25-09-2013, 22:56
Macca, Stones and Neil still pack them in though!!!!...lol
CRAZY-HORSE Wrote:i think that question has been asked on the forum in the past...
the term "alternative" originated back in the early 1980s in the UK at the same time as the term "indi"...
both terms were intertwined together and were used to describe bands that were...
1. self funded their own recordings
2. were signed by small independant record labels
3.weren't the radio friendly pop that was on the radio or tv
4.made music that didnt comply with and for sales, moreso for self gratification
bands like The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Tubeway Army were classed as 'alternative' or 'indi' bands because they were outside the norm.
the term 'indi' or 'alt' died out for a while around 1990ish i guess, then a few years later, young bands who may or may not have been influenced by these other 1980s groups were drawn tot hose terms as a way of describing their music...the problem with that was that they are/were not true indi/alt bands...
sort of like the modern so-called punk bands...they are not true punk, they didnt come from the lower socio groups, they weren outcasts of society and they have not got the angst,anti-authoritarian attitude of the originals like Clash,Sex Pistols etc etc, that said i think green Day and Dropkick Murphy's are about as close as it gets to "real punk" nowadays!
back to the question posed...
i pose another question to you....
alt/indi used to be 'fringe' artists therefore by definition "alternative" was an apt title for them, but the current group of so-called alt bands fill the charts, sell millions of reocrds and sell out stadiums...that is not "alternative" that is "mainstream" IMO...
so really, artist like Paul McCartney,Neil Young, Stones, Cliff Richard etc should really be called "alternative" because they dont get airplay with their new material, they dont sell in vast quantities and their music is not the normal 'mainstream' sound anymore, they are on the "outer fringes" of music!...
well, thats my opinion of "alternative"...hope it helps!
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