• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

the Alternative genre seems to forget its heritage

G

gamefreak

Leading Participant
Anyone notice that a majority of Alt Rock stations that play older music play nothing more than the same Weezer and Nirvana songs. Anything that isn't the same ol' grunge isn't really played at all. Which means most of the 90's that isn't Grunge or Weezer isn't played.

Don't even get me started with the 80's and the late 70's. Alternative as what it is wouldn't even exist if not for the CBGB, the punk-rock scene, the Post-Punk scene as well as the Factory Records/ Manchester Scene.
 
While things move on and times change, it's a bit odd that stations don't even generally play The Clash anymore. At least there's still the awesome flashback show on 91X every day at Noon Pacific Time.

On a related note, recently Music Choice dropped the Classic Alternative channel from its offerings.
 
The new Rock channel on Music Choice is playing Hair Metal from the 80's and Alternative from the 90's and 2k. Talk about confusion.
 
The End, KNDD in Seattle devotes 2 hours on Sunday mornings and the noon block on weekdays as "Resurrection Jukebox" They seem to play everything from Robyn Hitchcock to Beastie Boys. They even added a live person on Sundays.
 
I'm a 42 year old male who loves Alternative music. While I appreciate the format history, I am a person who looks forward. The average 25 year old listener probably doesn't have any connection with early Alternative hits, which explains why they are put in as specialty show material. It is just a case of format evolution.
 
I don't know what this means specifically, but WKZQ Myrtle Beach calls its music "new rock and classic alternative". They seem to have given up the metal from the 80s that they used to play, and overall the station's volume level sounds like the station can no longer have children. That's not to say there isn't any of the active rock type material, but it just isn't like it was.
 
leethalweapon said:
I'm a 42 year old male who loves Alternative music. While I appreciate the format history, I am a person who looks forward. The average 25 year old listener probably doesn't have any connection with early Alternative hits, which explains why they are put in as specialty show material. It is just a case of format evolution.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Alternative/Modern Rock has always been primarily a new music format aimed at young adults, and like any other contemporary music format, you'd expect it to keep evolving. You don't hear CHR and Urban stations still playing their '80s and '90s hits anymore for the same reason.

Much of what's considered "Classic Alternative" is now getting plenty of play on Classic Rock and "Jack FM" and "best mix of the '80s, '90s and 2K" stations these days, and Alternative stations are finding more success lately as they let go of all but the biggest hits from their past, and return to their original mission of breaking new artists and new music (much of which has proven to be crossover-friendly lately).
 
Agree with all the points above. Modern/Alternative/Indie (what the hell do we call it now?) rock has ALWAYS been about new, groundbreaking music; but in the right formula it's mixed with the songs that are now classics that were once groundbreaking themselves. There are, heritage stations, like 91x for example that do a great job of recognizing this, that play new, emerging bands like Big Data, Tame Impala, Sir Sly to name a few, mixed with their fairly good gold selection which includes The Smiths, The Clash, Depeche Mode Social Distortion, etc. Agree, it should be more than just relegating gold to a few overplayed Green Day and Nirvana selections...
 
puddingpop said:
Much of what's considered "Classic Alternative" is now getting plenty of play on Classic Rock and "Jack FM" and "best mix of the '80s, '90s and 2K" stations these days, and Alternative stations are finding more success lately as they let go of all but the biggest hits from their past, and return to their original mission of breaking new artists and new music (much of which has proven to be crossover-friendly lately).
Click to expand...

I don't find your first point to be accurate at all, and your second point about artists being crossover-friendly is exactly what's holding "alternative" back.

G
 
They don't wanna play new songs from most 90's acts. They wanna cater to the 18-25 demo which is their right I guess.
 
I am a few months behind looking at Billboard magazine, but in one I saw yesterday they had an article which I haven't read yet but probably will online (actually reading the real magazine would have taken too long).

