The Minneapolis sound is a subgenre of

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer sta ...

with elements of new wave and

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

, that was pioneered by

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

-based musician

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

in the late 1970s. Its popularity was given a boost throughout the 1980s thanks to Prince and groups he organized or produced, including the Time,

Vanity 6 Vanity 6 was a short lived American female vocal trio that gained popularity in the early 1980s. They were protégés of musician Prince (musician), Prince. Led by singer Vanity (singer), Vanity, they are known for their song "Nasty Girl (Vanity ...

Apollonia 6 Apollonia 6 was a 1980s American female singing trio. Origin Apollonia 6 was created by recording artist Prince, who had also created the group Vanity 6 one year prior in 1982, but the groups did not exist simultaneously. After a number of disp ...

Sheila E. Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957) better known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American percussionist and singer. She began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving t ...

, the Family, and the offshoots from his band the Revolution,

Wendy & Lisa Wendy & Lisa (briefly known as Girl Bros.) are a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band the Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasin ...

and

Brownmark Mark Brown (born March 8, 1962), better known by the stage name Brown Mark, also styled Brownmark and BrownMark, is an American musician, bassist and record producer. Life and career Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, Brown's early ...

. After leaving the Time,

Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/ pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most ...

Morris Day Morris E. Day (born December 13, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time. Music career Morris Day is best known as the lead singer of The Time, a group associated with Prince. Day and Pri ...

, and Jesse Johnson all moved on to successful careers. Minneapolis acts not directly associated with Prince also utilized this musical style, including

Ta Mara & the Seen Ta Mara and the Seen was an American R&B group based in Minneapolis. They were signed by A&M Records to capitalize on the mid-1980s chart success of the "Minneapolis sound", which included acts such as Prince, Vanity 6, Sheila E., and the Time. ...

Mazarati Mazarati was an American R&B, rock and funk band, formed in the mid-1980s and was active until 1989. The band was seven pieces and included the former Prince and The Revolution bassist Brownmark. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, they beca ...

, the Jets. According to the ''

Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'', "the Minneapolis sound... loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno."Prince: Biography : Rolling Stone
/ref> Those inspired by the style were not necessarily from Minneapolis, despite the subgenre's origins. Some artists who came from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

were influenced by Prince's work. Others came from other parts of the United States, such as

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

's Ready for the World.

Identifying characteristics

While the "Minneapolis sound" is a form of funk, it has some distinguishing characteristics: *

Synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s generally replaces

horn section A horn section is a group of musicians playing horns. In an orchestra or concert band, it refers to the musicians who play the "French" horn, and in a British-style brass band it is the tenor horn players. In many popular music genres, the te ...

s of

trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

and

saxophones The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

, and are used more as accent than as fill or background. * The rhythm is often faster and less

syncopated In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...

than traditional funk, and owes much to

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...

. * Guitars, while usually playing "clean" for

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

parts, are frequently much louder and more aggressively processed during solos than in most traditional funk. * The "bottom" of the sound is less bass-heavy than traditional funk; drums and keyboards fill more of the "bottom". * The

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s are more highly processed than in traditional funk, and on recordings are often replaced with a drum machine.

Sources

* *

References

External links

* Rashad Shabazz
''How Minneapolis made Prince''
The Conversation, January 27, 2020. {{new wave and post-punk Prince (musician) Culture of Minneapolis Funk rock

Identifying characteristics

See also

Sources

References

External links