April 24, 2019
Image from HHM Collections
The Minneapolis Sound was an innovative musical style pioneered by Prince and born out of the city that he loved. Through ingenuity and experimentation Prince created unique music that utilized cutting edge technology. The style can trace its roots to the late seventies, when Prince was beginning his professional career, though it first came to fruition in his third studio album, Dirty Mind. This album combined elements of R&B, funk, rock, and pop in a radical way. It also introduced to the nation to the Minneapolis Sound, which would remain popular throughout the eighties. The key identifying characteristics of the style relied on new technologies; horn sections were replaced with synthesizers and drummers were replaced with drum machines. The result was a hybrid of electro-funk and New Wave music. This new sound drew together different audiences. Prince’s concerts brought together R&B fans that were typically black, and rock fans that were typically white, breaking down the boundaries that segregated musical audiences. By the time Prince released his sixth studio album, Purple Rain, Prince had ingrained the Minneapolis Sound into the national consciousness and energized the local music scene. Many of Prince’s friends, bandmates, and associates would also achieve success. In 1981, Prince assembled a group these musicians into a band called The Time, which included Morris Day as lead singer, Jimmy Jam on keyboards, and Terry Lewis on bass guitar. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis would go on to attain even greater success as the songwriting and production duo that worked with Janet Jackson, after which they would go on to produce an enormous body of work and win five Grammy Awards.
Written by Alyssa Thiede
Sources:
Bream, Jon. “Isolation, Experimentation Led to pop’s ‘Minneapolis Sound’,” Star Tribune, May 7, 1989. Star Tribune Archive.
Ohmes, Jeremy. “The Minneapolis Sound,” PopMatters.com. https://www.popmatters.com/94060-the-minneapolis-sound-2496026723.html
Riemenschneider, Chris. “The Sound of Genius,” Star Tribune, May 1, 2016. Star Tribune Archive.
This publication was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.
