Victims fell for alleged serial killer’s tale that he needed help finding gold in area of his Washington state farm, authorities say
Victims fell for alleged serial killer’s tale that he needed help finding gold in area of his Washington state farm, authorities say
Washington State, come for the music and don’t mind the serial killers.
The vast majority of musicians from Washington moved to big cities outside of Washington state. Dave Grohl of Nirvana is in Los Angeles, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill moved to NYC and then to California. King Buzzo from the Melvins is still a local, but then he never made mainstream notoriety like Grohl or Hanna.
Washington isn’t the cultural powerhouse it used to be, it’s been hollowed out by giant corporations. Rents are insane and it’s not possible to be a weird artist here anymore, even in cheaper cities like Olympia. I mean fuck, K Records had to sell their building they’re doing so bad financially.
There are still local and small bands, sure, but the scene is thriving far less than it used to, and COVID really killed the last vestiges of it.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, The head and the heart, Odesza and Owl City? Owl City had multiple hits with one mega hit and Odesza puts on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were on repeat everywhere for a year plus… these were all big names within the last 15~ years and Odesza is probably the youngest of them that started only in 2012. If you haven’t seen Owl City also I would highly recommend. Super talented and a ton of fun.
Of course they don’t live in Washington much anymore though. They have support structures setup in LA now. There’s better recording studios, talent managers, brand managers, business managers and other support personnel for artists that stick to LA as it’s really the only area like it in the world.
Washington is super affordable compared to other high income states. I have a ton of family who all live up there and bitch about how expensive their $500k homes are while making 6 figure salaries in blue collar jobs. It’s a great state to live in and raise a family as well. I try to get up there once a year to just get out and enjoy the fresh air and their better national parks over Cali’s.
COVID killed a ton of creative places even here in Cali. It’ll be a while before they’re back to life before Covid.
Also, what’s a “Bikini Kill”….
That’s all I got, lol
Dave Matthews was born in South Africa, grew up between there and East Coast USA and only moved to Washington as an adult because he liked it there.
DMB started in Charlottesville, Virginia, so sadly, he can’t be claimed as a “Washington musician.” He came here after the fact.
Eddie Vedder is a better fit, as someone whose band originated in Washington, despite Vedder not being from Washington himself, and only ending up in Washington really to join up with Pearl Jam.
All the Washington musicians you named, moved away. We get to claim them now.
That’s the point I was making, yes.
This is what I’m referring to, we get Grohl & Hanna back. I mean, if we’re keeping track.
On a serious note, we have lost a lot of our artists, but there were decades where most successful or famous artists of all types had lived here at some point in their lives. It was like an incubator. I don’t see that happening as much.
The weird thing, so have a lot of major corporations: Amazon, Boeing, Costco, Microsoft, UPS, etc.
Matt Lukin and all the guys from Mudhoney are still there. So is Krist Novoselic. He even holds political office currently I think.
Jack Endino still runs a recording studio, although I think he doesn’t produce as much as he used to.
I forgot how much the music scene is known around here, it’s been a minute since I’ve been exposed to it. I’m glad people are keeping it alive.
Green River, U-Men, Gas Huffer, Skin Yard, TAD……so many great bands and too many to name. Of course everyone remembers the big 4, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam and Nirvana. But they weren’t what defined the scene. Maybe the early releases, but the mainstream albums hit for a reason. I still like it all though.
I’m that weird guy that still buys cassette tapes from Sub Pop haha.
If you get a chance and want to dive into it, then book by Mark Yarm (no relation to Mark Arm lol) called “Everyone loves our town, the oral history of grunge” is super wild. The guy basically interviewed everyone from the U-Men to producers and managers.
Don’t hate me, but I never really liked grunge except for some of Pearl Jam. I do know a lot of people that love it, I’ll pass the book info on.
No hate here! Music is super subjective. And that era of punk is…….somewhat an acquired taste haha.
Do you follow any of the Seattle communities here? It’d be nice to see one start getting more active.
Brandi Carlisle, though she lives outside of Seattle (suburbs)