The baseball forum that I belong to likes to go off on tangential debates, and one right now is “what city has produced the most great musical acts”? Clearly of course London, New York, and LA would do well, but those are industry towns which wannabes tend to move to. Outside of that trio? Someone made a very good case for Manchester (the Smiths, Joy Division, the birth of club culture in the UK) being right up there, and some of the usual suspects (Detroit; Athens, Georgia; Nashville; Memphis; Seattle) were named. Here’s the ones I named:
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Liverpool: home of the Beatles of course, but besides that: the La’s (best one-album band ever?), Cast, Echo and the Bunnymen, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the KLF, the Lightning Seeds, Space, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Elvis Costello - debatable - definitely a Liverpudlian, but only really got his breaks in London.
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Minneapolis: Prince, the Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, Babes in Toyland, and Information Society. In terms of “influential” bands/performers Prince, the Replacements, and Husker Du are a pretty great trio. Minneapolis clearly batting way higher in influence than its population.
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Philadelphia: Of course there’s Motown vs Stax, but in a soul-label tournament Gamble/Huff’s Philadelphia International Records would stand a great chance of being in 3rd place, and that’s no dishonour. I love the sound of Philly: MFSB, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the O’Jays, the Stylistics. And the Gamble/Huff production team did some amazing stuff there back in the day. And of course the new soul movement is a Philly thing at heart - the Roots, Jill Scott, Jaguar Knight, Musiq.