One of the great things about my iPod is that I can listen to nearly anything in my music collection any time I want. (Unfortunately a lot of the stuff I liked ‘back in the day’ isn’t available on CD. Stuff I used to listen to on college station KXLU in L.A.) I may listen to Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra, then play something by The Sex Pistols or Green Day or The Pogues or The Foo Fighters or… Or maybe I’ll want to listen to a soundtrack or Classical or Ska or whatever.
Lately I’ve been listening to New Wave. Ah, New Wave! Dressing sharp, hair spiked up. When I lived in L.A. I listened to KROQ. They played what I call (and maybe others do) Corporate Alternative. This is the way I see it: In the 1970s we had Punk. That was fresh, but a lot of people couldn’t get into it. But then we had bands like The Ramones, who were Punk but not as hardcore as a lot of the bands. And Blondie. Blondie was, for me (and I emphasise for me) the first band that I listened to that was New Wave. Peter Gabriel had some alternative/experimental stuff too. By about 1980 New Wave was distinctly different from Punk. New Wave became Pop. Corporate music designed to sell records. Of course it was still called ‘New Wave’, much like the Alternative stuff I listened to became mainstream but was (and is) still called ‘Alternative’.
That’s not a ‘history lesson’, and I’m not pontificating. It’s just the way I perceive it. YMMV.
Anyway, it seems like the Corporate Alternative we hear nowadays is rather angst-ridden and angry. New Wave (again, to me) was fun. And a lot of it was political. It’s not surprising, given the time, when Reagan and Thatcher were in power and the Soviet Union was still a bogeyman, and when BMWs and MBAs were becoming all the rage amongst the Yuppies. It seemed that New Wave bands were poking fun (or openly ridiculing) The Establishmen and at the same time having a good time doing it. In all of the KROQ Alternative I’ve listened to, this attitude seems lacking by comparison. Sure, there are fun modern songs; and a lot of the New Wave (especially after it really became Corporate) sucked eggs. But the modern stuff, by and large, seems to take itself too seriously.
Well the 80s were a weird time that culture seemed to be having a backlash against the 60s and 70s. The prevailing culture was so optimistic and it was enough to just make wry jokes or criticisms or wear an ironic suit and tie to be alternative.
I think first that the whole nature of alternative was to make the audience feel discerning and the light social criticism angle got played out very fast. I guess the only way it could go to keep the momentum of being “alternative” was to be harsher and harsher in the critique. My theory is that since the world didn’t really get a lot worse, the criticism just became more emotional and had to be immediate to get any credibility. In 1986 it was enough to sing about child abuse, but by 1996 you had to sing about how you were abused as a child. In 1986 you could joke about corporate greed, but by 1996 you had to find it tragic. It was the only way to keep the alternative edge. I think today’s music has a legacy of that. A lot of today’s alternative is also retro but I don’t think the postmodern irony works the way it used to since our culture is so different now. Attempts at satire are hard to pick out. I’m never realy sure if Audioslave is meant to be a joke or what. I do have to admit that I’m old now and very out of the loop.
I guess I think alternative as we know it had played itself out by the time Kurt Cobain shot his face off while complaining about his mainstream superstardom and everyone yawned. Now it’s just a genre with that legacy of being anti-everything.
We went to an HMV this weekend that had renovated and moved all the departments around since we had last been there. Looking befuddled, and employee asked if he could direct us. We looked at on another and said questioningly, “Alternative?” “We don’t have an ‘alternative’ section anymore, but you’ll probably find what you’re looking for in Rock/Pop.” Well, a few items could be had there, but we found what we were looking for in Industrial/Goth, Ambient, Electronica, and World Music (but not Metal/Hardcore or Punk). I’m guessing that ‘back in the day’ there weren’t such fine classifications and if it didn’t fit into the Rock/Pop then it was alternative.
But really now, where do Cocteau Twins fit in?
Rock/Pop - no
Industrial - No
Goth - Maybe
Electronica - Maybe
Ambient - probably not (the Moon and the Melodies excepted)
Same thing for Dead Can Dance, Thievery Corporation, et al.
Remember, “alternative” refers to the radio station. The music that got played on “alternative” radio stations got labeled alternative but the actual range of musical styles was enormous. “Alternative” meant an alternative to what you might hear on top 40. They might program country to ska to folk to techno.
I’m not sure what your point is. All non-mainstream music becomes commercialized as it gains popularity.
What you seem to be calling “Corporate Alternative” is really a mix of Pop-Punk (Green Day, Blink 182, Sum 51), Nu-Metal (Korn, Linkin Park) (sometimes called Rap-Metal) and Pop-Alternative (Matchbox 20, Three Doors Down).
These genres have their roots in 90s Alternative Rock (Bush, Smashing Pumpkins), Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam) which in turn have their roots in 80s College Rock (U2, REM) and even Heavy Metal (Metallica, Black Sabbath).
Sometimes the band becomes more commercially accessible (in the case of U2), sometimes members of the band spin off their own more commerically acceptible projects (compare Foo Fighters with Nirvana) and sometimes the whole genre becomes a more watered down version of itself (compare Blink 182 to Sex Pistols).
Now if you really want to talk confusing, try figuring out the difference between Techno, House, Trance, Club, and all the other various flavors of Electronica in you mp3 collection.
I agree that a lot of the New Wave was fun yet subversive, as opposed to today’s faux-alternametal. However, a lot of bands that fit the New Wave sound, if not their attitude, were anything but:
The Police
OMD
Psychedelic Furs
Echo and the Bunnymen
However, the last two, at least, differ from today’s radio modern rock in that they reject a firm belief in anything, while still holding out a hope of finding The Truth. Sort of like they were saying “everything sucks and I’m really sad: will we ever find the answer?” whereas today they are saying “everything sucks: I’m sort of angry!” (Not really angry, that would be real punk, and not really sad either, as that would be dangerously close to actual emo which the radio avoids at all costs.)