The U.S. state of Washington has been home to many popular musicians and several major hotbeds of musical innovation throughout its history. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is known for being the birthplace of grunge as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip hop. Nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also been centers of influence on popular music.
Several world-famous musicians have come from Washington. Bing Crosby, the crooner born in Tacoma in 1903 and raised in Spokane, had a number-one hit in the U.S. in 1942 with "White Christmas." Jimi Hendrix, one of classic rock's most enduring guitar legends, was born and raised in Seattle and is buried in Renton, and folk rock singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, who had a No. 1 Hot 100 hit in 1984 with "Footloose," was born in Everett. Saxophonist Kenny G is from Seattle and attended the University of Washington.
Washington State has had a jazz scene since the early 20th century, primarily centered in Seattle. In the early years, there was an African-American jazz scene on Seattle's Jackson Street, led by the Whangdoodle Entertainers, featuring, amongst others, Frank D. Waldron (trumpet/alto saxophone). Waldron later joined the Odean Jazz Orchestra, one of the rare African-American bands in that era to play in downtown Seattle. He remained active in Seattle jazz as a musician and teacher until his death in 1955. On the other side of the tracks, Vic Meyers (saxophone) led jazz bands playing in Seattle's Pioneer Square and Belltown districts. Meyers left music for politics in the early 1930s and served as Lieutenant Governor of Washington from 1933 to 1953 and then Secretary of State of Washington from 1957 to 1965. Another notable jazz figure in the early days was Harold Weeks, a ragtime composer/lyricist known as the co-writer (with Oliver Wallace) of the 1918 song "Hindustan," considered a jazz standard. Joe Darensbourg (clarinet/saxophone) was active in Seattle from 1929 until 1944, and Dick Wilson (tenor saxophone) played in his band from 1930 until 1936.
The new millennium has produced Roxy Coss (saxophone), Aaron Parks (piano), Emi Meyer (piano/vocals) and The Bergevin Brothers band, all from Seattle. Meyer and the Bergevins remain active in the Seattle scene. In the early 2000s husband and wife Wayne Horvitz (keyboards) and Robin Holcomb (piano/vocals) relocated to Seattle. Both had previously been involved in New York City's Downtown Scene. In 2015, Dmitri Matheny (flugelhorn) relocated from his long-time base in San Francisco to Centralia. In 2022, he released the album CASCADIA, celebrating the Pacific Northwest. The album also features the aforementioned Bill Anschell.
Country/Alt-country
Washington state has a limited tradition in country music, but has produced some notable artists.[1] In the 1920s, Paul Tutmarc established himself as a fine tenor and lap steel guitarist in Seattle. He was also known for inventing the first electric bass guitar in 1936. Tutmarc continued to perform and teach guitar in Seattle into the 1960s. Fiddler Bus Boyk came out of Everett in the 1930s and had a long career, eventually being inducted into the Western Swing Society's Pioneers of Western Swing Hall of Fame.
The late 1950s saw three Country Music Hall of Famers active in Washington state. Loretta Lynn began her performing and songwriting career while living in the tiny logging community of Custer. She also played in nearby Blaine. Loretta wrote and recorded her first single "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" while living in Washington (although the song was recorded in Los Angeles). The song was a hit and it was off to Nashville and superstardom. Willie Nelson took a job as a DJ at KVAN in Vancouver, Washington, in 1956, where he also played local clubs. While there he cut his first record "No Place for Me". Nelson left Vancouver in 1958. In 1958, Buck Owens was working in Tacoma at radio station KAYE, when he saw Don Rich, a young fiddler from Olympia, play. Owens immediately asked Rich to join his band and soon they were being featured on the weekly BAR-K Jamboree on KTNT-TV. Loretta Lynn made her television debut on the same program. Owens left Tacoma around 1960 to return to Bakersfield, California, and in a few months, Rich followed and became a member of Buck's backup band The Buckaroos, eventually becoming the lead guitarist. Rich's Fender Telecaster was an instrumental part of the Bakersfield sound of the 1960s.
The late 1950s also saw the emergence of native Washingtonian Bonnie Guitar, who grew up in Redondo and Auburn. Bonnie had her first hit, "Dark Moon", in 1957, which charted on the country and pop charts. Guitar was also a co-founder of Dolton Records and later co-owner of Jerden Records in an era when this was rare for a woman. Before this, she was a student and wife of the aforementioned Paul Tutmarc. After their divorce in 1955, she did session guitar work for several labels in Los Angeles. Later in life, she bred cattle and quarter-horses near Orting, before finally settling in Soap Lake, where she continued to perform on weekends until the age of 92. Guitar died in 2019, at the age of 95.
