Seattle Sounds

The city of Seattle [1] has a long and storied musical history. Local legends include:

Jimi Hendrix: The guitar virtuoso was born in Seattle and learned to play his instrument here, belonging to various local bands in his youth. Hendrix left the area in 1961 and never lived here again, although he is buried at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton.

Queensrÿche: This Bellevue progressive-metal band experienced some celebrity in 1990.

Heart: Ann and Nancy Wilson, the founding sisters of this iconic rock group, are both from Seattle.

Kenny G: The mellow saxophonist was born in Seattle and is a graduate of the University of Washington [2].

Quincy Jones: Producer, singer, composer, musician, the legendary Quincy Jones lived in Seattle through much of his childhood.

Sir Mix-a-Lot: The man behind Posse on Broadway and Baby Got Back was born in Seattle and still calls the city home. The reference to Broadway is actually the street in Seattle’s Capitol Hill [3] area, not the better known one in New York.

Grunge Music: The Seattle area is still most closely associated with the “grunge” movement of the early 1990s. Characterized by distorted electric instrumentation, a fashion sense borrowed from local lumberjacks, and angsty, lamenting lyrics, grunge is undeniably Northwestern. Must be the rain. The dean of all grunge acts, Nirvana, was formed by two Aberdeen [4] locals, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. It was in the Lake Washington area of Seattle that Cobain killed himself in 1994. Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Screaming Trees are all Seattle bands, as is Soundgarden, whose breakthrough hit Spoonman was written about a street performer who once frequented Pike Place Market [5].

Murder City Devils: These hard-edge punk rockers were the yin to grunge’s yang in the 1990s and are just now seeing a resurgence in the national club scene.

Harvey Danger: This band was best known for its late-1990s post-grunge anthem Flagpole Sitta.

Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie: Both of these emo superbands played the local club circuit for years before recently hitting the big time.

Sub Pop and Kill Rock Stars: These two legendary labels are based in Washington, the former in Seattle [1] and the latter in Olympia [6].