# What cities are considered the capitals/homes/roots of various music genres and why **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443 "2013-01-08T03:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/21 "2013-01-08T14:51:36Z")
In the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio they have video presentations along with memorabilia of different genres and their associated cities. The main exhibit I recall is the punk one as they have it associated equally with London and NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/22 "2013-01-08T14:53:34Z")
Austin, Texas is widely known as a great music town. It feels like it should be the capital of _some_ sort of music, but I’m not sure what. Anyone know if it’s developed its own indigenous sound?? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/23 "2013-01-08T15:03:03Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > A lot of music came out of Athens, Georgia in the early Eighties, most famously B52s and REM. But it covered several genres so there wasn’t any name for that scene. Having lived in Athens during that time, we just referred to the music as “alternative.” Not alt-rock, just “alternative.” ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/24 "2013-01-08T15:38:29Z")
Punk is a tricky one and always leads to bar arguments (barguments?), but I always throw Detroit out for that one. MC5 and the Stooges in 1969 helped lay out the groundwork. Of course, it got more attention and organization in NYC and London and those were definitely ground zero for “the scene”, but the Motor City will not be ignored! Like most things, it depends on how you look at it, what you define as punk, when you feel the music actually became punk, etc. You know, if you give Detroit even partial credit for punk, it scores pretty well: \>Motown \>Punk \>Techno Do they get any credit for white boy rap (Kid Rock/Eminem), or do they lose points… ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/25 "2013-01-08T15:47:50Z")
The blues is divided into several regional variations, one of which is Memphis blues. Memphis is what I think of when I hear ‘blues’ just as New Orleans comes to mind when I hear ‘jazz’. But that could be because I spent a lot of time on Beale Street. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/26 "2013-01-08T16:01:16Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Austin, Texas is widely known as a great music town. It feels like it should be the capital of _some_ sort of music, but I’m not sure what. Anyone know if it’s developed its own indigenous sound?? Nah. Austin can support a music scene because of the number of UT kids with daddy’s money. And many musicians like to hang out there because it’s a fairly pleasant town where they can get work. The city has fostered folkies, psychedelic weirdos, (mostly white) blues players, cosmic cowboys & whatever other genre sells. Houston, in contrast, has a storied musical past but it’s diffuse; R&B, country, rock & rap all had some glory days here. But the scenes are (or were) spread out all over town; young white bands still often head up to Austin. However, we _are_ the capital city of [The Kingdom of Zydeco](http://www.amazon.com/The-Kingdom-Zydeco-Michael-Tisserand/dp/1559704187) (on Kindle for 99 cents!) Creoles from rural Louisiana moved here for work & Clifton Chenier (The Once & Future King) amped the rural sound up to electric Zydeco. Which can still be heard here. Still in Texas, _conjunto_ & _Tejano_ music evolved in San Antonio. The Germans & other central Europeans contributed the accordions & the polkas. There’s a Tejano-Conjunto festival in May. Doug Sahm’s son is fronting the new Texas Tornados–with Augie Meyer from the old Quintet & Flaco JImenez. (Don’t know if they’re still based in San Antonio or if they’ve succumbed to the lure of Austin.) Nashville is Music City–the center of the Country Music Business. But the music’s roots are elsewhere in the rural South. Bakersfield is a secondary hearth–Western Swing & Honky Tonk bands (who evolved in Texas & other places back East) devised that sound playing for Okies & their children–& others gathered for defense work & military training. People could dance to the Bakersfield Sound–Nashville looked down on dancing for a long time. New Orleans is the source for jazz, much R&B and swamp pop. Then there’s [Memphis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis,_Tennessee#Music)… In the field of “folk music”–NYC led the way; but say a word for Cambridge, too. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/27 "2013-01-08T16:35:38Z")
The [Minneapolis sound.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_sound) ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/28 "2013-01-08T16:44:10Z")
Kansas is a starting point for Jazz. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/29 "2013-01-08T17:31:15Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > ]… > > It’s astonishing how many genres there are which aren’t well known outside of a particular area. Do you know what Go-go is? It’s pretty much confined to Washington, D.C. and its suburbs. It’s vaguely like funk, hip-hop, and rhythm and blues: > > [Go-go - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go) I came in to mention Go-go. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/30 "2013-01-08T22:28:49Z")
