early-90s alt-rock vs. late-90s alt rock

also lol apparently I confused WBCN and WFNX

the moral of the story is that I never listen to anything besides 94.5 and KISS 108 these days

picked second half btw, under 30, loved Californication a lot

embarassing rap-rock hybrids are still with us TODAY (thx Weezy) - what's changed is that the blending of rap and rock in and of itself is no longer seen as a cutting edge or interesting thing. this was already becoming clear by the mid-90s, where rap-rock hybrids were at once all over the place and also totally boring.

xp

lol I guess they didn't

I guess when the dude I knew of via a friend of a friend said he got fired because their format changed, he was actually lying completely through his ass

― Have a slice of wine! (HI DERE), Monday, May 17, 2010 4:30 PM (14 seconds ago)

pretty sure it was just WBCN that changed radically, b/c AAF has a bunch of the same ppl they've had since I was in 7th grade, and WFNX still plays alt rock

wanna reiterate:

the moral of the story is that I never listen to anything besides 94.5 and KISS 108 these days

"early-90s alt rock (and I am 30 years old+)," but pop and R&B were more interesting than either early or late nineties alt rock. Mid nineties R&B not so much.

I am going to go with early 90s here because I like early smashing pumpkins; other than that any music that was popularly referred to as "alternative rock" in the 90s is not rly my thing. but I did not really listen to rock radio at all during the 90s so I am probably an unusual case.

the moral of the story is that I never listen to anything besides 94.5 and KISS 108 these days

― Have a slice of wine! (HI DERE)

i still listen to WAAF sometimes, but the presets in my car are now set to 94.5, KISS 108, WBUR, and FNX. really, i try to listen to WAAF as little as possible. used to be my favorite station back from, like, 1999-2003/4

embarassing rap-rock hybrids are still with us TODAY (thx Weezy) - what's changed is that the blending of rap and rock in and of itself is no longer seen as a cutting edge or interesting thing. this was already becoming clear by the mid-90s, where rap-rock hybrids were at once all over the place and also totally boring.

oops sorry

I'm not even sure what contemporary bands are considered alt rock atm. I guess whenever U2, Pearl Jam or Red Hot Chili Peppers come out with a new album. Are there any big bands right now that became successful through the alt rock format?

there are no big bands anymore

I'm not even sure what contemporary bands are considered alt rock atm.

Go here.

Joanna Newsom, alt-rock auteur

I was thinking less indie bands (tho clearly those bands break through) and more like AltPress/Hot Topic style bands? Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! etc sound like they'd be at home on an alt rock format. And of course newish Green Day (MCR, Fallout Boy, Paramore) have had tremendous success there.

lol there's nowhere to break through to anymore. I doubt the guys in the National are millionaires, knowhutimean

I'm pretty sure Radiohead have done well for themselves, and Vampire Weekend will turn in a tidy profit.

I was thinking more like Modest Mouse, I guess. The National, or even LCD Soundsystem or whoever aren't even having big radio success even compared to the current musical climate -- let alone historical success.

I'm not even sure what contemporary bands are considered alt rock atm.

IMO think GAPDYX + Vampire Weekend, Death Cab For Cutie and LCD Soundsystem

like, the whole concept of alt-rock requires a thriving, well-funded "mainstream". which is gone.

Radiohead's been around since the early 90s tho. Be curious to see what Vampire Weekend's income is like, or how their album sales stack up to previous decades' indie darlings. Like, how many albums have they sold compared to a similarly charting band from 1996? A lot less, I'd bet.

