Minneapolis sound

The Minneapolis sound is a subgenre of funk rock that incorporates elements of new wave and synth-pop. Started at Studio 80 with tracks like Funkytown by Lipps, Inc and pioneered by Minneapolis-based musician Prince beginning in the late 1970s, the musical style's heyday extended through the late 1980s. The style was often heard at city clubs like First Avenue and was exemplified by Prince-affiliated acts, including the Time, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Sheila E., the Family, Wendy & Lisa, Brownmark, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Morris Day, and Jesse Johnson. and by acts neither affiliated with Prince nor native to Minneapolis, such as Flint, Michigan's Ready for the World.

Minneapolis Sound
Morris Day and The Time performing in 2024
Stylistic origins	Funk rock new wave synth-pop R&B
Cultural origins	Late 1970s, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Derivative forms	Dance-pop
Other topics
Prince

According to the Rolling Stone Album Guide, "the Minneapolis sound... loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno."

Identifying characteristics

While the Minneapolis sound incorporates many of funk's quintessential elements, it bears several distinguishing characteristics:

• Synthesizers generally replace horn sections of trumpets and saxophones, and are used more as accent than as fill or background.
• The rhythm is often faster and generally less syncopated than traditional funk, owing much to new wave music. At the same time, dominant rhythm lines are often accented with repeating percussive fills at fixed intervals, often courtesy a Linn or other drum machine.
• Lead guitar is frequently much louder and more aggressively processed during solos than in most traditional funk, while a wah-wah effect is heavily relied upon for rhythm guitar accompaniments.
• Compositions often incorporate orchestral string arrangements, adding a symphonic pathos.
• The "bottom" of the sound is less bass-heavy than traditional funk; drums and keyboards fill more of the "bottom".

See also

• Twin Cities hip hop
• Music of Minnesota

Sources

• Henderson, Alex. "The Minneapolis Sound". Allmusic. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011.
• Ohmes, Jeremy (June 4, 2009). "The Minneapolis Sound". PopMatters.

External links

• Rashad Shabazz, How Minneapolis made Prince. The Conversation, January 27, 2020.