TEA TIME SATURDAY: What is Alternative, anyway?

 You and your friend are chatting, and music comes up. One of the mentioned questions is "what genres do you enjoy?" Your friend replies "Alternative for sure."

This at one point would have said a specific idea. This now could be just about anything. You might as well have said you like food when someone asked what you want to eat. This requires us to go back in time.

Speaking from a personal perspective, growing up for me, alternative was a rock-based genre that diverged from regular radio. It was usually released by smaller labels which controlled their artistry less. It sometimes got considered "college rock" because college stations would often play it. 

Now days "Alternative" seems to mean anything that is the opposite of what pop music is. Pop in this sense being "popular" rather than a genre defined. It is whatever is the opposite of the status quo, popular music, or original classic rock. 

This is a short list of some main genres which are considered "alternative":

• Brit-pop
• Emo
• Gothic
• Grunge
• Indie rock
• Industrial
• Shoegaze
• Post-rock
• Punk rock
• New wave
• Nü-metal
• College rock
• Dream pop
• Math rock
• Neo-psychdelia 

I already have some problems with this general scope of things, but for the sake of it, this is a rather comprehensive idea of how broad it is when you say you like "Alternative music". It is really just...a dumping ground. There was a time it felt a bit more defined. Time for a time warp!

We're going back to 1967. We are returning to a very iconic band. The Velvet Underground. The banana cover, quite famed for the Andy Warhol art. But not just this, this album is considered the defining blueprint. Of what you ask? The genre that is alternative. Yes, if you want to understand what alternative is...you have to go to a particular root.

Proto-punk. Which means "punk" as a genre is inherently alternative. All alternative music is rooted in punk. Punk was the original outlier. Their whole idea was to say damn the system. They said what they wanted, regardless of what you think. Some of it jangled, others were very in your face. Some of their words were far too much for radio. If we wanted to reach the root of punk in general, we would need to look towards South American band "Los Saicos". The style became what many considered the pioneer of punk. 

For many in the US, the original introduction to Punk came from a different band. Guess who? It was actually The Who. "My Generation" was released in 1965 and helped lay the groundwork for further developments. MC5 and The Stooges also brought this genre heavier to US soil, one being aided by John Cale, who happened to be a big part of the Velvet Underground.

So here is the first hypothesis: Alternative is rooted in punk, punk is a rock genre, therefore Alternative is a rock-based genre.

Now I hope everyone understands why I get annoyed when someone tells me Cannons and Tame Impala are "alternative". They are pop artists. Pop, the genre. Not the general definition, although Tame Impala is definitely "popular" these days. I will never subscribe to DREAM POP being an ALTERNATIVE genre. Dream pop is pop music put in a distorted reverb. The vocals become one with the music, it is rooted in psychdelic. Psychdelic is not really "alternative". It is doing a disservice to the psychdelic movement to call it alternative when in fact, it is the prototype of the roots of the "progressive" genres of pop and rock. Yes, if not for Hendrix, Rush would probably not exist. 

Similarly, "New wave" sadly was a former catch all which gets thrown into the mix. I don't think anyone thinks of alternative much when you think of certain 80s new wave bands, but no one knew what to call the developing genre. It was the beginnings of the expansion of punk into post-punk stylings which utilized synthizers. This later went on to represent a greater genre: synthpop. This genre is more defined by David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Roxy Music. Art pop also grew from the development of new wave. Some happier styles of punk were thrown into New Wave, but many concepts of the movement have been examined later in further detail to see the breaking points. Which perhaps Alternative needs more of.

I also disagree with "Nu-metal" being a form of Alternative. Numetal is a type of metal/hard rock which incorporates rap into it. Most prominent bands include Linkin Park, Korn, and Limp Bizkit. Some metal bands do not consider numetal to be "real" rock music. Sorry, it is mostly metal. It does not belong in alternative. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

So what exactly does make something "Alternative?"

Here is my opinion...

1. The lyrics:

Alternative is centered more around what is being talked about. Lyrics tend to be inherently darker in themes and more taboo topics or discussions.

2. The methods:

Alternative centered around "DIY" vibes inherited from Punk, existing on smaller labels to start at least and not letting big labels influence the way they created music.

3. The sound:

Alternative usually is fond of distortions, less "ideal" lead singers, more focusing on the message at hand rather than sounding "appealing". 

I could go on all day breaking down why something is or is not Alternative. Feel free to share YOUR opinion on the sounding board.