Music of Massachusetts
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Template:USstatesmusic Massachusetts is a U.S. state in New England. Perhaps the most influential early composer of the United States was Lowell Mason. A native of Boston, Mason campaigned against the use of shape-note notation, and for the education in standard notation. He worked with local institutions to release collections of hymns and maintain his stature. Opposed to the shape-note tradition, Mason pushed American music towards a European model.
The Bay Psalme Book (The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre) was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1640; it was the first book of any kind printed in the English colonies of North America. It became the standard used by New England churches for many years, though it contained no music itself, merely providing psalms and pointing readers to other prominent publications. The Bay Psalm Book was faithful to its source, but did not produce beautiful singing. In 1651, then, a third edition was created, and became known as the New England Psalm Book; this became the standard for many years. By this point, the evolution from the Ainsworth Psalter to the New England Psalm Book had steadily dwindled the number of tunes in use.
Massachusetts was later home to a number of the most prominent members of the First New England School of itinerant singing masters, including Daniel Read (later of New Haven, Connecticut) and Supply Belcher (later of Farmington, Maine).
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1960s
There was a considerable amount of rock and roll musical activity in Boston in the 1960s. In the early part of the decade, Boston produced acts like Freddie Cannon and The Rockin' Ramrods. In the middle of the decade garage rock acts like Barry & the Remains and The Barbarians came out of Boston. The psychedelic era saw a promotional hype for the Bosstown Sound, but most of the bands thus promoted were closer to bubblegum than psychedelia. The exception was the band United States of America, who pioneered the use of the Moog synthesizer in rock. Orpheus achieved some nationwide recognition, while the Beacon Street Union was known primarily locally.
1970s
The J. Geils Band and The Modern Lovers, featuring Jonathan Richman, came out of Boston, as did more mainstream acts like The Cars and Boston.
Alternative rock
The earliest alternative rock bands in Massachusetts hailed from Boston and included Salem 66 and Volcano Suns. Farther west, the dissolution of the legendary hardcore punk band Deep Wound spurred the foundation of future legends Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. from its ashes. Northampton also spawned the Pixies, Buffalo Tom and Cordelia's Dad, the latter uniquely fusing English folk music with hardcore punk rock.
Hardcore
Main article: Boston hardcore
As the hardcore underground hit Boston, only a few New Wave bands like Pastische, Lou Miami and the Cosmetics, Human Sexual Respounce,DMZ- who were to Boston what the New York Dolls were to New York City, and who evolved into garage rock revivalists The Lyres, The Real Kids,Mission of Burma and The Neighborhoods The Turbines, The Neats, played any form of punk. The founder of the Boston Hardcorde scene was Allan Barile from Lynn, Massachusetts. Barile saw Minor Threat in Washington DC and brought hardcore home with him, intensifying DC's skinhead and straight edge subcultures.
Barile's first band was SSD meaning Social System Decontrol. It formed in 1981 and recorded the following year. SSD organized their own shows, not playing at clubs like The Rat because they served alcohol. They rented out K of C's in Cambridge and Newton and the like. All these shows where all ages. Violence was common at these shows and many people felt they made the punk scene violent. Mostly this was felt by older punks on the scene and casual fans. Other bands soon joined (in contrast to Barile's SSD, most of these were from suburbs of Boston including best known Gang Green, heralding from Braintree., DYS, The FU's, Jerry's Kids and Last Rites Stranglehold, The Proliteriot.
Barile's Crew was known for being for the first major group of skin heads in the city of Boston. One of the most notorious of these straight edgers was Choke, who actually went to Emerson college at the time. He played in a series of legendary bands including Negative FX, Slapshot and Last Rites. The Boston crew where a tight group of skinheads who where intensely loyal to one another and very territorial.
Boston developed an active hardcore zine culture by 1980, most influentially including Forced Exposure.
Unlike most hardcore bands, Boston's scene included heavy metal fans. Barile himself was a fan of AC/DC, while DYS, SSD and Gang Green all eventually to switch to speed metal.
The death of hardcore in Boston is said to have occurred in 1984, when Jerry's Kids announced at a show that "this is the end of hardcore. We started it and we're ending it here today".
Western Massachusetts
More laidback and less violent than the Boston scene, western Massachusetts had several notable hardcore bands, including Deep Wound, All White Jury, Brain Injured Unit, Cancerous Growth, Siege, Pajama Slave Dancers and The Outpatients. Of these, Deep Wound was the most important, spawning pioneering alternative rock groups like Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh after the breakup of Deep Wound. Currently Western Massachusetts has been the birthplace of metal bands like Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage.
References
- Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. 2001. Feral House. ISBN 0-922915-717-7