The terms alternative rock and alternative music¹ were coined in the early 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired music genres which didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time. At times it was used as catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s and rock music in general in the 1990s. 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, post-punk, gothic rock, and college rock. Most alternative bands were unified by their collective debt to punk, which laid the groundwork for underground and alternative music in the 1970s. Though the genre is considered to be rock, some of its genres were influenced by folk music, reggae and jazz music among other genres. Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... A musical instrument is a device that has been constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... The classical guitar typically has 3 nylon and 3 nickel-wound strings. ... Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a commonly spoken phrase used to refer to the electric bass and horizontal acoustic basses, a stringed instrument similar in design to the electric guitar, but larger in size, commonly fretted and sometimes fretless and with a lower range. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is an independent-rooted music genre that was inspired by hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock. ... The New Wave was a movement in American, Australian and British popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City musical scene centered around the club CBGB. The term itself is a source of much confusion. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is an independent-rooted music genre that was inspired by hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock. ... Britpop is a British alternative rock movement from the middle 90s, characterised with the appearance of bands who borrowed many influences from 60s and 70s while creating big and catchy hooks, as well as the glamour of earlier pop stardom and the sense that they were creating the soundtrack to... In the USA, college rock was a term used to describe 1980s alternative rock bands which combined the experimentation of post punk and new wave with a more melodic pop style. ... Dream pop is a type of alternative rock that originated in the early 1980s when bands like the Cocteau Twins began twisting New Wave melodies into sonic, echoing textures and mumbled vocals. ... Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is an independent-rooted music genre that was inspired by hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... The term jam band is commonly used to describe psychedelic rock-influenced bands whose concerts largely consist of bands reinterpreting their songs as springboards into extended improvisational pieces of music. ... Madchester refers to a period during the late 1980s and early 1990s when Manchester was the focus for a lot of the new musical talent hitting the UK indie music scene. ... Shoegazing is a style of music that emerged in Britain in the late 1980s. ... Twee (or Twee pop) is a type of indie rock that is known for simple, sweet melodies and lyrics, often with jangling guitars. ... Alternative metal is a branch of heavy metal music, characterized by some heavy metal trappings, but usually a pronounced experimental edge, including unconventional lyrics, odd tempo, unusual musical instruments or extended techniques. ... Darkwave is a relatively widely used term in the gothic-industrial subculture to describe a music genre, however it has no one single, agreed upon meaning. ... Gothabilly is a portmanteau which refers to an unusual fusion of country rock music and the Goth culture. ... Goth metal - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Massachusetts is a U.S. state in New England. ... The U.S. state of Washington includes several major hotbeds of musical innovation. ... This is a list of alternative music artists. ... This is a timeline of alternative rock, from its beginnings in the 1970s to the present. ... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ... In the USA, college rock was a term used to describe 1980s alternative rock bands which combined the experimentation of post punk and new wave with a more melodic pop style. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... Reggae is a style of music developed in Jamaica and is closely linked to the Rastafarian religion, though not universally popular among them. ... For other article subjects named Jazz see jazz (disambiguation). ...

Overview

In the late 1970s and early 1980s only CFNY, a commercial radio station in Toronto, Ontario, regularly broadcast alternative rock in North America. By 1982, a handful of college radio stations, like Danbury, Connecticut's WXCI, broadcast alternative rock in the United States. Most commercial stations, CFNY being a notable exception, 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. As alternative rock became more popular in the mid-1980s, it spread widely to other college radio stations, leading to the use of the name "college rock" in the United States. 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 began playing alternative rock. By that time, CFNY's format was moving away from alternative as university radio stations took over the genre. Outside of North America, Triple J, a government-run radio station in Australia, started broadcasting alternative rock from 1975 in Sydney. In 1990 it began broadcasting nationally, though with a more "watered down" format. CFNY was a groundbreaking free-format radio station based in the Toronto area. ... Motto: Diversity Our Strength Map of Ontario Counties, Toronto being red Area: 641 sq. ... City nickname: The Hat City Location in the state of Connecticut County Fairfield County, Connecticut Area  - Total  - Water 114. ... Western Connecticut State University (WestConn) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. ... John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was a British disc jockey and radio presenter. ... BBC Radio 1 is a British radio station, specialising in popular music aimed at a young audience (children, teenagers and young adults). ... Annie Nightingale (born in London on April 1, 1942) is a radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom, who since the death of John Peel in October 2004 has been the longest-serving presenter on BBC Radio 1 - her career at the station is more than twenty years longer than that... College radio (also known as university radio or campus radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college or university. ... Boston is the capital of and the largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. ... WFNX is a New England commercial alternative rock radio station. ... Triple J (JJJ) is a nationally-networked, government-funded Australian radio station (a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), mainly aimed at youth (defined as those between 12 and 25). ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... This is about the city of Sydney in Australia. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Notable alternative bands of the 1980s include R.E.M., Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, the Replacements and Hüsker Dü from the United States, and New Order, The Smiths, and The Cure from the United Kingdom. R.E.M. is a rock band formed in Athens, Georgia on April 5, 1980 by Michael Stipe (vocals), Bill Berry (drums), Peter Buck (guitar), and Mike Mills (bass). ... Talking Heads was a new wave rock band existing between 1974 and 1991, and composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison. ... Sonic Youth are an experimental rock group formed in 1981. ... The Replacements were a seminal alternative rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... Hüsker Dü was an influential hardcore punk, and later alternative rock trio from Minneapolis/St. ... New Order are an English electronic dance/rock crossover group, which formed in 1980 from Joy Division following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. ... This article is about the English rock band, for other uses of Smith or Smiths, see Smith The Smiths were a hugely influential British rock group and indie music pioneers. ... Disintegration album cover This article is about The Cure, the rock band. ...

