Music Cities that Punch Above Their Weight

I was thinking recently about how Akron, OH has produced at least three highly noteworthy musical acts in three different styles and eras: Ruby & the Romantics (R&B vocal group with three Billboard top 40 hits in 1963, including a #1), Devo, and the Black Keys.

Plus Stiff Records released a whole compilation LP of Akron new wave/power pop bands in 1978, and it was the birthplace of Chrissie Hynde, Lux Interior, and (on a different note) David Allan Coe. Pretty good for the third-largest city in Ohio.

What other cities have made contributions to music - in quality and quantity - that belie their otherwise low cultural profile?

Bonus question: are there cities that punch BELOW their weight in this regard?

(inb4 "that's actually not that many famous acts for a city of that size" - I'm trying to get the ball rolling here, just go with it)

San Diego doesn’t have much in the way of a “cultural profile,” but has a pretty significant rock scene.

(Obviously it’s a big city, but more known for military/industry than culture.)

Not a city, but Bellshill has some notable luminaries; Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits, Soup Dragons, Sheena Easton and Sharleen Spiteri from Texas. Not bad for an industrial town with a population around 20,000.

That would count as a city in the US.

On the other end of the M8, Edinburgh’s contribution to popular music seems way below what you’d expect for a city with some of the most vibrant cultural festivals in the world.

Gainesville, Florida, had a ton of success with mainstream roots music in the 1960s and 1970s - Stephen Stills, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Don Felder and Bernie Leadon of the Eagles. Felder learned some guitar licks from Duane Allman who lived nearby. They also had The Motels a little later.

Kansas City: Lester Young, Big Joe Turner, Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, Melba Liston, and where Count Basie established himself.

Ann Arbor, Michigan tends to get lumped in with Detroit, but it's about as close to that city as Akron is to Cleveland, and certainly has always had its own scene, producing the likes of:

Stooges (obviously)
Bob Seger
Robert Ashley
Brownsville Station
Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen
Mayer Hawthorne
Scott Morgan (Rationals)
Wolf Eyes
Many artists on the home-grown Ghostly International label, including Dabrye
Andrew W.K.
Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman

Nomo also from Ann Arbor

a lot of college towns, tbh — ann arbor, athens, chapel hill, etc

^Does Boston punch below its weight in this regard?

Dayton Ohio the funk capital of the world

Good point about college towns. Might have to consider them disqualified, unless the school in question is relatively minor itself.

Cities that have a high cultural profile largely or entirely because of music should also be out contention (though I don't think anyone was going to say Nashville or Memphis anyway).

xp - Boston vs. San Diego in the competition for punching below in terms of "modern/contemporary" music ... obv Boston is pretty impressive in terms of classical musicianship

see also San Jose, CA -- current population about 1 million ppl

Mention of Chapel Hill does remind me how vastly it outpaces the rest of North Carolina in rock music specifically - I can only think of one nationally semi-prominent rock band from Raleigh (Corrosion of Conformity), none from alternative culture hub Asheville, and none from Charlotte, the biggest metro in the state.

And none from my beloved Durham either, sadly.

it would not have occurred to me to call boston a modern/contemporary underachiever

i was indeed going to suggest memphis — i mean it’s like the 45th-biggest metro area in the us but an enormous legacy

hey the connells had a big hit in the uk!

Muscle Shoals and Sheffield, AL
Aberdeen, WA

Pittsburgh, PA should and probably does have a decent musical environment, given the size and diversity of its population - but all I can think of is Donny Iris and iron City Houserockers.

and for its sins, rusted root

kurt schwitterz at 6:01 12 Dec 21

Dayton Ohio the funk capital of the world


also Guided by Voices, Brainiac, Toxic Reasons among others

Muscle Shoals is a great one!

Pittsburgh also has Anti-Flag to its credit(?). But yeah that does seem like an underachiever.

Pittsburgh, like San Diego, is not known for its culture. Not every large city has a “cultural footprint.”

Des Moines is a huge underachiever

Oh, here's an obvious one: Clarksdale, MS

i was indeed going to suggest memphis — i mean it’s like the 45th-biggest metro area in the us but an enormous legacy

― mookieproof, Sunday, December 12, 2021 6:14 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Fair point. New Orleans, Memphis, and Nasvhille may just be the best answers to this by such a wide margin that it's not fair to the other cities.

tbf pittsburgh has don caballero, wiz khalifa, mac miller and a world-class symphony

Aberdeen is a great call

Cleveland obv

Washington DC

how about dunedin, nz

yep

Manchester UK

ok I'm gonna be the dork but Minneapolis

This may be way off, but I think of Manchester as kinda like the Chicago of the UK (third-largest city, major cultural and economic hub for its region) and thus neither an under- nor overachiever musically.

Dunedin, NZ is a great pick.

