A Music Lover’s Guide to Minneapolis

If you’re a music fan, you probably know at least a little something about the musical history of Minneapolis. (After all, there is an entire subgenre referred to as the Minneapolis Sound.) Aside from serving as the birthplace and homebase of musical GOAT Prince during his lifetime, Minneapolis and its sister city St. Paul have proved to be a fertile breeding ground for many renowned acts: The Replacements, Jam & Lewis, Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum, The Time, Semisonic, The Jayhawks, Atmosphere, Heiruspecs, Babes in Toyland and more. Go a little further north, and you hit Hibbing, MN, the birthplace of Bob Dylan, who basically changed culture in the ‘60s with his political, hyperliterate folk-rock. More recently, Minneapolis is where Lizzo began to make a name for herself before conquering the charts.

But if you’re visiting – or hell, even if you live there – it might be hard to know what to do as a music lover. Concert venues, record stores, landmarks and museums, festivals – there’s a lot going on, and it’s not always easy to figure out what’s worth your time. Here, we’ve put together a guide for music lovers in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul). It’s by no means definitive, but as someone born and raised there, there are hopefully enough decent recommendations to keep music fans happy and occupied in the North Star State.

If you’re a physical music collector, whether CDs, vinyl or cassettes, you should check out Billboard’s guide to the best record stores in Minneapolis and St. Paul. There’s info about legendary Twin Cities record stores below, but the most detailed breakdowns of each store can be found there.

Grab a Jucy Lucy and let’s dig in.