As Husker Du founder Bob Mould points out, there is more to the 'Minneapolis Sound';

"It wasn't just punk rock or TwinTone, and it wasn't just Paisley Park or Prince."

He's right. The burgeoning music scene in the Twin Cities in the late 70's and early 80's was similar to Detroit and Philadelphia in the 60's. Anyone now aged 40 and up, who lived in range of a Twin Cities bar when they were 19 (yes, the drinking age at that time), knew the music scene was all over the map. Bands playing their own original music were popping up all over.

I remember the blues-influenced Hoopsnakes, hearing my first Husker Du tune at a party in Mankato, and friends speaking of the new sound of 'garage-rock' being bashed and wailed by The Replacements. Then later asking myself; 'What happened to Trip Shakespeare"? Little did I know they changed into Semisonic.

Soul Asylum's 3rd album found at Cactus Records in Bozeman, MT
Soul Asylum's 3rd album found at Cactus Records in Bozeman, MT
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As Prince began his reign and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis branched off from The Time, we began to see that 'Minneapolis Sound' morph into layered synthesizers, perfectly synched drum pads and sticky hair. The white kids of the day tried to take the sound back, but Limited Warranty, The Suburbs and Information Society were lost to the New-Wave self-destruction.  Soul Asylum tried to continue the feels into the 90's but fame may have caught the better of them.

Fortunately for us, most of these folks are STILL making music. In fact Bob Mould just released Beauty and Ruin at the beginning of June and he'll be playing the State Fair at the end of August.

Shockingly, thanks to my 18 year-old son, I stumbled onto this video made by a website called Noisey. It's a rare glimpse back into the the roaring almost-but-not-quite underground music scene in the Twin Cities 30 years ago, its impact on today's musicians and what those influential artists are doing now.

 

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