Alternative music is a broad term for different kinds of experimental rock music that are different from traditional rock. The style of alternative bands is more important than their genre.

Alternative music is usually made by bands and artists who are not in the mainstream of music. So, alternative music is considered more original, creative, or challenging than most mainstream and popular music.

Even though alternative music is getting increasingly popular daily, mainstream radio stations still don’t play it, and major record labels rarely sign alternative artists and bands.

Alternative music comes in many different “styles,” such as post-rock, indie rock, grunge, shoegaze, experimental rock, and so on.

What Does “Alternative Music” Mean?

In the 1980s, the term “alternative music” was made up. It was used to talk about bands that didn’t fit into the popular music styles of the time. But in the 1990s, alternative music grew in popularity and became its genre. As a result, alternative music is now trendy, and many radio and T.V. stations play it.

What are the traits of alternative music?

Alternative music is hard to describe, and so are the things that make it what it is. Alternative music usually has many layers of instruments, guitar melodies, and lyrics that talk about social issues. Even though this is true, it doesn’t cover the whole genre of alternative music because many bands and artists don’t fit this description.

Who made the first alternative songs?

In the 1980s, the American underground started alternative music. Some of the first bands and artists in this genre were R.E.M., The Dream Syndicate, The Feelies, Violent Femmes, and others.

1. Alternative Rock

Alternative rock is one of the most popular types of alternative music, and there are probably a lot of bands that fit into this category.

Even though the term “alternative rock” has been around since the 1980s, it took off in the middle of the 1990s. Alternative rock has a lot of well-known bands and artists, like The Cure and R.E.M.

Alternative rock is a type of rock music, but it has a lot of elements from jazz, electronic music, reggae, and other styles. This alone shows that there are no clear rules and guidelines for artists who fall into the category of “alternative rock.” At the beginning of alternative rock, the term was used to describe all music after punk rock.

Alternative rock includes a lot of well-known bands and artists, such as Nirvana, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, and many more.

2. Indie

The term “indie music” can be hard to understand. Indie rock is a type of music often made by independent artists or bands.

You might already know some indie rock bands like Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Bloc Party, and many more. Other artists also helped make indie rock very popular now, which is why indie music started playing a lot on mainstream radio stations.

Most of the time, the only thing these bands have in common is that they use the same instruments. However, each indie artist or band has made its style in this genre.

3. Goth

In the late 1970s, the band Bauhaus released “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” which is often called the first goth record. This was the start of the first wave of goth music, which is also sometimes called “goth rock.”

Goth rock was different from many post-punk bands, like Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, etc., that started writing more dark music with gothic sounds. There are also a lot of different kinds of goth music, like dark wave, goth folk, and goth industrial.

Gothic music has a dark feel because it has a lot of reverb, dark chords, and sad or dramatic songs. Goth rock or drones also have many sounds that last for a long time.

4. Grunge

From the 1980s on, Washington was the centre of the grunge movement. When they started, grunge bands like The Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Them, etc., were called garage rock bands.

Grunge music started with simple chords and uncontrolled distortion, like what you hear from The Sonics and The Stooges.

Some of the first people to make grunge music were Bam Bam, Green River, Wipers, and so on. The first grunge compilation album came out in 1986. It has songs from many grunge bands that were very important to the movement’s future. For example, Green River, Melvins, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard, and Soundgarden all had their first recordings on the “Deep Six” album.

Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Bush, Alice in Chains, and more are all well-known grunge bands. Everything was great on the Seattle grunge scene until Nirvana’s “Nevermind” came out in 1991. It became trendy, so much so that it knocked “Dangerous” by Michael Jackson off the top of the Billboard 200.

5. Shoegaze

Shoegaze had a lot of reverb, a lot of layers of guitar, and ethereal vocals that were hard to hear. The wire was one of the first bands to be called a shoegaze band. My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Lush, Ride, Cocteau Twins, and many more are also well-known bands.

Shoegaze music began in the 1980s and 1990s when it was viral. Unfortunately, some of the best shoegaze bands broke up in the 2000s, which made the style less famous. However, it has recently come back and is very popular.

Listen to some of the best Shoegaze songs ever made.

6. Punk

The roots of punk rock can be found in the garage rock of the 1960s. Since then, punk has changed into different styles and subgenres, like anarcho-punk, skate park punk, and melodic punk.

The Sonics, The Stooges, The Kinks, MC5, and Neu were some of the first bands in this style.

The music of punk rock sounds rough and unfinished. This is because punk bands used only basic instruments, like distorted guitar, bass, and drums. In addition, many punk bands only had three members. Because of this, punk songs tend to move fast, and the drumbeats are simple and plain, except for the occasional very fast fills.