50 Music Cities in 50 Days

[Dasher]

City 4: Nawlins, Louisiana



When discussing American music New Orleans is an essential stop. The NO is the birthplace of Jazz. Or as Duke Ellington liked to call it American Classical Music. In addition to Jazz, New Orleans is also known for Funk, Bounce(Hip Hop), R&B, Zydeco, Cajun music, Blues, Cow Punk, and Sludge Metal.

New Orleans is unique because of it's Creole culture. In New Orleans you find a rich mix of French, African, Spanish, Caribbean, and Southern American Culture. These influences can be found in the music. New Orleans lives and breaths music. Even in a post-Katrina and Napster world crate digging, music store culture is still alive and well in New Orleans.

New Orleans has long been a hotbed for hip hop. It's native second line culture fused with hip hop to form Bounce. Bounce is known for it's danceable rhythms and it's reliance on call and response. For a good example of Bounce see Lil Wayne's Walk It Off on the Dedication II mixtape. Very successful independent record labels have called the 504 home. Master P's No Limit Records and Baby's Cash Money Records developed a template for success that has been followed by hip hop entrepreneurs all around the country.

List of Luminaries:
The Marsalis Clan
Louis Armstrong
No Limit Records
Lil Wayne
Juvenile
B.G
Turk
Soulja Slim
Jay Electronica
Allen Toussaint
Irma Thomas
The Neville Brothers
King Oliver
The Meters
Sidney Bechet
Jelly Roll Morton
Nick LaRocca
Harry Connick Jr.
Phil Anselmo
The Radiators
Better Than Ezra
Crow Bar
Down



Essential Records:

[Dasher]

The Next 6 Stops:

Chicago
Atlanta
Kingston, Jamaica
Houston(Maybe L.Kizzle can do this one)
San Francisco
Seattle(RBP?)

[JayGuevara]

I'm slightly confused as how to Alice In Chains is listed under Alabama? I'm pretty confident Jerry and Layne were both born and raised in the Seattle area, if not Sean and Mike also.

[Dasher]

I'm slightly confused as how to Alice In Chains is listed under Alabama? I'm pretty confident Jerry and Layne were both born and raised in the Seattle area, if not Sean and Mike also.

Outside of The Swampers none of the artists are from Muscle Shoals. Muscle Shoals was a recording Mecca. The FAME and Muscle Shoals Studios regularly hosted some of musics biggest acts. It is where a lot of magic happened, and it is a special case locale.

[InspiredLebowski]

If you start running out of cities, I suggest Richmond, Indiana and Gennett Records. Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, etc etc. There's more than corn in Indiana.

[JayGuevara]

For Detroit, you should just put Ted Nugent and Kid Rock, and leave it at that. Don't say anything about Motown, Eminem, Streetlordz, Rock Bottom, Black Dahlia Murder, Alice Cooper, etc etc.

[L.Kizzle]

The Next 6 Stops:

Chicago
Atlanta
Kingston, Jamaica
Houston(Maybe L.Kizzle can do this one)
San Francisco
Seattle(RBP?)

[rufuspaul]

For Detroit, you should just put Ted Nugent and Kid Rock, and leave it at that. Don't say anything about Motown, Eminem, Streetlordz, Rock Bottom, Black Dahlia Murder, Alice Cooper, etc etc.

Iggy Pop, Bob Seger, White Stripes and of course Insane Clown Posse.

[Dasher]

[FONT=Garamond]City #5 Chicago



When it comes do describing the musical history of Chicago, the term hotbed is insufficient. Blues, Jazz, House, Hip Hop, Rock, Pop, Soul, Classical, Gospel, and Punk all have found succor in the streets and smoke-filled backrooms of The Go.

Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and Howlin Wolf brought Delta Blues with them to Chicago during The Great Migration. In addition to Delta Blues Blacks brought Jazz, and the early traces of Rock and R&B. Rock in the form of Bo Diddley, and Soul in the form of the great Sam Cooke.

Other Chicago Blues and Soul Artists:James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, Gene Chandler, Willie Dixon, Lou Rawls, and Blue-Eyed practitioners The Everly Brothers.

