt Elementary school for two years before moving to Homer...

The town I grew up in (Perth, Scotland) gave the world 80s one-hit wonders Fiction Factory.

My adopted home town (Dundee) has faired quite a bit better with the Associates (or Billy Mackenzie, at least). Then there's Danny Wilson and Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue! I think Edwyn Collins went to school here for a bit too. Then, of course, there is The View. Sorry about that. Oh, and Findo Gask played mostly of their early gigs here...

Both towns can lay claim to members of the Average White Band.

Oh, and Brian Molko of Placebo's mum is from Dundee, I remember him getting arsey with an NME journo who happened to be from Perth (Sylvia Patterson? cannae mind now) when she teased him a little about it in an interview. He got beat up one christmas in a rough schemie pub, for looking like a twat. And he came into the shop I used to work in and threw a hissy fit that their first album wasn't displayed prominently enough.

Spare Snare. From Dundee.

All I can think of from Beaumont, TX proper is Mark Chesnutt. But if you include the metro area, there's also Janis Joplin, George Jones, and The Big Bopper, which ain't too shabby.

Durham, NC: Little Brother/9th Wonder, multiple Grammy-winning gospel singer Shirley Caesar, country songwriters John D. Loudermilk ("Tobacco Road") and Don Schlitz ("The Gambler"). also current home of Branford Marsalis, ILXor J0hn D., and the latter half of Kid 'n Play.

dolly mixture, martina topley-bird (weeeeeell kind of), one of g4. katrina and the waves. at least one of groove amanda.

I'm taking credit for Jimmy Buffett. And Rich Boy.

Spare Snare. From Dundee

Ah shit, I loved that band!

I love them too. New album sometime this year, I think.

hey Pillbox you ever hear of Production Grey?

lol wow. Yeah, I remember Production Grey, not too well or anything. I went to high school with their singer (or at least one of their singers - I don't think think he was in the band for that long). Saw em' at a few local package shows. They were sort of prog-thrash, right? I had no idea they were signed to Interscope. When I knew of them, they were pretty rough around the edges, but they probably went on to a long and storied career after I left town.

my parents can claim Livonia - His Name is Alive

My original hometown of Inverness gave the world Graeme Kemp from Urusei Yatsura, and no-one else at all that I can think of. Jimmy Page used to have a house outside the town, though he never lived there (was bought for curiosity value as it used to belong to Aleister Crowley)

Didn't he allegedly hang around there wearing one of AC's old capes doing "sex majickxz" or something?

blues traveler
spin doctors
part of phish
part of saves the day
paul robeson

Aye, I think so. One of my brother's friends used to live there, I think, I'm sure his dad was the estate manager or something, but I was way too young to even know who Jimmy Page was at that point, so I never paid any attention. I'm sure Page hung around there a fair bit, but it wasn't like his main residence or anything. xpost

Have just remembered Inverness can also claim Simon from V-Twin and Lucky Luke. But I'm pretty sure that's it.

pillbox i have no idea as to the veracity of the PG-getting-signed-to-Interscope rumour...I saw them maybe a year after I had heard that...I believe they were playing in a shed in Litchfield, maybe? or Pulaski/Concord?...my buddy's band opened for them...I was slam-dancing though...

Damn Max. Why'd your hometown have to do that?

max u from vermont?

Mrs. Brown the elder was kind enough to update me- Camden was home to Brook Benton (sang "Rainy Night in Georgia") and she and my aunt knew Bill Pinckney from the Drifters growing up. I can't believe I never knew that!

My hometown, Kirkcaldy, can claim Craig Logan from Bros and Guy Berryman from Coldplay.
We've produced better acts, but I don't think any of them have had hits.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:FLAT_ERIC.JPG

http://www.beatportal.com/uploads/news/1202333344_flat-eric.jpg

Two Jon's -- Jon Small, drummer for Billy Joel's first band the Hassles, and Jon Carin, keyboardist of new wave band Industry, and later a session guy for the Who, Pink Floyd, Bryan Ferry, etc.

Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "Battle Hymn of the Republic," lived (and died) in my hometown of Portsmouth, RI.
I'll cheat by adding the Throwing Muses, who grew up less than 10 miles south in Newport, where I also lived for a spell.

kenan, you can also lay claim to Max Neuhaus (RIP) who was born in Beaumont, TX:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/arts/music/09neuhaus.html?_r=1

hailing from San Antonio, we can lay claim to Doug Sahm and the Butthole Surfers and Steve Jordan and uh...the dude from Candlebox.

Damn Max. Why'd your hometown have to do that?

― I shall always respect my elders (Z S), Sunday, February 8, 2009 9:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

max u from vermont?

― 37 x 18 = (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, February 8, 2009 9:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

princeton nj!!

I'm from Auckland , New Zealand....trying to think of good bands from here. Screaming Meemees ? ..actually i think fetus Productions are from AK. great band !

I believe they were playing in a shed in Litchfield, maybe?

lol this pretty much sums up the whole Jackson concert-going experience.

red bank NJ

count basie
monster magnet

dude from my hometown does scores for films and Kanye sampled him on "Robocop".

Pillbox I played bass in a metal band called Junkwrench when I was going to Spring Arbor University...we practiced in this house outside of Albion, on River Rd...we never gigged; I didn't even own a bass, but our lead singer was good friends with the guitarist from a band called Headshot, and the guitarist of our band owned the house where everyone cept me lived, and he let Headshot rehearse there in exchange for allowing us to use their equipment...

Those were crazy times. Mark my words; I'm gonna write a novel about it someday.

i fell in the river in albion :-/

bummer man...that river's weird.

Jimi Hendrix played in my hometown, Clarksville, Tenn., in the early '60s, when he was at nearby Ft. Campbell training to be a paratrooper.

philthy phil from motorhead, a thompson twin and the electric sound of joy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPFZrRD3J8

Limerick that is...

Cafe Tacuba, probably. But my personal favourite is Flans.

The town I grew up in: Paul Robeson (supposedly he lived there for a while) and Dan Yemin (Lifetime, Paint It Black). The town I've lived in for the last 18 years or so: saxophonist Hank Mobley, drummer Sam Woodyard.

Just found out TVOTR's Dave Sitek is from my town and I used to have a 2rd-generation dub of his high school band's demo ("I taped this from my older sister's boyfriend...and now I'm going to tape it for you"). All I remember is a sorta jokey ska-funk song called The Chuck Song that was a HUGE influence on my own dubious brand of ska-funk.

Woodford green, apparently Peter Perret of the Only ones went to school across the road from my grandparents place.
Eddie Pillar was a Castle mod which is I think where I met him, he then went on to creating the Acid Jazz label.

South Woodford gave us Gnidrolog.

My school Forest was the same one 2/3s of the original Bark Psychosis line-up attended and also performed during a school assembly that I missed.

Walthamstow has been home to several labels like On-U Sound over the years. oh & one of E17 worked for the council when my mother was there looking after allotments. The E17 band name comes from the postcode. May not be the best remembered band though.

Alexis Strum is from somewhere around Woodford Green, i think. She was great!

Before I found out about Sitek, there was the hardcore band Void, but other than that I had to tide myself over with Tori Amos's brother, David Byrne's parents, and a guy who was rumored to be the brother of Ladybug from Digable Planets, who sold me bunk drugs once.

Dunno if Siggerud coul be considered a town, but it provided the music world with one fourth of turn of the millenium boyband A1.
Christian Ingebrigtsen's dad Stein also was a big Norwegian star in the 70s, but he wasn't originally from here.

In addition Christian Strand also topped the Norwegian singles list in 2000 but he is more famous here as a soap star (then) and TV presenter (now).

Siggerud also provided the world with alpine skier Lasse Kjus and TV vet Trude Moestue. Probably for the better they never made any music, yet not bad for a little place with 1500 inhabitants.

Geir, quick question - do you like sly & the family stone, stevie wonder, and bill withers?

the descendants, greg ginn and keith morris went to my high school. lotsa other subsequent socal punkers.

