Regional Music Differences?

[David_D]

There was a recent thread on R.A.D. that discussed the music at SwingDiego. During the course of the conversation, someone mentioned that the west coast tended to play a lot more pop music than the east coast. Since I haven't danced much WCS at all when I've traveled, this got me wondering.

My impression has been that west coast favors pop, south favors blues, and east coast depends on the dance, but that's not based on much personal experience. I've no impression about what the rest of the country does. Are there major regional differences in musical preferences for WCS?

Dave

[kekka]

I know that when I moved from the east coast to the west coast, I liked the music a lot more, (and I do sort of lean toward more pop), and then when I moved back to the east coast, I noticed that I like maybe 60-70% of the music, but feel sort of blah about the rest of it. I wouldn't say that it is becasue of the blues, I like blues, but within the genre of blues there seems to be some songs which are boring and predicatable... but I guess that could apply to any type of music (depending on who you ask). So yes... I did notice a difference.

[whipkitten]

I just recently started traveling (i'm from Texas) and I have noticed a difference as described above. I'd take it a step further and say that there seems to be more hip hop influence on the west coast as well. Texas definitely seems to lean more towards the blues but lately, there's been an influx of R&B music as well.

[catlap]

Here in the Northwest (Seattle Swing Dance Club) we recently did a survey among club members regarding music likes and dislikes. The majority preferred "slow blues" and "rhythm & blues" with "contemporary" coming in third. "Hip Hop" came in dead last.

[Ruthie]

In St. Louis, We are in our WCS infancy. We like it all. Our town started as an Imperial Dance town and is evolving into a WCS town. We can dance every night of the week to something. If you don't like Rythm and blues Tuesday wait for heavy blues on Wednesday. You want a diverse mix of pop and blues and to dance to WCS rythm all night, check out Fridays at the Gazebo room with the Rebels. Because we are in the middle of everyone we cater to the sultry blues but yet can handle the top 40. We tend to go for music with energy be it 95bpm or 120bpm. The fun of travel is the diversity of the regions. Life would be boring if all the music was the same.Tongue Out

[Dima]

Last time I was in St. Louis, I went to a blues bar right by the Cardinals stadium. Don't remember what it was called, but it was a lot of fun!

D

[Ruthie]

I'm sure you went to BB Blues Jazz and Soups. Cool place. Check out Meet Me In St Louis this September.

[David_D]

A belated thank-you to everyone!