In the mid-1950s, the Washington rock scene was kick-started by a Seattle group, The Frantics, led by guitarist Ron Peterson. The Frantics were the first rock group from Seattle to have songs in the national Top 40 charts. Later, several garage bands achieved regional and some national fame. Perhaps the most famous of these are The Wailers, whose regional fame was paramount for several years in the early 1960s. Their version of Richard Berry's "Louie, Louie" became the state's unofficial anthem.
An influential garage rock band called The Regents became local icons in the Tacoma area, but the original incarnation never signed to a record label. They are known for pioneering a distinct sound technology when they fed the rhythm guitar through a Leslie organ speaker during a concert at the University of Puget Sound; this gave them their original sound.[citation needed]
Another Tacoma band, The Sonics, also proved to be influential, and are still a cult favorite. Their name was inspired by one of Seattle's most important employers, Boeing, an aircraft manufacturer, and The Sonics' brand of aggressive guitar rock made them icons in the later development of music in and around Seattle.
Record producer Jerry Dennon of Jerden Records was responsible for bringing The Kingsmen (of Portland, Oregon), best known for their national hit "Louie Louie". The Kingsmen found themselves in a rivalry with local favorite Paul Revere & the Raiders (of Boise, Idaho), who also released a version of "Louie, Louie". The Kingsmen's version eventually caught on nationally after a Boston radio station picked up the song and Dennon negotiated distributing rights with Wand Records out of New York City. The song's supposedly suggestive lyrics led to it being banned in some localities, including Indiana.
Also of particular note are Seattle's Slaughter Haus 5, Tacoma bands Sword of Judgement, Hammer Head, Diamond Lie (featuring Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains), as well as Olympia bands Cyperus and Death Squad. Two West Seattle metal bands from the 1980s were Sanctuary and Rottweiller. Sanctuary, after two albums and some years revamping, reformed with two original members (bass and vocals) and a former short-term replacement guitarist (along with some new members) and became known as Nevermore. Heir Apparent came out of North Seattle in the mid-1980's, signed to the independent label Black Dragon Records of Paris, France in 1985, and released what remains the highest-rated album in the 40-year history of Germany's ROCK HARD magazine[2] in January 1986. Heir Apparent performed with Sanctuary in 2012 at the Metal Assault Festival in Wurzburg, Germany.[3] In 2019 at the Headbangers Open Air Festival in Germany, Queensrÿche, Sanctuary, and Heir Apparent each headlined an evening of the 3-day event.[4]
More recent underground metal bands include Himsa, Aemaeth, Blood & Thunder, Midnight Idols, Fallen Angels, DEATHBEAT, Big Business, Drown Mary, Evilsmith, Vigilance, Skelator, Ceremonial Castings, Inquisition, Hoth, Inquinok, Pure Hatred, Riot in Rhythm, Deathmocracy, Blood of Kings, Wolves in the Throne Room, Twisted Heroes, Ashes Of Existence, Bleed The Stone, Casualty Of God, Mechanism, I Am Infamy, Devilation, Beyond Theory, Future Disorder, Edge of Oblivion, Last Bastion, Phalgeron, and Bell Witch.
Punk rock
In the 1970s, Ze Whiz Kidz helped launch a hardcore punk scene that included ZEKE, Mentors, RPA, The Rejectors, The Lewd, Violent World[5] The Refuzors, Crunchbird,[6] Pod Six, The Enemy, and, most influentially, Solger and The Fartz, as well as new wave bands like The Heats, The Cowboys, The Meyce, The Telepaths, Visible Targets, Chinas Comidas, X-15 and UC5. Hardcore skinhead bands like Extreme Hate, The Boot Boys and Firing Squad also gained a following. Green River, a punk rock band that splintered into Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone, was one of the first grunge bands. Also drawing on the punk rock scene were Melvins, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Fitz of Depression of Olympia and Vitimin C of Centralia. Musician Duff McKagan made his entry into the global rock scene in the punk rock scene of his hometown of Seattle. On the other side of the state, Spokane also contained a punk and new wave scene in the 1980s, as chronicled in the documentary film SpokAnarchy!
Pearl Jam has recorded five No. 1 albums featured on the Billboard Top 200 between 1993 and 2013, including Vs. (1993), and also had a No. 2 Hot 100 hit with their cover of "Last Kiss" in 1999. Nirvana had four No. 1 albums, Alice in Chains had two, Jar of Flies (1994) and their self-titled album (1995), and Soundgarden had one, Superunknown (1994). Later successful grunge acts include Foo Fighters, which had a No. 1 album with Wasting Light (2011). Seattle is also home to newer alt-grunge-rock acts such as SixTwoSeven.