Amory: blues singer Lucille Bogan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Bogan
Carl Perkins wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" here - http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Blue_Suede_Shoes.htm

Smithville, a few miles north of here: Rod Brasfield, Country Music HOF member and Andy Griffith's sidekick in A Face in the Crowd - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Brasfield

From Prairie, in the south part of the county: Howlin' Wolf

Windsor, which spawned Andy Weatherall, Sarah Cracknell of St Etienne, and Tim Dorney and John Male of Republica; most of whom I was at school with

I've always lived in Helsinki, and I once did a poll on this town's contribution to music:

Best of Helsinki

But speaking of closer connections, the rapper from this band was a high school mate of mine. They're very popular in here, but probably no one's heard them outside Finland:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kefLFlv6-VI

The Spiders from Mars. Beautiful South / Housemartins. The Watersons. Sade's band. Roland Gift. Throbbing Gristle. Fonda 500.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania has contributed members to the following bands:
Idea Fire Company
Pell Mell
Dumptruck
Raging Slab

looks like no one has covered toronto yet:

Glen Gould
Steppenwolf
Rush
the Viletones
Anvil
Blue Rodeo
Barenaked Ladies
Snow (!)
Broken Social Scene (and a great deal of the associated bands)
Death From Above 1979
Owen P.
The Deadly Snakes
Peaches
Fucked Up
The Weeknd
Blood Ceremony
Austra

The Yorkville scene was major in propelling the careers of musicians who were in the area at the time: Rick James, Neil Young, Ronnie Hawkins, Joni Mitchell etc.

A question for me up here. Stevie Wonder I like a lot. Not everything but I really love the ballads on his 70s albums. Sly is OK, Bill Withers I only know a few tracks but they are fine.

Dearborn, MI

Rockin' Robert Seger
Wailin' Windy & Carl

Del Rio, TX: Radney Foster and Blondie Calderon

However the Carter Family did sing at the XERA/XERF station across the border.

Born in Detroit: about half of mid-20th-century western popular music

Raised in Evanston, IL: bassist Bob Cranshaw, Ellington vocalist Kay Davis (RIP), and coughEddieVeddercough.

Here is my hometown's contribution to music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMSJlLvGAbo

My hometown's contribution was inspiring this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yGVx86TQss&feature=related

Salisbury, England:

Colin Newman out of Wire
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
Andy Sheppard

i just learned something from wikipedia!

William Zakariasen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

William Zakariasen (August 19, 1930 — September 4, 2004) was an American operatic tenor and music critic.
[edit] Biography

Born in Blue Earth, Minnesota, Zakariasen began his career as a classical tenor in the late 1950s, appearing in operas and in concerts. He sometimes performed under the name William Saxon. In the early 1970s he moved away from performance into the field of journalism, establishing himself as a respected Manhattan-based music critic. In 1976 he became the chief classical-music critic of the New York Daily News where he worked for the next seventeen years. After leaving the New York Daily News in 1993 he became the classical-music/opera critic for The Westsider/Chelsea Clinton News in 1994. He remained in that position until his death in 2004 in New York City. Zakariasen was also a repete contributor of articles to Opera News magazine and to New York Concert Review.[1]

early 00s Fame Academy emoter Alex Parks, while not actually from my home town, attended performance college there alongside my stepsister

afaik this is genuinely the town's biggest contribution to music

Tommy Conwell and Atom & His Package

I miss Atom

Tulsa, OK
Leon Russell
JJ Cale
Bob Wills (from Texas of course but based in Tulsa for years and made his name broadcasting live from the Cain's Ballroom on KVOO)
The Gap Band
Hanson
Leo Kottke and Lee Hazlewood spent part of their lives in small towns nearby.

Mano Le Tough
Ronnie Drew is buried there
That's about it I think...

I don't even know how to define my "hometown" at this point.

Was born in Aurora, Illinois which gave the world:
The banjoist from the Yonder Mountain Sting Band, violinist Maud Powell, and R&B singer Carl Thomas.

Spent my early childhood in Somonauk, Illinois and still have many family members there:
Lee McKinney, guitarist for deathcore band Born of Osiris.

