# The Sound of your home City **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431 "2005-10-22T15:50:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/1 "2005-10-22T15:50:34Z")
Not sure if this is Cafe Society or IMHO, but since it’s really about bands I put it here. I’m from Boston. When I think of the music scene here several bands come to mind; Aerosmith, J Geils Band, the Pixies, and, of course, Boston. I suppose I could also add the Boston Pops. 🙂 So, what are the bands that represent your city/area? Granted, places like NY and Memphis might be a bit of a problem, but give it a shot. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/2 "2005-10-23T21:06:58Z")
I’d also add Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/3 "2005-10-23T21:12:33Z")
Mission of Burma! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/4 "2005-10-23T21:18:12Z")
In order of exact proximity: Cradle of Filth, Busted, McFly, and The Darkness. I think I’d prefer to point out that the great man John Peel lived not far away. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/5 "2005-10-23T21:19:14Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I’d also add Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Don’t forget The Cars. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/6 "2005-10-23T21:20:02Z")
Iron Butterfly were the San Diego hometown heroes when I was a kid. About our only other claim to rock ‘n’ roll fame back then was Gary Puckett. Today San Diego is probably best known for Rocket from the Crypt. I now live in San Mateo. Santana recorded _Abraxas_ here. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/7 "2005-10-23T21:57:04Z")
Easy one here Seattle home of Grunge :rolleyes: Pearl Jam. Oh and that dead guy. But before that…sound…we had Jimi Hendrix, Heart, Steve Miller, The Kingsmen. Not sooo bad. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/8 "2005-10-23T23:05:28Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Easy one here Seattle home of Grunge :rolleyes: Pearl Jam. Oh and that dead guy. > But before that…sound…we had Jimi Hendrix Ha! That’s who I thought you meant by “that dead guy”! ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/9 "2005-10-23T23:10:35Z")
I actually live right between two cities, Liverpool and Manchester. I guess the sound would be The Beatles, Oasis, The Stone Roses, The Verve, The La’s, Cast, The Coral, The Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/10 "2005-10-23T23:16:26Z")
> [@Dominic Mulligan](#): > > The Verve Stop piggybacking with the rest of them, and stand up for the twin prides of The Verve and George Formby!! 😛 In all seriousness, I’d have thought that Northern Soul was the most important thing to come out of Wigan. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/11 "2005-10-23T23:24:31Z")
Yeah, but hardly any of it was original, it was all imports from the states, at least in the early days. I still should have mentioned it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/12 "2005-10-23T23:24:40Z")
Far as I know, the only famous people from around here are actors and hockey players. But Sum41 are from the general area - 'bout two cities over. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/13 "2005-10-23T23:31:49Z")
Gah, I don’t know which is worse. My hometown of Miami is responsible for the Latin-pop sounds of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, the disco of KC and the Sunshine Band, and the raunchy, booty-shaking hip-hop style called bass. My current home of Orlando released Lou Pearlman’s mass-produced boy bands on the world: Backstreet Boyz, N’Sync, 98 Degrees, and O-Town. On behalf of both cities, I humbly apologize to the rest of you. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/14 "2005-10-23T23:56:38Z")
My hometown of Louisville produced Slint, a very influential indie band. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/15 "2005-10-24T00:20:23Z")
Hamilton, Ontario produced Tranquility Base, who were the first rock-roup-in-residence with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. The group featured Ian Thomas, one of our favorite sons. Canada’s legendary party band Crowbar were locals, as were singer Ray Materick, and pub rockers Teenage Head. Neil Peart, drummer from Rush, is from there. Members of The Band, while not residents of Hamilton, were born and/or raised in the area. Bob Bryden was a member of Christmas, whose few records go for hundreds of dollars if you can find any copies. He founded Benzene Jag in the 1980s. They’re only known to locals, and did not gain any kind of widespread fame, but anyone who saw them can still remember it. Tom Wilson & The Florida Razors were being greased up by Sony Music as the Next Big Thing, but most of the members could not cross the border due to possession convictions, so their career died just before birth when they couldn’t make their media debut in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/16 "2005-10-24T00:25:13Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Iron Butterfly were the San Diego hometown heroes when I was a kid. About our only other claim to rock ‘n’ roll fame back then was Gary Puckett. Oh, I forgot: San Diego likes to claim Frank Zappa because he lived there briefly during his high school years. Zappa did refer to himself at least once in an interview as being “from San Diego.” ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/17 "2005-10-24T00:41:31Z")
Well, growing up, Houston was kind of a dead spot musically. The hometown heroes were always ZZ Top and Clint Black. There was always a little brewing under the surface, especially amongst Texas blues, but it was always the first two that you thought of when you thought Houston music. Over the past decade or so, there has been quite a branching out. I think the H-town rap scene of DJ Screw, Slim Thug, UGK, Pimp C, Bun B, Lil’ Flip and others as well as La Mafia and Selena and the other big Tejano acts could very well line up next to country and Southern rock. Growing up in the mid 1980s, Jean Michel Jarre did this whole downtown concert thing with lasers called _Rendez-Vous_ which set the record for the largest concert ever. That certainly entered the Houston music mythos, even though he is obviously not a native… ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/18 "2005-10-24T01:15:15Z")
From the general vicinity of where I grew up: Bruce Springsteen Bon Jovi Blues Traveler Fountains of Wayne The Misfits Bouncing Souls The Velvet Underground ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/19 "2005-10-24T02:57:58Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Ha! That’s who I thought you meant by “that dead guy”! No, the blonde dead guy that shot himself, or his wife did, or someone. You, know, he thought he as Jim Morrison, but without the voice or talent… intitals KC ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431/20 "2005-10-24T02:59:40Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Gah, I don’t know which is worse. My hometown of Miami is responsible for the Latin-pop sounds of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, the disco of KC and the Sunshine Band, and the raunchy, booty-shaking hip-hop style called bass. My current home of Orlando released Lou Pearlman’s mass-produced boy bands on the world: Backstreet Boyz, N’Sync, 98 Degrees, and O-Town. On behalf of both cities, I humbly apologize to the rest of you. Michael Franks lives or lived in Fort Meyers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-your-home-city/327431.md?page=2)