Chapter 13- Alternative Rock and Rock Alternatives
Merge Records (Chapel Hill)
included range of Indie styles like: -Superchunk (Chapel Hill) (No pocky for kitty album, punk roots and guitar driven) -Neutral Milk Hotel (Louisiana) (lo fi aesthetic (lower sound production quality), elements of punk, folk, psychedelia, "In the Aeroplane over the Sea") -Magnetic Fields (London) (69 love songs 3 volume collection, imaginative and creative songwriting by Stephin Merritt, gender themes)
Alternative Rock Roots
-Alternative rock had roots in hardcore, indie rock underground scenes of 1980s and 70's punk -REM's hit became blueprint for major label success -Originated from Seattle -90's alternative rockers reacted against visually oriented MTV artists and virtuosic heavy metal groups with casual dress, no extended solos (amateur musician image), and DIY recording (no major labels) -Pioneer was Nirvana with lead singer Kurt Cobain (rebellious attitude with traditional songwriting, return to simplicity launched alternative music/life style, sparked breakthrough by Nevermind album)
Indie Music in the Mainstream: Beck
-Beck Hansen went mainstream and kept integrity, would be future common practice of indie bands to distribute music -Signed with Geffen in 1994, single loser was rereleased and charted top 10, "Mellow Gold" and "Odelay" were other hits -music had pop hooks style (hip hop, country rock, 70's soul, classical), rapid style shifts in the same song ,and beat-based editing
Indie Rock in the 90's
-Didn't sell out, stayed underground and kept it real, remained true to DIY -Important labels included Matador (NY), Merge (Chapel Hill) and Sub Pop (Seattle) -College radio and College Music Journal contributed to alternative rise by creating an alternative network
California Alternative Bands
-Faith No More (SF, Real thing album, "epic", Mike Patton lead singer) -Red Hot Chili Peppers (Hollywood, 1st success with Rick Robin produced BloodSugarSexMagik, "give it away" MTV video and "under the bridge" were big hits -Stone Temple Pilots (San Diego, Core album, Grunge style not from Seattle)
Irony and Self Awareness Groups
-Foo Fighters (contrasting Nirvana's seriousness with comedy, Big Me and Learn to Fly) -Wheezer (comedic alternative-slacker awareness, "Buddy Holly" geek video)
Mainstream alternative artists post-grunge
-Lifehouse (Hanging by a moment, Christain?) -Creed (Higher and Arms wide open explore conservative religious themes)
Seattle Grunge Style (rejecting rock star of show business)
-Nirvana (Frst album bleach 606.17 in profit, Nevermind was second album with baby picture, Cobain dies in '94) -Pearl Jam (critical albums Ten and Vitalogy, roots in punk and hardcore, anticommercial aesthetic, battled with Ticketmaster over high ticket prices (20$) showed willingness to fight corporate, more metal compared to Nirvana's pop style) -Soundgarden (blend of heavy metal, blues rock, and psychedelia, first to sign with major label (A&M in '88) -Alice in Chains (started as Metal, emerged as Seattle band with emergence of dirt album, Jar of Flies was first EP to top billboard album charts),
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-Nirvana's Nevermind launched the alternative rock movement into the mainstream in 1991, as a reaction to excess of mainstream pop and rock -Seattle grunge style bands red hot chili peppers and green day -Alternative emerged out the indie rock and hardcore scenes of 1980s. Newer generation of bands emerged within indie underground and college rock scenes including Pavement, Liz Phair, and Beck -Rage Against Machine and Korn blended straightforward approach and punk attitude of alternative with other styles, developing extensions of metal that blended in elements of rap -Industrial music of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson blended noise and avant-garde elements to produce a successful concept-driven but often disturbing new approach
Industrial Style
-Roots in 70's (British groups Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire) and 80's (Canadian band Skinny puppy) -concept art, anti-conformity, electronic sounds, disturbing -Nine Inch Nails (premier group, Downward Spiral Album introduced Industrial to Mainstream and was recorded in a murder house, music was moody and dark) -Marilyn Manson (grotesque fasicination, also name of lead singer, produced by Trent Reznor, Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animal albums, Outraged conservatives by dressing as a ghoulish transvestite and employing vulgar and satanic lyrics)
Ska Revival (Carribean calyspo with American Jazz and Blues)
-Sublime ("What I Got") -No Doubt ("Don't Speak" high selling album Tragic Kingdom, emergence of Gwen Stefani as fashion icon)
Pop Punk
California Centered -Green Day (Berkeley, Dookie EP, hit "When I come around" American Idiot LP was rock opera that turned into a Broadway Show) -The Offspring (LA, breakthrough album smash, "come out and play") -Blink 182 (SD, Albums Enema of the State and Take Off your pants and jacket, Song "all the small things")
Alternative Rock Final Thought
Conveyed attitude of defiance going back to 1st wave in 50's and punk in late 70's