Jazz superstars "The King of Swing" Benny Goodman, fusion-genius Herbie Hancock, and underrated legend Jack DeJohnette are Chi bred. Others of note: Steve Cole, Steve Coleman, and Eddie Harris.

90's R&B's greatest practitioner calls Chicago home, that man is singer-songwriter-producer-rapper-amateur porn star R.Kelly.

All Punk fans should own Patti Smith's Horses. It is credited with helping to birth the genre.

Mello Collie and the Infinite Sadness, arguably The Grunge era's best record, was produced by Billy Corgan, and Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins.

The Gay Pride/Rights Movement found it's soundtrack in Chicago in the form of House music. House Music is characterized by it's use of heavy bass, disco rhythms, use of altered voice vocals, and breakneck fast tempo.

Chicago is also home to many closeted-homo overrated rappers, like Kanye West, Common, and Lupe Fiasco. Chicago is home to some real Gs, they include Twista, Do or Die, and Crucial Conflict.

And how can I forget the band Chicago. They are one of the most successful bands of all-time.

List of Luminaries:
Muddy Waters
Sam Cooke(Born in Mississippi)
R.Kelly
Twista
Crucial Conflict
Billy Corgan
Jack DeJohnette
Tom Morello
Peter Cetera
Kanye West
Common
Lupe Fiasco
Patti Smith
Lou Rawls
Buddy Guy(Born in Louisiana)
Chaka Khan(Born in Alabama)
Curtis Mayfield
Liz Phair
Ramsey Lewis
Herbie Hancock
Do or Die
Jeff Tweedy
Steve Cole
Steve Coleman
Gene Chandler
Chicago
Benny Goodman
Ron Hardy
Mr. Fingers
Frankie Knuckles
Chip. E
DJ Pierre
















Essential Albums:








[/FONT]

[boozehound]

[FONT=Garamond]City #3 Muscle Shoals, Alabama





Muscle Shoals, Alabama is probably the world's most unassuming and underrated music capital. Muscle Shoals has had a hand in the development of Country, Soul, Rock,Blues, and Gospel music. Two studios are largely responsible for it's contributions to American music. FAME Studio and The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio are those studios. Artists go to Muscle Shoals to tap into it's signature sound, and to escape the limelight.

Duane Allman once pitched a tent and camped out in the parking lot of FAME studios in an effort to be near the recording sessions occurring there. He soon befriended the studio owner Rick Hall and Wilson Pickett. During a lunch break, Allman taught Pickett "Hey Jude". Duane and Wilson's version of the song was eventually recorded with Allman on lead guitar. Upon hearing the session, Pickett's label Atlantic Records. asked who had played the guitar solos on the record. Hall responded with a hand-written note that read "some hippie cat who's been living in our parking lot." Shortly afterwards, Allman was offered a recording contract. The audition for The Allman Brothers Band were held at The FAME Studios.

Recording his Christian records in Muscle Shoals was thought to give Bob Dylan's records credibility. During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the area was a hotbed of creative talent as both white and black artists worked side-by-side. While this "desegregation" of artists is usually praised for its innovation, it was nothing new for most artists in North Alabama. In fact, the common practice of white and black musicians working together in Muscle Shoals can be traced as far back as the 1930s, regardless of racial tensions elsewhere in the American South.

The Swampers who were the session rhythm musicians at FAME Studios. Lynyrd Skynyrd gave them a shoutout in their classic song "Sweet Home Alabama". "Muscle Schoals has got The Swampers, and they've been known to pick a song or two."