NZ as a whole is crazy for great indie bands per capita

Phoenix I'm on the fence about, it has some gems but it's the 5th largest city in the US

Pittsburgh: Art Blakey.

I accept Manchester disqualification, did not realize relative size

Minneapolis seems fair

I submit Recife, Brazil

Minneapolis seems like another neither over- nor under- city, though I may be overestimating its general cultural prominence because I'm from St. Paul.

This may be way off, but I think of Manchester as kinda like the Chicago of the UK (third-largest city, major cultural and economic hub for its region) and thus neither an under- nor overachiever musically.

Also a lot of Manchester acts weren't and aren't really from Manchester.

The Fall = Prestwich. Joy Division, Happy Mondays = Salford. Buzzcocks =

Buzzcocks = Bolton etc.

Honestly I feel like Minneapolis would be a way underachiever without Replacements, Husker Du, and Prince or am I missing something?

The Fall = Prestwich. Joy Division, Happy Mondays = Salford. Buzzcocks =

There's Manchester, which is a city, and there's Greater Manchester, which is a county. Manchester itself is only the 7th biggest city in the UK and I'd say it punches far above its weight compared to most of the cities above it.

... even allowing for the fact that so many Manchester bands are actually from Greater Manchester.

(xp) The Skids! The list is a strange, random list of actual cities (Manchester), metropolitan areas (no way Liverpool is bigger than Manchester) and counties (Fife! South Lanarkshire!!)

control f "Batley Variety Club" and I think the guy from Black Lace who got sent down for benefit fraud used to live in Batley as well.

yes. I mean 'punching above your weight' suggests quality rather than quantity? xps

In that case. Paisley produced Chou Pahrot so we win.

this thread is hilariously entertaining because no one knows what is happening here

the original concept is solid enough but (in tru ilx0r style) once people start pulling at the threads it's doomed

why this but not that

okay why that but not this

why (thing that ilxor has an irrational pet peeve about) but not (sentimental favorite that ilxor has undying love for)

okay but you're forgetting (idiosyncratic personal agenda) and also ("guilty pleasure" (said in a mocking tone (so as to denote that the poster objects to the framing of pleasures as if they could or should be guilty)))

oh and (irrelevant beef from fourteen years ago) so I won't even dignify your post by responding to it

bye

a similar thing happens in canada. the third largest city, calgary, has produced very little music. and the music it does produce isn't widely popular outside of alberta

Tbf Calgary is a distant fourth if we go by metro/'population centre' population.

A few international names here - Tegan & Sara, Tate McRae, Rae Spoon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musicians_from_Calgary

The first result for "Canadian cities by population 2021" includes an entry for North York (636,000), which hasn't actually been a city for more than 20 years. Someone's not keeping track.

We should do a thread like this but for countries that punch above their weight although the winner would very probably Sweden.

*probable be Sweden

Oh goddamit

Charlottesville, VA has a mostly folk and jazz scene, not much indie rock. The amazing Happy Flowers were from there though.

Arlington, Va had a pretty interesting and varied scene in the 80s and 90s.

this thread also has the disorienting, wild west feel of the New Jersey thread's early days

i don't think it has "New Jersey thread" potential, mind you, just saying that sometimes threads surprise you

Another interesting digression could be cities that used to produce a ton of acts but now don't. Like Boston. What was the last notable band from Boston? Huuuuuge college town, and yet ... crickets.

Gainesville, Florida, had a ton of success with mainstream roots music in the 1960s and 1970s - Stephen Stills, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Don Felder and Bernie Leadon of the Eagles. Felder learned some guitar licks from Duane Allman who lived nearby. They also had The Motels a little later.

Charlottesville, VA has a mostly folk and jazz scene, not much indie rock. The amazing Happy Flowers were from there though.

― A Pile of Ants (Boring, Maryland),

do u know that Pavement, Yo La Tengo, and Silver Jews all have key members from the same Charlottesville scene?

https://books.google.com/books/about/Regarding_Charlottesville_Music.html?id=mUhizQEACAAJ

Amanda Palmer is a hard act to follow

yes. I mean 'punching above your weight' suggests quality rather than quantity? xps

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, December 15, 2021 12:38 PM (four hours ago)

So the winner is Boston

xxp to myself - that would be Malkmus, McNew, and Berman btw

Tbh I’m surprised that more stars haven’t come out of Gainesville in recent times. I always loved the music scene there. It’s as if the best bands from there habitually fail to make it while bands like Less Than Jake do. This conundrum exists in other places too, I’m sure of it.

This conundrum exists in other places too, I’m sure of it.

lol ... so many awesome musicians and bands in the SF Bay, yet we gave the world: Journey, Train, Third Eye Blind, Huey Lewis & the News ... like, playlists for decades of Patrick Batemans

okay, it isn't all Patrick Bateman playlist fodder ... idk ... would Patrick Bateman have been a fan of the hits of MC Hammer, namely "2 Legit 2 Quit" and "Can't Touch This"? ... though that would be a totally different thread: what music would Patrick Bateman like outside of the canonical works?

