USA Today and The Cincinnati Enquirer

Esquire has placed Cincinnati at No. 7 among the top 10 "Cities That Rock." The list is included in Things a Man Should Know About Music: A Guide to 2004, a booklet featured inside the April issue, on sale Tuesday.

Cities were judged on the quality of music scenes, stores and concert venues. Pittsburgh took the top spot, followed by Denver, Minneapolis, Raleigh, N.C., Gainesville, Fla., New Orleans, Phoenix/Tempe and San Francisco.

Frankly, local promoter Dan McCabe thinks Cincinnati should have come in even higher.

"Southgate House is an amazing resource that draws from the entire region and has helped break bands like the Strokes and Interpol, the neighborhood bars have been really supportive and all the local music coming out of here right now is just incredible," he said. "What's cool ... is that the people conjuring the music are not trying to mimic what they hear on the radio, it's fresh and completely original."