Music of Denver
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While Denver may not be as recognized for historical musical prominence like such cities as Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago or New York City, it still manages to have a very active popular, jazz, and classical music scene, which has nurtured many artists and genres to regional, national, and even international attention. Though nearby Boulder, Colorado has its own very distinct music scene, they are intertwined and often artists based there also play in Denver.
Google, Yahoo or Bing "Denver Music Scene" for a much less biased representation of the music of the Mile High City.
History
Going back to the early twentieth century, Denver has played an important part in the history of music, greatly because of its central location in the United States; between New York and Los Angeles. During the thirties jazz boom, such legendary vocalists as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and others resided.[citation needed]
Folk revolution and "Denver Pop"
Later on in the sixties, the city's location again played a pivotal role in its musical success. As folk music gained extreme popularity, a number of Denver's old folk clubs began to fill with then-unknown stars like Bob Dylan and Judy Collins. Along with a population boom, the city gained much press for its rising music scene. By the late sixties, such stars as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix had proclaimed Denver one of their favorite cities to perform in, and Hendrix often spoke of his tours with special admiration for the Red Rocks venue. The 1969 Denver Pop Festival was often compared to Woodstock for its status as "an end of an era".
As the seventies dawned, Denver's position in the country music genre began to take shape. While Colorado's reputation for mountain bluegrass, traditional folk, western, and country music had never been in question, the state's largest city was now playing a more important part in the advancement of local artists. In the wake of the folk boom of the sixties came a country music boom in the early seventies, with such country-folk superstars like John Denver making names for themselves with songs inspired by the region. Denver himself was most famous for this, often becoming a great spokesman for the state and region.
Heavy Metal scene and Country scene
In the late seventies, as the country music scene in Denver began to peak for that era, a number of hard rock and heavy metal bands began to spring up in the international rise in popularity for their respected genres. While mostly underground and still in existence today, Denver's metal scene has often been noted as one of the most neglected by the press, and just as well prized by national cult rock scenes. The metal and hard rock bands of that time would later play an important part in Denver's hugely popular stoner metal and jam band scenes of the nineties.
By the eighties, Denver had progressed further from its role as a "Nashville West" town and turned more towards the growing pop music of the decade. While the metal scene grew notably during the early eighties in the city, more so did the local funk, R&B, jazz-fusion and hip hop scenes. Without great exposure for a number of years, excluding the occasional hit in the seventies, the Denver soul scene gained great momentum among locals, with area jazz clubs selling out the record audiences. Always a city never far from the trendy, Denver also saw a rise in power metal groups which hit the mainstream with little trouble.
Recent decades
As the eighties ended, the same was not true for Denver's once again lively jazz scene which still holds prominence today. But, with a new decade came a new generation of music; grunge, thrash and nineties pop. Denver embraced all of these genres without trouble, most notably grunge. Like Seattle and a number of other cities who experienced the grunge boom, Denver fostered the genre in the early nineties before it quickly died out after the fall of the band Nirvana.
During the nineties, Denver received more music press than the previous decade, with a number of notable events happening in the city as opposed to an erupting scene. A number of festivals gained record attendance during the tenure of Mayor Wellington Webb, who worked to revamp the art community during his time as mayor. A small shock rock and Industrial metal scene developed in south Denver during the mid-nineties as a product of the vast underground metal and thrash scenes left over from the local hard rock up rise of the late seventies. As a result of the melting pot of styles being exhibited in the music scene at the time, a new revolution came to light: jam bands.
Jam and Stoner
A direct result of many local metal fans fusing together with the vibrant jazz/funk and indie communities, the "jam band" style was formed in Denver during the late nineties. Using methods common in sixties psychedelic groups and fusion artists like Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix, jam bands were composed of a group "jamming" for extended periods; as to which many genres were attributed. Local country music even entered the jam scene, allowing the music to go full-circle. In addition to the jam bands, stoner metal exploded in late nineties Denver as a response and as a complement to the jam scene. Using similar methods and popularized in trendy underground LoDo pubs, stoner metal was what many local hard rockers referred to as "the real product" of their endeavors. Legendary Desert rock acts such as Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and earthlings? frequently made numerous stops in Denver during the Palm Scene renaissance of the 1990s.
Punk
Punk rock has always been a favored genre in the local underground Denver music scene, with common hits into mainstream pop music. Since the international punk surge in the late seventies, the style had been common place in the diverse underground, but had not had enough of a boom to gain regional popularity. Mostly known by local college students who had opposition to the metal underground, punk started to gain momentum in the late nineties, while oppressed under the jam/stoner movement.
As the millennium dawned, so did the up rise of east and central Denver punk rock and math rock. Under the same scene, the two styles had labored under different schools in the metro area but found common ground in their late nineties oppression. While still somewhat alienated by the Denver mainstream today, local punk rock remains a staple in the genre's national scene, especially in respects to the metro area's reputation for lively hardcore concerts.
Warlock Pinchers and Phantasmorgasm will always rule suckas!
Southern Gothic
One of the largest and most influential scenes in Denver music during the 1990s and early 2000s was "Southern" or "Country" Gothic, a style of dark and brooding Americana comprising elements of folk, country, and Southern Gospel. The rise of this style in Denver can be attributed almost single-handedly to David Eugene Edwards and its band 16 Horsepower and the many projects of the former members, such as Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Woven Hand, The Denver Gentlemen, and Jay Munly & the Lee Lewis Harlots.
Americana
The unexpected emergence of evolved 'roots' music in the last few years has produced a multitude of truly exceptional Denver artists. Bands such as Oakhurst represent Denver Colorado internationally.
Classical
Denver has many performing ensembles dedicated to the Classical genre including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the state’s only full-time professional orchestra. Various community groups include the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Centennial Philharmonic), The Colorado Wind Ensemble, and The Denver Brass. The major youth ensembles are the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Honor Band.
Famous music venues in Denver
- Bluebird Theater
- Boettcher Concert Hall
- Coors Amphitheatre
- Denver Center for the Performing Arts
- Casselmans Bar and Venue
- Ellie Caulkins Opera House
- The Exodus (20th & Lincoln)
- The Family Dog (1601 W Evans Denver CO)
- Filmore Auditorium
- Freddy's (West Colfax)
- Gothic Theatre (Denver, Co)
- The Marquis Theatre
- Mercury Cafe
- Mr. Lucky's
- Ogden Theater
- Rainbow Music Hall
- Red Rocks Amphitheatre (located in the foothill region of Morrison, Colorado.)
- Rock Island (Defunct)