Vallejo is a pretty great answer

I find it improbable that he did not know who Slint and Bonnie Prince billy were, much less hadn't met them… when he made it clear to me that he wanted me to get lost, it suggested to me that he didn't like being asked about those artists and didn't wanna be considered in a lineage or context with them… on the other hand, maybe he got tired of talking to some rando writer asshole and did what he needed to get rid of me…but his composure was pleasant and engaged until i mentioned those acts…

Post needs footnotes

lol fair: My Morning Jacket, David Berman, Silver Jew Bulletin Board

did it attract confused geriatrics who wanted to know what to get their grandchild for their Bar or Bat Mitzvahs?

did people create sock puppets like that?

Not really too interested in hashing this out much, but in the defense of Charlottesville, here are some non-folk and jazz things to note:

The label Jagjaguwar began in Charlottesville; USAisaMonster, the great 2000s band, began there (and their space the Pudhouse was a major part of the warehouse circuit including Fort Thunder etc.); Feel It! records started there (great label for punk/post-punk/hardcore/weirdo rock); a bunch of great music writers did radio shows at WTJU (Rob Sheffield, Joe Gross, Marc Masters, etc.)

Not really gonna lay out all the other punk and indie bands etc. that have been good, but Fried Egg for instance was a hardcore band that folks loved for a bit that had Charlottesville members. It ain't all folk and jazz at all.

how can you forget Dave Matthews

Already mentioned upthread. As are Happy Flowers and other big names that put a bit of time in there. Can add Karl Precoda for you, of Dream Syndicate note, who had a great project named Last Days of May for a time in town.

Silver JewS Bulletin Board

xxposts that would have been a p good sock.

thank u grandavis for correcting my error, Cville had Jagjaguwar not Secretly Canadian

Yeah. Basically left town to partner with Secretly Canadian and share resources etc.

USAisaMonster, the great 2000s band, began there (and their space the Pudhouse was a major part of the warehouse circuit including Fort Thunder etc.);

rad band, good people! I used to book them at my warehouse that was part of that circuit

Ah cool sarahell! They are good people, Charlottesville was lucky to have them for a while.

wow, as I have told grandavis in person previously, I also have a USAisaMonster connection, they played in our basement a lot when they were just starting out, I somehow feel like one of them was from Corvallis?

probably late 2001 to early 2002?

Colin was from New England (CT/Boston) and Thom Hohman was from Michigan (he grew up with that crew connected to Bulb Records/Wolf Eyes/Andrew WK/Twig from Nautical Almanac etc.). They met in Boston and moved to Charlottesville due to mutual friends living there and it being cheap at the time (hard to believe now but back then it was). But yeah they are why so many Michigan and Providence/Boston bands came through town so early in that era.

I'm baffled as to why they apparently lived in Oregon back then. I'm FB friends with Colin, I should ask him.

Gary, Indiana gave us the Jacksons.
Considering it's Gary, I'd say that's a TKO.

Just looked up Feel It records and yeah there's a lot of good stuff on this label, I don't own any of these records but they've got Gen Pop, Rik & The Pigs, Bad Noids, Beta Boys, Alien Nosejob, Kaleidoscope (NY) etc

Part of me always wants to get off the freeway and check out Gary when I travel between MI and Chicago but man everything about it is just so absolutely un-enticing.

But it drips along softly on the tongue!

@MidwestModern just finished up an extensive photo tour of Gary's crumbling architecture and I'd check it out just for that.

Interesting photos but it fails to capture the smell.

Jlin is from the Gary footwork scene, maybe still lives there. One of my fave 21rst Century composer-producer DJs/artists of any kind, even though new EP seems mostly like a working holiday, "getting out of my head" amid more choreography commissions. Check out her bandcamp.
Didn't know Bill Berry was born in Duluth, but did know Dylan was. Says in Chronicles he used to stay there with his granny (when his parents needed a break, I say). He may have prowled around the newspaper stacks there like he also mentions having done in NYC, so may have known about the Duluth lynchings (also, his father still lived there when they took place), which some think are referenced in the first verse of "Desolation Row," as seems plausible: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2001/06/15/postcard-from-a-lynching

Sleeve, not sure that there was any reason that USAisaMonster ended up in Portland/Oregon other than that they wanted a change and to get out of Charlottesville. I think they had at least one or two friends there but I think mainly they wanted to take a break from the East Coast. They were only there for a year I think then moved to NYC.

And yeah, Feel It is a good label. Based out of Richmond now. A lot of the folks that put on hardcore/punk shows in Charlottesville all moved there over the last 5 years or so.