I lived in Athens (recently, not in the eighties) and it was almost overwhelming how much music there was at any given time. And not just "pop" music, but orchestral/wind band stuff. The music school at UGA is pretty damn good and so there's always a good concert available.
Atlanta is far from music starved (not counting this recent debacle that threatens our festival music scene for the foreseeable future [1]).
Despite that, Athens still manages to pull a lot of great acts that never make it to Atlanta. Athens has it really good and truly lives and breathes its music scene.
I used to live in a college town you’ve never heard of in a state you don’t think about and it had a pretty solid music scenes, decent venues, etc. and could get some of the best shows, particularly for stuff sub-mainstream.
I now live in a much larger area, that I expected to have many more amenities and the music scene is surprisingly terrible.
Real estate is a huge factor in this. How many different sized venues are there and who controls them? If they're all run by Ticketmaster, you're only going to get Live Nation acts. If there's only a football stadium and few/no independent small or medium sized clubs, where are these interesting, but niche acts going to perform?
Colleges tend to always have a diverse set of buildings, small theaters/bars/basements, mid sized basketball arenas/clubs, big stadiums and can mostly book who they (or the students) want.
Many musicians and artists I know were always close to poverty as supporting yourself with art is not easy. So many have menial jobs to pay the bills while their free times is working in their art. If they cant afford to live in fancy areas the bohemian scenes cant flourish.
Living in NYC I watched the death of the Williamsburg bohemian scene in the 00's. The neighborhood was still rough with crummy buildings, warehouses and drug dealers roaming about and other sketchy shit. Small bars/venues/clubs dotted the area and the myriad of commercial buildings rented large spaces for cheap which people turned into art communes. I had a bunch of friends in that scene and it was amazing to walk into a drab looking brick warehouse and into a world of art and music. I remember going to a show which featured performers from side show acts who were musicians which spilled into the street becoming an impromptu late night street circus complete with acrobatics and fire breathing.
Then everyone just HAD to live in WB and the cheap commercial buildings were razed and replaced with giant crappy over priced apartments ($2500 for a 1br back then was insane). Within a few years all the interesting artists left, many heading to Portland which suffered the same fate. Now its all faux luxury apartment buildings and Instagram spaces. Burn it all down.
Not only is it tougher to book an act and fill a venue outside of a town whose economy is fueled by 20-somethings, but I think there is also a NIMBY factor, mostly justified by noise complaints. If there are any residential neighbors next to your pre-war warehouse turned-venue, you will get noise complaints... except in a college town where everyone is basically inoculated to that behavior.
If there's only a football stadium and few/no independent small or medium sized clubs, where are these interesting, but niche acts going to perform?
A lot of areas have auditoriums that folks can rent - and there are generally conference rooms and conference centers. I saw Weird Al perform in a large conference room in a hotel (and the show was absolutely fantastic). I've seen folks perform in very small bars that many towns have. A lot of cities have outdoor places in parks and in the US, a high school will often have a place to rent. Heck, small festivals often have live music, though it might not be what you want.
I don't think real estate is enough. It is much easier to have a Blues festival if your city puts in some work to plan such a thing: Same with making sure there is a music scene. Not all of the bands are going to play for pennies, either: It costs money to travel about with equipment, even if you are in town. It is a group effort that involves more than real estate.
I relocated from a smallish city in Canada to SW Ontario, and my experience is the same.
Halifax' music scene is phenomenal and although most acts are- and will remain- unknown, it has provided a launchpad for some great careers and the energy is unmatched.
I think the punk and metal scenes are better out here because its more urbanized and developed, but of course pop music goes deeper than those.
Toronto, of course, has a good scene, and Montreal speaks for itself. Those cities have 100s of things to do that aren't music though, so it's possible to live your life without ever deviating from the well known arena acts.
I lived in Athens while working on a Phd in P Chem. Looking back on the two years I lived there before I dropped out to run my app business, I didn't realize at the time what a perfect city it was to live in. There was _always_ an interesting show or art performance. And the concentration of graduate students and researchers meant you'd have the most interesting conversations in passing at the farmers market, etc.
The joke growing up there was that it was the only town where an undergraduate degree was required to work in food delivery (pizza, this was before apps), because the population was so academically overqualified.
But on the other hand, it also spoke to the number of people who graduated and chose to stay there...
The first "alternative" song I heard back in the 80's was Watusi Rodeo by Guadalcanal Diary out of Marietta. That song really struck a nerve with me and really guided my young music tastes.
i grew up in Athens and was in high school/college during this time (graduated hs in '83). Unfortunately I was not that involved in the music scene but still got to see some great bands.
The article spends a good bit of time on the B-52's but they were long gone to New York by this time and didn't really come back for public concerts until 'Cosmic Thing'. The popular bands that I remember were Love Tractor, REM, Dreams So Real and Kilkenny Cats.
The scene as I knew it from a distance revolved around a few venues. Foremost at the time was the 40 watt club. It started as a room off of a back alley (with a bare light bulb?) that had moved by the time I was old enough to go. Lot's of history there. Other venues I visited were the Uptown Lounge, the Georgia Theater and surprisingly house parties.
My favorite memories of the time were seeing PYLON and REM with about 50-100 other people at 'teen night' at the I&I club, I didn't really know PYLON but the show blew me away. Easily the best performance that I've seen. The Hillbilly Frankenstein album release party was wild and a blast. I also got to see the Flat Duo Jets at a house party and several times at small venues. Dex and Crowe made an amazing amount of sound for two guys with simple instruments.
It was definitely a fun time to be in Athens and I certainly enjoyed myself. In hindsight I wish I had gotten more into the scene but growing up there and being so young I had no idea that there was anything special going on there.
There used to be a place next to the 40 Watt. X-Ray Cafe? I remember hanging out with poor bands post-show, because they had a grilled-cheese with tomato for $2.50 or so.
By the mid to late 90s, it was more Widespread Panic, Drive-By Truckers, and Of Montreal, as REM had already graduated to super-stardom.
The WP outdoor free concert (in the middle of downtown!) in '98 was something else. 100k happy people.
The Atlanta equivalent of the 40-Watt was 688, which was a cinder block building with maybe a 9 foot ceiling. It was always hot and full of clove cigarette smoke. The stage may have been 18 inches high.
