Alternative rock, also called alternative music, alt-rock, or simply alternative, is a type of rock music that started in the independent music scene of the 1970s. In the 1990s, alternative rock became popular in the United States with the grunge subgenre and in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres. During this time, many record companies were looking for new music because the rock, hard rock, and glam metal styles from the 1980s were no longer as popular. The influence of Generation X in the 1990s also helped make alternative music more widely known.

The word "alternative" describes how this music is different from mainstream or commercial rock and pop. Originally, the term meant a wide range of musicians who were inspired by the style or independent, hands-on approach of late-1970s punk rock. Over time, alternative rock changed in sound, social context, and where it came from. In the 1980s, magazines, college radio stations, and word of mouth helped make alternative rock more visible, showing the variety of styles like noise pop, indie rock, grunge, and shoegaze. In September 1988, Billboard added "alternative" to its music charts to reflect the growing popularity of this style in the United States, especially on radio stations like KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and WDRE-FM in New York, which played music from independent and underground artists.

At first, some alternative music styles got a little attention, and a few bands, such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction, signed with major record labels. However, most alternative bands, like the Smiths, stayed with independent labels and received little attention from mainstream radio, TV, or newspapers. When bands like Nirvana became famous and the grunge and Britpop movements grew in the 1990s, alternative rock became widely popular, and many alternative bands achieved success.

In the 2000s, emo music became popular with bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and Panic! at the Disco. Other bands, such as the White Stripes and the Strokes, became commercially successful in the early 2000s. These bands inspired new alternative rock groups who took ideas from garage rock, post-punk, and new wave, leading to a revival of those styles.

Etymology

Record companies often sign contracts with entertainers who are expected to become popular and sell many records. In the past, these bands recorded songs in expensive studios. Their music was sold in stores owned by entertainment companies and later sold in large retail stores. Record companies worked with radio and television to help their artists gain more attention. The people who made decisions were business people who treated music as a product. Bands that did not sell enough records were not included in this system.

Before the term "alternative rock" was commonly used around 1990, the music it described was called by many different names. In 1979, a writer named Terry Tolkin used the word "alternative" to describe the groups he wrote about. In the same year, a radio station called KZEW in Dallas had a late-night show titled "Rock and Roll Alternative." In the United States during the 1980s, the term "college rock" was used because the music was connected to college radio and the interests of college students. In the United Kingdom, many small independent record labels started because of the punk music scene. One of these labels, Cherry Red, said that magazines like NME and Sounds created charts based on sales from small record stores called "Alternative Charts." In January 1980, the first national chart called the "Indie Chart" was published. It helped these small labels succeed. At the time, the word "indie" meant music that was distributed independently. By 1985, "indie" came to describe a specific type of music, not just how it was distributed.

The term "alternative" to describe rock music began being used in the mid-1980s. At that time, the music industry used the term "new music" for music that was new and different. A similar term, "alternative pop," started being used around 1985.

In 1987, a magazine called Spin classified a college rock band named Camper Van Beethoven as "alternative/indie." The magazine said the band's 1985 song "Where the Hell Is Bill" criticized the alternative/independent music scene. The band's leader, David Lowery, later said that the term "alternative" was used because the band sounded like a punk group but played pop music. Some DJs and promoters in the 1980s said the term "alternative" came from American FM radio in the 1970s. This radio format offered more freedom for DJs and played longer songs, serving as an alternative to top 40 radio. One former DJ said the term "alternative" was rediscovered in the 1980s and used by college radio to describe new post-punk, indie, or underground music.

At first, the term "alternative" referred to rock music that was not mainstream and not influenced by "heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave," or "high-energy dance anthems." Over time, the term included music like new wave, pop, punk rock, post-punk, and sometimes "college"/"indie" rock. These styles were played on American radio stations such as KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. A journalist named Jim Gerr said "alternative" also included music like rap, trash, metal, and industrial. The first Lollapalooza festival, created by the frontman of Jane's Addiction, brought together different groups from the alternative rock scene, including Henry Rollins, Butthole Surfers, Ice-T, Nine Inch Nails, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Jane's Addiction. A reporter for MTV said the festival had the most diverse lineup of alternative rock. That summer, the term "Alternative Nation" was created.

