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Well the OP gave 4 directions/areas of the USA. I feel that is incomplete. If the question were to be more specific I might say north west. There were a whole lot of great bands coming out of the Seattle and Vancouver, BC scene. 2nd has to be California with a hard look at San Francisco. It was San Francisco where the Hippy scene brought us the greatest music this world has ever known. Oh yea, Journey doing singing about "The city by the Bay".
South there were only a few like Skynard and The Band and of course Nashville invented country. With that, Texas and Oklahoma holds bragging rights to most of the best country bands.
The northwest off the top of my mind without even thinking we have Bryan Adams, Heart, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden and others.
The northeast first thing comes to mind is New Jersey my home state. Springstein and Bon Jovi, Frankie Vallie and the 4 Seasons, Witney Houston among many. NY you have the great Debbie Harry and Blondie, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Lou Reed and Velvet Underground comes to mind.
I just cant even think of any from the center of the country. That dont mean there are none but the corners of the country seem to get the PR in our world. Why? Who knows........
Detroit's Motown deserves mention. Other than New York, it's hard to think of one city, in this case one label, that contributed more to American music
Midwest : Ohio Players, Kansas ,Chicago, Prince, Maybe Devo?,
Kansas City, & Kansas: Norman Brown, Oleta Adams, Count Basie,Charlie Parker, Buck Clayton,, Bobby Watson, Jay McShann, Mike Flanigan, Jerry Hann, Mark Selby,...for starters
South there were only a few like Skynard and The Band and of course Nashville invented country. With that, Texas and Oklahoma holds bragging rights to most of the best country bands.
The Band, the south? 4 Canadians (and one from Arkansas)...south of the north pole maybe!!!!
Midwest : Ohio Players, Kansas ,Chicago, Prince, Maybe Devo?,
Kansas City, & Kansas: Norman Brown, Oleta Adams, Count Basie,Charlie Parker, Buck Clayton,, Bobby Watson, Jay McShann, Mike Flanigan, Jerry Hann, Mark Selby,...for starters
REO Speedwagon-Head East- Styx-Jackson 5- The 5 Stairsteps-Steve Miller-Bob Seger-Axl Rose-Rick Derringer-Cheap Trick-Kid Rock-Grand Funk Railroad-The Staple Singers-Melissa Etheridge- John Mellencamp--I think the Midwest has contributed MUCH!
The South with no Country music--Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers- The Allman Bros-Lynyrd Skynyrd-Charlie Daniels-ZZ Top-The Dixie Dregs-BB King-Muddy Waters-Otis Redding-Koko Taylor-Ray Charles- Doc Watson-Jerry Lee Lewis-Barefoot Jerry-Blind Boys of Alabama-REM-B52s-Georgia Satellites-Marshall Tucker Band-Molly Hatchet-38 Special- Kentucky Headhunters--I would hope the days of people only thinking of Country music when the South is mentioned are over!
Too many performers migrated from area to area, and too many areas had many different era's of popularity to really pick one area over another.
While fans of 80-90's music find one sound from the Pacific Northwest, fans of another era find a different sound, with groups like The Kingsmen, Don & The Goodtimes, Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers, The Yellow Balloon, Merillie Rush & The Turnarounds, The Sonics and a host of others.
Detroit had Motown and all the related artists, but the MC-5, Bob Seger, The Rationals, Rare Earth, SRC, Frijid Pink, Grand Funk were all Michigan. (Ted Nugent as a solo artist could be considered Michigan, but the Dukes were not)
Then if you get where they actully recorded some songs, the aboved mentioned Bobby Taylor was on Motown, but Stoney & Meatloaf (that Meatloaf with Shaun Murphy, currently of Little Feat), Rick James & Neil Young (as part of the Mynah Birds) also made singles for the Detroit label.
Many bluesmen, may have played Delta, Memphis or Texas style blues, but they lived, wrote and recorded in Chicago or Detroit.
Janis Joplin was a texan, but her music was influenced by the Southern blues, Eastern folk and the San Francisco sound. So would she be Southwest Northeast or SF Bay?
LA had it's sound (but the bands were from all over), and so did SF. Bands like the Iron Butterfly might have been from San Diego, but they were labeled as a LA band, after they relocated there, for the better club scene. So was there music influenced by LA or San Diego?
So I will pick none of the above...........
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What area do you think put out the best music??
