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New York and New Orleans are arguably the two most musically influential cities in America.
Among other things, New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz and has exerted tremendous influence in other genres including blues, rock, and hip hop. Most American music genres can be traced to New Orleans one way or another.
New York is the birthplace of many genres including bebop, punk, and hip hop. The city has also always been a magnet for aspiring musicians from other parts of the country. But New York has also been always been much larger than New Orleans, population-wise.
So, which city do you think has had a greater influence on American music? This can be overall or "pound-for-pound" influence, you choose. Feel free to include other cities that you see as contenders as well.
NYC is definitely not the "birthplace" of punk. Some of the biggest punk bands came out of New York in the 70s, but people were already making this scene all over the world, especially Britain.
NYC is definitely not the "birthplace" of punk. Some of the biggest punk bands came out of New York in the 70s, but people were already making this scene all over the world, especially Britain.
New York didn't solely create punk rock as a style, but the creation of the idea of a specifically "punk scene" did have pretty early orgins in New York(along with Punk Magazine starting in 1975). Plus the Ramones tour of England in '76 really influenced a lot of the people who'd start the most prominent early UK punk bands. A lot of New York's punk roots reputation is because of CBGB, but a lot of bands who played there get thrown into the history of the punk scene when they were really stripped down art rock like the Talking Heads and Television. Punk as a musical style was really already around though when the Stooges put out Raw Power and even earlier in random bands like MC5.
Really the only musical genre that New York should really get sole credit for would be rap/hip-hop(and that had some roots from Jamaica and funk bands, but really rap as recognizable genre can be traced directly back to the South Bronx. A lot of other subgenres New York has had a lot of influence in(bebop and disco and folk music and so on), but wasn't truly the birthplace of.
New Orleans on the other hand is truly the birthplace of jazz(though the style matured in Chicago and Kansas City and then New York). There's a lot of R&B and funk history there as well--New Orleans always has it's own take on certain genres, so there's always a New Orleans funk sound or New Orleans soul sound.
Overall, I think New York has more influence in some ways, though pound for pound(based on it's size) New Orleans might be more important.
NYC is definitely not the "birthplace" of punk. Some of the biggest punk bands came out of New York in the 70s, but people were already making this scene all over the world, especially Britain.
Actually going even earlier some say punk was created in Detroit with groups like Mc5 along with one of my favorites Iggy Pop And The Stooges
1. New York
...
2. New Orleans/Chicago
3. St. Louis/Memphis/Nashville
New Orleans is for sure extremely important, but New York is so big, so so so so so big, it's just too hard to touch. If you put together all the Mississippi River cities (NOLA, Memphis, STL, and I guess Mpls although there wasn't a ton of influence there until Prince) you'd have a competitor for New York.
1. New York
...
2. New Orleans/Chicago
3. St. Louis/Memphis/Nashville
New Orleans is for sure extremely important, but New York is so big, so so so so so big, it's just too hard to touch. If you put together all the Mississippi River cities (NOLA, Memphis, STL, and I guess Mpls although there wasn't a ton of influence there until Prince) you'd have a competitor for New York.
LOL. Without the influence of NOLA, Memphis and the Delta, New York wouldn't have an American based music scene. All popular American music forms (rock, blues, jazz)came to New York by way of the Great Migration. New York founded Hip-hop and other music that's influenced by immigrants from other countries.
Other than Hip Hop New York doesn't really have an indigenous music, it has always been a place musicians from other areas moved to. The roots of American music are in the Mississippi Delta, from New Orleans to Memphis. Chicago and Detroit have also played prominent roles in the evolution of American music. Detroit in particular is underrated in this regard, not only was it the home of the Motown sound but it was also the birthplace of Punk and Techno.
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