Then a couple years in Dekalb, Illinois:
'90s powerviolence band Charles Bronson, black metal band Judas Iscariot

Then a couple years in Appleton, Wisconsin:
Jeff Loomis, lead guitarist for Nevermore

High school in Lexington, Illinois:
pretty sure no one, except a dude I was in a band with for 2 months who later moved to Florida and played in a band with Rob Thomas prior to Matchbox 20

And now Evanston, which Tarfumes covered upthread.

tl;dr answer, but I have no idea which I would actually classify as my "hometown"

found a few more from Evanston:

Grace Slick
Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon
Hamid Drake
Fred Anderson (not born there, but moved his family there in the 40s from Louisiana)

Had no idea about Grace Slick! I knew about Kevin Cronin, going to U of I meant hearing about REO way too much.

I didn't know about Slick until today. Apparently, her family moved out of the area when she was a kid.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5JXSo3C7pUc/SgmyhIu7h-I/AAAAAAAAACU/YeHvrGJooWc/s320/prisoncity.jpg

jvc I have the same issue narrowing down a hometown, but I picked the town where my parents moved when I was in 9th grade and still live to this day, even though I only lived there for four years.

My other hometown choices did not offer any better musical contributions (although Tom Verlaine is from a town near the town where I went to college and lived for a few years after, and Bob Marley lived in my college town for a year one time). And in fact, the awesome band I linked claims that they are from the next town over, buuuut since I went to high school with over half of them, I decided they counted.

Yeah, its just always weird when someone asks me my hometown and I have to be all, uhhh, which one?

I was tempted to just cheat and go with Champaign since I spent 6 years there and be able to list all of those awesome bands, but it really never felt like a "hometown" but "the place I went to school".

It doesn't help that my mom insists that I can't claim to be from the town I call my hometown because I wasn't born there (THANKS MOM). Anyway, sorry for the derail. I am enjoy reading about other people's hometown contributions even if I am v. envious.

Westlife. ;_;

Brian Higgins / Xenomania is from my home town of Whitehaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbXiECmCZ94

only other notable products of west cumbria ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY8lfPFTLkA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUMPyQnd6bI

Muse from Teignmouth, where I went to school. Chris Martin from somewhere near Exeter, where I now live.

I was born in Abingdon, so Radiohead I guess. Also the singer from the Inspiral Carpets.

Missing from the Montréal list: Gino Vanelli, Lime, Arcade Fire, and Grimes.

My manor: Madness, Amy Winehouse, countless shitty indie bands.

updated, DC and about: ....moombahton. ugh, i apologize.

Violent Femmes
Les Paul
Al Jarreau
Die Kreuzen
James Chance
Decibully
Maritime
The Frogs
The Promise Ring
Plasticland
Eric Blowtorch
Bodeans
Citizen King
Little Blue Crunchy Things
Black Elephant
Coo Coo Cal
Call Me Lightning
the Rusty Ps
Juiceboxxx
Kid Cut Up
MC Speach (Arrested Development)
Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads)
Harvey Scales
Paul Cebar
Liberace

Stiltskin/Ray Wilson
Annie Christian
one of The Jellys
Calvin Harris

Just found out TVOTR's Dave Sitek is from my town and I used to have a 2rd-generation dub of his high school band's demo ("I taped this from my older sister's boyfriend...and now I'm going to tape it for you"). All I remember is a sorta jokey ska-funk song called The Chuck Song that was a HUGE influence on my own dubious brand of ska-funk.

― beachville, Friday, March 9, 2012 9:39 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://soundcloud.com/happyrobotusa/chuck-akamilli

^not my soundcloud. just found that out ther.

The Shaggs are probably the most famous band to come out of my home county. I have no idea what to do with this information.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain): Los Canarios ("Get on your knees" being their greatest hit), El Guincho and Alfredo Kraus.

Herts/Beds area:

Fields of the Nephilim
The Fall's Hex Enduction Hour (recorded next to my old house, apparently)
The Adventures of Stevie V
Phi Life Cypher
Enter Shikari

Michael Chabon now writing Mark Ronson lyrics, so I guess I can include him.

In order of degrees of separation, descending...

