The terms alternative rock and alternative music^[1] (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.^[2] As a specific genre of music, alternative rock consists of various subgenres that emerged from the indie music scene starting in the 1980s and became popular or well known by the 1990s, such as indie rock, grunge, gothic rock, and college rock. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.^[3] Though the genre is considered to be rock, some of its subgenres are influenced by folk music, reggae, electronic music and jazz among other genres. At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk), and, ironically, for rock music in general in the 1990s and 2000s. 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 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... Hardcore punk (aka Hardcore) is a subgenre of punk rock, the sound is thicker, heavier, and faster than punk rock and implimented 1970s heavy metal influences in its music. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case The electric bass guitar (also called The electric bass or simply The bass) is an electrically amplified fingered (or plucked) string instrument. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie 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. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock. ... Britpop was a British alternative rock and cultural movement which gained popularity in Great Britain in the mid 1990s, characterised by the prominence of bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. ... In the USA, college rock was a term used to describe 1980s alternative rock before the term alternative came into common usage. ... Dream pop is a type of alternative rock that originated in the early 1980s when bands like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and A.R. Kane (to whom the term has been attributed) began twisting New Wave melodies into sonic, echoing textures and mumbled vocals. ... Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that developed during the late 1970s. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie 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. ... 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. ... Noise pop is a term used to loosely describe a number of alternative rock bands that fuse punk rocks attitude and anger with the atonal noise, feedback, and free song structures of noise music, presented in a decidedly pop context. ... Paisley Underground is a term used to describe a genre of rock music, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s. ... The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords. ... Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze) is a style of alternative rock that emerged in southern England in the late 1980s. ... Twee pop is a type of indie pop that is known for simple, sweet melodies and lyrics, often with jangling guitars and a noted emphasis on childlike naivete. ... Alternative metal is an eclectic form of rock music that gained popularity in the early 1990s alongside grunge. ... Gothabilly is a portmanteau which refers to the fusion of rockabilly music and the Goth culture. ... Industrial rock is a musical genre which is a fusion of industrial music and rock music. ... An NME Originals issue covering the Madchester movement. ... The post-punk revival is a movement in modern rock music, being part of the larger indie/garage rock, punk, and dance genres. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... New England Conservatory of Music in Boston Massachusetts is a U.S. state in New England. ... Seattle, although a relatively new city, is a significant center for the performing arts. ... Illinois, which includes Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States, has a wide musical heritage. ... Famous musicians from Maryland include Francis Scott Key, who wrote The Star-Spangled Banner and pop punksters Good Charlotte, from Waldorf. ... For Mancunians, the popular musical heritage of the city has always been a source of great pride. ... This is a list of alternative music artists. ... Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. ... This is a timeline of alternative rock, from its beginnings in the 1970s to the present. ... In popular music, indie music (from independent) is any of a number of genres, scenes, subcultures and stylistic and cultural attributes, characterised by perceived independence from commercial pop music and mainstream culture and an autonomous, do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. ... Lollapalooza is an American music festival featuring alternative rock, rap, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. ... 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. ... An independent record label is variously described as a record label operating without the funding (or outside the organizations) of the major record labels, and/or a label that subscribes to indie philosophies such as DIY and anti-corporate art. ... In popular music, indie music (from independent) is any of a number of genres, scenes, subcultures and stylistic and cultural attributes, characterised by perceived independence from commercial pop music and mainstream culture and an autonomous, do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. ... 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. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock. ... Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that developed during the late 1970s. ... In the USA, college rock was a term used to describe 1980s alternative rock before the term alternative came into common usage. ... Rock is a form of popular music from the late 20th century which typically features a vocal melody (often with vocal harmony) that is supported by accompaniment of electric guitars, a bass guitar, and drums, often with a strong back beat. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Electronic music is a term for music created using electronic devices. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory and marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... 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. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 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...

The term "alternative rock"

The music now known as alternative rock was known by a variety of terms before "alternative" came into common use. "College rock" was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the college radio circuit and the tastes of college students. In the United Kingdom the term "indie" was preferred; by 1985 the term "indie" had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, rather than a simple demarcation of status.^[4] "Indie rock"^[5] was also largely synonymous with the genre in the United States up until the genre's commercial breakthrough in the early 1990s due to the majority of the bands belonging to independent labels. Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. ...

