Expert: MartinStJohn - 2/22/2008

Question
who started Alternative music and where did the idea of Alternative music originate?

Answer
Madison, it is argued that Great Britain started it and originated alternative music. However, in britain, it's not viewed as an entirely different music scene, but is viewed as indie. The idea of alternative is really an american one. I think the whole idea of alternative really came up as a youth revolt against what they considered to be over-produced schlock in the mainstream of the time. The idea caught on in the larger cities, but didn't filter down to middle america till the early to mid 90s. As early as 1980, several influential radio stations gave rise to an alternative scene. Their playlists were very different to what mainstream Fm radio was playing at the time. IN the late 70s punk rock had become massively popular with the youth. The radio stations didn't want to play it, the bands wanted exposure beyond small clubs, the fans were rabidly against the mainstream (and who could blame them, if they were a punk music fan). The most influential station that comes to mind is KROQ Fm. It's reputation for breaking new artists and being on top of the heap spread around the country. If you can track down some year-end charts for KROQ, you'll see for yourself how different it was from the top 40 rock charts. The rise of MTV also aided in breaking a lot of these bands also. IN the beginning years the music network would give airtime to a wider array of artists many of them within the alternative/new wave/power pop spectrum. However, as the network became more commercial and sought expansion, the music quickly shifted to what was most widely accepted by the country as a whole. The shift didn't actually happen overnight, but as time went on, the alternative vids became fewer and fewer. Eventually the vids were relegated to the after-midnight hours and then erased completely save for the sunday night alternative show MTV post modern. The show was later re-named 120 Minutes airing every sunday night at midnight for two hours. In the early 90s i remember that about the time of the height of 120 Minutes' popularity, that they were playing the same videos on TRL (total request live) the next morning. At that point, i knew it was the death knell for alternative music as we knew it. No longer would there be the awesome 4AD label music and the brit indies, no, from there on out it was all about Seattle, grunge, rap metal and overproduced adult alternative, the latter of which has became the savior of adult top 40..how sad...