The Heart Throbs - These were friends of friends, so we got invited to their first gig (supporting Zodiac Mindwarp at the After Dark club, it might have still been called the Carribean Club then, should check I suppose)

The Mighty Ballistics / High Power - Straight Edge? Not exactly, no. (A friend was once in one of the precurser bands, I think)

Fiction Groove - based in Martin Rushent's studio I believe, their ad for a bass player was knocking round the shops for years, Ali McMordie of Stiff Little Fingers joined then to do that, which meant that they signed to Atlantic.

Cooper Temple Clause - um, heard one of their singles once. Sounded like Liam with Jools Holland's band, it did.

Probably loads more, I dunno.

Friendly Fires are from near me (what happened to them?)

(they got shot by both sides)

Too many to list, but I guess HIM and The Rasmus are internationally the best-known Helsinki artists, not that I care about either of them. The vocalist of the (now defunct) Bomfunk MCs is also originally from Helsinki, though the other members weren't, I think.

How about Lordi?

Beyonce, Jandek, Geto Boys, and ZZ Top hail from Houston, but to be honest, the only ones I knew and loved were Pain Teens.

Paolo Nutini can be added to Gerry Rafferty and, er, Kenneth McKellar. Also Jimmy Dewar, for the 70s rock buffs among you.

... and John Reid, Elton John's old manager, I'm sure someone in my family knew his mammy.

robert rental, thomas leer. don't know about anyone else at all so that's a v good batting average

my hometown of 2,000 has produced a mediocre ILM poster. the middle school music program is very good there though; many kids from that system end up receiving music scholarships and things like that. nearby princeton, which is where people from my town say they are from, has given the world the guy from phish, the guy from blues traveler, and most importantly the Tiger Tones.

the drummer from vampire weekend went to the same private high school as me.

Some thrash band called Evile and Dj Smile. From the outlying backwoods you get more famous bands like Black Lace and The Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band but that is a different post code and if I claim them I will have to fucking claim Embrace as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKkTSKQYsag

I didn't know where to post this so I posted it here, as this is the only thread mentioning this band (the Mexican Bananarama?) and I am really enjoying this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piy_IBvl9Ro

... and John Reid, Elton John's old manager, I'm sure someone in my family knew his mammy.

― Nut-bloody-rageous (Tom D.), Friday, 13 February 2015 13:14 (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

While idly trying to find out exactly where John Reid's family lived, because I knew it was the same area where I grew up, I came across this:

Reid was an unlikely music mogul. His father, also John, was a welder, his mother Betty worked in a supermarket and he was raised on the tough streets of Gallowhill, a grim estate in Paisley.

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!"

To be fair though, we moved into the 'new houses' in Gallowhill - still council houses, of course - after Reid had gone to London to make his fortune. There are numerous stories of him visiting his parents with Elton though - and leaving the Rolls parked outside, unmolested, on those 'grim streets'.

Elgar
Karl Hyde (though he apparently hates said small city)
Vesta Tilley
Dave Mason from Traffic
Mike Paradinas / μ-Ziq
A friend from school is the bassist in ska punk band spunge

Eric's Trip
Sloan
A decent % of all North American bagpipe players

Lester Bowie!!!!!!! And Joe Bussard (78 weirdo)

That's at least two hometowns.

xp

Maria Tănase
Horațiu Rădulescu
Ana-Maria Avram
Doina Rotaru

Lots of other stuff I don't care for nearly as much.

From age 0 - 7: John Gorka, Tico Torres, Kelsey Grammar
From age 7 - 36: Pat DiNizio, Marc Shaiman, Enzo Stuarti

Enh, close enough xps

the guy who wrote Dave Mason's "We Just Disagree" is from Manitowoc, Wisconsin. his family still gets big residuals from it. he formed another band called The Happy Schnapps Combo in 1990. my Mom managed it. they actually were on the verge of hitting it somewhat big, Doctor Demento picked up on one of their songs and they had an advertising deal with Pepsi in the works. then the guy died of alcohol poisoning which threw a big wrench into everything. the Schnapps still exist though, they still play every county fair and appear at various bars

Ummm... Silverchair.