By 1990 the music was being termed "alternative rock".^[6] The term "alternative" had originated sometime around the mid-1980s;^[7] it was an extension of the phrases "new music" and "post modern", both for the freshness of the music and its tendency to recontextualize the sounds of the past, which were commonly used by music industry of the time to denote cutting edge music.^[3][8] Thus the original use of the term was often broader than it has come to be understood, encompassing punk rock, New Wave, post-punk, and even pop music, along with the occasional "college"/"indie" rock, all music found on the American "commercial alternative" radio stations of the time such as Los Angeles' KROQ-FM.^[3] The use of the term "alternative" gained popular exposure during 1991 with the implementation of alternative music categories in the Grammy Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards, as well as the success of Lollapalooza, where festival founder and Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell coined the term "Alternative Nation".^[3] For popular music (music produced commercially rather than art or folk music), see Popular music. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... KROQ-FM is a commercial modern rock music radio station in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting on 106. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music... The MTV Video Music Awards were established in 1984 by MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year. ... Lollapalooza is an American music festival featuring alternative rock, rap, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. ... Janes Addiction were an American rock band, named in reference to Jane Bainter, an ex-heroin addict who was a housemate of the band. ... Perry Farrell (born Perry Bernstein in New York City on March 29, 1959) is a musician particularly noted for his varied and founding role in alternative rock during the late 1980s and 1990s. ...

Overview

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.^[9] 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. Sounds range from the dirty guitars of grunge and the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock, to the guitar pop revivalism of Britpop and the shambling innocence of twee pop, to name just a few examples. Lyrics in alternative rock songs typically address topics of greater social concern, such as drug use, depression, and environmentalism,^[9] an approach that developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s.^[10] Britpop was a British alternative rock and cultural movement which gained popularity in Great Britain in the mid 1990s, characterised by the prominence of bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. ... Twee pop is a type of indie pop that is known for simple, sweet melodies and lyrics, often with jangling guitars and a noted emphasis on childlike naivete. ...

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. Alternative rock became more popular and spread among other college stations in the mid-1980s, which served as one of the major outlets of exposure for the music. Alternative rock was played extensively on the radio in the UK, particularly by DJs such as John Peel (who championed alternative music on BBC Radio 1), Richard Skinner, and Annie Nightingale. Artists that had cult followings in the United States received greater exposure through British national radio and the weekly press, and many alternative bands had chart success there.^[11] 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. Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. ... Nickname: The Hat City Location Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut Coordinates , Government Counties Fairfield County Mayor Mark Boughton (R) Geographical characteristics Area     City 44. ... Western Connecticut State University (WestConn) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. ... WPRB (103. ... WBRU is a commercial radio station in Providence, Rhode Island that broadcasts at 95. ... DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ... Autobiography John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was a British disc jockey, radio presenter, and journalist. ... BBC Radio 1 is a British radio station operated by the BBC, specialising in popular music aimed at the 16-24 age bracket. ... Annie Nightingale MBE (born in London on April 1, 1942) is a radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom. ... Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub of the Universe (The State House, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes, is the hub of the Solar System), Athens of America Location in Massachusetts Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas Menino (D) Area    - City 232. ... WFNX is a New England commercial alternative music radio station. ... Modern rock is term commonly used to describe a rock music format found on commercial radio stations. ... This is about the city of Sydney in Australia. ... 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). ... MTV (Music Television) is a cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... 120 Minutes logo 120 Minutes was a television show dedicated to alternative and indie music. ... Nirvana was a popular American rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. ...

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.^[12] 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.^[13] As many of the genre's key groups broke up or retreated from the limelight, alternative rock declined from mainstream prominence. The DIY punk ethic refers to the idea of doing it yourself, i. ...

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.^[14] Linkin Park is a nu metal/rapcore band from Los Angeles, California. ... Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1967 and 1974, mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the... Nu metal (also called aggro metal, or nü metal using the traditional heavy metal umlaut) is a musical genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. ... Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band. ... Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band based in Glasgow named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. ...

