Alternative Rock

Sub-genre of rock.

Introduction

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. It tends to involve guitars, drums, bass guitar and vocals, and is not synthesised.

Bands/Artists

Artists and bands in this genre include:• 30 seconds to mars• All American Rejects• Bombay Bicycle Club• Lana Del Ray• Mayday Parade• Radiohead• Two door Cinema Club• Tegan and Sara• Marina and the Diamonds

Origins

• Alternative rock music became popular in the 1990's but has been going for much longer than the 90s.Nirvana made alternative rock music quite mainstream, the music genre had been gaining popularity with the college crowds and music underground.

1980’s

In the 1980s alternative rock was mainly an underground occurrence, the genre was mainly associated with independent record labels, fanzines and college radio.

Alternative bands tended to form through already existing alternative bands, so this created like a circuit of bands in the underground.

1980’s

There were not many mainstream alternative bands around, however there were exceptions including R.E.M.

Throughout the 80’s the genre grew increasingly popular so in 1989 there was a package tour where different bands performed including ‘New Order’, ‘Public Image Limited’ and ‘The Sugarcubes.’

1990’s

R.E.M were so successful it led other bands to try ad follow in their footprints.

By the start of the 1990’s alternative rock had become popular, record labels were interested in bands including ‘Nirvana’ and ‘Jane’s Addiction.’

Nirvana

Band members included – Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl

Nirvana had their breakthrough in the beginning of the 1990’s with their first single ‘Smells like teen spirit’ from their second album ‘Nevermind,’ which “marked the instigation of the grunge music phenomenon.”

Nevermind was played across MTV loads leading to over 400,000 copies of the album being sold weekly by December 1991.

Nirvana

Nirvana opened doors for many other alternative bands after its popularity increased, including heavier alternative bands.

To date, since their debut, Nirvana have sold over 75 million records worldwide, and 30 million records in USA alone.

R.E.M

The band formed in 1980 and held their first show April 5th 1980. The band was formed by singer Michael Stipe, Peter Buck on guitar, Mike Mills the bassist and Bill Berry the drummer. R.E.M were one of the early favoured alternative rock bands due too Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals.

R.E.M

The first single that R.E.M released was in 1981 called ‘Radio Free Europe’ by the independent record label Hib-tone. R.E.M then had very good continued success until their split in September 2011 which they announced on their website.

Generic Features

Alternative rock tends to be associated with being non-mainstream however this has changed over the years as many alternative bands have reached mainstream success. Alternative rock tends to be quite guitar based with different kinds of guitar sounds including gloomy gothic rock sounds and jolly indie pop sounds. The lyrics in alternative rock songs tend to be based on social issues like drugs and depression.

Instruments

Most alternative rock bands have a traditional instrument set with guitars, vocals, a bass and drums. Sometimes keyboards will be used. However obviously there will be exceptions in the instrument choice.

Vocals

The voice of alternative rock sounds quite effortless, like no energy goes in towards what their vocals sound like. The tone of the voice is quite flat. The vocals come in many varieties from quite wispy to droney and moany.

21st century

Several alternative rock bands emerged in the late 90’s early 00’s during the ‘post punk revival movement’. Bands included Franz Ferdinand and The killers. Entertainment weekly said in 2004 “After almost a decade of domination by rap-rock and nu-metal bands, mainstream alt-rock is finally good again”.

21st century

Despite this, most advertising focus was aimed at pop and R&B music, leaving alternative rock with declining sales and few bands appearing in the UK Top 10 between 2005-2010.