Links To Come Later

Artists Who Have Recorded in Muscle Shoals:
Aretha Franklin
Bob Dylan
The Rolling Stones
Paul Simon-Still Crazy After All These Years
Rod Stewart
Eric Clapton
The Allman Brothers Band
Wilson Pickett
The Staples Singers-I'll Take You There
Bill Haley and His Comets
Bobby Womack
Millie Jackson
Traffic
Lulu
Boz Scaggs
Willie Nelson
Bobby Blue Bland
Z.Z. Hill
Shirley Brown
Sawyer Brown
Bob Seger
Glenn Frey
The Oak Ridge Boys
Delbert McClinton
Little Milton
Alice in Chains
Melissa Etheridge
Paul Anka
Etta James
The Osmonds
Shenandoah
Otis Redding
Clarence Carter
Candi Staton
Mac Davis
The Osmonds













[/FONT]

nice. good to see the shoals getting some love. keep up the good work

[Dasher]

nice. good to see the shoals getting some love. keep up the good work

There really needs to be a documentary or film done on the old Muscle Shoals scene before all the principals pass away.

[Bean]

Impressive Dasher, very much so.

[Dasher]

City #6: Atlanta, Georgia




Atlanta is the beneficiary of the reversal of The Great Migration, since the late 80's Blacks, affluent and not so affluent have been streaming back into the south they abandoned decades ago. Atlanta's economy has greatly benefited from the carpet baggers, and so has it's music. Atlanta area entrepreneurs have christened Atlanta as the new Motown,and the success of local record labels makes this claim a valid one. The music in Atlanta is characterized by a willingness to adopt facets of music from anywhere.

Record labels that call Atlanta home:
LaFace:Goodie Mob, OutKast, Toni Braxton, Ciara, TLC, Monica, Usher
Grand Hustle:T.I, Yung Dro
So So Def:Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, Dem Franchise Boyz
Disturbing Tha Peace:Ludacris, Chingy

The Atlanta music scene tends to get disparaged because of the prevalence of pop influenced club records. Crunk originated in Memphis, but it was further refined into it's Bill Board Pop Charting form in the discos and gentlemen's clubs of Atlanta. The Booty Shake form of Bass music has found a home in The A. Local artist bring their homemade music that is generally a fusion of Bass and Crunk to the amateur nights of the local stripclubs. If the songs are loved by the strippers, it can find it's way to local radio. The Ying Yang Twins, "Whistle While You Twerk", and Pastor Troy's, "Pop That P*ssy" were born in the shake it clubs.

Though hated on by a large cross-section of America, "Snap Music", developed organically among teenagers in the Bankhead section of Atlanta. Unfortunately for a lot of local artists, who were eating off of the craze, The Viacom Music channels overplayed the snap cuts, and destroyed the nebulous subculture that was developing around the music.

Atlanta hip hop has produced some of the most outlandish characters in music. The Dungeon Family is chock full of characters. Andre 3000, Khujo, Big Gipp, Big Boi, and Ceelo Green being among some of the larger than life figures that make up that out fit. Supercoon Lil Jon also calls Atlanta home. Other Atlanta rappers include:T.I, Ludacris, Yung Dro, Baby D, Pastor Troy, Gucci Mane, Yung Jeezy, Shawty Lo, and Fabo.

The ATL has proven to be the New Black Pop capital of America. Some classic pop records have been produced by Atlantans. TLC's Crazysexycool and Usher's Confessions are two of the best pop records of all time.


Luminaries:
Baby Face
L.A. Reid
Jermaine Dupri
OutKast
Goodie Mob
Kilo Ali
Ludacris
T.I
Usher
TLC
The Black Crowes
Seven Dust
Lil Jon
Pastor Troy
India Arie
Dallas Austin
Baby D
DJ Toomp
D4L
Gucci Mane LaFlair
Janelle Monae
Polow Da Don
Keith Sweat

Essential Albums:

[LJJ]

Patti Smith may be born in Chicago, but she is not a "chicago city music luminarus".

Musically she belongs to NYC, and Horses is a New York City record.

[Dasher]

Patti Smith may be born in Chicago, but she is not a "chicago city music luminarus".

Musically she belongs to NYC, and Horses is a New York City record.

My thread my rules. She will also be listed with Chicago and New York. Howlin Wolf can be linked to every city that I have listed, but I chose not to. Tom Morello will also be linked with Los Angelos. Barry Gordy with LA and Detroit. Micheal Jackson with LA, Detroit, Harlem, and Gary, Ind etc.