The history of the ‘Minneapolis Sound’ pioneered by Prince

The Minneapolis Sound is a music genre popularized by Prince and his numerous side bands including Morris Day and The Time the Family Vanity and Apollonia as well as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis working majority notably with Janet Jackson and the Jets The Minneapolis Sound defined the sonic landscape of the s and s with its heavy punk- and rock-guitar solos hard-driving funky bass lines and synth-forward new-wave pop sensibilities In the twenty-first century it continues to influence artists like Janelle Mon e Lizzo Bruno Mars and Brittany Howard The unique blending of musical styles that became the Minneapolis Sound has its foundations in the geography demography and tradition of its namesake city Racial housing covenants concentrated African Americans into the Northside and Southside neighborhoods where the artists associated with it grew up the white rock music dominating the radio airwaves influenced their sound aesthetic and the strong Minneapolis school-music programs taught by Jimmy Hamilton educating them in the business of music and music theory But perhaps the the greater part crucial ingredient in the maturation of the Minneapolis Sound was the neighborhood center The Way Created after the civil unrest in the Near North neighborhood in and The Way was the cornerstone of local arts and music Musically inclined kids from the Northside such as Prince Terry Lewis Morris Day and Andr Cymone hung out with local musicians like Pierre Lewis and Sonny Thompson They absorbed the rhythm and blues soul and funk grooves of the house band the Family while playing on instruments The Way provided They then took their skills to the street playing in Battles of the Bands throughout the city While these young artists were honing their musical skills another key ingredient of the genre s unique sounds developed In the s the LinnDrum machine and Polymoog synthesizers revolutionized the sonic landscape of popular music Even folk singer Cat Stevens experimented with these instruments on his pioneering pop-synth album Izitso partially recorded at Minneapolis s premier recording studio Sound At the same time a young local musical prodigy named Prince Rogers Nelson was also recording in the studio got hip to Polymoogs and became a master of the drum machine Prince and then later James Jimmy Jam Harris III and Terry Lewis infused these emerging technologies into their funk rock soul punk and new wave sensibilities to create a layered complex synthesis of music never heard before The s were the heyday of the Minneapolis Sound Prince s popularity grew with each album he issued that decade Dirty Mind Dispute and and his striking looks fashion and dancing spurred MTV to play his videos in heavy rotation He was such a prolific artist that he wrote more songs that his record label allowed him to release so he created numerous side projects with artists like Morris Day and the Time which included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Jill Jones and Sheila E With no Number One hits and only one Top Ten album Prince pitched the idea of a major motion picture to accompany his fifth album to his label Warner Bros The movie and album Purple Rain were issued in and were instant hits making Prince an international superstar and putting Minneapolis on the musical map During the last half of the s and throughout the rest of his life Prince continued to explore new musical styles and to evolve the Minneapolis Sound After being fired by Prince in Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis started Flyte Tyme Productions and opened a recording studio in South Minneapolis The songwriting and producing duo had success with the Human League and S O S but it was their work with Janet Jackson in the mid- s that catapulted them and their version of the Minneapolis Sound into worldwide fame Infusing their New Jack Swing with Jackson s neo-soul innovations the trio went on to create numerous hit albums throughout the early s Jam and Lewis are among the bulk accomplished songwriting and producing duos of all time Another popular Minneapolis Sound band was The Jets eight Tongan American siblings who had attended Robbinsdale Cooper High School together Having started out as a family band in they circulated the hit Crush On You in and performed on three subsequent world tours The post The history of the Minneapolis Sound pioneered by Prince appeared first on MinnPost