Alternative rock in the United States

Early American alternative bands such as R.E.M., The Feelies, The dB's, The Bongos, 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.^[15] 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.^[15] Image File history File links The_ReplacementsUnsatisfied. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... The Replacements (also known as The Mats or The Mats, from the insult of a detractor who joked the bands name was The Placemats, which the band then adopted) were a seminal alternative rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... Image File history File links Debaser. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... Debaser is a song by the alternative rock band Pixies. ... The Pixies are an American alternative rock music group formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986. ... SmellsLikeTeenSpirit. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song by the American grunge band, Nirvana. ... Nirvana was a popular American rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. ... Image File history File links PavementCutYourHair. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... Cut Your Hair is a song by American rock band, Pavement on their second album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. ... Pavement was an American indie rock band in the 1990s. ... Image File history File links Last_Nite. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... Last Nite is a single lifted from Is This It, the debut album of acclaimed American garage rock/post-punk band The Strokes. ... The Strokes are an American rock band that was formed in 1999 and rose to fame in the early 2000s as a leading group in the garage rock revival. ... It has been suggested that Hornets Attack Victor Mature be merged into this article or section. ... The Feelies were an alternative rock band from Haledon, New Jersey. ... The dBs were a power pop group of the late 1970s and 1980s. ... The Bongos, formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, were a pop band active in the early eighties. ... Violent Femmes From left to right. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ... Murmur is the first full-length album released by Athens, Georgia alternative rock band R.E.M.. Released in April 1983, Murmur was preceded by the Chronic Town EP the previous year. ... Jangle pop was an American musical genre that arose in the middle of the 1960s, combining angular, chiming guitars and power pop structures. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Paisley Underground is a term used to describe a genre of rock music, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s. ... The Velvet Underground (sometimes abbreviated as The Velvets or VU) was an American rock band first active from 1965 to 1973. ...

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.^[16] 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,^[15] 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 SST Records also released landmark alternative albums by the Minutemen and the Meat Puppets, who mixed punk with funk and country, respectively. SST Records is a Lawndale, California based independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by Black Flag founder/guitarist Greg Ginn. ... Twin/Tone Records was a record label based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota that operated from 1977 until 1994 and helped several local groups receive national attention. ... Touch and Go Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, USA, which began life in 1979 in East Lansing, Michigan as a magazine put out by Tesco Vee. ... Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in D.C.-area independent punk, hardcore, and post-hardcore music. ... Hardcore punk (aka Hardcore) is a subgenre of punk rock, the sound is thicker, heavier, and faster than punk rock and implimented 1970s heavy metal influences in its music. ... This article is about the city in Minnesota. ... Hüsker Dü was an influential rock music group from Minneapolis-St. ... The Replacements (also known as The Mats or The Mats, from the insult of a detractor who joked the bands name was The Placemats, which the band then adopted) were a seminal alternative rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... Zen Arcade is Hüsker Düs third full-length album, released in 1984 by SST Records, originally released as a double album on two vinyl LPs. ... Let It Be is the title of a 1984 album released by The Replacements. ... The Minutemen were a punk rock band from San Pedro, California comprising singer/guitarist D. Boon, singer/bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley. ... Meat Puppets are a three-piece rock band, formed in January 1980, in Paradise Valley, Arizona. ...

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.^[15] 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.^[17][18] Some bands like the Pixies had massive success overseas while being ignored domestically.^[15] 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.^[17] The Pixies are an American alternative rock music group formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986. ... They Might Be Giants (commonly abbreviated to TMBG) is an American alternative rock duo consisting of John Linnell and John Flansburgh, collectively known as the two Johns or John and John. Known for their experimental pop music, they have been popular on college campuses and earned a reputation for intellectual... Dinosaur Jr. ... An early band formation (left to right): Narcizo, Hersh, Donelly, and Langston. ... Lightning Bolt Live at the Southgate House 2005 Noise rock is a musical genre that developed in the 1980s as an experimental outgrowth of punk rock. ... Sonic Youth is a rock group formed in New York City in 1981. ... Big Black was a rock music band active between 1982 and 1987. ... The cover of the album Locust Abortion Technician Butthole Surfers are an American alternative rock band, founded by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1982; the pair met while students at Trinity University. ... Janes Addiction were an American rock band, named in reference to Jane Bainter, an ex-heroin addict who was a housemate of the band. ... Indoor firehose A firehose is a thick, high-pressure hose used to carry water or other fire retardant (such as foam) to a fire to extinguish it. ... Nirvana was a popular American rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. ...

Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth

Grunge, 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.^[19] 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. File links The following pages link to this file: Sonic Youth ... File links The following pages link to this file: Sonic Youth ... Gordon in 2005 Kim Gordon (born April 28, 1953, in Rochester, New York) plays bass and guitar in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. ... Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a singer and guitarist for Sonic Youth. ... Sonic Youth is a rock group formed in New York City in 1981. ... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock. ... Nickname: The Emerald City Location of Seattle in King County and Washington Coordinates: ) 47°36′N 122°19′W Country State County United States Washington King County Incorporated December 2, 1869 Mayor Greg Nickels Area    - City 369. ... Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1967 and 1974, mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the... See also: 1990 in music, other events of 1991, 1992 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music // Events 1991 was the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. ... Nevermind is the second studio album from the American grunge band, Nirvana. ... Pearl Jam (formed in 1990 in Seattle, Washington) is a rock band considered one of the most popular and influential artists of their decade. ... Ten is Pearl Jams first album, released on August 27, 1991 through Epic Records. ... Soundgarden was a seminal Seattle rock band who helped to define the sound that came to be called grunge. ... Badmotorfinger is the third album by the band Soundgarden. ... Red Hot Chili Peppers are a Grammy Award-winning, California-based, four-piece funk rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. ... Blood Sugar Sex Magik (sometimes written BloodSugarSexMagik) is the fifth album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, released in September of 1991 and written and recorded at a mansion in Laurel Canyon, now owned by the albums producer Rick Rubin and known also as Damie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound... The expression umbrella term means a word that provides a superset or grouping of related concepts. ...

Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind, the album that popularized alternative rock.

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). During the 1990s, many artists who did not fit the "alternative" label were nonetheless given it by mainstream record labels in the hopes of capitalizing on its popularity. Some pop musicians, such as Alanis Morissette and Hootie & the Blowfish were given the label on the basis of nuanced differences from other pop artists. Many pop punk bands such as Green Day and The Offspring were also labeled "alternative". The most drastic mislabeling was given to African-American artists. African-American artists whose music did not fall into the genres of R&B, hip-hop, or pop, such as folk musician Tracy Chapman and heavy metal band Living Colour, were labelled alternative by the music industry despite the fact that their music did not derive from punk or post-punk influences.^[20] Additionally, post-grunge bands such as Third Eye Blind, The Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty took the tropes of alternative rock and commercialized them. Nevertheless, alternative bands who were leery of broad commercial success and stayed underground were termed "indie rock"^[5] and developed movements such as lo-fi, 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.^[21] Cover of the Nirvana album Nevermind. ... Cover of the Nirvana album Nevermind. ... Nirvana was a popular American rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. ... Nevermind is the second studio album from the American grunge band, Nirvana. ... MTV (Music Television) is a cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... Lollapalooza is an American music festival featuring alternative rock, rap, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. ... NIN redirects here. ... The Smashing Pumpkins[1] are a popular American alternative rock band which formed in Chicago in 1988. ... Hole was an alternative rock band formed in 1989 and (officially) disbanded in 2002. ... Alternative culture is a catch-all phrase used predominately by the media and the marketing industry to refer to a variety of separate sub-cultures – (which are either loosely related or near-totally unrelated) – and are perceived by the general public as being outside or on the edge of so... Dancing Hippies Berkeley, California 1969 By Robert Altman Hippie, occasionally spelled hippy, is a term commonly used to refer to some of the disaffected youth of the 1960s and early 1970s. ... In sociology, counterculture is a term used to describe a cultural group whose values and norms run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition or swimming against the tide. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Hootie & the Blowfish is an American pop-rock band, originally formed at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim Soni Sonefeld and Mark Bryan. ... Pop punk is used for two separate subgenres of punk rock music: the kind typically found on Lookout! Records, which stray very little from the three-chord formula that The Ramones pioneered, as well as a newer subgenre of melodic, more emotional punk, which includes by bands like NOFX and... Green Day is a musical trio from East Bay, California, consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, lead vocals), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Tré Cool (drums, backing vocals). ... The Offspring is a popular American band from Orange County, California that was originally formed in 1984. ... Tracy Chapman on the cover of her self-titled album Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles Fast Car, Talkin Bout a Revolution, Baby Can I Hold You, and Give Me One Reason. ... Living Colour is a hard rock group formed in New York city in 1984 by African American musicians. ... Post-grunge (also known as Post-grunge rock) is a subgenre of American alternative rock that emerged in the mid-1990s as an offshoot of the Seattle grunge movement. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Goo Goo Dolls is an alternative rock band that formed in 1985 in Buffalo, New York by guitarist and vocalist Johnny Rzeznik. ... matchbox twenty (originally Matchbox 20) is a rock band from Orlando, Florida, who have sold in excess of 37 million albums worldwide. ... Lo-fi music is an aesthetic approach to music which uses lo-fi recording practices. ... Alternative music is driven by the idea that the best, most exciting, original, or challenging music is not well-served by the rent-seeking economic behaviour of the largest record labels, but by creating genuinely alternative forms of music production has proven problematic, with many once promising labels either being... Matador Records is an influential record label, famous for a roster of highly-respected indie rock artists and bands. ... Merge Records is an indie-rock record label based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. ... Pavement was an American indie rock band in the 1990s. ... Liz Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American singer/songwriter and guitarist. ... Superchunk. ... Alternate meanings: Fugazi (disambiguation) Fugazi is a rock music group from Arlington, VA, formed in 1987 (see 1987 in music). ... Sleater-Kinney are an indie rock trio from Olympia, Washington influenced by the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s. ...

