Alternative rock
The terms
alternative rock and
alternative music[The term "alternative music" is particularly favored over "alternative rock" in British English (although the boundaries of the genre are slightly blurred with the inclusion of electronic music and hip-hop), while "alternative rock" is favored in American English. The term underground music is sometimes also used, though more often used in reference to the music of little-known artists. Additionally, "indie" is commonly used in the UK as a synonym for alternative rock.] (also simply called
alternative) were coined in the 1980s to describe
punk rock-inspired bands on
independent record labels that didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time.
More specifically, it is made up mostly of genres that appeared in the 1980s and became popular or well known by the 1990s, such as
indie rock,
grunge,
gothic rock, and
college rock. Most alternative bands were unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s. Though the genre is considered to be
rock, some of its subgenres were influenced by
folk music,
reggae,
electronic music and
jazz among other genres. At times it has been used as catch-all phrase for rock music from
underground artists in the 1980s and, ironically, for rock music in general in the 1990s and 2000s.
Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth.
["Rock Music." Microsoft® Encarta® 2006 [CD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005.] As such, there is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although common traits among many alternative bands and subgenres include distorted or jangly guitars. Lyrics typically address topics of greater social concern, such as drug use, depression, and environmentalism.
In the early 1980s a handful of
college radio stations, like
Danbury, Connecticut's
WXCI, and
WPRB in Princeton, NJ, and Brown University's
WBRU broadcast alternative rock in the United States. Most commercial stations ignored the genre. It was played extensively in the UK, particularly by
DJs such as
John Peel (who championed alternative music on
BBC Radio 1), Richard Skinner, and
Annie Nightingale. American college DJs such as Jon Solomon of
WPRB echoed the alternative wave as early as 1988 on his weekly radio shows. Alternative rock became more popular and spread among other college stations in the mid-1980s, leading to the use of the name "
college rock" in the United States.
[Reynolds, Simon. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. Penguin, 2005. p. 391] In the UK, it became the predominantly popular form of rock for young people, and many alternative bands had chart success. Finally, in the late 1980s in North America, commercial stations such as
Boston, Massachusetts's
WFNX and
Los Angeles, California's
KROQ began playing alternative rock, pioneering the
modern rock radio format. Outside of North America, Double J, a government-funded radio station in
Sydney, Australia and the Melbourne based independent radio station 3RRR began broadcasting alternative rock throughout the 1980s. In 1990, Double J, now known as
Triple J, began broadcasting nationally, albeit with what some perceived as a watered down format. On television,
MTV would occasionally show alternative videos late at night during the 1980s. In 1986 MTV in the United States began airing the late night alternative music program
120 Minutes, which would serve as a major outlet of exposure for the genre prior to its commercial breakthrough in the 1990s. With the breakthrough of
Nirvana in the early 1990s, alternative rock became a major force on commercial radio and music television.
Although alternative artists of the 1980s never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on the generation of musicians who came of age in the 80s and laid the groundwork for their success.
[Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life. Little Brown and Company, 2001. Pg. 3-5. ISBN 0316787531] These later bands broke through to the mainstream in the 1990s, making alternative the most popular form of rock music of the decade. However, many of these artists rejected success, for it conflicted with the rebellious,
DIY ethic the genre had espoused prior to mainstream exposure and their ideas of artistic authenticity.
[Considine, J.D. "The Decade of Living Dangerously". Guitar World. March 1999.] As many of the genre's key groups broke up or retreated from the limelight, alternative rock declined from mainstream prominence.
In the first decade of the 21st century, mainstream rock has continued to evolve beyond alternative's 80s roots and low-fidelity ethos. Today's most popular rock music acts, typified by youth-oriented modern rock groups such as
Linkin Park, incorporate complex electronic beats and highly produced albums, but owe a heavy debt to their
metal and grunge influences. In spite of being influenced by alternative rock, many fans of the genre do not see these bands as being alternative, but instead as part of the
nu metal genre. However, in 2004 alternative rock received renewed mainstream attention with the popularity of indie rock and post-punk revival artists such as
Modest Mouse and
Franz Ferdinand, respectively.
[Dolan, Jon. "The Revival of Indie Rock". SPIN. January 2005.]Early American alternative bands such as
R.E.M.,
The Feelies,
The dB's, and
Violent Femmes combined punk influences with
folk music and mainstream music influences. R.E.M. was the most immediately successful; its debut album 1983's
Murmur entered the Top 40 and spawned a number of
jangle pop followers.
[Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "American Alternative Rock/Post-Punk". All Music Guide Retrieved May 20 2006.] One of the many jangle pop scenes of the early 80s,
Los Angeles'
Paisley Underground was a revival of 60s sounds, incorporating psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and the guitar interplay of folk rock as well as punk and underground influences such as
The Velvet Underground.
American indie labels
SST Records,
Twin/Tone Records,
Touch & Go Records, and
Dischord Records presided over the shift from the
hardcore punk that dominated the American underground scene at that point to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging.
