Nominate the world's great rock and roll cities here.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

For the sake of Northwest's poor LA-tortured sanity.
In no particular order, here's an initial 10 from me.

Manchester, England
Glasgow, Scotland
New York, NY
Cleveland, OH
Boston, MA
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
San Francisco, CA
Dunedin, NZ
Detroit, MI
Brisbane, Australia
Dublin, Ireland

(truly great rock n' roll can't count)
;)

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. Akron gave us...

...Chrissy Hynde, Devo, the Bizarros, the Rubber City Rebels, Rachel Sweet -- on a per capita basis, it's at least Cleveland's equal. ;)

Oh, and don't discout L.A. Any city that could give the world Love is okay by me.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

4. LA gave birth to Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson and the Paisley Underground.

Along with Jellyfish, and the whole So Cal punk thing. Not to mention the Doors, and all those other bands I forget.

How about Dayton?

[Magrittes Pipe]

6. Dayton is poo.

I mean, really.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

8. But...but...Dayton saved the Balkans! (or something)

[Magrittes Pipe]

But the "Dayton accords" were actually reached in Fairborn.

You know, at Wright-Patterson AFB.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

14. Ah! The renowned Fairborn (Wright-Patterson) Accords!

[Magrittes Pipe]

13. Damn dupe shit!

:grr:

[MercutioATC]

18. Does Akron get to be its own city for a question like this?

I'd consider it part of the Cleveland Metro area.

[Bowline]

2. You appear to have neglected Liverpool.

From a strictly historical perspective the Beatles are, arguably, the most influential rock band in history.

[Magrittes Pipe]

5. Yes, but Gerry and the Pacemakers evened the scale.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

9. Anyway, Liverpool is really famous for.....

(see photo)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

7. In which case, I should be shot for neglecting Memphis.

It's only an initial 11, after all.

[Maddy McCall]

3. Athens, GA

[EstimatedProphet]

10. Second that

The B52s and REM, among others...

[NashVegas]

11. "Seconding" Boston

For every famous Boston band, there're 3-5 that blister, but get so much support at home they never venture out.

[phillybri]

12. Philadephia, PA

:kick:

[vi5]

15. True...Hall and Oates, Will Smith.....

I love the city of Philly, but exporting great rock bands is not one of its finer points.

[regularguy]

28. Don't forget the Hooters!

I agree that Philly isn't one of the great rock and roll cities, but I would argue that it's one of the great music cities in general, especially when it comes to Jazz, RB, and classical music.

[Radical Activist]

16. Hello! McFly! Memphis Tennessee!

Where it all started! The Sun Records Studio. Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison. Ike Turner recorded what some people call the first Rock song in Memphis. This is where country and blues came together and created Rock. All claims of other cities pale in comparison!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

17. Hey! Post #7. I already mentioned it.

Like I say, I'm just mentioning 10 to start. I make no claims of definitiveness.

[iconoclastic cat]

19. Chicago, for f's sake.

How could you miss that one? Sheesh.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

20. FOR GOD'S SAKE, IT'S JUST AN INITIAL BUNCH!!!!!!!

(there, that felt better) :hi:

[iconoclastic cat]

25. This is an egregious miscarriagement of percipitude!

[XNASA]

21. Swindon

[Screaming Lord Byron]

22. For more than one band?

How far is Swindon from Bristol, anyway? If you can amalgamate the two, then you have something.

[XNASA]

23. On the strength of 'that' band alone........

Swindon should be on the list.

Same goes for Oxford....

[Screaming Lord Byron]

26. More than one great band from Oxford.

Supergrass are pretty good too.

[chenGOD]

24. Nice initial list....

I'd add on:
Vancouver
London (obvious of me I know)

and uhhhh

I don't think anyone's mentioned Liverpool yet... ;)

[GumboYaYa]

27. Major omission, New Orleans....

Backbeat was invented in New Orleans. Without Congo Square there never would have been rock n' roll. The first ever rock n' roll band came out of Cossimo's studio on Frenchman in the Quarter. Dave Bartholomew, a main architect of the New Orleans sound has as many rock n' roll hits that he has written or produced as anyone in the business.

That is all without even getting into the influence that New Orleans jazz and blues had on rock.