We've had our share of acclaimed outsider acts like Pel Mel (70s-80s postpunk) and the noise scene at the turn of the millennium was ace. But you'd have to be an avid Wire reader or something to remember bands like Castings (awesome).

Newcastle, Australia BTW.

Angela Hewitt is the most famous to whom I also listen regularly.

I guess I also have a couple of Arcade Fire albums and we could claim a couple of their members.

Some of Mastodon went to my high school

Heh. I'm (mostly) from West Chester, PA, which has brought the world composer Samuel Barber and, um, Matisyahu. And apparently the first public performance of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band as we know it (opening for Cheech & Chong). Half the Jackass guys were at high school with me, too, fwiw.

Feel like the OP should be informed about Foul Play.

There are many more significant reasons to hate the guy, but I can't wait to have a president again that doesn't do 90% of his communications with the public while he's sitting on the shitter every morning.

I have no idea why this showed up in this thread. I swear I put that in the US politics thread. Jesus. Sorry.

US politics gets everywhere >:(

LOL @ me failing to mention Momus and mentioning Kenneth McKellar instead - twice!

Crazy House, Subhumans (anarcho band), members of The Bolshoi, Jeff Keen (hey he made sound art).

Or alternatively, my birthplace (and where most my family are from): Tears for Fears, Propellerheads, DNA of Tom's Diner fame

(For bonus, the town between them: Jesus Jones)

Oh and Dave Dee went to school here too.

From my neighbourhood of Toronto, Drake. Supposedly also Rik Emmett, the guitarist for Triumph, though I can't confirm this.

Depends on what you mean by "hometown." I was born in Detroit, which has contributed as much to popular music as any other American city, probably more than most.

I grew up in Denver, whose greatest contribution may be . . . Judy Collins? Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats? The Fray? The fucking Lumineers? I did finish high school in Pueblo, Colorado, which if I remember correctly had some connection to Tommy Bolin.

my hometown sent ambassadors to the american south in the 1890s to teach them slide guitar

Dave Matthews Band
Pavement, pretty much
Bella Morte
Happy Flowers

(Charlottesville VA)

I mentioned Gerry Rafferty upthread but forgot to mention his sparring partner, Joe Egan. My hometown seems to have produced more actors than musicians though.

I spent mny first 6 months in Ladbroke Grove which had initially an undergrounnd scene followed by a pub rock scene after I left and eventually punk.
Moved to Richmond, couldn't forment revolution as a babe in arms
Moved to Kenya where Benga and a few other sounds appeared.
Moved to Woodford Green where Gnidrolog came from
Then Walthamstow which gave you the Vibrators and a bunch of other bands over the years I was there and was about the last cheapish place in London so had various bands move there and i think On U Sound.
Moved to Dublin which had a good underground scene
Then Galway which is where Sweeney's men formed years earlier.

two jons. jon small, drummer of the hassles, lived two doors down from me. some other neighborhood kids and i used to watch them rehearse in the garage.

jon carin, six years my junior (his sister was in my grade), has played keyboards for pink floyd, roger waters, the who, bryan ferry, kate bush, etc.

carin was also in a new wave band called industry. jon small was also in atilla, and was married to / divorced from elizabeth webber before billy joel was.

Lisa Germano. I wish I'd known as a teenager there in the late 90s.

My school gave the world Leyton Buzzards/Modern Romance and 2 members of Bark Psychosis but they lived in another local area.

oh, and evan shore from muck & the mires! and mercury caronia, drummer for jon carin's industry, was in a prog band called cathedral whose self-produced lp goes for big bucks.
https://www.discogs.com/release/2901414-Cathedral-Stained-Glass-Stories

the boys from Brave Little Abacus (New Hampshire "midwest" emo band beloved by internet nerds) were a grade or two behind me at my regional high school. band/theater geeks iirc. I didn't really know them, but the lead singer's sister was valedictorian of my class, and the keyboardist and I were members of a myspace group called "The Boys Who Like Jokes" along with like five other members. their legendary live album was recorded at the senior center next to my high school. I wasn't aware of the band at the time so don't have any stories to tell

The Shaggs are probably the most famous band to come out of my home county. I have no idea what to do with this information.

