Representing the Rock

In the Bay Area it is difficult to step up and pursue your passions completely. With all of the differing influences conspiring against you, it is easy to become distracted. For individuals who desire loud and powerful music, you have to break out and embark on a search for your sound. The strong Hip Hop influence the Bay Area can leave passionate rockers out in the cold. True rock affectionatos know that when the beat is driving and the singer is wailing they need to embrace the primal urge to rock out. While music fans enjoy the easy-going and predictable beats produced in Hip Hop; rockers want to be inspired.

Much of the Bay Area music culture is focused on representing their hometown fan base. Whether the artists are from Oakland, San Francisco, South City, or Vallejo; it is all about making a name for their "hood".
People representing their hometown and proclaim so, can lose sight of the fact that this is one San Francisco and one world. No matter where you are from you are still human and in most cases enjoy listening and engaging in music.
There are all kinds of different sounds from different people in a variety of neighborhoods any city. The popularity of certain musical styles can be pervasive enough to create a certain sound in a city. An example would be the "memphis sound".
In some cases the music can be so defining that it influences not only the airwaves but even clothing. For example, Seattle is known for having a huge grunge rock scene. Not only is the music grunge, but the style of clothing is defined with the music. As a result, all of the hip hop artists from Seattle are marginalized because Seattle is known for grunge not hip hop. Since the Seattle music scene has been branded as grunge it has just made it difficult for hip hop artists from Seattle to gain national recognition and success.
I pose the idea that one band or type of music should never define a city or the city’s style. When San Francisco bands play in other cities around the United States they usually will mention to the crowd that their band is from San Francisco. The crowd in attendance will subconciously measure the quality of the live band from San Francisco as a means to judge the kind of music coming out of San Francisco as a whole.
I believe this representative controversy is a two-way street. Artists should define themselves by a style which makes their individual sound stand out. Fans need to realize that all kinds of different music coming from one area is possible. Music patrons should support a band or artist because their music is good not because a scene says they are popular. If a city had only one particular type of music available, that would be a boring city.
In the spirit of defining individual music style, the next show for Tatanka Iyotake goes Tatanka Iyotake will be playing in Oakland on Saturday April 12th with the Fucking Buckaroos in a warehouse at 2999 Peralta Avenue. The show rocks hard.