Bands from your backyard

A dive into some of the punk, reggae, rap, and rock from Maryland.

Maryland – home of blue crabs, Baltimore, and Old Bay. Those are the usual associations with the Old-Line State. However, it’s also the birthplace of a slew of legendary and unsung musicians, from Frank Zappa to Good Charlotte and Logic, to name a few of the artists from the state where the U.S. National Anthem was written.

Before the Civil War, Baltimore was home to 1/5 of all free black people in America. This allowed black music in the city to thrive early on and eventually develop into jazz. Black jazz musicians from Baltimore include Eubie Baker, Chick Webb, and Billie Holiday. In Baltimore, the area where most jazz musicians tended to hang out and play was an area called The Block, which lies between Gay and Calvert streets and was famous for its brothels and adult entertainment. Pennsylvania Avenue was another area known for its jazz, especially the club called The Ritz.

Skipping a few more of the jazz artists, now it’s time to move on to pre-1980 Baltimore rock. Ric Ocasek, progressive rock legend Frank Zappa, and both Case Elliot and Adam Duritz from The Mamas and The Papas. All of whom hail from Charm City.

Ric Ocasek, founding member of The Cars, who recently passed away on September 15, 2019, in Manhattan, was born in Baltimore City on March 23, 1944. The Cars formed in 1976 and had their final tour in 2011, which happened to be a world tour. To those of you who don’t know them by name, they made “Just What I Needed,” which most will recognize as a song that is played to accompany either road-law violations or uncomfortable gatherings.

Frank Vincent Zappa, his real name, of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, whom I have spent far too much time listening to, is a divine/tobacco-stained guitarist born in Baltimore on December 21, 1940. After amassing a cult-like fanbase, running a memorable anti-drug campaign, smoking more cigarettes than a depressed Parisian, and releasing 126 total albums consisting of 62 while he was alive and 64 posthumous albums released before his death on December 4, 1993, in LA.

Case Elliot and Adam Duritz are Marylanders who played in the 60s band The Mammas & the Papas. For those of you who don’t even know them, I am extremely disappointed. Their most famous song is “California Dreaming,” which doesn’t deserve an explanation but deserves to be listened to and enjoyed. The band broke up in 1968 after only a three-year run, which began in 1965 in Southern California.

Moving on to the 1980s to the present:

In 1981, Kix released their debut self-titled album. Coming out of Hagerstown, Maryland, this glam rock band blew up around the Baltimore area, and they deemed themselves the most entertaining cover band in Maryland. After the success of their first album, they started touring all over America and still tour to this day.

One of the biggest bands to come out of Maryland is Good Charlotte. Coming out of Waldorf, Maryland, they released their first album, The Young and the Hopeless, in 2002. Their debut album featured their biggest hit, “The Anthem,” which may have been the Anthem for teens and young adults nationwide. This Maryland-based band has two MTV music awards (one American, one Australian), and sold over 4.9 million copies of The Young and the Hopeless which launched them into mainstream popularity.

Ballyhoo! is a rock/reggae band from Aberdeen, Maryland. Although not as popular as some of the previously mentioned bands, Ballyhoo! has a great Maryland following and does tour around the states. Ballyhoo! is a local band’s dream, playing 166 shows in 2012, including the warped tour. They have opened for bands such as 311, Slightly Stoopid, and Dirty Heads.

Most people under 26 think of Logic when thinking about musicians from Maryland. Logic is from Gaithersburg, Maryland, and released his first album, Under Pressure in 2014, reaching the top 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200. Logic loves sending love to Maryland and even named his eighth album College Park, which is dedicated to the area in which he started writing songs. This Maryland native has one Teen Choice award, two iHeartRadio Music Awards, one Hollywood Music in Media Award, three MTV Video Music Awards, and two iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards.

Maryland is the home and birthplace of so many talented artists and musicians, so why not take some time to listen to them and appreciate those who hail from the land of Old Bay and Natty Boh?