[Reynolds, p. 390] Minneapolis bands
Hüsker Dü and
The Replacements were indicative of this shift. Both started out as punk rock bands, but soon they expanded their sounds and became more melodic,
culminating in Hüsker Dü's
Zen Arcade and The Replacements'
Let It Be, both released in 1984. The albums, as well as the follow-up material, were critically acclaimed and drew attention to the burgeoning alternative genre. That year Hüsker Dü's label SST Records also released landmark alternative albums by the
Minutemen and the
Meat Puppets, who mixed punk with funk and country, respectively.
R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü set the blueprint for much of alternative rock of the 1980s, both sonically and in how they approached their careers.
In the late 80s, the US underground scene and college radio were dominated by college rock bands like
Pixies,
They Might Be Giants,
Dinosaur Jr, and
Throwing Muses as well as post-punk survivors from Britain. Another major force was the
noise rock of
Sonic Youth,
Big Black,
Butthole Surfers, and others. By the end of the decade, a number of alternative bands began to sign to major labels. While early major label signings Hüsker Dü and the Replacements had little success, late 80's major label signings R.E.M. and
Jane's Addiction achieved gold and platinum records, setting the stage for alternative's later breakthrough.
[Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1993. p. 160 ISBN 0385471998][Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, pg. 4] Some bands like the Pixies had massive success overseas while being ignored domestically.
By the start of the 90s the music industry was abuzz about alternative rock's commercial possibilities and actively courted alternative bands including Dinosaur Jr,
fIREHOSE, and
Nirvana.
, an alternative subgenre created in
Seattle, Washington in the 80s that synthesized
heavy metal and hardcore punk, launched a large movement in mainstream music in the early 90s. The year
1991 was to become a significant year for alternative rock and in particular grunge, with the release of Nirvana's second and most successful album
Nevermind,
Pearl Jam's breakthrough debut
Ten,
Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, and
Red Hot Chili Peppers'
Blood Sugar Sex Magik. In particular, the popularity of Nirvana's
Nevermind took alternative rock into the mainstream, establishing its commercial and cultural viability.
While "alternative" was simply an
umbrella term for a diverse collection of underground rock bands, Nirvana and similar groups gave it a reputation for being a distinct style of guitar based rock which combined elements of punk and metal; their creation met with considerable commercial success.
The explosion of alternative rock was aided by
MTV and
Lollapalooza, a touring festival of diverse bands which helped expose and popularize alternative groups such as
Nine Inch Nails,
The Smashing Pumpkins, and
Hole. By the mid-90s, alternative was synonymous with grunge in the eyes of the mass media and the general public, and a supposed "
alternative culture" was being marketed to the mainstream in much the same way as the
hippie counterculture had in the 1960s (the existence of any such culture is debatable, and is often seen by some fans of the music to have been a creation of the media). Thus, many wildly popular
post-grunge bands such as
Third Eye Blind and
matchbox twenty were labeled as "alternative" rock. Nevertheless, alternative bands who were leery of broad commercial success developed
indie rock, a genre that espoused a return to the
original ethos of alternative music. Labels such as
Matador Records,
Merge Records, and Dischord, and indie rockers like
Pavement,
Liz Phair,
Superchunk,
Fugazi, and
Sleater-Kinney dominated the American indie scene for most of the 1990s.
[Our Band Could Be Your Life, pg. 495-497.]Alternative's mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events, notably the death of Nirvana's
Kurt Cobain in 1994 and Pearl Jam's lawsuit against concert venue promoter
Ticketmaster which in effect barred them from playing many major venues around the country.
A signifier of alternative rock's declining popularity was the hiatus of the Lollapalooza festival after an unsuccessful attempt to find a headliner in 1998; the hiatus would continue until 2003. By the start of the 21st century many major alternative bands, including Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden,
Alice in Chains, and Hole had broken up or were on hiatus. Meanwhile indie rock diversified; along with the more conventional indie rock sounds of
Modest Mouse,
Bright Eyes, and
Death Cab for Cutie, various strains of indie rock including the
garage rock revival of
The White Stripes and
The Strokes as well as the neo post-punk sounds of
Interpol and
The Killers achieved mainstream success.
Gothic rock developed out of late-70s British
post-punk. Most of the first goth bands, including
Bauhaus,
Siouxsie & the Banshees,
The Cure, and
The Birthday Party, are labeled as both post-punk and gothic rock. Gothic rock began to develop into its own in the early 80s with the opening of
The Batcave nightclub and the creation of the
goth subculture. By the mid-80s, goth bands such as
The Sisters of Mercy,
The Mission, and
Fields of the Nephilim achieved success on the UK pop charts. Meanwhile Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure moved away from goth stylistically and broadened their sound to become internationally successful by the start of the 1990s.
