page_title: Music of Minnesota
section_title: Rock
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Minnesota / Genres / Rock
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Bob Mould at McCarren Park Pool on July 7, 2007. Line 6 Variax acoustic guitar. Source: [1] Photo by: Gaelen Hadlett Cropped from original photo.
context_page_description: The music of Minnesota began with the native rhythms and songs of Indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of the lands which later became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Their relatives, the half-breed Métis fur-trading voyageurs, introduced the chansons of their French ancestors in the late eighteenth century. As the territory was opened up to white settlement in the 19th century, each group of immigrants brought with them the folk music of their European homelands. Celtic, German, Scandinavian, and Central and Eastern European song and dance remain part of the vernacular music of the state today.
  Ethnic music has influenced and developed into modern folk music, and American musical genres such as gospel music, blues and jazz also are part of the state's musical fabric. Musicians, such as the Andrews Sisters and Bob Dylan, often started in Minnesota but left the state for the cultural capitals of the east and west coasts, but in recent years the development of an active music industry in Minneapolis has encouraged local talent to produce and record at home.
context_section_description: Rock and roll has a long history in the state. Garcia is remembered from the 1950s as the godfather of Minnesota rock 'n' roll. Called by Billboard "one of the top 10 most consistent chartmakers ever", Bobby Vee, who had 38 songs in the Hot 100 charts, still tours with his sons, The Vees. From the 1960s, a series of psychedelic and garage rock singles have become collector's items, including work of Mankato, Minnesota's The Gestures, The Litter's "Action Woman", "Faces" by T. C. Atlantic and Trip Thru Hell by the C. A. Quintet.  "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, "Liar, Liar" by The Castaways charted at number 12 in 1965, and the song "Evil Woman (Don’t Play Your Games With Me)" by the Minneapolis hard rock band Crow made the Billboard Top 20 in 1969.
  While attending the University of Minnesota in the late 1970s, Yanni played keyboards and synthesizers in several Twin Cities rock bands. He joined the band Chameleon in the early 1980s and enjoyed moderate regional commercial success before embarking on his solo new-age music career.
  Largely only known locally for new wave, The Suburbs were released under the local Twin/Tone Records label in 1978, and opened shows for Iggy Pop and The B-52's. The Suicide Commandos helped to galvanize a punk, new-wave community based at first out of Jay's Longhorn Bar.
  Prior to the evolution of punk in the 1970s, there was little rock and roll tradition from Minneapolis, which author Steven Blush attributed to a lack of anything to "rebel against", noting that it was Minneapolis' friendly atmosphere that made future hardcore punk musicians "crazy and rebellious". "Every A&R person in New York was present at CBs while The Replacements joyously flushed the set down the toilet, doing nothing but fractions of other people's songs," said Peter Jesperson who recorded them for Twin/Tone.
  In the mid-1970s, local musicians in the Minneapolis area began producing popular and innovative acts. Many signed to major record labels, and by the mid-1980s, some had achieved national prominence. The first female rock bands, Vixen from Saint Paul went on to success in Los Angeles and from Minneapolis, Têtes Noires released three albums. The hardcore punk scene grew with The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, who started too early to profit from, but were pivotal in, the development of alternative rock. The Replacements, who "might be the most legendary" Minnesota rock musicians, eventually achieved some limited mainstream success, which led to member Paul Westerberg's solo career, while Hüsker Dü started on local Reflex Records and became the first hardcore outfit to sign to a major label. Soul Asylum was originally a Minneapolis hardcore band called Loud Fast Rules, who played with bands like Willful Neglect, Man Sized Action, Rifle Sport and Breaking Circus; they mixed funk and thrash metal with other influences. The Twin Cities rock scene came to national prominence by 1984, when the Village Voice's critics poll, Pazz and Jop, named three Minneapolis recordings among the top ten of the year: Prince's Purple Rain, The Replacements' Let It Be, and Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade.
  The late 1980s saw new sounds coming out of the state, when two singles from electronic band Information Society, "What's On Your Mind? (Pure Energy)" and "Walking Away", were MTV favorites. The Jayhawks are a long-lived country-roots rock band who started in the mid-1980s. Another group to form about the same time was Babes in Toyland, an early quasi-riot grrl band. Many groups of the 1980s and 1990s eventually split up, and a number of other bands formed from the remnants.  Bob Mould left Hüsker Dü after it imploded in 1988, to head Sugar and do solo projects. Trip Shakespeare eventually transformed into Semisonic, who gained popularity in the late 1990s with the song "Closing Time". Other prominent, recent rock acts from Minnesota include slowcore band Low and indie folk/bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles, both from Duluth, experimental rock band Cloud Cult and indie rockers Tapes 'n Tapes, both from Minne
caption: Bob Mould, formerly of Hüsker Dü and Sugar, in 2007
exif: {}