What are your favorite musical acts from Massachusetts?

me?

1 - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
2 - James Taylor
3 - Aerosmith
4 - Staind
5 - The Pixies

Others with some songs I really like: Boston, Piebald, J. Geils Band, Dropkick Murphy's

Dropkick Murphys
Blood for Blood
Tribe
Big Catholic Guilt

And the hundreds of "indy's" who can be found in the clubs, pubs and streets of Cambridge and Sommerville.

When I worked at Papa Gino's in my hometown one of the guys in that band would come in for lunch all the time.

They don't have PG's down here in MD :-(, so it's been over 10 years since I've had it. However I'll be returning to MA in a few months so I'll be able to have it once again. :thumbsup:

Salamander Crossing (no longer together)

..is a road warrior. Take a look at her gig schedule.

I am going to showing my age here but here goes.

The Stompers.
The Fools
Til Tuesday
Jennifer Trynin
John Butcher Axis ( I liked their early stuff)
Mighty Mighty Bosstones(a coworker used to play them all the time, they grew on me)
Aerosmith
Boston
Extreme (Nuno Bettencourt's band, broke up just as they hit big-time)
James Taylor
The Numbers-a local band that could have gone to the big show. I was friends with the lead guitarist. Band members disagreed on the bands future direction and they broke up.

I am going to make a mention of Orion the Hunter, I think they did one album , had one song that had some radio play. They were headed by Gary Gedreau, formerly a guitarist in Boston (the band). Never heard from them again. The music was 80s hard rock/metal style, that in itself probably doomed them.

There were a bunch of others that were good. I remember a few that were getting national attention but then broke up just when success had found them. Too bad.

I think I saw mention of a Fool's gig recently, and Jon Butcher is in California and still making music, though I don't know what kind. He's an excellent guitarist. I also loved all of Rick Berlin's bands throughout the years. There used to be so many good bands around Boston. Though I never heard Orion the Hunter, I remember the name; I might have even known somebody who was in the band, but I'm not certain.

They had only one song that had a fair amount of radio play in Boston and some other New England stations. The song was called "So You Ran". I tend to doubt the name was heard in any other parts of the country.
I even think they had a video! If you had cable TV in the mid to late eighties there was a local Boston area equivalent to MTV. Can't remember what it was called. I sort of remember seeing it once or twice. Gives you an idea what kind of useless stuff is stored up this head of mine.

The Pixies
Mission of Burma
The Lyres
SS Decontrol
The Neats
The Neighborhoods
The Dogmatics
The Flies
Boys Life
The Outlets
Human Sexual Response
The Zulus

I was lucky enough to have an older sister to bring me to gigs, and it was also a time where Boston's alternative scene was blooming. VFWs, art galleries, and other spaces would host all ages shows, and I saw bands like Mission of Burma, X, and Minor Threat when I was 11-13 years old.

Alas about Morphine, but I've seen Twinemen a few times and they are great -- vibe is mostly the same and the lead singer, well, she rocks.

OK, I am laughing as I type the New Kids. Only kidding on them.

The Cars!

Don't get out much these days - but years ago my favorite locals were

Luna
Human Sexual Response

Rick Berlin from Luna and formerly Orchestra Luna (and one who helped launch Extreme) is still around - I just ran into him - by accident - at the Harvard Eppworth Church a couple of weeks ago...and he's got a new album - one tune played on WUMB.

Now I like to see

Chris Smither
Paddy Keenan (Irish Uileann pipe player, formerly of Bothy Band - plays places like the Burren in Somerville)
Chandler Travis Orchestra - (he's fantastic throwback to the old NRBQ days - gee I remember Jonathan Swifts in Harvard Square....wow..dems were da days.)

also enjoyed Four Piece Suit sets at the Lizard Lounge - are they still around? Good spy music.
and Neon Grandma with the awesome poet Adam O when they were around (sprung from Naked City Coffeehouse.)

I went to a "Humans" party back in the eighties and THAT was pretty wild. Seth Justman of the J. Geils band used to live across the street from me when I was in high school :-).

Recommended rock n roll movie: Roadside Prophets with John Doe (remember from LA's X? they went on tour as the Knitters last year and played a great show at the Paradise! I loooove the Knitters!) I just don't know what the cool bands are anymore :-( so I rely on my old favorites and hope for the best word of mouth.

Morphed out of Mission of Burma, first as a side project for Roger Miller to keep his piano chops up, then it became his full time thing when Burma's volume level seriously compromised his ears. Miller is no longer in the band, but he still composes for them occasionally.

Nowadays they consist of: Erik Lindgren, piano (actually a Kurzweil electronic instrument that can also play samples of other things); Rick Scott, synthesizer; Michael Bierylo, guitar; and Ken Field, saxes, flute and synth. Note lack of drummer-- they perform with drum and percussion parts programmed into a computer, and they also have percussion implements within easy reach. As you might guess from their instrumentation, they don't act much like a rock band-- all their music is written out, and it derives from sources as diverse as big band jazz, Soho minimalism, Senegalese Afro-pop and surf music. You can get some of the flavor of their diversity from the cover versions they've done in their career: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (abridged), Terry Riley's "In C," Eno's "Sombre Reptiles," Brian Wilson's "Our Prayer," Mancini's "Peter Gunn," and the theme music to "Rocky and Bullwinkle" and "The Simpsons."

They're from Boston/Roxbury. How come they don't get any respect?