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.^[13] 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, Rage Against the Machine, 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. Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. ... Ticketmaster is the worlds largest seller of event tickets. ... Alice in Chains are an influential rock group formed in the late-1980s in Seattle, Washington. ... Rage Against the Machine, also known as RATM or simply Rage was an American rock band noted for their pioneering blend of hard rock, funk and rap as well as their vocal leftist beliefs. ... Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band. ... For other uses, see Bright Eyes (disambiguation). ... Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. ... Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that enjoyed its original period of wide success in the United States and Canada from 1963 to 1967. ... The White Stripes are an American minimalist Garage Rock duo from Detroit, composed of Jack White on guitar, piano, lead vocals and songwriting, and Meg White on drums, percussion and vocals. ... The Strokes are an American rock band that was formed in 1999 and rose to fame in the early 2000s as a leading group in the garage rock revival. ... Interpol is a New York City indie rock band, formed in 1998. ... The Killers is a rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, and were formed in 2002. ...

Alternative rock in the United Kingdom

Gothic rock developed out of late-70s British post-punk. Most of the first goth bands, including Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and The Cure, 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. Image File history File links Cure_-_A_Forest_excerpt. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... A Forest is a song by British rock band The Cure. ... The Cure are a successful English rock band, widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock scene of the 1980s. ... Image File history File links This_Charming_Man. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... This Charming Man is a song by British rock band The Smiths, released as their second single in October of 1983 on the indie label Rough Trade. ... The Smiths were an English rock group active from 1982 to 1987. ... Image File history File links Only_Shallow. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... My Bloody Valentine were an Irish-British rock band known for their creative use of guitar distortion and vibrato. ... Image File history File links OasisLiveForever. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... Live Forever is a song by British rock group Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. ... Oasis is a popular British rock band originally formed in Manchester, England. ... Image File history File links Franz_Ferdinand_-_Take_Me_Out. ... Software development stages Development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ... Take Me Out is the breakthrough hit and second single from Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. ... Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band based in Glasgow named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. ... Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that developed during the late 1970s. ... 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... Bauhaus is a British rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. ... Siouxsie and the Banshees (pronounced like the name Susie) were a British punk/Post-punk band. ... The Cure are a successful English rock band, widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock scene of the 1980s. ... The Batcave, which was held at Gossips in Dean Street (Soho), was an early goth nightclub in London, England. ... New York City goth band The Naked and the Dead (1985). ... The Sisters of Mercy are a rock band that emerged out of the British post punk scene in 1980-1981. ... The Mission (known as The Mission UK in the United States due to a naming clash with a Philadelphia R&B band) is a gothic rock band formed in 1986 from the splinters of the freshly-dissolved rock band The Sisters of Mercy. ... This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ...

