Thursday, December 04, 2008

A Musical Ranking Of The United States

by Myche

I've thrown this question out to a few people, and it's time to get everyone on the record. Please list your Top 6 (in order) United States by their respective musical output.

In my analysis, some states shine based on sheer volume of output, others jump to the top due to being the home of some big names. Sometimes it's hard to determine where a band is from, generally assign them in your mind to the state they were formed in. For solo artists, I would use a similar rule. For instance, while Elvis was born in Mississippi, it's hard not to assign him to Tennessee.

You can use http://www.allmusic.com/ as a source if you don't know where bands are from.

Five states quickly came to mind for me, and I'm still wrestling with their ranking. The sixth spot is proving to be a little less obvious. I'll post mine as a comment a little later.

4 comments:

Chris B. said...

I'd say California (obviously), New York, and Illinois to start, just for sheer volume of people. Lots of bands break from those states just because there's an outlet for it.

After that, it's hard. I'm going with TX, TN, and WA. Although, MA has had lots of bands, too.

Do we have to show our work?

Myche said...

Here's my ranking:

1. California
2. Texas
3. Georgia
4. Minnesota
5. New York
6. Michigan

Illinois and Washington would have been next for me. Ranking was pretty hard, but I did my best. Georgia may look like a surprise, but with the Allman Brothers, James Brown, Otis Redding, George Clinton, R.E.M., Mastodon, Georgia Satellites (who I personally like alot) - very solid indeed. Minnesota gets my nod based solely on three biggies of mine: Bob Dylan, Prince, and Bob Mould/Husker Du.

I think generally I weighed very heavy on my favorite bands and took it from there. It would be pretty hard to have a comprehensive tally...

Wayne said...

This was a real noodle-scratcher, Myche. This might change but, here's what I"m thinking right now.

1. California
2. Tennessee
3. Illinois
4. New York
5. Washington
6. Georgia

Mark said...

1. Georgia
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts
4. California
5. Washington
6. North Carolina

Mastodon clinched Georgia. Ben Folds made a strong showing for NC.
Prince IS Minnesota.