British indie rock and
indie pop drew from the tradition of
Scottish post-punk bands such as
Orange Juice and
Aztec Camera, utilizing jangly, shambling guitars and clever wordplay. The most popular and influential band to emerge from this lineage was
Manchester,
England's The Smiths. Led by the songwriting partnership of singer
Morrissey and guitarist
Johnny Marr, The Smiths managed to score a number of hits and influence a generation of bands while signed to an independent label,
Rough Trade Records. Their embrace of the guitar in an era of synthesizers is viewed to have signaled the end of the
New Wave era in Britain;
[Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "British Alternative Rock". All Music Guide. Retrieved May 20 2006.] the band also managed to gain a sizable cult following in the United States. Indie rock bands such as
The Housemartins,
James, and
The Wedding Present emerged in the wake of The Smiths. The Wedding Present also featured on the
C86 cassette, a premium offered by the
NME in 1986. Featuring an array of bands including
Primal Scream,
The Pastels, and the
Soup Dragons, the cassette not only was a major influence on the development of
twee pop but British indie rock as a whole.
At the other end of the alternative rock spectrum,
The Jesus and Mary Chain wrapped their pop melodies in walls of guitar noise. The Mary Chain, along with the
dream pop of
Cocteau Twins and the
space rock of
Spacemen 3, were the influences for the
shoegazing movement of the late-80s. Named for the fact that the bands often stared at their feet onstage,
shoegazing bands like
My Bloody Valentine,
Slowdive,
Ride, and
Lush dominated the British music press at the end of the decade along with the drug-fueled
Madchester scene. Based around
The Haçienda, a nightclub in Manchester owned by
New Order and
Factory Records, Madchester bands such as
The Stone Roses and the
Happy Mondays mixed traditional guitar pop, dance music, and rave culture, achieving massive mainstream success.
With the decline of the Madchester scene and the unglamorousness of shoegazing, the tide of grunge from America dominated the British alternative scene and music press in the early 90s.
In contrast, only a few British alternative bands, most notably
Radiohead and
Bush, were able to make any sort of impression back in the States. As a reaction, a flurry of defiantely British bands emerged that wished to "get rid of grunge" and "declare war on America", taking the public and native music press by storm.
[Youngs, Ian. "Looking back at the birth of Britpop". BBC News. Retrieved June 9 2006.] Dubbed "
Britpop" by the media, this movement represented by
Oasis,
Blur,
Suede, and
Pulp was the British equivalent of the grunge explosion,
for not only did it propel alternative rock to the top of the charts in its respective country, but it centered it on a revitalization of British youth culture celebrated as "
Cool Britannia". In 1995 the Britpop phenomenon culminated in a rivarly between its two chief groups, Oasis and Blur, symbolized by their release of competing singles on the same day. Blur topped the charts with their single, but Oasis' second album,
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? went on to become the second best-selling album in Britain's history; Oasis also had major commercial success overseas and even charted hits in the United States.
Britpop faded as Oasis' third album
Be Here Now received lackluster reviews and Blur began to incorporate influence from American indie rock. At the same time Radiohead achieved critical acclaim with its 1997 album
OK Computer, which was a marked contrast with the traditionalism of Britpop. Radiohead, along with post-Britpop groups like
Travis and
Coldplay, were major forces in British rock in the subsequent years.
[Harris, John. Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock. Da Capo Press, 2004. Pg. 369-370.] Recently British indie rock has experienced a resurgence, spurred in part by the success the Strokes achieved in the UK prior to their domestic breakthrough. Like modern American indie rock, many British indie bands such as Franz Ferdinand,
The Libertines,
Bloc Party, and
Arctic Monkeys draw influence from post-punk groups such as
Joy Division,
Wire, and
Gang of Four.
Australia has produced a number of notable alternative bands, including
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,
The Go-Betweens,
Silverchair, and
The Vines. Much like America's Lollapalooza festival, Australia's
Big Day Out festival serves as a touring showcase for domestic and foreign alternative artists. To the east,
New Zealand's
Dunedin Sound was based around the college town of
Dunedin and the
Flying Nun Records label. The genre had its heyday during the mid 80s and produced bands such as
The Bats,
The Clean, and
The Chills.
Mainstream alternative rock in
Canada ranges from the humorous pop of
Barenaked Ladies to the post-grunge of
Our Lady Peace,
Matthew Good, and
Crash Test Dummies. In recent years cities like
Montreal and
Toronto have become important centers of Canadian indie rock, home to
The Arcade Fire,
Godspeed You! Black Emperor,
Broken Social Scene, and numerous others.
The Sugarcubes were one of the first internationally successful bands from
Iceland. After the band's breakup, vocalist
Björk embarked on a solo career that incorporated influences including
trip hop, jazz, and
electronica in addition to alternative rock. Icelandic indie rock bands include
Múm and
Sigur Rós. Continental
Europe has produced numerous
industrial rock bands like
KMFDM.
Japan has an active noise rock scene characterized by groups such as
Boredoms and
Melt-Banana. Indie pop band
Shonen Knife have been frequently cited as an influence by American alternative artists including Nirvana and Sonic Youth.
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