Alternative rockby Alex Fletcher

Background

Alternative rock derived from the underground scene in the 1980’s. At the start of the 1980‘s Alternative rock was a minor variety of rock in which most of the Alternative bands were unsigned and unheard of. Alternative rock was mainly created due to the change in tastes, after the punk phenomenon faded in the late1970’s, Alternative rock slowly broke through into the commercial charts. Alternative rock came from people reacting to the obviousness of pop, the commercial and common music played continuously. The genre literally gave and alternative to pop and other forms of rock.

Introduction

Alternative Rock, or just Alternative, is a sub-genre of rock. It is mainly a band based genre consisting of Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums and sometimes Keyboard. The genre can vary from upbeat rhythms to chilled and emotional pieces. Since its start in the 1980‘s the genre has grew over the years and has been kept alive through modern bands such as Kasabian and Vampire Weekend.

Alternative rock bands

The smiths 1982-1997

The Smiths are a successful alternative rock band from Manchester, they consist of Stephen Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass), Mike Joyce (drums). The Smiths were signed to an independent record label called ‘Rough Trade Records’ and were critised to be one of the greatest British Alternative Rock bands to emerge from the 1980’s.

Amazingly The Smith have never released a single that hasn’t been in the UK top ten chart.

the libertines 1997-2004

The Libertines are a Indie rock band, a type of alternative rock, they were formed in 1997 by Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar) and Carl Barat (vocals/guitar). The bands commercial success was shortened when Doherty became addicted to crack cocaine and heroine; eventually leading to the bands split in 2004. They later reformed for festival gigs in 2010.

kasabian 1997-present

Kasabian are more recent Alternative rock band formed in Leicester in 1997. The hit the commercial charts in 2004 with their debut album ‘Kasabian’. Since then they have released 4 popular albums since then. There music is influenced from other rock bands like Primal Scream and The Stone Roses.

red hot chilli peppers 1983-present

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers were one of the first Alternative rock bands to come out of America, their genre of music also combines with funk, punk rock and hard rock, giving them their unique sound. With the frontman (Anthony Keidis) ability to rap ad sing they have managed massive success and a big enough influence to inspire thousands of new musicians.

Oasis 1991-2009

Oasis were an english alternative rock band formed in Manchester and fronted by the Gallegher brothers, Liam and Noel. The bands outrages attitude helped create their unique style and sound . But the band split in 2009 due to the Gallegher brothers

R.E.m 1980-2011

R.E.M (Rapid Eye Movement) were a commercially successful band who famously wrote ‘Losing my religion’ and ‘The one i love’. The band saw commercial success in 1987 and was deemed ‘America’s best rock and roll band’ by Rolling Stone magazine.

Nirvana 1987-1994

Nirvana created a type of Alternative rock called ‘grunge’. They most famously performed ‘Smells like Teen Spieit’ which has now been proclaimed to be one of the greatest songs ever written. Nirvana were famously known for their frontman Kurt Cobain’s attitude towards the music industry. Cobain hated fame, but loved music, he was diagnosed with Attention-deficate hyperactivity disorder and bi Polar disease which eventually led him to take his own life. This dramatic end to his life ended Nirvana

The bands drummer from 1990 was Dave Grohl who went on to be in ‘Foo Fighters’, ‘Queens of the Stone age’ and the super group ‘Them Crooked vultures’.

style of music

Alternative rock is mainly band based in which the main focus tends to be on guitars, with charming rhythms and quirky riffs. The style grew commercially in the late 1980’s through Britain due to The Smiths and in America due to R.E.M.

Types of alternative rock

Sub Genre Example

Indie rock The Smashing pumpkins

College rock Blink 182

Post Brit pop Snow Patrol

Grunge Nirvana

Noise rock Sonic Youth

Noise pop The Jesus and Mary Chain

Post grunge Nickelback

Indie pop Primal scream

Album artwork

Alternative rock albums are reasonably simplistic, they mainly focus on the bands appearance, giving a band their image. They can also be a image related to the album but also an image with no relation to the band or their music.

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

The Libertines - The Libertines

Nirvana - Nevermind Kasabian -

Empire

Guitar

The guitar is pretty much used in every alternative rock song. The electric guitar is more commonly used in up beat alternative songs and can involve complicated riffs and charming chord patterns

The Acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar can also be used in alternative songs, such as ‘Wonderewall’ by Oasis.

Drums

The drums in an Alternative rock song would commonly be the heart of the song, the drummer would create a beat for the rest of the band play around. The drums are key in a alternative rock song but are often positioned at the back of a band set when a band performs.

Bass guitar

The Bass guitar also eatured in most alternative rock songs. The notes are very low and so it makes deep sound and so similarly to the drums it creates a bass for the song.

One of the most famous Bass guitar riff in Alternative rock is Nirvana’s ‘Come as you are’ riff, played by Krist Novoselic.

INDIE ROCK

Indie rock became a known form of alternative rock after the favoured breakthrough of Nirvana. Indie rock was created due to people not aggreing with Alternative rock’s immersion into mainstream charts. Indie rock bands are similar to Punk rock bands in a sense that they have an attitude behind their music. In the 1990’s Indie rock was however commercialised due to the succes of ‘Beck’ and ‘Pearl Jam’.

fact file

Oasis won best album of 30 years at the 2010 Brit awards for their album ‘(What’s the story) Morning glory’

Alternative rock is responsible for the grunge explosion and Britpop

The term alternative rock derived in the 1980’s from the pop and metal genre aiming to create an honest more focused rock

top 10 greatest alternative rock songs (by popular opinion)

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana2. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division3. Radio Free Europe - R.E.M.4. Blue Monday - New Order5. Sunday Bloody Sunday - U26. How Soon is Now? - The Smiths7. Teenage Riot - Sonic Youth8. Paranoid Android - Radiohead9. Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes10. Jeremy - Pearl Jam

DECLINE OF POPULARITY

In the mid to late 1990’s Alternative rock saw a decline for may reasons. Including: the death of Kurt Cobain disheartened peoples view on rock, Pearl Jams lawsuit against Ticketmaster meant bands couldn’t play in venues around America. Also the lack of a headliner at Lollapalooza in 1998.

Despite rocks decline in popularity some artists kept rock in the mainstream chart due to pervious success, such as Radiohead.

21st century Alternative rock

During the start of the 2000’s many alternative rock bands were introduced, such as ‘The Strokes’, ‘The Killers’ and ‘Snow Patrol’, kickstarting the reinvention of the alternative rock genre.

The term ‘Alternative rock’ became almost unused from 2010 and was replaced by the term ‘Indie rock’. Radio stations and artists use the term Indie rock and other types of alternative rock to classify songs.

21st century poularity

Due to an increase in technology in recent years music has changed its development path. The rise in technology meant that the dance genre has increased in popularity in the mainstream chart, meaning some genres, like Alternative rock, has been slightly pushed from the limelight. But peoples tastes can’t be changed and so some new alternative rock bands feature electronica aspects, such as ‘Hot chip’.