In December 1991, Spin magazine said that alternative rock had moved from being a niche group to becoming popular. In the late 1990s, the definition of alternative rock became more specific. In 1997, a writer for The New York Times described alternative rock as "hard-edged rock with guitar sounds inspired by the 1970s and singers who express deep personal struggles."

The term "alternative" is hard to define because it has two different meanings. It can describe music that challenges the mainstream and is not commercial, but it is also used in the music industry to describe music that is available to listeners through stores, radio, and the internet. Despite this, alternative music has become as popular and marketable as mainstream rock. Record companies use the term "alternative" to reach audiences that mainstream rock does not. A writer named Dave Thompson said the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith's album Horses, and Lou Reed's album Metal Machine Music were important events in the birth of alternative rock. A writer named Rhys Williams said that in the 1990s, musical genres mixed more than ever, making it harder to define "alternative" rock. Until the early 2000s, the terms "indie rock" and "alternative rock" were often used the same way in the United States. However, "indie rock" was seen as a British term, while "alternative rock" was more associated with the United States.

Characteristics

The term "alternative rock" is a grouping term for underground music that began after punk rock in the mid-1980s. For much of its history, alternative rock was known for avoiding the commercial aspects of mainstream music. However, some artists later became popular in the mainstream or worked with major record companies starting in the 1990s and continuing into the 2000s. In the 1980s, alternative rock bands often performed in small clubs, recorded for independent labels, and gained fans through word of mouth. There is no single musical style for alternative rock, though in 1989, The New York Times described the genre as focusing on guitar music, with loud power chords, ringing guitar riffs, effects like fuzz, and feedback sounds. Compared to other rock styles, alternative rock songs often discuss social issues such as drug use, depression, suicide, and environmental concerns. These themes reflected the social and economic challenges faced in the United States and United Kingdom during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Precursors (1960s–1970s)

Alternative rock began in the 1960s with early forms of music called proto-punk. The album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) by the band The Velvet Underground helped shape the development of alternative rock. Unusual and creative musicians from the 1960s, such as Syd Barrett, also had an influence on the style and direction of alternative rock.

Origins (1980s)

The phrase "alternative rock" often makes people think of the 1990s. However, it is difficult to say exactly when or where a music genre was born. For alternative rock—especially the kind that started in the American punk underground—the year 1984 might have been the first year it began to take shape.

Throughout the 1980s, alternative rock remained mostly hidden from the public. Occasionally, a song would become popular, or an album would be praised in magazines like Rolling Stone. However, most alternative rock music was shared through independent record labels, fanzines (magazines created by fans), and college radio stations. Alternative rock bands built their fan bases by touring often and releasing low-cost albums. In the United States, new bands formed after older ones, creating many different local scenes across the country. College radio played an important role in sharing new alternative music. In the mid-1980s, a college radio station called KCPR in San Luis Obispo, California, described the challenge of balancing popular songs with more unique, "cutting edge" songs on "alternative radio."

Although American alternative rock artists in the 1980s did not sell many albums, they influenced later musicians and helped prepare the way for their success. On September 10, 1988, Billboard magazine created the Alternative Songs chart, which listed the 40 most-played songs on alternative and modern rock radio in the United States. The first song to reach number one was "Peek-a-Boo" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. By 1989, the genre had grown enough that a tour featuring New Order, Public Image Limited, and the Sugarcubes traveled across the United States.

"Alternative music is music that has not yet reached a large audience," one person said. "It is any music that could become more popular. It must have real strength, quality, and excitement, and it must be socially important, unlike music by Whitney Houston, which is considered simple or unchallenging."

In the early 1980s, British alternative rock was different from American alternative rock. British bands focused more on pop music, gave equal attention to albums and singles, and often included sounds from dance and club music. Their lyrics also focused on British topics. Because of these differences, few British alternative bands became popular in the United States. In the UK, alternative rock was widely played on radio stations, especially by disc jockeys like John Peel, Richard Skinner, and Annie Nightingale on BBC Radio 1. Some American alternative bands that had small followings gained more attention in the UK through radio and music magazines, and many achieved success on UK charts.

