Portal:Alternative rock

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The Alternative Rock Portal

Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s (see Timeline of alternative rock). The name "alternative" was coined in the 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired bands on independent record labels that didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time. As a specific genre of music, alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the indie music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, indie rock, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.

Though the genre is considered to be rock, some of its subgenres are influenced by folk music, reggae, electronic music and jazz among other genres. At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk), and, ironically, for rock music in general in the 1990s and 2000s.

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Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder in concert at Piaza Duomo, Pistoia, Italy.
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. The band's original line-up consisted of Eddie Vedder (lead vocals), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Dave Krusen (drums). The band's current drummer is Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden, who has been with the band since 1998.

Formed after the demise of Ament and Gossard's previous band Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album Ten. One of the key bands of the grunge movement in the early 1990s, Pearl Jam was nevertheless criticized early on as being a corporate cash-in on the alternative rock explosion. However, its members became noted for their refusal to adhere to traditional music industry practices as their career progressed, including refusing to make music videos and engaging in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame."

Pearl Jam was the most popular American rock band of the 1990s. Since its inception, the band has sold 30 million records in the U.S., and an estimated 60 million albums worldwide. Pearl Jam has outlasted many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade. Pearl Jam continues to generate hit albums, tour successfully, and garner critical acclaim into the 21st century.

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Sky Blue Sky is the sixth studio album by Chicago rock band Wilco, released on May 15, 2007 by Nonesuch Records. Originally announced on January 17, 2007 at a show in Nashville, Tennessee, it was the band's first studio album with guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone. Before its release, the band streamed the entire album on its official website and offered a free download of "What Light".

Sky Blue Sky was Wilco's highest debuting album on the Billboard 200 at number four. The self-produced album received mostly favorable reviews by critics. Publications such as PopMatters and Rolling Stone praised its maturity, while PlayLouder and Pitchfork Media criticized its "dad-rock" sound. While some critics praised the direct lyrical approach, others criticised it when compared to previous Wilco albums. The band licensed six songs from the Sky Blue Sky sessions to a Volkswagen advertisement campaign, a move that generated criticism from fans and the media.

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Interpol Concert in Las Vegas, September 19, 2005-4.jpg
Credit: pinkbelt
Interpol performs in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 19, 2005.

Did you know...

  • ...that Pearl Jam refused to release "Black" as a single, feeling that it was too emotional?

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  • The Alternative music WikiProject is a project that helps to assemble writers and editors interested in Alternative music related articles.
  • The aim of this project is to standardize and improve articles related to Alternative music, as well as to create missing articles.
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