Newsletter Article Series Issue 8 - Seattle Sound

4. The Seattle Sound

The city of Cleveland, Ohio is home to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. What claim does the city of Cleveland have to such a venue? Well, Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed is credited with coining the term “rock and roll” and Cleveland hosted the first rock and roll concert (Cleveland officials pledging $65 million to build the Hall of Fame didn’t hurt either).

Seattle may not have a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame but they do have a museum equally as impressive, The Experience Music Project. The same building houses the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. One admission price will get you into both museums.

Located in the Frank Gehry building at the base of the Space Needle (325 5th Avenue North), the Experience Music Project was the brainchild of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The museum features rock memorabilia, state-of-the-art multi-media displays and interactive exhibits. EMP also features several exhibits dedicated to music of the Pacific Northwest.

If inventing the term “rock and roll” earned Cleveland the Hall of Fame, what did Seattle do to earn the EMP?

Seattle has been home to numerous ground-breaking musicians and the city was the epicenter for grunge, a brand of music that changed rock and roll forever.

Seattle’s most famous musical son is Jimi Hendrix (he alone is worth a museum). Other musical icons who have called Seattle home, at one time or another, include Quincy Jones, Bill Frisell, Kenny G, Sir Mix-A lot, and the rock band Heart.

In the mid 1980’s a new type of music was emerging in the Emerald City. This music was a mix of punk, heavy metal and indie rock. It was championed by the independent record label Sub Pop and it was called grunge.

This new genre of music was being played by bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. All these bands formed in Seattle with the exception of Nirvana. They coalesced in nearby Aberdeen, Washington.

In no time, grunge swept the country and Seattle became . . .

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