How the Northwest has influence popular music, and how music has influenced us.

Native Cultures have been making music for thousands of years. Vocalization and drums and rattles are the most important aspects of traditional Native American music. Drums are common to keep the rhythm steady for the singers. Native music usually begins with slow and steady beats that grow gradually faster and signal changes in performance for singers and dancers.

Woody Guthrie Not from the NW, but influential in singing about the poor farmers during the Great Depression. Wrote the song Roll on Columbia Bing Crosby Famous in music and movies (think Justin Timberlake) “White Christmas” was one of his most famous songs.

There was a failed attempt in 1985, at making Louie Louie, by the Kingsmen our official state song. Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle in 1942 and is widely considered the best electric guitarist of all time.

Hendrix first became famous in Europe, but later had a strong career in the US. He is famous for his rendition of the National Anthem at Woodstock festival in 1969 along with lighting his guitar on fire. Jimi Hendrix died in 1970 from a drug overdose in London. His body is buried in Greenwood Memorial ParkCemetery in Renton Heart is another Seattle band that had big hits like Magic Man and Barracuda in the 1970’s and made the transition from 70’s rock to 80’s big hair rock Heart

Grunge music was founded in Seattle bars and club as a rejection of Big Hair bands and spandex

Grunge music was founded in Seattle bars and club as a rejection of Big Hair bands and spandex. Grunge is a blend of punk rock and metal with a catchy chorus. The sound of grunge is dark and heavy but related well with teenagers’ feelings and emotions in the early 1990’s. Most of the famous Grunge bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, were from Washington Pearl Jam Sound Garden

Grunge took the nation by storm when Nirvana released their video for “Smells like Teen Spirit” in Soon teens across the US and world were wearing flannel shirts and ripped jeans just like their favorite singers from Seattle. Many in the Seattle grunge music community hated that their music and style was so widely copied. Though many bands from this time still exist, the type of music they now play is of a different style and feel. Kurt Cobain- The Lead Singer for Nirvana.

The most famous rapper to come out of the Northwest was Sir Mix A lot. In 1992 he came out with the hit “Baby Got Back” and on the same album the song “My Posse’s on Broadway” about a street in Seattle. Following Mix A lot were other rappers like Kid Sensation and today ‘s artists like Fresh Espresso and Macklemore. Sir Mix A Lot

After Grunge music faded in the mid 1990’s the Seattle music scene stayed strong. The Presidents of the United States of America was a band from Seattle who had upbeat and catchy songs totally different from the dark sound of grunge. Today the Sound of Seattle music is generally softer from bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Fleet Foxes, Modest Mouse, Hey Marsailles, and The Postal Service.

Since pioneer times the Northwest has been an innovative place where big companies, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, and musicians come to experiment with their work Because of this innovation and experimentation Seattle has been a major music city for a long time with many bands getting their start here. If you enjoy music, few other places in the US have a better music scene than Seattle and the Northwest