(x-posts)

Early 90s 30+. Soundgarden rule.

some big modern rock radio bands right now that weren't already huge in the '90s: Muse, 30 Seconds To Mars, The Killers, Kings Of Leon

how the hell is U2 alt rock?!

black hole sun
won't you come
and wash away the horchata

Pretty sure Grizzly Bear + Animal Collective aren't getting a ton of radio play. Phoenix + Yeah Yeah Yeahs probably getting some, Death Cab (do they have new music?), Vampire Weekend for sure. Dirty Projectors not sure. How has LCD Soundsystem charted in the US? (Can only find UK chart info -- could mean US chart info is non-existent.)

fwiw, i can recall hearing Pheonix, YYYs, Death Cab, and VW on the fairly big alt station here

U2 are alt rock in the sense that the Cure are alt rock

only they have the added stadium rock/AOR-approved factor

Yeah, doesn't look like an LCD Soundsystem single has ever charted in the US.

it's kind of a different metric now; I don't think you can use radio play as the one true indicator, you kind of have to merge it with filtered-by-some-undetermined-algorithm data from internet sources

like my personal metric is "appears in my music video on-demand menu"

i think the joke on 'n american scum' is that they were 'big in the uk'

selling your music to commercials is a far more common option these days.

black hole sun
won't you come
and wash away the horchata

LOL IRL!!

Yeah, doesn't look like an LCD Soundsystem single has ever charted in the US.

― Mordy, Monday, May 17, 2010 10:45 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

genuine q: did pixies or husker du or sonic youth ever chart in the u.s.?

yeah these Pitchfork bands you guys are mentioning definitely are popular in many senses -- but again there are (less cool) youngish alt-rock bands that have ten times their sales and ten times their radio spins, if we're really talking about actual mainstream success stories.

I remember arguing on ILX when Strawberry Jam came out (or possible Person Pitch) about what the reach of that music was. At the time, no one I knew IRL had heard of AC or Panda Bear, despite the massive amount of hype they were getting in places like ILX, Stereogum, P4k, etc. I'm sure that's gotten better for AC since Merriweather, but I think for a lot of P4k hyped bands the popularity is still pretty localized and statistically insignificant.

I'd have to look them up, hm, but Sonic Youth 100% charted in the US.

yeah they had 5 minor modern rock hits from '88 to '94

Sonic Youth charted a bunch on Modern Rock format, as did the Pixies -- not sure about Husker Du.

The Pixies only charted on the modern rock chart, as far as I can tell.

Husker Du charted nowhere.

Sonic Youth had a bunch of albums in the Hot 100 and several modern rock chart singles.

AC hasn't charted at all afaik.

Pixies charted on the album chart. Doolittle is certified gold.

Sugar far outsold Husker Du.

genuine q: did pixies or husker du or sonic youth ever chart in the u.s.?

― all i wanna do is poll poll poll poll and zing and discuss mia (history mayne), Monday, May 17, 2010 5:48 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah they had 5 minor modern rock hits from '88 to '94

― couldn't think of anything to write instead of 'steendriver' (some dude), Monday, May 17, 2010 5:50 PM

VERY minor...in the Midwest about 1 in 75 people that you will run into randomly will have knowingly heard a song by any of the aforementioned bands.

lol I'd forgotten that "Brothersport" was so annoying, that may play into why AC hasn't charted

sonic youth is a vaguely familiar name...and they play here comes your man at baseball games & on mall P.A.s now, but i don't think anybody really recognizes it beyond the guitar riff...husker du, i don't even know....

xxxp MPP made it pretty onto the Billboard 100 didn't it?

pretty HIGH onto

i'm not surprised -- really, i've always kind of taken it as an article of faith that the first half of the 90s was the better one wr2 music than the second and not surprised about the age either. it is kind of interesting and shocking to be reminded that lots of us are now old folk, though.

you guys seem to be overlooking
early-90s alt rock (younger than 30) 35

So it's clearly not just 30+ ilxors who think it was better

Of course, an 80s alt-rock vs 90s alt-rock would almost definitely be a win for the 80s, since the 80s is ILM's canonic decade.

pfunk, was mostly talking about the #s of over 30s vs. under 30s, not their choices

it will be interesting to watch the 90s become more lionized over the course of the next decade or so. assuming that the 20-year lag still applies.

we already have a (rather great) ace of base sounding-ass song in the billboard top ten so

i wonder what would win early vs late 90s polls for pop, rnb, hip hop,metal etc

I'll do the metal one
Early 90s Metal Vs Mid 90s Metal Vs Late 90s Metal