Music of Massachusetts
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Massachusetts is a U.S. state in New England. Perhaps the most influential early composer of the United States was Lowell Mason. A native of Boston, Mason campaigned against the use of shape-note notation, and for the education in standard notation. He worked with local institutions to release collections of hymns and maintain his stature. Opposed to the shape-note tradition, Mason pushed American music towards a European model.
The Bay Psalme Book (The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre) was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1640; it was the first book of any kind printed in the English colonies of North America. It became the standard used by New England churches for many years, though it contained no music itself, merely providing psalms and pointing readers to other prominent publications. The Bay Psalm Book was faithful to its source, but did not produce beautiful singing. In 1651, then, a third edition was created, and became known as the New England Psalm Book; this became the standard for many years. By this point, the evolution from the Ainsworth Psalter to the New England Psalm Book had steadily dwindled the number of tunes in use.
Massachusetts was later home to a number of the most prominent members of the First New England School of itinerant singing masters, including Daniel Read (later of New Haven, Connecticut) and Supply Belcher (later of Farmington, Maine).
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[edit] Concert music
Massachusetts has been home to formal ensembles: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
It has had formal institutions for the perpetuation of formal music: Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, and Berklee College of Music.
[edit] Folk music
There are seasonal folk music festivals in the state.
[edit] 1960s
There was a considerable amount of rock and roll musical activity in Boston in the 1960s. In the early part of the decade, Boston produced acts like Freddie Cannon and The Rockin' Ramrods. In the middle of the decade garage rock acts like Barry & the Remains and The Barbarians came out of Boston. The psychedelic era saw a promotional hype for the Bosstown Sound, but most of the bands thus promoted were closer to bubblegum than psychedelia. Orpheus achieved some nationwide recognition, while the Beacon Street Union was known primarily locally.
[edit] 1970s
The J. Geils Band and The Modern Lovers, featuring Jonathan Richman as well as (for a short time) Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, came out of Boston, as did more mainstream acts like Aerosmith, The Cars and Boston.
[edit] Alternative rock
The earliest alternative rock bands in Massachusetts hailed from Boston and included Salem 66, Volcano Suns and Mission of Burma. Later bands from Eastern Massachusetts included Pixies, Throwing Muses, Morphine, Galaxie 500, Swirlies and the Pernice Brothers. Farther west, in Amherst, the dissolution of the legendary hardcore punk band Deep Wound spurred the foundation of future legends Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr from its ashes. Amherst and neighboring Northampton also spawned the Scud Mountain Boys, Buffalo Tom, and Cordelia's Dad, the latter uniquely fusing Appalachian folk music with hardcore punk rock. Other notable bands/musicians: Dropkick Murphys Godsmack Staind Dresden Dolls Guster Extreme Dick Dale Bobby Brown The Mighty Mighty Bosstones New Kids on the Block Rob Zombie New Edition
[edit] Hardcore
Main article: Boston hardcore
As the hardcore underground hit Boston, a few New Wave bands like Pastische, Lou Miami and the Cosmetics, Human Sexual Response, DMZ- who were to Boston what the New York Dolls were to New York City, and who evolved into garage rock revivalists The Lyres; The Real Kids,The Neighborhoods, The Turbines, and The Neats played any form of punk. The founder of the Boston Hardcorde scene was Allan Barile from Lynn, Massachusetts. Barile saw Minor Threat in Washington DC and brought hardcore home with him, intensifying DC's skinhead and straight edge subcultures.
Barile's first band was SSD (Society System Decontrol). It formed in 1981 and recorded the following year. SSD organized their own shows, not playing at typical venues, such as punk rock mainstay The Rat, because those clubs served alcohol. They rented out K of C's in areas such as Cambridge and Newton, and insisted that the performances be "all ages shows". Violence was common at these concerts and many people felt they made the punk scene violent. Mostly this was felt by older punks on the scene and casual fans. Other bands soon joined. In contrast to Barile's SSD, many of these bands were from suburbs of Boston including best known Gang Green, heralding from Braintree, DYS, The FU's, Jerry's Kids and Last Rights; Stranglehold, and The Proleteriat from Fall River.
Barile's Crew was known for being for the first major group of skin heads in the city of Boston. One of the most notorious of these straight edgers was Choke, who was actually attending Emerson College at the time. Choke played in a series of legendary bands including Negative FX, Slapshot and Last Rights. The Boston crew were a tight group of skinheads who were intensely loyal to one another and very territorial.
Boston developed an active hardcore zine culture by 1980, most influentially including Forced Exposure.
Unlike most hardcore bands, Boston's scene included heavy metal fans. Barile himself was a fan of AC/DC, while DYS, SSD and Gang Green all eventually made the switch to speed metal.
The death of hardcore in Boston is said to have occurred in 1984, when Jerry's Kids announced at a show that "this is the end of hardcore. We started it and we're ending it here today".
However, members of Boston's current scene in bands such as Mental, Righteous Jams and Bane are still trying to resurrect it.
[edit] Western Massachusetts
More laid-back and less violent than the Boston scene, western Massachusetts had several notable hardcore bands, including Deep Wound, All White Jury, Brain Injured Unit, Cancerous Growth, Siege, Pajama Slave Dancers and The Outpatients. Of these, Deep Wound was the most important, spawning pioneering alternative rock groups like Dinosaur Jr. and, later, Sebadoh after the breakup of Deep Wound.
In the late 1990s several bands in western Massachusetts (centered around the five colleges in Northampton/Amherst) help establish an indie rock scene. This included such bands as the Warren Commission, New Jersey Fairplan, Waterpistol, Psara, Delvic, The Right and Noah's Dove. Both Waterpistol and Psara appear on Deep Elm Record's The Emo Diaries Compilation. The Warren Commission released several albums on the Boston label Espo Records. This was followed by a second wave of western Mass. emo/indie rock bands including I Am Disaster, Saveyourself, and the El to Addison. Many of these bands moved to the Boston area, where they have found some success or have broken up and formed new bands.
Western Massachusetts has also been the birthplace of metal bands like Stained, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage and All That Remains.
Stockbridge, Massachusetts was also the setting for the infamous American folk song Alice's Restaurant.
[edit] Quirky/Eclectic Music
Western Mass. has played and stills is the home of bands that would rather not write love songs, but songs called Defreeze Walt Disney, Problems With Sects, Spider Goo, and Don Knotts (Is Mick Jagger's Dad).
The aforementioned Pajama Slave Dancers (PSD) with their punky sensibilities spawned Captain Testosterone and the Gypsy Stretch Mark Orchestra led by Steve Westfield. Other PSD offshoots were Chubacabra Jr., and the The Uncomfortables. The Rock Gods from Chicopee had a hilarious show pretending they were big rock stars, while the Donut Kings lyrics played the funny versus the silly. The Donut Kings won the 2000 Valley Advocate Grand Band Slam for best Alternative/ Eclectic band. Another Grand Band Slam winner that year (for cover band) was Krazee Navel . The thing is they were not a cover band. Slant 6 and the Jumpstarts make automotive rock fun and entertaining.
[edit] References
- Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Los Angeles, CA: Feral House. ISBN 0-92291-571-7.
