Music of Oregon

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Music of the United States

Oregon's music scene is most active in Portland, Roseburg, and the college town of Eugene. Popular music genres in Oregon range from hardcore punk to disco music.

Early rock

The Kingsmen, best known for their oldies rock classic "Louie, Louie", were originally from Portland.

Seafood Mama was a 1970s rock band, with singer Rindy Ross, with a substantial local following that tried for national success as Quarterflash. Unfortunately, the band was unable to find much success after its first album.

Another Portland band that reached for a national audience was Nu Shooz.

Punk rock

Portland had one of the most vibrant hardcore punk scenes in the early 1980s Pacific Northwest, rivalled only by Seattle and Vancouver. The Wipers and Poison Idea are the best known representatives of the scene, especially The Wipers, a major grunge influence. These bands played at The Met (now Dante's) and The Satyricon, and were connected with cult comedian Bill Hicks[citation needed]. Other hardcore bands included Lockjaw, Final Warning, The Rats and Sado Nation.

Eugene in the 1990s and 2000s

Eugene had a thriving local music scene in the early 1990s that slowly died out in the early 2000s as many of the local musicians became frustrated with the lack of interest in the scene from outside entities. It's slowly picking back up speed due to some new up and coming bands the growing popularity of some older, more promintent local bands. Some notable rising bands include The Tunnel Kings, The Fast Computers and local favorites Yeltsin. The Eugene scene in the 1990s consisted of several bars, an anarchist teahouse (an integral part of the scene), and almost nightly basement shows (there were several houses that were basically music venues, often notorious enough for larger independent acts to stop at them while on tour in the Northwest). Icky's Teahouse, founded by Sunshine (Richard Mosher) on a large inheritance from a deceased uncle, was a stop for acts such as Jawbreaker, Green Day, AFI, Defiance, UK Subs, Mukilteo Fairies (now known as ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), FYP.

Some prominent Eugene bands

Cherry Poppin' Daddies: A swing/ska/rock group formed in 1989 by U of O dropout Steve Perry. As a part of the late-1990s swing and ska craze, the band gained national attention. After signing with Universal Records, the band released a compilation of their earlier works entitled Zoot Suit Riot. The title track from that album was also featured in several movie soundtracks. Currently, the band is working on a new album now that Perry has completed his degree in molecular biology.[1]

Formed in 1984, the Surf Trio was a punk/surf band based in Eugene.[1] Founding members included Ron Kleim on guitar and vocals, Pete Weinburger on guitar and vocals, Dave Myers on bass and Aaron Temple on drums.

Floater: Formed in 1993, made their start playing garage parties and at the U of O. Now residing in Portland, Floater has released six studio albums, plus two live albums and an acoustic album on indie record label Elemental Records. They have also received nominations to the preliminary level of the Grammys from NARAS in 1995 under Best Rock Performance for their first album Sink and in 1996 under Best Alternative Performance for their second album Glyph.

Famous Salem musicians

Guitarist John Fahey moved to Salem in 1981 and died there in 2001 at the age of 61. He is buried at Restlawn Memory Gardens, just west of Salem. Larry Norman, who some call the "Father of Christian Rock" still lives in Salem. Native American jazz sax player Jim Pepper was born in Salem in 1941 and lived for two years at Chemawa Indian School, where his mother and father were employed.

Other artists and groups from Oregon

See also: Portland, Oregon in popular culture § Music

Music Festivals in Oregon

  • Annually the Ernest Bloch Music Festival, a composers' symposium and showcase for progressive and contemporary music, is executed in Newport Oregon. The Festival is regarded country-wide and is a cultural high-point every year for musicians classically or otherwise trained. Traditionally, performers from the Oregon Symphony and other localized performance groups attend specifically to play pieces written by the guest composers. Ernest Bloch was a composer who has a memorial located in Newport.
  • Oregon Bach Festival
  • Oregon Festival of American Music
  • Eugene Celebration
  • Although not primarily billed as a music festival, the Oregon Country Fair has several stages where musicians perform regularly during the three-day event.
  • Vortex I, a 1970 music festival near Estacada

References

  1. ^ Maxim, Bryce (Apr. 8, 2006). Interview with Steve Perry (audio). WMLB AM 1160, Backstage Atlanta.
  • Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. 2001. ISBN 0-922915-71-7
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