u/Squire513

Recently saw The Martinez Brothers on Capital Radio in London saying House Music comes from NYC and it kicked off a debate with those taking sides between NYC and Chicago.

As a Midwesterner, I find this narrative has always been told inaccurately and those on the coasts have always been confused what was happening actually happening in the Midwest.

The biggest impact on House was funk. It wasn't disco. Many of the early house songs from Chicago even have funk in the title or their names like Farley "Jackmaster" Funk.

Funk's Orgin and Evolution

James Brown invents funk in Cincinnati in the 60s and then George Clinton in Detroit invents P-funk with Parliament-Funkadelic in 1970.

Midwest funk bands evolve the sound over the 70s - Ohio Players, Slave, Dazz, Earth Wind & Fire, Lakeside, Faze-O, Sun, Heatwave. They start to use synthesizers and drum machines.

By 1980, four genres emerge from four cities - Minneapolis, Cincy/Dayton, Chicago and Detroit

• Zapp from Dayton, Ohio release the first electro-funk record More Bounce to the Ounce in 1980 with signature vocoder vocals
• Prince releases Dirty Mind - the first Minneapolis Sound record in 1980
• Jesse Saunders in Chicago releases On & On - the first House track in 1984
• Juan Atkins (Model 500) in Detroit releases No UFOs - first Techno track in 1985
• Larry Heard (Mr Fingers) in Chicago releases Mystery of Love - first Deep House track in 1985
• Phuture in Chicago releases Acid Tracks - first Acid House track in 1987

I found this quote from Jesse Saunders from his early DJing days the late 70s Chicago:

We were playing more popular stuff like funk, James Brown, Parliament, Heatwave’s “Boogie Nights” and “The Grooveline.” In the beginning we weren’t playing disco at all. Maybe Donna Summer – it was generally more commercial stuff. The disco part of it didn’t come until probably ’78. 

Midwest producers with new technologies were pushing the sound forward with more aggression and groove.

Midwest radio stations like the Electrifying Mojo were blending genres playing a mix of soul, funk, new wave, hip hop, and rock long before Frankie Knuckles comes to Chicago to take residency at the Warehouse.

I think its telling some of the biggest R&B producers by the end of the 80s also came from two cities - Minneapolis (Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis) and Cincinnati (LA Reid & Babyface and the Calloway brothers).

By 1988, half the singles in the R&B charts were being produced by the Midwest producers with a signature mix of funk, soul, synth pop, and new wave.

So Chicago or NYC?

Recently discovered this band Pleasures Pale from Dayton OH that are the most Smiths sounding band from America.

They were active 85-87 before they broke up. Some major labels were interested in them. Had a good following in Cincinnati along with Guided by Voices.

The lead singer tracked down the original tapes they recorded at a studio in Dayton and remastered them for release. Highly recommend checking out their albums.

The Midwest is like a black hole in terms of investment on the music map despite having a rich history of companies such as Fender, Gibson, Billboard, Crosley, Wurlitzer, Baldwin, King, Mercury, Motown, Chess, Suma, Twin/Tone, Trax, Victory, Pitchfork, and Third Man.

Motown left Detroit for LA in 1972 and Mercury left Chicago for NYC in 1980.

There was a brief period when some labels open Chicago offices in the 90s like Jive in 1990 and Thrill Jockey moved from NYC to Chicago in 1995, but no major label has operated in Chicago since 2000.

Pitchfork moved its HQ to Brooklyn in 2011 before being fully acquired by Conde Nast in 2024.

Meanwhile, majors have invested in Nashville for country, Atlanta for hip-hop, and Miami for latin.

I know there are a few active indie labels like Secretly Canadian in Bloomington, IN and Polyvinyl in Champaign- Urbana, IL, but most Midwest indies have become reissue labels like Numero and Touch and Go in Chicago.

I just find it crazy how a country as big as the US operates from primarily 5 media hubs but nothing in the Midwest from a regional perspective.

Often never see the 1991 album releases from the UK highlighted compared to the US.

UK 1991 Alternative Album Releases

• Jesus Jones - Doubt (Feb 4, Food)
• Ride - Today Forever EP (Mar 4, Creation)
• 808 State - ex:el (Mar 4, ZTT/Tommy Boy/Warner)
• The Farm - Spartacus (Mar 4, Produce/Sire)
• Kitchens of Distinction - Strange Free World (Mar 18, One Little Indian)
• Ned's Atomic Dustbin — God Fodder (Apr 1, Columbia)
• Massive Attack – Blue Lines (Apr 8, Virgin)
• Inspiral Carpets - The Beast Inside (Apr 22, Mute)
• Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (Apr 22, Island)
• Chapterhouse - Whirlpool (Apr 29, Dedicated)
• EMF - Schubert Dip (May 6, Parlophone)
• The Wedding Present — Seamonsters (May 20, RCA)
• The Wonder Stuff - Never Loved Elvis (May 27, Polydor)
• Electronic - Electronic (May 28, Factory/Warner)
• Northside - Chicken Rhythms (Jun 17, Factory/Geffen)
• Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha (Jun 24, Heavenly)
• Blur – Leisure (Aug 26, Food)
• Flowered Up - A Life with Brian (Aug 26, London)
• Slowdive - Just for a Day (Sept 2, Creation)
• Talk Talk – Laughing Stock (Sept 16, A&M)
• Primal Scream – Screamadelica (Sept 23, Creation)
• Swervedriver - Raise (Sept 30, Creation)
• My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (Nov 4, Creation)
• U2 – Achtung Baby (Nov 18, Island)
• Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque (Nov 19, Creation)

