Delaware
Spinto Band
All-Time Best Band: Television
All-Time Best Solo Artist: George Thorogood
Best New Band: The Spinto Band
While it was one of the earliest (and most admired) 1970s New York punk bands, neo-guitar heroes Television first plugged in farther south, in Delaware, where founders Tom Verlaine (who was also raised in the First State) and Richard Hell met at Sanford Academy in the town of Hockessin. | Even given its tiny square mileage, it wouldn’t be easy to destroy Delaware. Still, retro-blues shredder George Thorogood and his band of Delaware Destroyers gave it their best shot. | The beaches near Wilmington hardly compare favorably with Southern California’s, but the Spinto Band has apparently taken their hometown’s proximity to the ocean as a sign, putting their own loopy, spirited spin on the Beach Boys’ polished pop. The handclap-happy sextet also has reliably amusing videos, including, among others, a parodic porno take for “Summer Grof.”
Video: Television
Video: George Thorogood
Listen: Television, "See No Evil"
Listen: George Thorogood, "Bad to the Bone"
Listen: The Spinto Band, "Oh Mandy"
