The alternative rock is one of the music or bands which emerged during the 1980s and became very popular in the mid-1990s. It was popular since it was used to send a message and educate the society on various societal problems. The alternative rock is mostly associated with sweet melodies of jangle pop. It is performed using metallic grind of industrially made up of aesthetic. It consists of different music which differs in sound, regional roots, and social context. The alternative rock of the 1980s was being played in clubs and recording is done using the indie label, and its popularity was spread by the use of word of mouth (Addison 24). The genre of the alternative rock was the guitar which was popularly used in the mainstream music. Most of the alternative rocks tend to address social issues in the society such as drugs, suicide, and depreciation.
However, the emergence of alternative rock was influenced by hip-hop which was widely known by then and loved by people. The Hip-hop refused to conform to other traditional and stereotype music such as rap such gangsta and fun and remained viable and played as independent music. The genres of alternative rock are college rock, Indie rock, and punk and grunge music (Crain 21).
The alternative bands prefer independent label because the independent label was very affordable and could give an opportunity to sell music or perform to fans directly. The cost of independent label is lower making it the best alternative method which could allow the artist to get access to clients directly and hence make more money from the sales and performance. In the early days, there was college and Indie rock which were genres of alternative rock. However, college rock was some of the college music or band which was performed by college students on campus and even in some of the radio stations in the United States and Canada. The playlist of the station was usually made by students to avoid a situation whereby commercial music is getting played, and therefore, college rock was being designed and played by university students within the campus (Bennett 27). Indie rock is one of the alternative rocks which originated from the United Kingdom and the United States. It is associated with a grunge and punk band.
The unique thing about the relationship between the alternative rock and the audience is that the alternative rock could have direct access to the audience or the fan. Majority of the audience which was being targeted by the alternative rock was white community (Crain 12). However, the black in the society was being targeted through the messages which were being conveyed by the rock. The alternative rock talked about the socio-economic background of the audience. The period which the alternative rock was started means a lot since it was during the time society was undergoing through a lot of problems, and therefore, the rock was used to describe the problem the audience face.
The grunge is one of the alternative rock genres which were popular during the 90s. It is a solo performance concert or band. The performance dressed in full clothes to look like traditional American cowboy which makes it unique from other genres. It is performed using electric guitar and even flutes. It is deeper sounding than punk which made many people love it more than any other alternative rocks.
The Lollapalooza festival is music festive which where alternative rock usually features (Addison 12). It recognized the presence of heavy metal, hip-hop, electronic music band, punk rock, and artists. The performance also expected to dance and perform comedy during the festival. It used to provide a good platform for politicians and nonprofit organization or groups to address the people.
Works Cited
Addison, Stacie. “Lollapalooza Festival, Chicago 2016: A Tale of Two Sponsors.”
http://www.itrhire.co.uk/assets/Lollapalooza%20Festival%20(2)_1.pdf (2017): 2-34.
Bennett, Andy. “CULTURES OF POPULAR.”
https://www.mheducation.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335202500.pdf (2001): 2-45.
Crain, Peter. “Alternative Rock and Pop music during the early days. .”
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d234/7decc67275405dd27a301dfd8aedadcd80d4.pdf (2015): 4-35.