I think Liverpool England is associated with some music-or-other.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/31 "2013-01-09T00:53:04Z")
Birmingham is unquestionably the home of heavy metal. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I think Liverpool England is associated with some music-or-other.😃 It’s associated with Merseybeat, and that’s about it. It’s not really a genre, per se, though; there was the Beatles, and a bunch of bands who nobody outside Britain has ever heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/32 "2013-01-09T01:44:04Z")
Nobody outside of Britain has ever heard of them? Well, yes and no. If you were alive and listening to pop music as the Beatles became popular, you probably will remember them. If you’re only counting the ones from Liverpool, besides the Beatles there was Gerry & The Pacemakers, the Searchers, and Cilla Black. Americans didn’t make any clear distinctions between the various places in the U.K., so Freddie and the Dreamers, Herman’s Hermits, and the Hollies from Manchester, the Dave Clark Five, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and the Yardbirds from London, the Animals from Newcastle, and Them from Belfast were thought of as being the same sort of thing. And what about Peter and Gordon, Petula Clark, the Troggs, Donovan, and a host of other groups, which I don’t have time to look up their origin. I’d say that if you were American, of the right age, and listening to the right radio stations, you certainly will remember such groups. And if you aren’t old enough to remember them, get off my lawn: > **[Beat music](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_music)** > > Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre of rock and roll that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle, traditional pop and music hall. It rose to mainstream popularity in the UK and Europe by 1963 before spreading to North America in 1964 with the British Invasion. The beat style had a significant impact on popular music an... ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/33 "2013-01-09T01:46:33Z")
I’m not, but I’m also British, so Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilla Black are as familiar to me as Britney Spears (though the latter mostly for her television work). I was distinguishing Beat- not really any more Liverpudlian than it is from London or Birmingham or Manchester- from Merseybeat, which is. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/34 "2013-01-09T02:43:55Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > Kansas is a starting point for Jazz. Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/35 "2013-01-09T03:01:00Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Not even close. Not all of Jazz silly, but Bop which was extremely important. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/36 "2013-01-09T07:30:25Z")
O.K., you mean Bebop (or what’s sometimes called Bop): > **[Bebop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop)** > > Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure, the use of scales and occasional references to the melody. > Bebop developed as the younger generation of jazz musicians expanded the creative possibil... It originated in Kansas City. Are you really not aware that Kansas City is in Missouri, not Kansas? ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/37 "2013-01-09T11:11:46Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Austin, Texas is widely known as a great music town. It feels like it should be the capital of _some_ sort of music, but I’m not sure what. Anyone know if it’s developed its own indigenous sound?? I’d consider it the home of Alt-Country/Americana. You have Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Earl Keen and many more. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/38 "2013-01-09T11:21:45Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > The blues is divided into several regional variations, one of which is Memphis blues. > Memphis is what I think of when I hear ‘blues’ just as New Orleans comes to mind when I hear ‘jazz’. But that could be because I spent a lot of time on Beale Street. When I hear blues, I think of the circle that surrounds Helena, Arkansas and Clarksville, Mississippi. Memphis isn’t far from that, and there’s also the Piedmont blues of the Carolinas (Greensboro is significant here) & Virginia (Richmond). Oddly, New York City is the most important to early blues because that’s where most of it was recorded. The names you know are the ones who got up North to make a record. Many of the rest are forgotten. NYC also played a large role in the blues revival of the late 50s and early 60s because it was able to piggyback on the folk music scene coming out of Greenwich Village. Several of those who had been forgotten earlier, got their moment in the sun during that trend. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/39 "2013-01-09T11:52:13Z")
Cleveland, Ohio is the homeland of ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443/40 "2013-01-09T15:57:27Z")
Let’s not forget [Muscle Shoals, Alabama](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_Shoals,_Alabama) – possibly the smallest (under 13,000) place associated with a “sound”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cities-are-considered-the-capitals-homes-roots-of-various-music-genres-and-why/646443.md?page=3)