Live Music in Minneapolis

Few cities have shaped modern pop music as concretely as Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Sound, a funk-rock subgenre built on synthesizers, aggressively processed guitar, and crisp machine-like drums, was pioneered by Prince and André Cymone in the late 1970s and went on to influence New Jack Swing and alter the trajectory of mainstream R&B. That same decade produced Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, and Soul Asylum, a punk and alternative rock wave that helped build the pre-Nirvana indie infrastructure across the country. The venue where much of this history unfolded, First Avenue and 7th Street Entry, remains the scene's anchor today, operating alongside nationally respected rooms like The Dakota jazz club, The Armory, and The Fillmore Minneapolis. For a mid-sized American city, the depth and reach of Minneapolis's musical output is difficult to match.