Cities that produce hit music acts

[Spike]

I was just thinking about this while I was listening to Echo and the Bunnymen, Liverpool and Manchester sure did birth a lot of musical acts in the 70s and 80s, definitely punching above their weight in terms of population. It made me think about why it is. Is it a cultural thing? No, I think it is a geographical thing. In the UK, these bands can perform anywhere within a day on a tour bus, London one night and Glasgow the next, not easy but possible. They have a nationwide reach from their hometown with the right support. Whereas Australia has barely more than the population of London spread ofer the size of the USA. It is practically impossible to do, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, and Adelaide in a week. That makes me kind of understand why most popular acts are from Sydney and Melbourne in Australia.

What about you guys, do your countries have specific areas that generate more music artists? And what other cities have you noticed have a thriving music scene, outside of the usual London, New York, Los Angeles, etc

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

In the US I can think of the SF Bay Area for thrash (Metallica, Testament, Exodus, among others) - sort of sparked a change in metal to take it from the British style of metal of the early 80s into something faster and more extreme. Tampa Bay Florida is/was a hub for early death metal. Uhh... where are Nirvana and Soundgarden from, isn't that area sort of credited with grunge/alt-rock of the 90s?

With Sweden, Gothenburg's a very influential city in melodic death metal (although the first band to really go with that style is a Merseyside band - Carcass, after they changed up their style to their current sound).

Newcastle in the 80s were a hotbed for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal - even if the bigger bands were from London/Birmingham - there's Raven, Venom, Satan, Tygers of Pan Tang, and a lot of other bands that were signed to Newcastle's Neat Records that were all hugely influential in metal.

[Spike]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

In the US I can think of the SF Bay Area for thrash (Metallica, Testament, Exodus, among others) - sort of sparked a change in metal to take it from the British style of metal of the early 80s into something faster and more extreme. Tampa Bay Florida is/was a hub for early death metal. Uhh... where are Nirvana and Soundgarden from, isn't that area sort of credited with grunge/alt-rock of the 90s?

With Sweden, Gothenburg's a very influential city in melodic death metal (although the first band to really go with that style is a Merseyside band - Carcass, after they changed up their style to their current sound).

Newcastle in the 80s were a hotbed for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal - even if the bigger bands were from London/Birmingham - there's Raven, Venom, Satan, Tygers of Pan Tang, and a lot of other bands that were signed to Newcastle's Neat Records that were all hugely influential in metal.

How mainstream was metal in the UK? What were the fans like? I think the stereotypical picture of a metalhead is more the California thrasher types.

Nirvana and Soudngarden are from Seattle

[Mel81x+]

From what I have seen over the years over here most places have a very unique culture when it comes to music. If you hit the pop genre there's a natural gravitation to Mumbai where you have the integration of the music scene directly into Bollywood which is often used as a wagon to promote music. But that's not to say we don't get hits from places like Delhi, Pune, Tamil Nadu, etc. There are still artists who don't follow this particular path but more often than not, this seems to be the case. 

Also, with the ease at which music can be produced and engineered these days its more of a "we've got more people doing it here" than it is a cultural thing. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

How mainstream was metal in the UK? What were the fans like? I think the stereotypical picture of a metalhead is more the California thrasher types.

Nirvana and Soudngarden are from Seattle

I dunno because I wasn't alive in the early 80s 

I assume it was a pretty popular scene considering bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, etc... all took off in the UK. I think they may have been more popular in the US though - after all it's a Raven US tour with Metallica and Anthrax opening for them that really made thrash popular. And the popularity of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (although I don't really know what the first wave was - I guess Sabbath lol) sort of sparked the emergence of thrash/death metal.

But I've got no clue what the scene or fans were actually like because I sort of just like that era of metal because of listening to bands I liked as a kid (and now)'s influences... so I sort of discovered them backwards.

[Machado]

There isn't a Perth psychedelic scene according to KV here, but I like to think there is.

https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/psychedelic-perth-music-in-australias-isolated-city/

[Toinho]

4 hours ago, Machado said:

There isn't a Perth psychedelic scene according to KV here, but I like to think there is.

https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/psychedelic-perth-music-in-australias-isolated-city/

Some strange comments about the city of Perth. Legit don’t know who works in Perth but flies home to other cities for the weekend wtf  

However, I did learn about some more bands from that article..

[Spike]

20 hours ago, Toinho said:

Some strange comments about the city of Perth. Legit don’t know who works in Perth but flies home to other cities for the weekend wtf  

However, I did learn about some more bands from that article..

Will you take me on a date around Perth when I eventually visit? Take me to the WACA

[Toinho]

2 hours ago, Spike said:

Will you take me on a date around Perth when I eventually visit? Take me to the WACA

Yes, I will. 

[Spike]

38 minutes ago, Toinho said:

Yes, I will. 

Good

[Mel81x+]

On 27/04/2022 at 00:09, Machado said:

There isn't a Perth psychedelic scene according to KV here, but I like to think there is.

https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/psychedelic-perth-music-in-australias-isolated-city/

Perth sounds like a nice place to be a musician.

[Coma+]

When I was in Toronto recently I made a trip to the Old Town Hall featured on the cover of the Rush Moving Pictures album. 

[Spike]

On 23/05/2022 at 09:33, Coma said:

When I was in Toronto recently I made a trip to the Old Town Hall featured on the cover of the Rush Moving Pictures album. 

I can’t handle Geddy Lee’s voice, but I am familiar with that album

[Carnivore Chris]

Kingston, Jamaica