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;^[22] 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. 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. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen of the UK Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by... Orange Juice was a Scottish post punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976, becoming Orange Juice in 1979. ... Aztec Camera is a Scottish New Wave music band from Glasgow. ... The City of Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in the North of England, historically notable for its central role in the Industrial Revolution. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... The Smiths were an English rock group active from 1982 to 1987. ... Steven Patrick Morrissey (born May 22, 1959) is a singer and songwriter from Stretford, Manchester, in Lancashire, England. ... Johnny Marr in 2002 Johnny Marr with ex-Smiths cohort Morrissey Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher on 31 October 1963 in Ardwick, Manchester) is an English guitarist, keyboardist, harmonica player and singer, and is best known as the man behind the music of The Smiths. ... Rough Trade on 130 Talbot Road (nearby Notting Hill station) Rough Trade Records is a British independent record label. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Housemartins were an English indie rock/accapella band that was active in the 1980s. ... James are a popular alternative rock band from Manchester, England, formed in 1981. ... The Wedding Present is a rock group from Leeds, the United Kingdom, that was formed in 1984 from the ashes of the Lost Pandas. ... The C86 Cassette Sleeve. ... The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a music magazine in the UK which has been published weekly since March 1952. ... Primal Scream (temporarily abbreviated to PRML SCRM for the XTRMNTR album) are a rock group formed in Glasgow, Scotland, headed by former Jesus & Mary Chain drummer Bobby Gillespie. ... The Pastels are a group from Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Their story is under-documented, but they first released music around 1983 with a series of awkward but brilliant almost-pop singles for labels like Creation, Rough Trade and Whaam!. Eventually they developed a slightly more sophisticated sound and by the... The Soup Dragons were a Scottish indie rock band of the late 80s and early 90s. ... Twee pop is a type of indie pop that is known for simple, sweet melodies and lyrics, often with jangling guitars and a noted emphasis on childlike naivete. ...

Oasis

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,^[22] 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. Image File history File links Oasis_early. ... Image File history File links Oasis_early. ... Oasis is a popular British rock band originally formed in Manchester, England. ... The Jesus and Mary Chain were a Scottish alternative rock band that revolved around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid. ... Dream pop is a type of alternative rock that originated in the early 1980s when bands like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and A.R. Kane (to whom the term has been attributed) began twisting New Wave melodies into sonic, echoing textures and mumbled vocals. ... Cocteau Twins were an influential and prolific Scottish rock band. ... For space rocks, see asteroid. ... Spacemen 3 were an English space rock band who formed in 1982 and whose career spanned from the post-punk to Acid House eras. ... Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze) is a style of alternative rock that emerged in southern England in the late 1980s. ... My Bloody Valentine were an Irish-British rock band known for their creative use of guitar distortion and vibrato. ... Slowdive // Slowdive were a shoegazing band formed in 1989, lasting until 1995. ... Ride is a 1980s and 90s British shoegazing band. ... Lush were an English shoegazing band, formed in 1988 by Steve Rippon, Emma Anderson, Meriel Barham, Chris Acland and Miki Berenyi. ... An NME Originals issue covering the Madchester movement. ... Fac 51 Haçienda (also known as simply The Haçienda) was one of the most well known nightclubs in Manchester during the Madchester years of the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... New Order are an English rock group formed in 1980 by the surviving members of Joy Division following the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. ... FAC 115: Factory Records Stationery (1984) Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label, started in 1978 which featured several prominent musical acts, such as Joy Division, New Order, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, and (briefly) James and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. ... The Stone Roses were an influential rock band from England active during the late 1980s and early 90s. ... Happy Mondays are a band formed in Manchester, England in 1985. ...

Radiohead

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.^[22] 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 defiantly British bands emerged that wished to "get rid of grunge" and "declare war on America", taking the public and native music press by storm.^[23] Dubbed "Britpop" by the media, this movement represented by Oasis, Blur, Suede, and Pulp was the British equivalent of the grunge explosion,^[22] 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 won "The Battle of Britpop", 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. Image File history File links Radiohead_grass. ... Image File history File links Radiohead_grass. ... Radiohead are an English rock band from Oxfordshire. ... Radiohead are an English rock band from Oxfordshire. ... Bush is an English Post-Grunge band formed in 1992. ... Britpop was a British alternative rock and cultural movement which gained popularity in Great Britain in the mid 1990s, characterised by the prominence of bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. ... Oasis is a popular British rock band originally formed in Manchester, England. ... Cover of Blur: The Best Of - Clockwise from top left: Coxon, James, Rowntree, Albarn Blur is the name of a British rock band. ... Suede was one of the most popular and important bands from the UK in the 90s, and helped start the Britpop movement of the decade. ... Pulp are a rock band, formed in Sheffield, England in 1978, by then 15-year-old school-boy Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar). ... Cool Britannia is a term used in some media to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom, coined in the m