Alternative once meant grunge and louder music, but the format is evolving and sounds more like it did when it began back in the days before Nirvana.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I am a few months behind looking at Billboard magazine, but in one I saw yesterday they had an article which I haven't read yet but probably will online (actually reading the real magazine would have taken too long).

Alternative once meant grunge and louder music, but the format is evolving and sounds more like it did when it began back in the days before Nirvana.
Click to expand...

Actually, "Alternative" is nothing more than one of many passing fads in rock music. Attempting to keep "Alternative" alive as if it was something special and unique is ridiculous. It is not a whole new genre of music, discrete and separate from any other genre. Alternative was to the early 90's what Punk was to the late 70's - nothing more than a slightly new trend. In that regard, Punk was to the late 70's what Psychedelic was to the mid 60's. Trends in rock come and go all the time, that's the nature of rock music. The sooner everyone accepts that Alternative was just another speed bump on the rock road and moves on, the better it will be to all.
 
Can anyone explain, in their own words, what makes "Alternative" different from any other type of music? Can anyone post a clear and unambiguous description, in their own words, that everyone would agree with and understand? I'm talking about a definition clear enough that anyone read the definition, and then heard a few different songs, they could identify which songs were Alternative and which ones weren't?
 
Not really. The article I linked to but could access at a library said that with Top 40 in trouble, guitar rock mixed with Generation X attitude and classic sounds. That was the Nirvana/Pearl Jam era. Then there were bands that did 70s style punk but had the guitars that made them appeal to fratboys. Radio stations knew better than to play Depeche Mode and the Smiths if they wanted listeners. Pop-style acts were leaving for modern AC. The former fans of alternative weren't happy with grunge and had to settle for "cerebral" Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down. Active and alternative were quite similar based on Billboard's charts. Guns 'n Roses and Metallica were showing up both places. By 2003, the White Stripes made alternative other than guitar music acceptable again. Once Sirius offered competition, alternative and active had to sound different. Even dance music is showing up in alternative now. AAA is as similar to today's alternative as active used to be.

There's not a nice neat definition there.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Not really. The article I linked to but could access at a library said that with Top 40 in trouble, guitar rock mixed with Generation X attitude and classic sounds. That was the Nirvana/Pearl Jam era. Then there were bands that did 70s style punk but had the guitars that made them appeal to fratboys. Radio stations knew better than to play Depeche Mode and the Smiths if they wanted listeners. Pop-style acts were leaving for modern AC. The former fans of alternative weren't happy with grunge and had to settle for "cerebral" Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down. Active and alternative were quite similar based on Billboard's charts. Guns 'n Roses and Metallica were showing up both places. By 2003, the White Stripes made alternative other than guitar music acceptable again. Once Sirius offered competition, alternative and active had to sound different. Even dance music is showing up in alternative now. AAA is as similar to today's alternative as active used to be.

There's not a nice neat definition there.
Click to expand...

No, but it proves the point that "Alternative" is not a separate genre of music, and is not really a music radio format either.
 
Over the weekend I saw the movie "Cold Mountain". There was a group playing music similar to what we now call bluegrass, which falls under American and AAA. One of them was a fiddle player who was so young I concluded he must be an actual alternative musician, by radio's definition. I didn't know who he might be but I just guessed Jack White. In fact, Jack White played the role and he was listed as a musician on several of the songs. That was some good music.
 
TheBigA said:
Except that there is a radio airplay chart that monitors airplay of songs classified as "Alternative."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2012/10/15/airplay-charts/1635101/

Granted, that is sort of an ad hoc definition, as befits the format name. But the radio format is anything that stations classify as Alternative.
Click to expand...

Do you understand the difference between a radio format and a music genre? Can you answer this simple question about Alternative as a musical genre?

Can anyone explain, in their own words, what makes "Alternative" different from any other type of music? Can anyone post a clear and unambiguous description, in their own words, that everyone would agree with and understand? I'm talking about a definition clear enough that anyone read the definition, and then heard a few different songs, they could identify which songs were Alternative and which ones weren't?
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom