Alternative
Emerged from early 1980s US and UK underground scenes
The underground that swallowed the mainstream whole.
Alternative rock was never one sound. It was everything that didn't fit the hair metal and pop paradigm of the 1980s. College radio stations and independent labels built an underground network that eventually became too big to ignore.
From R.E.M.'s jangly mystery to Pixies' loud-quiet-loud dynamics to Radiohead's progressive deconstruction of rock itself, alternative proved that commercial success and artistic ambition weren't mutually exclusive, even if that was never really the point.
Defining Characteristics
—Genre-blending
—Independent ethos
—Experimental tendencies
—College radio roots
—Lyrical depth
Essential Artists
Essential Albums
1983
Murmur—R.E.M.
1989
Doolittle—Pixies
1997
OK Computer—Radiohead
1988
Daydream Nation—Sonic Youth
1989
Disintegration—The Cure