Longmont has spoken: more metal, punk, rock, EDM, and hip-hop please!

The results of a result music poll by Luna Wolf of Lunar Lux Entertainment clearly show that respondents want more metal, punk, and alternative rock. Image courtesy of Luna Wolf.

If you don't dig deeper than who's playing the local breweries (a critical part of our music scene, by the way), you might get the impression that all people in Longmont want to hear is acoustic singer-songwriters, bluegrass, and jam bands. But a recent poll suggests a very different story.

Luna Wolf, whose production company Lunar Lux Entertainment has produced everything from multi-day music festivals to pop-up punk shows to dubstep nights here in our city, recently conducted a poll of folks on a Longmont Facebook group, the Longmont subreddit, and her own email list, asking what kinds of music and events people wanted more of. Fully 184 people responded, and the results might surprise you (well, not you, because you're a savvy reader of Front Row LoCo, of course!).

The top vote-getting genres and event types were, in order:

• Metal (52.7%)

• Punk/hardcore (51.6%)

• Alternative rock (41.3%)

Just below those top three were EDM (that's electronic dance music, in case you're not immersed in the jargon, at 31%) and rap/hip-hop (27.7%).

Bluegrass just barely made the top 10, with 2.2% of voters asking for it. Tribute bands weren't mentioned at all.

We here at Front Row LoCo take music pretty seriously, and we must fully acknowledge that this is neither scientifically nor statistically sound. First, 184 respondents is not sufficient to represent Longmont with any kind of confidence. And second, there's likely bias in who might've seen Wolf's poll.

Third, this doesn't mean that people don't want singer-songwriters, bluegrass, or many of the kinds of music currently being offered in large quantities. It just means that the folks responding want more of other kinds of music.

This poll is not the last word on what live music should be happening in Longmont. In addition to those top five genres, we should probably have even more live jazz, more noise and experimental music, and more crazy, uncategorizable, inventive styles that just can't show up in a poll.

And yet, there's something worth taking note of here, especially for venue owners who might've been operating on assumptions about what the people want. The people of Longmont have broader, more diverse, and more cosmopolitan tastes than perhaps they're given credit for. Heck, one person even wants to see more "Whatever Doom Gong is."

But here's the question that this poll brings up for those of us in the front row: Who is going to take the challenge to their hearts?

Lunar Lux Entertainment is already doing a ton of the heavy lifting (you'll see metal, EDM, and punk/hardcore among their upcoming events). Bricks on Main has certainly been hosting events that could be called "alternative rock." Will other venues start branching out from the genres they thought were "safe" to produce more-varied offerings?

And more specifically, who's ready to put on some rap and/or hip-hop shows here in Longmont? A total of 51 respondents to the poll said they want more of it. And we here at Front Row LoCo know that there's someone out there who's ready to respond, rock our socks off, and then rock them right back on!

If you do, let us know. We'd love to be in the front row!