Music of Washington

The U.S. state of Washington has been home to many popular musicians and several major hotbeds of musical innovation throughout its history. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is best known for being the birthplace of grunge, a type of rock and roll, during the mid-1980s, as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip-hop. Nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also been centers of influence on popular music.

Among the world-famous musicians to call Washington home, Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma in 1903 and raised in Spokane, and had a #1 hit in the U.S. in 1942 with "White Christmas"; Jimi Hendrix, one of classic rock's most enduring guitar legends, was born in Seattle; and folk rock singer/songwriter Kenny Loggins, who had a #1 Hot 100 hit with "Footloose" in 1984, is from Everett, Washington.

In the mid-1950s, the Washington rock scene was kick-started by a Seattle group, The Frantics, led by guitarist Ron Peterson. The Frantics were the first rock group from Seattle to have songs in the national Top 40 charts. Later, several garage bands achieved regional and some national fame. Perhaps the most famous of these are The Wailers, whose regional fame was paramount for several years in the early 1960s. They are often considered the fathers of Seattle's rock scene. Their version of Richard Berry's "Louie, Louie" became the region's unofficial anthem.

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