Music of Washington

The U.S. state of Washington includes several major hotbeds of musical innovation. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is best known for being the birthplace of grunge, while nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also proven influential. Both Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones grew up in Seattle and started their musical career in the State of Washington.

Punk rock

Seattle's punk rock scene was always limited, but is important for its influence on the development of grunge music. In the 1970s, Ze Whiz Kidz made a unique and bizarre variety of confrontational music and helped launch a hardcore punk scene that included The Mentors, RPA, The Rejectors, The Lewd, The Enemy and, most influentially, Solger and The Fartz, and New Wave bands like The Heats, The Cowboys, The Meyce, The Telepaths, Visible Targets, Chinas Comidas and X-15. Hardcore skinhead bands like Extreme Hate, The Boot Boys and Firing Squad also gained a following. Green River, a hardcore band that splintered into Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone, were one of the first grunge bands. Also drawing on the hardcore scene were The Melvins, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Fitz of Depression of Olympia. Musician Duff McKagan also made his entry into the global rock scene starting in the punk rock scene in his hometown Seattle.

Garage rock

In the early 1960s, 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. They are often considered the fathers of Seattle's rock scene.

Another influential garage rock band, The Regents, of Tacoma, were local icons, but the original incarnation never signed to a record label. The Regents are known for a technological innovation, after 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.

Another Tacoma band, The Sonics, 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 Jerdon Records was responsible for bringing The Kingsmen (of Portland, Oregon), best known for their national hit "Louie, Louie," to the ears of northwest audiences. The Kingsmen soon found themselves embroiled in a rivalry with local favorite Paul Revere & the Raiders, who also released a version of "Louie, Louie". Local music fans were split between the two groups, and the city's music scene polarized as a result. The Kingsmen's version 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.

Twee pop

In the late 1980s, a form of alternative rock called twee pop was popular in the United Kingdom. A small cult following around bands like The Orchids and Heavenly formed in the US, centered around Olympia's K Records and the band Beat Happening.

Riot grrrl

Riot grrrl is a form of punk rock which arose in Olympia, Washington in the 1990s and was led by bands like Bikini Kill, known for their militant feminism and raw, uncompromising sound. The genre never achieved much success and soon died out, though stalwarts Sleater-Kinney did stick together and found themselves approaching mainstream audiences after the turn of the millennium.

Heavy metal

Most notably in the 1980s, when bands such as Metal Church, Queensrÿche, Heir Apparent and Fifth Angel were in the top. Metal Church had initially got the name while Kurdt Vanderhoof started in the San Francisco scene, but moved back home to Aberdeen and changed the members of the band, and was one of the most well known metal bands from the 1980s especially because of their albums "Metal Church" (1984), "The Dark" (1986), "Blessed In Disguise" (1989) and "The Human Factor" (1991), they resurfaced in 2004 with "Weight of the World" and then with a 20 year spin on "the Dark" with the 2006 'A Light in the Dark". Queensrÿche is better known for been between the heavy metal and glam metal scene, with strong influence of progressive rock, that can be seen in their "Operation Mindcrime" album of 1987 and "Empire" of 1991. Going to the mid-end of the 80's, Seattle had their thrash metal bands, such as The Accused (more close to crossover thrash), Bitter End, Forced Entry, NMEand Panic, Slaughter Haus 5, Tacoma Bands Hammer Head, Kil-D-Kor, Diamond Lie featuring Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains, Olympia bands Cyperus, Death Squad. But most know metal band from the final 80's from Seattle is Sanctuary, that after some years became what we know as Nevermore. Grunge bands like Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone, The Melvins and Soundgarden were close to heavy metal, and scene was not so different. Seattle's current metal scene is thriving with acts such as Himsa, Three Inches of Blood although they are from Vancouver, and Witchburn. And more recently certain underground thrash metal bands such as H.M.P, Die By Day, Vigilance, Edge of Oblivion and Burn The Witch. Die By Day, Edge Of Oblivion, and Burn The Witch are currently working on new albums. Burn The Witch's first full-length album "Payback is a Bitch!" was completed and made available in March 2008. Edge of Oblivion's untitled album is apparently slated for independent release in summer 2008.

Grunge

Grunge music began as a mixture of heavy metal, punk rock and indie rock, and arose from the hesher scene in Seattle during the 1980s. The earliest bands included Green River and Soundgarden, among others, most signed to legendary indie rock label Sub Pop. By the late 1980s, several future stars had begun performing, including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Mudhoney, while the death of Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone led to that band's disintegration and subsequent reformation as Pearl Jam. In 1991 (see 1991 in music), Nirvana's "Nevermind", along with Soundgarden's "Badmotorfinger", Pearl Jam's "Ten" and Alice in Chains' "Dirt" brought grunge to the top of the national charts, where it stayed for some years, until Kurt Cobain's death and the departure of several major bands. However since Cobain's tragic suicide, there arose post grunge in Nirvana's ashes with Dave Grohl from Nirvana on a new band and label with Foo Fighters.

Hip-hop

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. He also had another, less well-known song, "Bremelo" (referring negatively to the women of Bremerton, Washington), that achieved some fame. Later regional acts include Source of Labor, Oldominion and Blue Scholars. Underground Hip Hop acts The Boom Bap Project, Thirstin Howl III, and Seaclipse also hail from Seattle. Also, Lone 1 and Steelo are new MCs that are worth mentioning, coming from Seattle. The Guinness Book record holder for Fastest Rap MC is the Seattle-based No Clue (Ricky Brown), breaking the record previously held by Chicago rapper Rebel XD who broke another Chicago native, mainstream rapper Twista's record back in 1993. Brown rapped 723 syllables in 51.27 seconds on his track "No Clue" at B&G Studios, Seattle, on January 15, 2005 and up coming rapper Appleseed well know for his freestyle skills and punchlines. In more recent news, Rebel XD who is more known for his mind boggling punch lines, insane rhymes patterns and seemingly endless amounts of perfect rhymes within his flows, oh not to mention his 2 previous Guinness titles for worlds fastest rapper answered No Clue's 2005 claim on the record for worlds fastest rapper by seemingly effortlessly beating No Clue's record to reclaim his 13 year run with the titles (1992-1998, 1998-2005) and add yet another certificate to his two for a total of 3 Guinness World Records for the Fastest rapper on the planet. Rebel XD's newest record was established on 07-27-2007 and goes as follows- 852 syllables in 42.2 seconds breaking the 20 syllable a second mark.

ee also

* Experience Music Project
* Washington, My Home
* Northwest hip hop

References

* Blush, Steven. "American Hardcore: A Tribal History". Feral House. 2001. ISBN 0-922915-717
* 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. ISBN 1-57061-141-6