operaghost on 18/6/2006 at 00:50
What's "Alternative" music? Most people call all new rock alternative, without really knowing what it means.
theBlackman on 18/6/2006 at 01:43
Quote Posted by operaghost
What's "Alternative" music? Most people call all new rock alternative, without really knowing what it means.
Anything
you don't like. ;)
metal dawn on 18/6/2006 at 01:49
I just wanna scream
How this happen to meeeeeeee
:( :( :(
Edit: Blackman nailed it already.
BRB CUTTING WRISTS.
David on 18/6/2006 at 08:59
The CDDB marks about 90% of the CDs I buy as "alternative", which is a bit off. I think they need some more genre tags ;)
Fingernail on 18/6/2006 at 09:01
lol there is no such thing as alternative music anymore lol it's all mainstream these days lol
music genres are largely the (possibly indirect) creation of record labels because it's much easier to market music to a group of people who think they like alternative music because the music they have bought in the past is labelled alternative and so if something new is called alternative then they are more likely to buy it.
This is far easier than trying to persuade people who bought the last G-Unit album that the next album they really must buy is by Radiohead.
I'm not denying that there are great differences between these "genres" or that there is a recognisable aesthetic within them, but once again, this is partly due to the existence of the genres in the first place. You're less likely to get signed as a band or and artist if you don't neatly conform to an existing set of values, although preferably with a slight difference to create the intoxication of the "new".
And I'm not solely blaming record labels or the music industry as a whole, it's an irreversible and undeniable truth that humans like categorising things in this way so they have a neat idea of their identity. But you're locked in because you listen to alternative music, so you listen to Alternative Music Station FM and only hear "alternative music" and then you go and buy more "alternative music", mostly without considering the true alternative.
So what is "alternative" music? It's whatever you have been told is alternative music, regardless of what it is alternative to or where the word itself originates. I imagine it's partly due to a desire to feel different, unique, or have access to something "alternative" that has determined the sucess of this particular branding. I imagine you'd sell less albums if you said you were producing "mainstream derivative shit", but frankly, there's very little difference.
PigLick on 18/6/2006 at 13:04
its an interesting question really, cos alternative really came of age when i was a fair bit younger, essentially it meant "an alternative to mainstream music which you hear on the radio and charts". So, does this mean that radio and charts have become more encompassing and tolerant, or has the music spectrum narrowed such that anything can be played and be accepted?
TheOutrider on 18/6/2006 at 15:41
I'd guess that the big players in the music industry probably saw the interest in that "alternative" to their mainstream music and simply assimilated it in order to get back the people who ran away from their client base for "alternative".
Aerothorn on 18/6/2006 at 16:22
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_music)
I know that R.E.M. was one of the first 'alternative' bands to gain widespread fame. But yeah, it was a catch-all term for various styles in the 80s (which were not mainstream) that then became popular and now are mainstream.
Shevers on 18/6/2006 at 16:25
Well then question 2: wtf is Indie?
Fingernail on 18/6/2006 at 17:05
Quote Posted by PigLick
its an interesting question really, cos alternative really came of age when i was a fair bit younger, essentially it meant "an alternative to mainstream music which you hear on the radio and charts". So, does this mean that radio and charts have become more encompassing and tolerant, or has the music spectrum narrowed such that anything can be played and be accepted?
People will buy anything as long as it's played enough and they're told it's good and there's a buzz around it.
