What is the musical capital of the world

[Tastycles]

A lot of bands have a strong affinity of where they came from, and the influence of fantastic bands often give a particular scene to a town that then dominates and makes that town or area the focus of the world. For example, grunge music is almost inseperable from Seattle in the eyes of many.

Clearly then, cities have given us a lot of scenes, and have influenced music in all manners, and I imagine that people's answers to this question are largely focussed on their own opinions.

Biased, as I obviously am, I am going to cite Liverpool as the musical capital of the world. My reasons are simple. Almost all music has some root in that of The Beatles, and their contemporaries such as Gerry and The Pacemakers and their impact on both the British and American music scenes.

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However, the Liverpool influence didn't end in the 60s. After a quiet period during the early 70s, the city spawned one of the first English speaking synthesiser bands in Orchestral Manouvers in the Dark.

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The 80s saw a whole host of contemporary pop artists come from the town and its surroundings including Rick Astley, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and er... Dead or Alive.

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The last one actually represents both the artist and production company Stock Aitken Waterman, who pretty much wrote every major hit of the late 80s, including:

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Into the 90s, the output slowed, but there were two bands heavily influential on the Britpop movement that were around in the Lightning Seeds and The La's

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Finally, in the 2000s, the city came full single, with this decidedly 60s single, later covered by Amy Winehouse:

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So there you go, I think Liverpool is the musical capital of the world, where do you think it is?

 

[Mr. Steve]

I don't know about you, but I can't be biased about this at all. I can't really pick one that would be in the running for Music Capital of The World. Liverpool would be in the running, that's for sure.

I'm gonna go ahead and post two cities and the genres they contributed to, if it's okay with you. It's just that for me to limit it to one city just cuts short what other cities have contributed to the music scene. Like I said, I can't be biased about this.

Memphis, Tennessee (Rockabilly, Rock N' Roll, Country, Gospel, and Blues)

In the 1950's, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, and Elvis Presley were making their careers here. In conjunction, those three men are hailed as the "Kings of Country, Blues, and Rock N' Roll." respectively. Other people like Roy Orbison, Tina Turner, Al green, Sam Cooke, etc. got their start here as well. It's basically the cradle of early American music genres.

Blues


Country


Elvis Presley

NOTE: yeah, I got no idea where to put Elvis in terms of Genres. His catalog is that expansive in terms of genres.

New York City
I'm hoping that my examples speak for itself for this one.

Garage Rock Revival



Indie Rock


As of now, it's one of the more prominent music cities in the world, especially how other places throughout the Continental U.S. are developing as a musical city (take California, for example).

Well, I tried to compensate a bit since I had to pick one, and I left out The Desert Scene in Cali as well as Motown and East and West Coast Hip Hop, but that's for another post for another time.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

I'm a Rock enthusiast, so my opinion leans towards the place that I consider the One area that has recently spawned perhaps the most bands in the past decade or so. And it's not in America.

I am talking about Finland.

Not a city, I know, but definitely a music capital if I ever knew one. Great bands that have came out of this place in the past 10 years may sound familiar to some:

H.I.M.
Lordi
Poets Of The Fall
Nightwish
Apocolyptica
Children Of Bodom
Moonsorrow
Stratovarius

Among many many others. The country heavily influenced bands like Guns N Roses as well. That is why I consider them a serious contender to any musical capital of the world.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would have to say Manchester, UK

Now I expect alot of Americans may not have hear/may not care about many of the bands I'm gonna list but they have had a HUGE impact on popular music in the UK over the late 80s-90s and many still are extremely popular today.

I would post links but I have no idea how to (if someone could inbox me how to that would be great )

So, here we go....I will put their best/most famous songs in brackets below the band name

OASIS
(Supersonic, Wonderwall, Morning Glory, Live Forever)

THE STONE ROSES
(I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drums, Fools Gold, Waterfall)

THE SMITHS
(There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, Panic, This Charming Man, How Soon Is Now?)

JOY DIVISION
(Love Will Tear Us Apart, Transmission, Leaders Of Men)

NEW ORDER (members of Joy Division after the singers, Ian Curtis's suicide)
(Blue Monday, True Faith, Regret, Ceremony)

IAN BROWN (Stone Roses lead singer went solo)
(F*E*A*R, Dolphins Were Monkeys, Stellify, Keep What Ya Got)

Morrissey (Smiths lead singer went solo)
(Suedehead, Every Day Is Like Sunday, First Of The Gang To Die, You Have Killed Me)

INSPIRAL CARPETS
(Saturn 5, This Is How It Feels, Two Worlds Collide, She Comes In The Fall)

JAMES
(Sit Down, Laid, Sometimes, Come Home, She's A Star)

and one of the new up-and-coming Mancunian bands...

THE COURTEENERS
(Not Nineteen Forever, You Overdid It Doll)


and that is why I believe Manchester is the music capital of the world