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl is a form of punk rock that arose in Olympia in the 1990s with all-female and woman-led acts like Bikini Kill, known for their militant feminism and raw sound. The genre never achieved mainstream success due to an on-going media blackout, along with their harsh criticism of society and often grating musical style, and eventually faded. However, stalwarts Sleater-Kinney stayed together and found themselves approaching mainstream audiences after the turn of the millennium. The movement generated many notable bands, concentrated in the Olympia area and including Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, and Excuse 17.
A new wave of the riot grrrl movement continued in the 21st century with bands like NighTrain, The Gossip, The Black Tones and Thee Emergency, which feature soulful vocals, heavy drums, a driving, intense rhythm and guitar.
Arguably the most famous hip-hop star to come out of the state of Washington has been Sir Mix-a-Lot, best known for his songs "Posse on Broadway" and "Baby Got Back", an early nineties novelty hit. Also prominent in the Seattle rap scene at this time was Kid Sensation (Steve Spence), who got his start on Sir Mix-a-Lot's first album, Swass (1988). Wordsayer (Jonathan Moore) was influential in bringing hip hop into Seattle's mainstream with his group Source of Labor. Oldominion (featuring Mr. Hill, Onry Ozzborn and Xperience amongst others), Blue Scholars, THEESatisfaction, Shabazz Palaces, Grayskul and Common Market (featuring RA Scion and Sabzi) are other notable acts. Art of Movement (featuring Jay Park and Cha Cha Malone amongst others) is a notable b-boy crew from Seattle. The Guinness World Records holder for Fastest Rap MC is the Seattle-based NoClue, breaking the record previously held by Chicago rapper Rebel XD. Brown rapped 723 syllables in 51.27 seconds on his track "No Clue" at B&G Studios, Seattle, on January 15, 2005. More recently, local indie rapper/DJ duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have achieved worldwide fame with The Heist (2012), scoring two No. 1 Hot 100 hits with "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us" in 2013. Also, teenage rapper Lil Mosey has grown in popularity since his song "Pull Up," but most notably "Noticed" in 2018, and "Blueberry Faygo" in 2020.On the other side of the mountains, on the east side of Washington state in Spokane the Three Kings reside. Fronted by Robert "Raw B" Sletner, the Three Kings won the 2009 Northwest Sound-off and went on to record two hit albums before disbanding to follow solo endeavors.
Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock is typically centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4 4 time signature and utilizing a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s.
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent record labels, by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced.
Alternative rock is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock.
In the United States, California is commonly associated with the film, music, and arts industries; there are numerous world-famous Californian musicians. New genres of music, such as surf rock and third wave ska, have their origins in California.
American rock has its roots from 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also draws from folk music, jazz, blues, and classical music. American rock music was further influenced by the British Invasion of the American pop charts from 1964 and resulted in the development of psychedelic rock.
The American state of Colorado has many music scenes and venues, especially in the larger cities like Denver and Colorado Springs.
Rock music and its subgenres are very popular in Portugal. The history of the Portuguese rock music scene spans several decades.
Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1990s continued to develop and diversify. While the singles charts were dominated by boy bands and girl groups, British soul and Indian-based music also enjoyed their greatest level of mainstream success to date, and the rise of World music helped revitalise the popularity of folk music. Electronic rock bands like The Prodigy and Chemical Brothers began to achieve a high profile. Alternative rock reached the mainstream, emerging from the Madchester scene to produce dream pop, shoegazing, post rock and indie pop, which led to the commercial success of Britpop bands like Blur and Oasis; followed by a stream of post-Britpop bands like Radiohead and The Verve.
While Denver may not be as recognized for historical musical prominence like such cities as Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago or New York City, it still manages to have a very active popular, jazz, and classical music scene, which has nurtured many artists and genres to regional, national, and even international attention. Though nearby Boulder, Colorado has its own very distinct music scene, they are intertwined and often artists based there also play in Denver.
Seattle is the largest city in the U.S. state of Washington and has long played a major role in the state's musical culture, popularizing genres of alternative rock such as grunge and being the origin of major bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Foo Fighters, and, most notably, Nirvana. The city and surrounding metropolitan area remains home to several influential artists, bands, labels, and venues, and is home to several symphony orchestras; and world-class choral, ballet and opera companies, as well as amateur orchestras and big-band era ensembles.
A number of overlapping punk rock subgenres have developed since the emergence of punk rock in the mid-1970s. Even though punk genres at times are difficult to segregate, they usually show differing characteristics in overall structures, instrumental and vocal styles, and tempo. However, sometimes a particular trait is common in several genres, and thus punk genres are normally grouped by a combination of traits.
Bush, James. "Encyclopedia of Northwest Music: From Classical Recordings to Classic Rock Performances, Your Guide to the Best of the Region". Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1999. 340p. ISBN1-57061-141-6
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
