Grammys Redefine Alternative

Today NARAS announced it was adding some categories and changing others in order to get more diversity in the Grammy Awards. So one of the categories they're changing is Alternative. Here's how the describe it:

It is now defined as “a less intense version of Rock or a more intense version of Pop,” which “may embrace a variety of subgenres or any hybrids thereof and may include recordings that don’t fit into other genre categories.”

One of the issues is the lack of women in a lot of music categories, especially Alternative. They hope this change will get more women in the format.

^ Odd, as the 90's definition had no issues attracting female talent.

Will this make/force stations reporting as alternative reconsider what they're reporting as?

G

upstate29651 said:

^ Odd, as the 90's definition had no issues attracting female talent.

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Ah, the Lilith Fair years. Maybe what you hear today is the revenge of today's alt bands and their producers, who wondered where the testosterone that is, for better or worse, part of rock 'n' roll's DNA, went while all that was happening.

One thing that is certainly missing from today's alternative music is testosterone. Even if men dominate the format, most of their music sounds effeminate.

Interesting article on the subject here https://www.billboard.com/articles/...tive-rock-radio-alice-merton-kflay-st-vincent

AbqAnonymous said:

Interesting article on the subject here https://www.billboard.com/articles/...tive-rock-radio-alice-merton-kflay-st-vincent

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I read the article and wonder why the writers quote media music critics who love the female artists, but ignore their own charts, which reflect actual sales. Then they criticize radio programmers for playing what sells. OK.

boombox4 said:

I read the article and wonder why the writers quote media music critics who love the female artists, but ignore their own charts, which reflect actual sales. Then they criticize radio programmers for playing what sells. OK.

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And then go on to say that no one is actually listening to the radio anymore. If that's true, then why does it matter?

There are lots of female artists played on Sirius XM's Alt Nation, since if you want the harder stuff there are other channels. Alt radio has been focused on the male audience since grunge hit in the early 90's, with the exception of the Lilith Fair years, and the alts have become the only current rock format in many places. This is in tandem with the decline in the rock format in general. In places that still have a viable rock station, the alts tend to be closer the Alt Nation's playlist. In places like Houston without an active rock station, the local alt station plays a few of the female alt artists, but you're more likely to hear Nirvana and Five Finger Death Punch.

AAA has also been more friendly to female artists, in fact "No Roots" was a cross over hit from that format. It did not quite catch on at CHR or Hot AC but with 116 million YouTube views that would likely be considered a success these days. So far this year Alice Merton, Jade Bird, and Florence and the Machine have topped the AAA charts for 10 weeks total. But an artist like K.Flay would be better suited at alternative. But yes most alt stations are still dominated by guitar rock from the 90s and are often rated in the upper 1s or low 2s in most places. But the female artists are there for award consideration and getting some support from satellite, AAA, and streaming.

Currently the female-fronted ska band The Interrupters is in the top 10 with "She's Kerosene", a song that sounds like it could have come out in 1996. (And I mean that in a good way.) And there is plenty of other good music from female artists and female-fronted bands that fits with the format's heritage. Courtney Barnett, St. Vincent, Meg Myers, etc.

The format has been slowly morphing back to its early days for the last 6 or 7 years, being as the last big "Rock" record on the format was Rope by the Foo Fighters, released back in 2011. Gone are the days of alt rock stations playing to an audience who listens to shock jocks, as well as panders to a crowd that thinks to non-loud music is for sissies. Some hard rock is good, but being loud does not always mean the artist has talent, or makes anything music worth while regardless. Not every grunge-flavored rock band could fit in Chris Cornell or Dave Grohls shoes, some not even close.

Could more female artists be given a boost, why certainly? Charly Bliss, one of the artists mentioned in the article, sounds a lot like the power-pop albums promoted on the format in the early through mid 90's. Think a cross between early Weezer and Matthew Sweet.

A format that embraces the best music overall: including power-pop, EDM, Shoegaze, Sythpop, Punk, Garage Rock and Hip-Hop shall win the hearts of listeners. By focusing on a few bands destined for arena-rock madness, such as Imagine Dragons, would be a disservice to the public. Case and point, could a format styled after college radio or adventurous Modern Rock stations of yesteryear get good ratings? Maybe, maybe not? On the other hand, any sane individual of a certain age feels a lot more nostalgic for DJ's like Steve Masters playing Mixshows on Live 105, then that alt station circa-2003 that had a fetish for playing that 3 Doors Down song that became a recruitment song for the US Army.

Then again, maybe the Lilith Fair era wasn't that bad? May be subjective but some of the music seems to have held up well, or at least wasn't that dreadful noise that came right after in the form of nu-metal. I mean, Alanis Morrisette and Sarah McLachlan had some good songs, even if some of the music didn't get your testosterone pumping. Blur, Mighty Mighty Boostones, Radiohead, Fiona Apple and various other artists got airplay on alternative radio between the end of grunge's dominance in 1996, and the back-wards ball-cap carnival barkers that dominated the format in 1999.