Early American alternative rock bands, such as the Dream Syndicate, the Bongos, 10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M., the Feelies, and Violent Femmes, mixed punk influences with folk and mainstream music. R.E.M. was the most successful early band. Their first album, Murmur (1983), reached the Top 40 and inspired other bands to create jangle pop music. In the early 1980s, a group of bands in Los Angeles called the Paisley Underground revived sounds from the 1960s, including psychedelic music, rich vocal harmonies, and guitar styles from folk rock, as well as influences from punk and underground music like the Velvet Underground.

American independent record labels such as SST Records, Twin/Tone Records, Touch and Go Records, and Dischord Records helped shift the focus from hardcore punk to the more varied styles of alternative rock. Bands in Minneapolis, like Hüsker Dü and the Replacements, showed this change. Both started as punk rock bands but later added more melody to their music. Michael Azerrad, a music writer, said Hüsker Dü was important in proving that melody and punk rock could coexist. He also noted that Hüsker Dü was the first American indie band to sign with a major record label, helping college rock become a successful business. The Replacements changed some underground rules by focusing on emotional songwriting and wordplay instead of political themes. Azerrad said, "Along with R.E.M., they were one of the few underground bands that mainstream people liked."

By the late 1980s, American alternative rock included many different styles, such as quirky alternative rock (They Might Be Giants and Camper Van Beethoven), noise rock (Sonic Youth, Big Black, the Jesus Lizard), and industrial rock (Ministry, Nine Inch Nails). These styles were followed by the rise of Boston’s Pixies and Los Angeles’ Jane’s Addiction. Around the same time, a subgenre called grunge began in Seattle, Washington. Grunge combined heavy metal and punk rock sounds with a thick, muddy guitar style. Grunge bands were supported by an independent label in Seattle called Sub Pop. They were known for wearing thrift store clothes like flannel shirts and combat boots. Early grunge bands, such as Soundgarden and Mudhoney, received praise in the United States and the United Kingdom.

By the end of the 1980s, some alternative bands signed with major record labels. While early signings like Hüsker Dü and the Replacements had little success, later bands like R.E.M. and Jane’s Addiction achieved major sales and set the stage for alternative rock’s later popularity. Some bands, like Pixies, were very successful in other countries but not in the United States.

In the middle of the 1980s, Hüsker Dü’s album Zen Arcade influenced other punk bands by focusing on personal stories. From Washington, D.C.’s punk scene, a style called "emocore" or later "emo" developed. Emo bands focused on emotional, personal lyrics and sometimes cried during performances. Rites of Spring was considered the first emo band. Ian MacKaye, a former singer of the band Minor Threat, started a record label called Dischord Records, which became the center of the emo scene in Washington, D.C.

Gothic rock began in the late 1970s from British post-punk music. It is known as the "darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock." Gothic rock uses sounds from post-punk, including synthesizers and guitars, to create heavy, sad, and dramatic music. Lyrics often include themes from literature, religion, and the supernatural. Bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division influenced gothic rock. Bauhaus’s first single, "Bela Lugosi’s Dead" (1979), is considered the start of the gothic rock subgenre. The Cure’s albums, like Pornography (1

Mainstream success (1990s)

By the start of the 1990s, the music industry saw the potential for profit in alternative rock. Major record companies had already signed bands like Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Dinosaur Jr. In early 1991, the band R.E.M. became popular worldwide with their album Out of Time. This album set an example for many other alternative rock bands.

The first Lollapalooza festival in 1991 was the most successful tour in North America. Dave Grohl of Nirvana, who attended the festival, said, "It felt like something important was starting, like the beginning of a big change." The festival changed how the music industry thought about music. One person said, "By that fall, radio and MTV had changed. I really think that if it weren’t for Perry [Farrell] or Lollapalooza, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now."

In the 1990s, music that was once considered underground, punk, or unusual in the 1980s became popular in mainstream culture. It appeared on television, radio, in shopping centers, and at sporting events. By the end of the decade, alternative music had become very popular but also lost its original meaning. It had become part of the media and no longer seemed like an alternative to it.

The release of Nirvana’s single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in September 1991 marked the start of the grunge music movement. The song’s music video played often on MTV, and their album Nevermind sold 400,000 copies each week by Christmas 1991. This success surprised the music industry. Nevermind helped make grunge popular and showed that alternative rock could be both culturally meaningful and commercially successful. One writer said Nevermind was "a sea-change in rock music" that ended the popularity of hair metal and brought more authentic music to the forefront.

Alternative rock, once called Amerindie in the 1980s, became known as alt-rock. It gained popularity from Nirvana until around 1996 but is now less fashionable, even though the music still exists.

Nirvana’s success led to the widespread popularity of alternative rock in the 1990s. Radio stations became more open to playing alternative rock, especially heavier bands.

After Nevermind, alternative rock became part of the mainstream. Record companies, confused by the genre’s success but wanting to profit from it, signed many bands. The New York Times wrote in 1993, "Alternative rock doesn’t seem so alternative anymore. Every major label has a few guitar-driven bands with simple clothing, bad posture, and good riffs who hide catchy tunes with noise and nonchalance."

However, many alternative rock artists avoided success because it went against the genre’s rebellious, DIY ethic and their belief in artistic authenticity. One writer said, "On one hand, [alternative rock’s entry into the mainstream] helped create a strong underground scene, and on the other, it created a desire for good music to be popular and popular music to be good. When underground music finally reached the mainstream in 1991, some called it a sellout, while others celebrated it as a revolution, sometimes both at the same time. This was a difficult balance that required the use of postmodern irony, a key part of 1990s pop culture."

Other grunge bands followed Nirvana’s success. Pearl Jam released its first album, Ten, a month before Nevermind in 1991, but sales grew only a year later. By mid-1992, Ten became a big success, reaching number two on the Billboard 200. Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, Alice in Chains’ Dirt, Stone Temple Pilots’ Core, and the Temple of the Dog album (featuring members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden) were among the top-selling albums of 1992. Rolling Stone called Seattle "the new Liverpool" because of the success of these bands. Major record labels signed most of the popular grunge bands in Seattle, and many more bands moved there hoping for success. Critics said advertising was turning grunge into a fad. Entertainment Weekly wrote in 1993, "There hasn’t been this kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the 1960s." The New York Times compared the "grunging of America" to the mass-marketing of punk rock, disco, and hip hop in earlier years. As grunge became popular, some people in Seattle began to dislike it.

Nirvana’s next album, In Utero (1993), was intentionally loud and aggressive. The band’s bassist, Krist Novoselic, called it "a wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record." Despite its rough style, In Utero topped the Billboard charts. Pearl Jam also did well with its second album, Vs. (1993), which sold 950,378 copies in its first week. In 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins released Siamese Dream, which sold over 4 million copies by 1996 and received multi-platinum certification. The album’s heavy metal and progressive rock influences helped alternative rock gain more acceptance on mainstream radio. In 1995, the band released Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness, which sold 10 million copies in the U.S. alone and became a Diamond-certified record.

As the Madchester scene declined and shoegazing became less popular, grunge from America took over the British alternative scene and music press in the early 1990s. In response, British bands began to reject grunge and "declare war on America," gaining popularity in the UK. These bands were called "Britpop" and included

Diversification (2000s)

In the early 2000s, many alternative rock bands that were once popular faced challenges after several key events. These included the death of Nirvana's lead singer, Kurt Cobain, in April 1994; Pearl Jam's unsuccessful legal case against Ticketmaster; Soundgarden's breakup in 1997; The Smashing Pumpkins losing their original members in 2000; L7 taking a break in 2001; the death of Layne Staley and the end of Alice in Chains in 2002; and the disbanding of The Cranberries and Stone Temple Pilots in 2003. At the same time, Britpop declined after Oasis's third album, Be Here Now (1997), received poor reviews.

A sign of change in alternative rock was the pause of the Lollapalooza festival in 1998, which struggled to find a headliner. Spin magazine said, "Lollapalooza is as inactive as alternative rock right now." Despite these changes, alternative rock remained popular and sold well into the 2000s.

During the late 1990s, grunge was replaced by post-grunge. Post-grunge bands did not have the same underground beginnings as grunge and were influenced by grunge's popularity. These bands copied grunge's sound and style but not always the unique traits of its original artists. Post-grunge became more commercially successful by using smoother, radio-friendly production instead of the rough guitar sounds of grunge.

