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The '80s
In 1980, the partnership that would carry the club into the next century was formed. Steve McClellan and
Jack Meyers, former classmates and roommates, took the helm of Sam’s, as it was then called, and began
booking cutting edge national acts.
McClellan worked closely with a handful of local musicians, record label entrepreuners and other industry folk, and out of this collaboration grew Minneapolis’s first rock music community. On New Year’s Eve, 1981, Sam’s became First Avenue.
Throughout the ‘80s, First Avenue’s ties to the local community allowed its bookers to match local opening bands to larger national acts. The club catered to dancers too, and hosted lip-synching and talent contests.
No description of the ‘80s at First Avenue could be complete, however, without a nod to Prince, who made the club his regular venue, his testing ground for new material, and both the set and the setting of his movie, Purple Rain.
Minneapolis' R&B scene came of age at this time, and you could have brushed shoulders with Alexander O'Neal, Chico Debarge, Suanne Carlo, Morris Day or Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Other acts to play the club in this decade include Curtiss A (on opening night), PiL, New Order, Culture Club, REM, Run DMC, David Byrne (joining the Wallets in the Entry), Husker Du and the Replacements.
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