Although these groups never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on the generation of musicians who came of age in the 80s. Alternative music and the rebellious, DIY ethic it espoused became one of the inspirations for grunge, an alternative sub-genre created in the 80s that created a large movement in mainstream music in the early 90s. Led by the popularity of Nirvana, the grunge movement took alternative rock into the mainstream. 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 DIY punk ethic refers to the idea of doing it yourself, i. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is an independent-rooted music genre that became a commercially successful offshoot of hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... This article is about the 1980s-1990s grunge band Nirvana. ... Heavy metal is a form of music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars, generally with grandiose lyrics and virtuosic instrumentation. ...

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). By this time, however, alternative bands who were leery of broad commercial success had developed indie rock, a new genre that espoused a return to the original ethos of alternative music. Alternative culture is a catch-all phrase used to describe a variety of separate loosely related or completely unrelated cultures and sub-cultures that are outside of the mainstream culture or are perceived as being such. ... Hippies (singular hippie or sometimes hippy) were members of the 1960s counterculture movement who adopted a communal or nomadic lifestyle, renounced corporate nationalism and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and/or Native American religious culture, and were otherwise at odds with traditional middle class Western values. ... In sociology, counterculture is a term used to describe a cultural group whose values and norms are at odds with those of the social mainstream. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... Alternative music is driven by the idea that the best, most exciting, orginal, or challenging music is not well-served by the rent-seeking economic behaviour of the largest record labels. ...

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. Modern rock is a phrase commonly used by radio stations to describe rock music styles that are commonly found on mainstream radio stations. ... Linkin Park is (left to right) Joe Hahn, David Michel Farrell (Phoenix), Chester Bennington, Rob Bourdon, Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson. ... In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds, and it is sometimes said that it is similar to a cation in a cloud of electrons. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is an independent-rooted music genre that became a commercially successful offshoot of hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... Nu metal (or aggro metal) is a controversial subgenre of heavy metal music. ...

Influences

• Punk rock
• Post punk
• New wave music
• Industrial music
• Hardcore punk

Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial UK punk rock explosion, roughly spanning 1978-1982. ... The New Wave was a movement in American, Australian and British popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City musical scene centered around the club CBGB. The term itself is a source of much confusion. ... This article or section is currently being developed or reviewed. ... Hardcore punk (or hardcore) is an intensified version of punk rock usually characterized by short, loud, and often angry songs with exceptionally fast tempos and chord changes. ...

Styles

• Britpop
• College rock
• Dream pop
• Gothic rock
• Grunge music
• Indie rock
• Jam band
• Madchester
• Shoegazing
• Twee pop

Britpop is a British alternative rock movement from the middle 90s, characterised with the appearance of bands who borrowed many influences from 60s and 70s while creating big and catchy hooks, as well as the glamour of earlier pop stardom and the sense that they were creating the soundtrack to... In the USA, college rock was a term used to describe 1980s alternative rock bands which combined the experimentation of post punk and new wave with a more melodic pop style. ... Dream pop is a type of alternative rock that originated in the early 1980s when bands like the Cocteau Twins began twisting New Wave melodies into sonic, echoing textures and mumbled vocals. ... Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is an independent-rooted music genre that was inspired by hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... The term jam band is commonly used to describe psychedelic rock-influenced bands whose concerts largely consist of bands reinterpreting their songs as springboards into extended improvisational pieces of music. ... Madchester refers to a period during the late 1980s and early 1990s when Manchester was the focus for a lot of the new musical talent hitting the UK indie music scene. ... Shoegazing is a style of music that emerged in Britain in the late 1980s. ... Twee (or Twee pop) is a type of indie rock that is known for simple, sweet melodies and lyrics, often with jangling guitars. ...

See also

• List of alternative rock artists
• Timeline of alternative rock
• Music webzines

This is a list of alternative music artists. ... This is a timeline of alternative rock, from its beginnings in the 1970s to the present. ... Music webzines are websites/zines featuring music reviews, live-concert reviews, band interviews, upcoming album-release dates, and the like. ...

Footnotes

1. The term "alternative music" is particularly favoured over "alternative rock" in British English, 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.

Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ... American English or U.S. English is the diverse form of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ... The term underground music has been applied to several artistic movements, notably to the early psychedelic movement of the mid 60s centred in Los Angeles. ...

External links

• All Music Guide entry for alternative rock (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE47B16DF49AD7320C59E3349DCA77AF129D342F382172E4B41D3A77F4B82006AE050F98488F2A326F878AEE02BBB580FD3CEA25EF6DE6E373D8DFEC61D&sql=77:4464)
• Alternative Rock News (http://www.bandnews.org/genre/Rock/Alternative)
• Alternative Rock Internet Radio Station (http://www.y100rocks.com)