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- For a while, alternative just referred to rock acts that intentionally stayed out of the mainstream and weren’t influenced by heavy metal ballads, new wave, or pop-like dance anthems. Eventually, alternative owls include new wave, pop, punk rock, post-punk, and college or indie rock.
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Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge , shoegaze , and Britpop subgenres in the United States and United Kingdom ...
- Late 1970s–early 1980s, United States and United Kingdom
- Alternative music, alt-rock, alternative
- Alternative Definition and Genres
- The History of Alternative Music
- Important Alternative Bands and Artists
- Other Styles of Alternative Music
- Final Thoughts on Alternative Music
In music, alternative is a really simple concept that can get messy and confusing quickly. By definition, alternative music is produced by performers who are outside of the musical mainstream. It’s typically more eclectic, original, and challenging than most popular music and it’s usually distributed by independent labels instead of major ones. Urb...
Looking at the history of alternative music, we’ll mostly be focusing on just rock and pop since those two are the main genres that fit into the alternative categories (yes, I know, alternative doesn’t fit into categories, it’s too cool). This is mainly to help keep things simple and look at the two biggest movements in alternative music, both of w...
Nirvana
If you couldn’t tell from the history of alt-rock, we can’t talk about alternative music without discussing Nirvana. They literally and legitimately pioneered alternative rock and brought it to the mainstream music world, and were the first band to make alternative rock seem like a commercially viable genre for record studios. The band was formed in 1987 by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. In 1990, they would recruit Dave Grohl as their full-time drummer, and their lineup was set. Nirvana was...
Foo Fighters
After Nirvana ended, Dave Grohl wasn’t done making music. The Foo Fighters started off as a one-man project with Grohl as the sole member and picked up the alt-rock sound where Nirvana left off. They would continue evolving over time, bringing us massive hits like Everlong, Learn to Fly, The Pretender, and Times Like These. Foo Fighters are one of the most successful rock acts in history, racking up 15 Grammy Award wins, five of which were for Best Rock Album (even with an alternative rock st...
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers started out as an indie band that made it into the mainstream thanks in part to Nirvana opening the door, but mostly on the merits of their insane talent as musicians. It’s hard to describe their music as anything other than alternative, even if alternative rock is just one of the elements they use when producing music. Funk metal, rap rock, rap metal, nu metal, punk rock, psychedelic, funk, and hip-hop are all genres the band takes inspiration from to craft their on...
So look. It’s honestly a very complicated subject trying to dissect alternative music as a whole and distill it into something that’s actually digestible. Pretty much any music genre or style that doesn’t fit into a neat little category is potentially going to be deemed an alternative style of music. We have tons and tons of examples of this with a...
Some of my all-time favorite bands and music can be qualified as some form of alternative music, but it’s important to understand that the definition of it as a whole has changed as time has gone on. It’s not just indie music from independent labels that were produced in a garage. It’s also not the post-punk style of music that it originated from. ...
Feb 9, 2024 · Alternative rock, pop music style, built on distorted guitars and rooted in generational discontent, that dominated and changed rock between 1991 and 1996. It burst into the mainstream when “Smells Like Teen Spirit”—the first major-label single from Nirvana, a trio based in Seattle, Washington,
Alternative rock (also called alternative music [1] or simply alternative) is a branch of the rock music genre that became widely popular in the 1990s. It was a term that was liberally used to describe the bands involved in the early 1990s phenomenon of independently recorded music gaining profound commercial success.
Aug 24, 2023 · Alternative rock, often simply referred to as “alt-rock”, is a musical genre that emerged in the 1980s as a counter-response to mainstream rock. Characterised by its diversity, rebellion, and willingness to experiment, alternative rock has remained a favourite among those who seek something “different” from the chart-toppers.
Jul 2, 2023 · Alternative music, often referred to as “alt-rock” or simply “alternative,” is a genre that emerged in the 1980s and became incredibly popular in the 1990s. The term ‘alternative’ was coined as a way to differentiate this new wave of music from the mainstream genres of the time.
Dec 31, 2023 · Still, it’s hard to pin down precisely what alt-rock is. Despite the many variations, all alternative rock takes the basics: guitar, drums, and the like. Then it adds in influences from other styles, such as punk rock or folk, among others. But the best way to understand alt-rock is by listening.