― i ain't marchant anymore (unregistered), Thursday, February 12, 2015 11:17 PM (eight years ago)

I once dreamed of making a pilgrimage to The Shaggs' former home, but sadly

The Shaggs disbanded and sold most of their equipment. A few years later, Betty and Dot married and moved out, and their mother sold the family house. The new owner became convinced that the house was haunted by Austin's ghost and donated it to the Fremont fire department, who burnt it down in a firefighting exercise.

oops, clipped off a relevant part of that quote: "Shortly after the recording session, Austin died of a heart attack at the age of 47."

Not sure I wish to claim DC proper (Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye).

But I do live a few blocks from Dischord, and recorded at Inner Ear, so I think I can claim about one degree of separation from the Teen Idles/Minor Threat/Fugazi axis, plus the Scream/Grohl/Foo agglomeration. I have played with Skeeter from Scream and with Don Zientara. So.

Will always rep for our DIY scene but nobody ever makes it big here. The only 'famous' acts I can think of are: Tindersticks, Jake Bugg, Ronika, Paper Lace, Sleaford Mods.

Also home to Earache Records, for you metalheads.

Earache My Eye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c32JxwQeyJs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qpv-lGNXAQ

I'm from a small village in the hills, outside Edinburgh, which gave the world

Boards Of Canada
The Scars (well, 50% of them)
Christ.
Nina Nesbitt

Real hometown (Toronto), many. Current hometown (St. Marys), Emm Gryner, sort of.

depending on which london suburb counts as my actual hometown it's either iron maiden, stormzy, or a certain fascist "bluesman"

They call Alabama the Crimson Tode. Call me fascist blues.

*Tide, gah.

I don't know of any notable musicians from Silver Spring MD, though Stevie Nicks immortalized the town/city in song in Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs", which of course has nothing to do with Silver Spring but was named for it. My current address about a 10 minute drive from Silver Spring is a block away from where John Fahey attended high school (and also Jim Henson and Len Bias).

didn't Half Japanese have some connection to Silver Spring (I knew the Fair brothers grew up in Union Bridge, MD). The town I lived in until last year gave the world Lester Bowie.

David Byrne grew up in Arbutus, Md., which is sorta between Columbia and Baltimore. The Fairs lived in Carroll County, near Frederick. My wife is from Mount Airy. South Carroll.

Not helpful for Silver Spring, but in the ballpark.

This reminds me that I was in a grade-school class with Rebecca Gibb, later drummer for Harlow, and Pat Smear's wife.

i'd tell y'all but then you'd be able to figure out my hometown, which isn't big, and i'm clinically paranoid. i just find it endlessly amusing that my hometown has actually contributed to music and not just to pablo escobar's retirement account

Same. There’s a major pop star from my hometown but I don’t wanna talk about it

XP to Tom D - this is very obscure but Paisley was home to this guy also -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOniGvP4eCE

Specific neighbourhoods are typically hard to pin down within this sprawl but the interweb tells me that Percy Grainger, Daevid Allen, Kylie Minogue, J G Thirlwell, Dame Nellie Melba, Helen Reddy, Flea and various members of Air Supply and the Birthday Party were born somewhere around here, for starters. (This game is less interesting if thinking in terms of largish conurbations, admittedly, but there's also little risk to anonymity lol.)

Mine's where Colin Meloy grew up and got his first Replacements album, and where Charley Pride played baseball and first started performing. A truly formative town.

Both Taylor Hawkins and Jon Davison of Yes would have been surfer kids around Laguna Beach when I was in high school. Ty Segall also comes from Laguna but a generation later.

i'm from east dulwich in london. nitin sawhney and glenn tillbrook are both from here, and king krule spent a lot of time in east dulwich growing up

a good friend i went to primary school with is in a band called curser who seem to be doing well :)

i think another friend played (plays?) bass for Lynks Afrikka

How could I forget Chou Pahrot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBW88fVZBMg

https://www.discogs.com/release/7640579-Last-Laugh-Glee-Switch-EP - famous for 15 people...

more famous, fka twigs went to school there.

