Dear listeners,
On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she had chosen a running mate: Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota. The news cast a spotlight not only on Walz, but on Minnesota’s culture — and in particular its rich, varied musical history.
Walz is an avowed music fan himself, with a special appreciation for local record stores and artists who hail from the state. My colleague Marc Tracy delves into this side of Walz in a piece published this morning, in which he suggests that the Gen X governor’s fandom of Twin Cities indie-rock legends like the Replacements and Hüsker Dü has “signaled a changing of the generational guard.” Adds Michael Azerrad, author of the ’80s rock tome “Our Band Could Be Your Life,” “It makes sense that our post-Boomer politicians would be into indie rock.”
But Minnesota, of course, is more than just a hotbed of corrosive underground rock. It’s also the birthplace of two of the greatest American musicians of the last century (Duluth’s Bob Dylan and Minneapolis’s Prince), home to a lively hip-hop scene that produced a recent superstar (the Detroit expat Lizzo), and the locus of the wildly influential “Minneapolis sound” (practiced by groups like the Time) that reverberated throughout ’80s pop and funk.
Today’s playlist is a celebration of the many sounds of Minnesota, and it features all the aforementioned artists plus the heartland revivalists the Hold Steady, the grunge hell-raisers Babes in Toyland and the alt-country mainstays the Jayhawks. To quote Prince — in whose honor Walz renamed a stretch of Minnesota highway last year — “Rock ’n’ roll is alive! (And it lives in Minneapolis).”
Sure as the Land of a Thousand Lakes is sometimes made of snow,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. The Replacements: “Left of the Dial (Ed Stasium Mix)”
We begin, naturally, with an album called “Tim.” Loyal Amplifier readers will recall that last October I put together a playlist in honor of a radically remixed reissue of the Minnesota rockers the Replacements’ infamously muffled 1985 album, and it seems that I was not the only one excited about that release. For his story, Marc spoke with the former congressman Beto O’Rourke, who said he bonded with Walz over music when they were both serving on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. When the long-awaited “Let It Bleed Edition” of “Tim” came out last year, O’Rourke sent his friend Walz a copy of the vinyl boxed set. I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I am dying to know the vice-presidential candidate’s thoughts on the Ed Stasium mix.
2. Bob Dylan: “Highway 61 Revisited”
Born in Duluth and later a resident of Hibbing, Dylan has scattered references to his home state throughout his vast discography. (See, for one famous example: “Girl From the North Country.”) Fittingly, the 1,400-mile route after which he named one of his greatest albums begins in Minnesota and stretches all the way down to Louisiana.
3. Lizzo: “Truth Hurts”
First released in 2017, Lizzo’s breakout hit includes a sassy reference to her adopted home state: “New man on the Minnesota Vikings.” (Or, as she once put it while sitting courtside at the Target Center in Minneapolis, “New man on the Minnesota Timberwolves.” She’s leaving her options open.)
4. Prince: “Rock ’N’ Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives in Minneapolis)”
The Purple One represents his city on this funky, upbeat 1995 B-side: “Even the president flies in to watch the thing called fame,” he sings. “Red, white and blue boy girls, tonight everyone’s the same.”
5. Janet Jackson: “Escapade”
One of my favorite moments on the great, sprawling “Rhythm Nation 1814” — recorded entirely at Flyte Tyme Studios in Minnesota — comes on the bridge of this 1990 hit, when an exuberant Janet Jackson calls out of nowhere, “Minneapolis!” It might sound like a non sequitur to the uninitiated, but real ones know that she was shouting out her producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, both important architects of the Minneapolis sound.
6. The Time: “Jungle Love”
Jam and Lewis both got their start in the Minneapolis funk group the Time, led by the charismatic Morris Day. Friendly rivals of Prince’s backing band the Revolution, the Time has two scene-stealing performances in the 1984 film “Purple Rain,” including its rendition of this lively classic.
7. The Hold Steady: “Stuck Between Stations”
Though the anthemic indie-rock band the Hold Steady formed in Brooklyn, its frontman and principal songwriter, Craig Finn, proudly hails from Minneapolis and often nods to his home state in his highly referential lyrics. “These Twin City kisses, they sound like clicks and hisses,” he sings on this standout from the 2006 album “Boys and Girls in America.”
8. The Jayhawks: “Blue”
Formed in Minneapolis in 1984 and still going strong, the long-running alt-country group the Jayhawks is one of the state’s unsung, if-you-know-you-know local heroes. This cracked, twangy tune comes from the band’s 1995 album “Tomorrow the Green Grass.”
9. Babes in Toyland: “Sweet ’69”
A rare all-female grunge group, Minneapolis’s Babes in Toyland brought a dash of riot grrrl attitude to its muscular, hard-rocking sound. The cowbell-heavy “Sweet ’69” is a snapshot of the band at its commercial peak, a minor 1995 alt-rock hit from the final Babes album “Nemesisters.”
10. Hüsker Dü: “New Day Rising”
Just as Minnesota has its twin cities, in the mid-80s it also had a pair of dueling underground rock groups: the shambolic Replacements and the heavier, more pummeling Hüsker Dü. Ever the politician, Walz does not seem to have taken a side in this rivalry, but his ticket seems to have earned that critical Bob Mould endorsement.
The Amplifier Playlist
“A Musical Tour of Tim Walz’s Minnesota” track list
Track 1: The Replacements, “Left of the Dial (Ed Stasium Mix)”
Track 2: Bob Dylan, “Highway 61 Revisited”
Track 3: Lizzo, “Truth Hurts”
Track 4: Prince, “Rock ’N’ Roll Is Alive! (And It Lives in Minneapolis)”
Track 5: Janet Jackson, “Escapade”
Track 6: The Time, “Jungle Love”
Track 7: The Hold Steady, “Stuck Between Stations”
Track 8: The Jayhawks, “Blue”
Track 9: Babes in Toyland, “Sweet ’69”
Track 10: Hüsker Dü, “New Day Rising”
Bonus Tracks
Thanks for all the feedback on Tuesday’s newsletter about great guitar cues. A few additional tracks suggested by readers: the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” (“Do it, Robby, do it!”), Janelle Monáe’s “Cold War” (“Kellindoooooo!”) and Captain Beefheart’s “Big Eyed Beans From Venus” (“Mr. Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long, lunar note and let it float”). Today’s Minnesota playlist even has a great cue: Morris Day, in the Time’s “Jungle Love,” commanding the guitarist Jesse Johnson, “Jesse, gimme one of them sexy solos right here. Break it down!”
Also, in today’s Friday Playlist, we’ve got just-released tracks from Latto, Shawn Mendes, the Smile and more. Listen here.
The post A Musical Tour of Tim Walz’s Minnesota appeared first on New York Times.
