Music of Minnesota
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Template:USstatesmusic Minnesota, and its largest city Minneapolis, are known for the multi-platinum soul singer Prince, as well as cult favorites The Replacements and Hüsker Dü and a large, vibrant polka community, fueled by immigration. Bob Dylan started playing in the Minneapolis area. Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam Harris also began their career in Minneapolis before forming The Time and producing for Gladys Knight and Janet Jackson, among others. Some artists from nearby regions of neighboring states are often considered to be part of the Minnesota music scene. This is particularly true in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, which extends into western Wisconsin. Fargo, North Dakota is another good example.
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Early development
The first singing school in Minnesota was in St. Anthony (now part of Minneapolis), opened in 1851. Multiple choral societies opened in the next few decades and, in 1902, the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra was founded. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has also been in nearby St. Paul for many years. In contemporary music, there are thousands of local bands (an incomplete listing at MusicScene.org has 2,241 entries as of February 2005). Many of these groups perform with some regularity—a concert calendar compiled by the University of Minnesota's radio station usually lists dozens of performances each week in the Twin Cities, often featuring more than 100 different groups.
Around the time of World War II, the Andrews Sisters were very popular. Today they are perhaps best known for the song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," which was covered by Bette Midler decades later. There was also a thriving jazz scene at the time of the war. Local radio host Leigh Kamman is linked to jazz in Minnesota, as he has now been covering it for more than sixty years.
Despite being a considerable distance from the ocean, surf rock group The Trashmen formed in Minneapolis in 1962 and had a hit two years later with "Surfin' Bird", a track that is still widely recognized today.
1980s and 1990s
Lipps Inc gained some popularity in the late 1970s during the disco era, and is best known for the global hit "Funkytown". The duo continued to perform into the mid-1980s and had the dance hit "How Long" in 1981.
The Suburbs also formed around the same time. They were the first group to be released under the local Twin/Tone Records label in 1978. The group was also the last to have a Twin/Tone release as the label went into "mothballs" in 1994. Largely only known locally, the group developed a new wave sound in the 1980s and opened for national acts such as Iggy Pop and The B-52's. After going on hiatus for several years, they reformed and played to several sold-out shows at venerable music venue First Avenue in 2002.
Originally based out of J's Longhorn Bar, the Minneapolis punk rock scene grew slowly. The Suicide Commandos were perhaps first, and they were quickly followed by Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, who played a mix of early hardcore punk and alternative rock. Soul Asylum was originally a Minneapolis hardcore band called Loud Fast Rules, who played with bands like Man Sized Action, Otto's Chemical Lounge, Final Conflict, Rifle Sport and Breaking Circus who mixed funk, thrash metal and other influences. Twin Cities rock in general is strongly punk-influenced, played simple, loud and fast.
The late 1980s saw new sounds coming out of the state, when Information Society came to the attention of nightclubs and record labels in New York City. The group had formed in 1982 at Macalester College in St. Paul and made an initial release on the local Wide Angle Records label two years later. "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)" became a huge hit in 1988, and they continued to make music through most of the 1990s.
Another group to form around the same time was Babes in Toyland, an early riot grrl band that saw moderate popularity through the 1990s as well. They toured with Lollapalooza in 1993. Courtney Love was an early member, but was kicked out for being "talentless."
Many groups of the 1980s and 1990s eventually split up, and a number of other bands formed from the remnants. Bob Mould left Hüsker Dü to head Sugar and do solo projects. Trip Shakespeare eventually transformed into Semisonic, who gained popularity in the late 1990s. A former member of Semisonic met up with another from Trip Shakespeare to form The Flops.
Current scene
The Twin Cities region currently boasts a thriving underground hip hop scene due largely to the presence of Rhymesayers Entertainment. Rhymesayers artists including, among others, Eyedea & Abilities, MF Doom, Brother Ali, Los Nativos, Musab, and, most notably, Atmosphere, began to receive national attention in recent years. Heiruspecs is another notable group. Also recently, the Twin Cities hip hop scene owes some of its success to the annual Twin Cities Celebration of Hip Hop sponsored by Yo! The Movement, and to D.U. Nation's website (http://www.dunation.com).
Additionally, there is a burgeoning electronic music scene in the area, though the genre tends to get little radio airplay in the state. Out of a certain level of frustration, dance music has been the most common to show up on pirate radio outlets. The most famous of these was Beat Radio 97.7, started by area programmer and DJ Alan Freed (not to be confused with the Alan Freed who was an early promoter of rock and roll). After his transmitter was shut down by the Federal Communications Commission, Freed brought the music to special programs on several local stations, including during most of 1998 with night-long broadcasts on the former Radio Aahs network, which reached 10 cities around the country. He now programs dance stations of XM Satellite Radio.
There are several radio stations in the state that provide a good way to sample the music of Minnesota. Many member stations of the Independent Public Radio network play music by local artists, including KFAI, 770 Radio K, KVSC, and KUMD. Minnesota Public Radio's KCMP is a newcomer, but has also aired many local music tracks. These stations have Internet radio streams, and some have regular listeners who tune in from around the world.
Other Minnesota musical groups and artists
- American Head Charge
- The Bad Plus
- The Big Wu
- Eddie Cochran
- Dillinger Four
- Golden Smog
- Halloween, Alaska
- Har Mar Superstar
- The Hold Steady
- The Honeydogs
- Jayhawks
- Marcy Playground
- Mason Jennings
- Low
- Lifter Puller
- Mark Mallman
- Polara
- Run Westy Run
- Sounds of Blackness
Venues
Large sites like the Target Center, Xcel Energy Center, and even (rarely) the Metrodome have been used for large acts, but small and medium sites make up the majority of the local music scene in the Twin Cities:
- 400 Bar
- Big V's
- The Cabooze
- Cedar Cultural Center
- Fine Line Music Café
- First Avenue
- Fitzgerald Theater
- Kitty Cat Klub
- Lee's Liquor Lounge
- Orpheum Theatre
- Pantages Theatre
- The Quest
- State Theatre
- Terminal Bar
- Triple Rock Social Club
- Turf Club
- Uptown Bar
- Varsity Theater
- Whole Music Club
- Woman's Club Theatre
External links
- MusicScene.org (http://www.musicscene.org) – covering Minnesota and western Wisconsin
- Rhymesayers.com (http://www.rhymesayers.com) – official website of Rhymesayers Entertainment
- D.U. Nation website (http://www.dunation.com) – Twin Cities underground hip hop
References
- Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. 2001. ISBN 0-922915-717-7
- Minneapolis Music Collection. (http://www.mnhs.org/collections/mplsmusic/index.htm) Minnesota Historical Society.