At first, the term "post-grunge" was used in a negative way to describe bands that emerged when grunge was popular and imitated its sound. This label suggested that these bands were not original but instead a copy of an authentic rock movement. Bands like Bush, Candlebox, and Collective Soul were called post-grunge, which some critics said meant they were not a real musical movement but a response to a change in rock music. Over time, post-grunge evolved, and new bands like Foo Fighters, Matchbox Twenty, Creed, and Nickelback became very popular in the United States.

As Britpop declined, Radiohead gained critical praise with its album OK Computer (1997) and later albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). These albums were very different from the traditional style of Britpop. Radiohead, along with post-Britpop bands like Travis, Stereophonics, and Coldplay, became important in British rock music.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, new alternative rock bands like The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and The Rapture emerged. These bands were inspired by post-punk and new wave music, starting a post-punk revival movement. Bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes helped make this revival popular. Other bands, such as The Killers and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, also found success in the 2000s. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly said, "After almost a decade of domination by rap-rock and nu-metal bands, mainstream alt-rock is finally good again." Arctic Monkeys became famous early in their careers by using Internet social networking, with their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) becoming the fastest-selling debut album in British history.

By 2000 and into the 2000s, emo became one of the most popular rock genres. Jimmy Eat World's album Bleed American (2001) and Dashboard Confessional's The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (2003) were very successful. The new emo sound was more mainstream than earlier versions and more popular with teenagers. The term "emo" also expanded to describe fashion, hairstyles, and any music that expressed strong emotions. Bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and Panic! at the Disco became popular in the 2000s.

The American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers became popular again in 1999 with their album Californication and remained successful through the 2000s. Thirty Seconds to Mars gained popularity in the late 2000s.

2010–present

In the 2010s, most mentions of alternative rock music in the United States refer to the indie rock genre, which was not commonly used in alternative rock media before this time. Some radio stations changed the type of music they played during the 2010s, but this was mainly because large companies and advertisers wanted more Top 40/Top 100 stations for business purposes. While some people disagreed about whether alternative rock remained popular with the general public after 2010, Dave Grohl, a musician, said in an article from the New York Daily News in August 2013 that rock music was not dead, stating, "speak for yourself… rock seems pretty alive to me."

Modern alternative rock bands often mix musical styles such as hard rock, electronica, hip hop, indie, and punk, with a focus on keyboards and guitars. In the 2010s, the British band Muse became well-known worldwide for their album The Resistance and Drones, which won Grammy Awards.

The American duo Twenty One Pilots mixes different music styles, including hip-hop, emo, rock, indie pop, and reggae. They set many records, such as being the first alternative group to have two songs in the top five at the same time in the United States. Their 2015 album Blurryface was the first album in history to have every song receive a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. They also became the first rock group to have a song reach one billion streams on Spotify. Their hit song "Stressed Out" was the 25th song to reach one billion plays on the platform. This happened during a time when music on streaming services like Spotify was mostly dominated by genres such as hip hop, EDM, and pop.

Avril Lavigne’s success in the early 2000s, including her hit song "Sk8er Boi," helped prepare the way for future female alt-pop singers. In the late 2000s, Santigold became known as an "alternative pop hero" because of her strong artistic style.

In the early 2010s, Lana Del Rey gained a large group of fans with her "cinematic, beat-heavy alt-pop," which had a dramatic and sad tone. Lorde, a singer from New Zealand, became famous worldwide in 2013 and 2014, winning awards and topping music charts. In 2022, Billie Eilish helped bring alternative pop into the mainstream with her dark and moody style.

A different style of R&B began in the mid-2000s and became popular with artists like Frank Ocean, Khalid, SZA, Summer Walker, Jhené Aiko, Brent Faiyaz, Zayn Malik, Tyler, The Creator, Steve Lacy, Childish Gambino, Miguel, Drake, The Weeknd, Kehlani, Tinashe, Bryson Tiller, PartyNextDoor, Tory Lanez, and 6lack. This style is considered more varied and forward-thinking than mainstream R&B.

The Weeknd is a main example of this style. He became popular with his second album Beauty Behind the Madness and his third album Starboy. He is seen as a key artist in alt-R&B.