US 1991 Alternative Album Releases

• Screaming Trees - Uncle Anesthesia (Jan 29, Epic)
• Dinosaur Jr. – Green Mind (Feb 19, Blanco y Negro/Sire)
• R.E.M. – Out of Time (Mar 12, Warner)
• Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona (Mar 12, 4AD/Sire)
• The Jesus Lizard - Goat (Mar 15, Touch and Go)
• Slint - Spiderland (Mar 27, Touch and Go)
• Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog (Apr 16, A&M)
• Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese (May 14, Interscope)
• Mercury Rev — Yerself Is Steam (May 14, Columbia)
• Smashing Pumpkins – Gish (May 28, Caroline/Hut)
• Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing (July 1, Dischord)
• The Innocence Mission - Umbrella (July 23, A&M)
• Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (July 26, Sub Pop)
• Metallica - Metallica (Aug 12, Elektra)
• Pearl Jam – Ten (Aug 27, Epic)
• The Ocean Blue - Cerulean (Sept 10, Sire)
• Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I (Sept 17, Geffen)
• Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion II (Sept 17, Geffen)
• Hole - Pretty On The Inside (Sept 17, Caroline/City Slang)
• Nirvana – Nevermind (Sept 24, DGC)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Sept 24, Warner)
• Pixies – Trompe le Monde (Sept 24, 4AD/Elektra)
• Faith No More - Angel Dust (Oct 1, Slash/Reprise)
• Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger (Oct 8, A&M)
• Green Day - Kerplunk! (Dec 17, Lookout!)

Also didn't realize Nirvana, Pixies, and RHCP all released albums on the same day.

12 June 2001: Blink-182 release Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
12 June 2026: Blink-182 drop 25th anniversary edition
12 June 2026: US 🇺🇸 drop 4 on Paraguay 🇵🇾

19 June 2021: 311 release From Chaos
19 June 2026: 311 drop 25th anniversary edition?
19 June 2026: US 🇺🇸 vs Australia 🇦🇺

Amber is the color of your energy a good sign?

I’m certain FIFA didn’t reward the Midwest with more host cities given would be too many drunk 🍻 people singing 🎶

It’s been enjoyable watching American people on the coasts and in the South very confused as hoards of European and South American fans descend on their cities and towns often with drink in hand with a chant set to a popular tune.

Unfortunate as Midwest humor and European humor would have been an epic combo.

I broke down the ancestry for each US President where the results show the majority are English Protestants either from the Massachusetts Bay Colony or the Colony of Virginia.

The third substantial group are Scots-Irish Protestants from the other 13 colonies.

Only in the past half century have four US Presidents had paternal ancestors from a post-Revolution America that aren't from the British Isles.

With the exception of Van Buren and possibly Eisenhower, every President has ancestors from the British Isles. Only two Presidents have no Colonial ancestors.

Pre-Revolution Ancestry - English unless otherwise stated

Massachusetts Bay Colony

• John Adams
• Millard Fillmore
• Franklin Pierce 
• Abraham Lincoln
• Ulysses S. Grant
• James A. Garfield
• Grover Cleveland
• William Howard Taft
• Warren G. Harding
• Calvin Coolidge
• George H. W. Bush
• George W. Bush

Colony of Virginia

• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson
• James Madison
• James Monroe
• William Henry Harrison
• John Tyler
• Zachary Taylor
• Benjamin Harrison
• Harry S. Truman
• Jimmy Carter

New Netherland

• Martin Van Buren (Dutch)
• Theodore Roosevelt (Dutch/English)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (Dutch/English)

Province of Pennsylvania

• William McKinley (Scots-Irish)
• Herbert Hoover (German)
• Dwight D. Eisenhower (German)
• Gerald Ford

Carolinas

• Andrew Jackson (Scots-Irish)

 

Province of Maryland

• James K. Polk (Scots-Irish)

Delaware Colony

• Richard Nixon (Scots-Irish)

Province of Georgia

• Lyndon B. Johnson (Scots-Irish)
• Bill Clinton (Scots-Irish)

Connecticut Colony

• Rutherford B. Hayes (Scots-Irish)

Post-Revolution

Vermont

• Chester A. Arthur (Scots-Irish)

Pennsylvania

• Woodrow Wilson (Scots-Irish)

Massachusetts

• John F. Kennedy (Irish)

Illinois 

• Ronald Reagan (Irish)

Hawaii 

• Barack Obama (Kenyan/English)

I used to listen to lots of Kaskade back in the day (pre-2006) and always associated him and Miguel Migs with the San Francisco sound.

Does he make any music that remotely sounds close to anything like he did in the early 00s?

Thought he used to have a really unique sound with lots of acoustic sounds in this records.

Once he went more EDM after 2007 I stopped following him closely so don’t know if he has ever returned to that sound.

Profile piece on Hum in their hometown of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois during the Downward Is Heavenward album.

In the 90s, Champaign-Urbana was a hotbed of alternative music with bands like Hum, Poster Children, Braid, C-Clamp, and American Football all coming from the college town.