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To argue the relative merits of Aerosmith and ZZ Top is cringe-worthy, and I can't but help to notice only a handful of musical genres are being discussed here. There's a lot more to music than just rock and rap. Classical and country get brief mentions, but what about punk, blues, bluegrass, jazz, tejano, dance music and so many, many, many more. You mean to tell me Houston is just hip-hop, ZZ Top and Beyonce? How influential is Boston's Tejano scene? How about their Zydeco scene? Aside from the Dropkick Murphys, how big is their punk scene (ok, that's probably bigger than Houston's scene)? But, when it comes to hip-hop, jazz, soul, tejano, blues, bluegrass, gospel, country and non-album oriented rock, Houston's schooling Boston's music scene. The whole so-called alternative thing and pop are pretty much a toss-up between the two, so what can Boston claim dominance in, punk and arena rock? BFD.
Everybody knows Houston is the primer scene for the Austin scene and that you've got to play Austin to get a record deal these days. No one gets a record deal without doing at least one SXSW. These two scenes aren't even comparable. Any votes for Boston here are pure New England boosterism or anti-Houston biases. These two scenes aren't even in the same league.
Certainly Boston will concede country music and all it's flavors (bluegrass, honky tonk, and tejano, etc). Country music is a provincial style native to what is essentially the old confederacy. Tejano is so completely a local phenom the first four letters tags it: Tejas (that's Texas in Spanish). There is representation of these styles in BOS in as much as there are local outlets for Brazilian, Italian, or German folk, but it only factors in as a representation of a distant (almost foreign) provincial culture. Reggae and many forms of Latino music supersede country music in prominence in BOS (Reggaeton obviously). The closest form of contemporary music native to Boston to country is of course folk, represented by James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, Carly Simon as well as Simon and Garfunkyl or Bob Dylan (as NYC and BOS culture are essentially the same and inextricably bound). Unless of course you go back to the really old Boston music like Yankee Doodle Dandy or The Battle Hymm of the Republic written by Julia Ward Howe in South Boston.
Boston is musically more akin and in tune with Europe than Texas. Rock, Trance, disco, industrial, classical, and pop is the current foundation in this area of the world, but all the ethnic varieties worldwide are represented as well.
Regarding Jazz, to suggest Boston has no Jazz scene is patently absurd. I lived right across from Slade's a Jazz club over 80 years old. Wally's, the Hi Hat, these clubs showcased the who's who of Jazz history when Houston was just a small town! Everybody was here - the Duke, Miles, Louie, everybody.
And the tradition continues. Pat Metheny teaches at Berklee right now. Branford Marsalis was educated there. Boston's 100 years of Jazz history is possibly older than the city of Houston itself! You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Jazz band in BOS, whether it's on the Common, playing in the subway or on Harvard Sq (where I used to see Tracey Chapman playing her guitar).
Finally regarding the comment "No one gets a record deal without doing at least one SXSW", well that's just ridiculous. Perhaps no one from Houston or Texas does, but beyond the Texas bubble, it is known on the East Coast that MTV is in Times Sq and and in the West that Capitol Records is in Hollywood. One need go no further west than Broadway to access the recording industry. This may surprise you, but Abbey Road actually does business outside Austin.
1. Biggie
2. Rakim
3. Pun
4. Pac
5. Nas
6. Jay-Z
7. Andre 3000
8. KRS-One
9. Face
10. Eminem
11. Big L
12. Guru
13. Kane
14. Snoop
15. LL Cool J
I would personally think that anyone in the top 20 should be considered one of the greats, especially considering how many artists have come out throughout the years.
My top ten:
1. Pac
2. Scarface
3. Biggie
4. Nas
5. Ice Cube
6. Jay-Z
7. Common
8. Andre 3000
9. Eminem
10. Lupe
Artists that I could listen to for the rest of my life and be okay with it. Just to let you know, my list changes weekly probably. Last week, I might have had Kanye in for Lupe while listening to College Dropout.
Did you not catch "American Idol" a few years ago when they were auditioning in Houston, and Randy kept saying "Beyonce, where's the talent?" In other words, the music scene in Houston is worse than it sucks. There are so very few decent groups there it's pathetic, but why would they stay in Houston if they had anything going for them when nearby Austin is called the "Music Capitol of America?" Go to Austin if you want to hear good music. Forget Houston as it's a loser in this category. Barbeque and great TexMex, yes. Music...no way.
That's because the quality musicians in Houston know that American Idol is a pathetic way to get big in the music industry. That, and a lot of the Houston musical talent moves to Austin. Who needs American Idol when you've got SXSW?
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