KC and the Sunshine Band
Vanilla Ice

Stevo, owner of Some Bizarre records who famously didn't pay Coil the money he owed them

Bang on cue someone's just posted this on Facebook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64SaD04-BrU

Wilson Pickett and Tommy Shaw (you didn't say it had to be good music only).

Also myself if you count music writers, or is that more a contribution to writing? Hard to decide.

Years after I graduated, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy graduated from my high school.

(I'm more proud of the fact that I commonly see Cyril Jordan who lives in my neighborhood. He greets me with 'Hey Bud!")

I feel like I can use "island" to mean town here otherwise it'd be insanely unfair (tho if anyone knows of Água de Pau's contribution to pop do lmk!)

So diasporawise Nelly Furtado's parents are from S Miguel. I can't claim Nuno Bettencourt (from Terceira), sadly.

Locally though Zeca Medeiros has to be it, Portugal's answer to Tom Waits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy43saw2xRo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quj6eIYVUoA

Trent Reznor is from my county. A town-ish over. Graduated 22 years before me. Seeing him play tonight in BK.

GG Allin went to school in the same town as me! I discovered several years ago his gravestone in neighboring New Hampshire was constantly vandalized by his fans, which given his reputation had me pitying the groundkeeper of that cemetery.

I was born in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which in musical terms is to the best of my knowledge known only for space rock(?) band The Telescopes. Grew up in Sale, in the south-western suburbs of Manchester - musicians with local connections include Andy Rourke of The Smiths, Chris Sievey of The Freshies/Frank Sidebottom and solo performer David Gray.

Jared Leto went to my high school

I did finish high school in Pueblo, Colorado, which if I remember correctly had some connection to Tommy Bolin.

Very cool to see what I think is this board's third Puebloan upthread. Since posting more than two decades ago, I have learned that Pueblo also produced Blaine Reininger from Tuxedomoon and can mostly claim The Space Lady (born in town, raised in Las Animas). A real local pipeline there for ending up doing synth stuff in San Francisco.

Jim Krueger, who wrote "We Just Disagree", is from my hometown. my Mom actually managed his binge drinking-themed band for a while, before he died of alcohol poisoning

I grew up in a village, so my home village's contribution to music is nil, although to be fair the Christmas do occasionally has some good local talent. The nearest city, Salisbury, is of course the birthplace of Dave Dee. So the story goes, while training to be a police cadet he was called to the scene of a car accident just outside Chippenham - it was a taxi taking Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent from a gig in Bath back to London. Vincent was badly injured and Cochran died in hospital, and while waiting for his next of kin to be tracked down Dave Dee learned to play Cochran's impounded guitar.

I have nothing against Dave Dee, but on a scale of one to ten Gene Vincent's rock coolness factor was quite near the top, although he did have an unfortunate habit of threatening to shoot people, while Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Titch were near the bottom.

However Wiltshire's other city, Swindon, is surprisingly fertile. It's the home of Billie Piper and XTC. Apparently Oasis is named after the Oasis Leisure Centre:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/aaeb1fba-2291-4696-98f9-ad601893831c

Inspiral Carpets played there while Noel Gallagher was one of their roadies, and he liked the name. In 2009 the Oasis Leisure Centre gave off powerful mental waves that caused Morrissey to collapse:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/oct/24/morrissey-the-smiths-collapse-swindon

He has not played live in Swindon ever since.

Why is Swindon such a titan while Salisbury is the opposite of a titan? I assume it's because the M4 motorway goes through Swindon, linking Bristol with London. Occasionally the gods stop for a rest in Swindon, and where they spread their pollen, musicians grow.

I have nothing against Dave Dee, but on a scale of one to ten Gene Vincent's rock coolness factor was quite near the top, although he did have an unfortunate habit of threatening to shoot people, while Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Titch were near the bottom.

Hey, don't dissin' DDDBMT.

Also Colin Newman was born in Salisbury, which is pretty cool. He didn't grow up there though.

Pantera

Warren, Ohio. Not sure who is more embarrassing to say was born in the hometown that I left when I was 2, Dave Grohl or Mom's Apple Pie.

From the darkest depths of South-Eastern Finland: Unholy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIzef-aLP_o

that rules

think mine is the jcb song