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PART 2 - "ALTERNATIVE" POP/ROCK (or "THE STUFF THEY PLAY ON TRIPLE J") "Alternative" pop/rock is a broad, all-encompassing term used to identify all the groups which occupy major labels and sell plenty of records, but still cater for the non-top-40 audience. It occupies that middle ground between mainstream music (the charts) and the "real" alternative scene (indie pop/rock). A huge number of artists and groups fall into this category, so it's easiest to identify them as "all those bands that get played on Triple J." I'm not talking about Triple J's more eclectic moments either - listen to the Net 50 on a Saturday night. That's the epitomy of alternative pop/rock. The biggest driving force behind the growth of this new scene was post-grunge. Following the huge success of Nirvana, record labels began signing hard rock acts who sounded vaguely appropriate, and released polished, radio friendly albums of imitation grunge. The wave of bands following in the footsteps of Nirvana and the Seattle scene in general (Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Everclear, etc) made up the largest proportion of groups being marketed as alternative, but tailored specifically towards a mainstream audience. Their music was similar to grunge in style, but while grunge's influences were very distinctly 1980s alternative, post-grunge was only influenced by what grunge went on to become - a way to sell lots of albums while playing seriously minded hard rock. Given the tendency of grunge groups to write sober, introspective lyrics, this became an almost obligatory requirement of post-grunge, with the genre's artists often taking themselves a little too seriously. Grunge everntually faded out, but the post-grunge style went on to be one of the most popular musical styles going into the new millenium. As increasing numbers of "alternative" groups signed with major labels, the alternative scene grew to the point that its name was completely misleading. While many alternative pop/rock groups are talented and well worth your while, you'll gain little in the way of musical individuality (if that's your thing) by listening to them. While some great bands owe their wide followings to exposure via the alternative pop/rock route, there have unfortunately been too many alternative groups who are lacking in talent, while being abundant in trendy image (think Limp Bizkit, Creed, etc). Unsuprisingly, most of these groups can be found occupying the gap between alternative and the mainstream. One of the big trends, which arrived in the late 90s and early 00s, was the wave of new bands trying to sound like old bands. The guitar based groups were divided amongst several genres, but by far the most popular were the garage revival and punk revival scenes. I think these bands are one of the most interesting things to happen to alternative music, so I'm going to give them their own chapter, which will follow on from this one. Given that alternative pop/rock evolved almost entirely due to record companies' desires to cash in on the musical phenomenon of grunge, there haven't exactly been an abundance of important albums to come from it (mostly just popular ones). The only particularly notable exception to this was Radiohead's OK Computer, which was wildly popular and critically acclaimed to the point of topping many "Best Albums of All Time" lists. There has not been another album in the 1990s popular alternative scene, barring Nevermind, to have been regarded so highly. So, alternative pop/rock is a giant, chaotic mish mash of musical stuff, all characterised by the fact that it's popular, but not mainstream popular. With so many different genres falling into a category which isn't even appropriately named, how can you figure out which bands are the right bands for you? Chances are, this will have to come down to a method of trial and error, by just listening to a whole lot of music and seeing what pushes the right buttons. I recommend listening to shows like Richard Kingsmill's "2004" and some of the daytime shows, on Triple J. That's where the best alternative pop/rock gets played, as the playlists are more or less random, rather than being determined by each song's popularity level. Something to keep in mind is that many of the best groups in alternative pop/rock are the ones who earned their popularity through solid releases and touring, finally to hit it big on their 2nd, 3rd or 4th album. These groups are the ones with roots in indie rock, who through a combination of hard work and being in the right place at the right time, have managed to find large scale success. Obviously, one shouldn't dismiss a group just because they had a popular debut (being in the right place at the right time has been known to happen to good bands who hadn't even released a song yet), but be wary of the music press's tendency to hype groups that they haven't even heard. END OF PART 2. Album Recommendations. Portishead Dummy (1994) Stone Temple Pilots Purple (1994) Beck Odelay (1996) Regurgitator Tu Plang (1996) Radiohead OK Computer (1997) Eels Electro Shock blues (1998) Gomez Liquid Skin (1999) Dandy Warhols 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia (2000) Tool Lateralus (2001) Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf (2002) NEXT: PART 3 - NEW BANDS THAT TRY TO SOUND LIKE OLD BANDS |