Music in Denver
Encyclopedia
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Detroit, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
or New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, it still manages to have a very active popular
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and classical music scene, which has nurtured many artists and genres to regional, national, and even international attention. Though nearby Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
has its own very distinct music scene, they are intertwined and often artists based there also play in Denver.
Folk music
As folk music gained popularity in the 1960s, a number of Denver's old folk clubs began to fill with then-unknown stars such as Judy CollinsJudy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
. Along with a population boom, the city gained much press for its rising music scene.
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
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
making names for themselves with songs inspired by the region. Denver himself was most famous for this.
Heavy metal
While mostly underground and still in existence today, Denver's metal scene has often been neglected by the press.By the eighties, Denver turned more toward 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.
In the latter 2000's, math metal, doom metal, and Powerviolence
Powerviolence
Powerviolence , is a raw and dissonant subgenre of hardcore punk. The style is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore.-History:...
flourished in the inner city's many DIY (as well as legal) venues.
Recent decades
With the 1980s came a new generation of music; grungeGrunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
, thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
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
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
.
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
Shock rock
Shock rock is an umbrella term for artists who combine rock music with elements of theatrical shock value in live performances.-History:Screamin' Jay Hawkins was arguably the first shock rocker...
and Industrial metal
Industrial metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and many different types of heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM.Industrial metal's...
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 indieIndie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
communities, the "jam band" style became prominent in Denver during the late nineties. Using methods common in sixties psychedelic groups and fusion artists such as Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and Jimi Hendrix, jam bands were composed of a group "jamming" for extended periods, to which many genres were attributed. Local country music even entered the jam scene. 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
LoDo
LoDo, Denver is the lower downtown area of Denver, Colorado, the oldest and original settlement of the city of Denver. It is a mixed-use historic district, known for its nightlife, and serves as an example of success in urban reinvestment and revitalization...
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
Kyuss
Kyuss is a rock band, originally from Palm Desert, California. After forming in the late 1980s and releasing an EP under the name Sons of Kyuss in 1990, the band shortened its name to Kyuss. Over the next five years the band released four full-length albums, and one last split EP in 1997 with...
, Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu (band)
Fu Manchu is a Southern Californian stoner rock band, who released their debut single "Kept Between Trees" in 1990. They have been featured on compilations put together by Tony Hawk and ESPN's X Games, and invited to perform on the US television program Monster Garage...
, and Earthlings?
Earthlings?
Earthlings? are a psychedelic rock band based in Joshua Tree, California. The band includes members from Queens of the Stone Age, Desert Sessions, Eagles of Death Metal, Kyuss, Masters of Reality, Goatsnake, The Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, Yellow#5, Legal Weapon, Sea Hags, Modifiers, Orquesta...
made frequent stops in Denver during the Palm Scene renaissance of the 1990s.
Punk
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
Math rock
Math rock is a rhythmically complex guitar-based style of experimental rock that emerged in the 1980s and that was very influenced by progressive rock like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage...
. 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
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
concerts.
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 AmericanaAmericana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
comprising elements of folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and southern gospel
Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
. The rise of this style in Denver can be attributed almost single-handedly to David Eugene Edwards
David Eugene Edwards
David Eugene Edwards is an American musician.He is the lead singer of Wovenhand, and also the main songwriter and the principal musician on the recordings of the band. He is the former lead singer of 16 Horsepower...
and his band 16 Horsepower
16 Horsepower
16 Horsepower was an American alternative country music group based in Denver, Colorado. Their music often invoked religious imagery dealing with conflict, redemption, punishment, and guilt through David Eugene Edwards's lyrics and the heavy use of traditional bluegrass, gospel, and Appalachian...
and the many projects of the former members, such as Slim Cessna's Auto Club
Slim Cessna's Auto Club
Slim Cessna's Auto Club is an alternative country-gothabilly band formed in 1992 in Denver, Colorado. The constant in the band has been Slim Cessna, formerly a member of The Denver Gentlemen along with David Eugene Edwards and Jeffery-Paul of 16 Horsepower. Jay Munly is also a key member of the...
, Woven Hand
Woven Hand
Wovenhand is a band from Denver, Colorado led by former 16 Horsepower lead singer David Eugene Edwards. Woven Hand's music combines elements of neofolk, alternative country, post-rock, punk, industrial music, folk rock, old-time music and native American music, among other influences.-History:The...
(also consisting of Edwards), and Jay Munly
Jay Munly
Jay Munly is a banjo player, guitarist, singer, and songwriter based in Denver, Colorado. He has played a significant role in the development of the "Denver Sound", music that mixes elements of country, Gothic, folk, and gospel...
& the Lee Lewis Harlots.
Classical
Denver has many performing ensembles dedicated to the Classical genre including the Colorado Symphony OrchestraColorado Symphony Orchestra
Colorado’s only full-time professional orchestra, the Colorado Symphony embraces a tradition of musical excellence by presenting a diverse array of symphonic performances throughout the year...
, 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
Denver Young Artists Orchestra
The Denver Young Artists Orchestra is one of the leading youth orchestras in the United States today. It was founded in 1977 by Betty Naster and Carl Topilow in Denver, Colorado. The orchestra maintains a close relationship with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Membership is by audition and is...
, the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Honor Band.
Well known music venues in Denver
- Boettcher Concert HallBoettcher Concert HallBoettcher Concert Hall, located in Denver, Colorado, was the first symphony hall in the round in the United States. Built in 1978, as a home for the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the hall is part of the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the second largest performing arts complex in the United States...
- Fiddler's Green
- Denver Center for the Performing ArtsDenver Center for the Performing ArtsThe Denver Center for the Performing Arts ' is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, a graduate-level training school for actors, acting classes for the community and rental...
- Ellie Caulkins Opera HouseEllie Caulkins Opera HouseThe Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which opened on September 10, 2005, is located in Denver, Colorado as part of the large Denver Performing Arts Complex. It seats 2,225...
- Filmore AuditoriumFillmore Auditorium (Denver, Colorado)The Fillmore Auditorium is a concert venue located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. Since opening in 1907, the venue has hosted numerous functions both private and public...
- Mercury CafeMercury CafeThe Mercury Cafe is a music, arts, and community venue in Denver Colorado. Its original location was in Indian Hills, and moved to Denver in the 1980s. The Pearl Street incarnation of the Mercury was legendary, mixing rock music, theater, and other arts in equal measure. In 1990 the Mercury moved...
- Ogden TheaterOgden TheaterThe Odgen Theater is a music venue and former movie theater in Denver, Colorado, United States. Located at 935 E. Colfax Avenue in the neighborhood of Capitol Hill, it was built in 1917 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.- History :...
- Red Rocks AmphitheatreRed Rocks AmphitheatreRed Rocks Amphitheatre is a rock structure near Morrison, Colorado, where concerts are given in the open-air amphitheatre. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical rock angled outwards from stage right, several large outcrops angled outwards from stage left and a...
(located in the foothill region of Morrison, ColoradoMorrison, ColoradoThe historic Town of Morrison is a Home Rule Municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 430 at the 2000 census...
.)
Rhinoceropolis (Five Points Neighborhood)