The 90s Part 3: Grunge

Published: Feb. 27, 2018, 4:32 a.m.

b'Up until the 1990s, the section of the rock universe known as \\u201calternative\\u201d was all over the place\\u2026there wasn\\u2019t what anyone could call a defining sound\\u2026if it was left of centre, weird to mainstream music fans and ignored by the media, then it was \\u201calternative\\u201d...\\n\\nIf you were around the late 80s\\u2014the decade where the word \\u201calternative\\u201d began to be used to describe a certain attitude in rock\\u2014you\\u2019ll remember that this was an umbrella term for so many different types of artists\\u2026\\n\\nIf you couldn\\u2019t categorize a song or an artist by tossing it into any of the regular buckets, then there was only one other bucket you could use\\u2026and it quickly filled up\\u2026\\n\\nSinger-songwriters\\u2026indie pop artists\\u2026industrial bands\\u2026groups with synthesizers\\u2026goth groups\\u2026extra-noisy guitar bands\\u2026even rap was alternative for a while in the 80s: it was new, it was weird and it was hated by the mainstream\\u2026ergo: alternative!\\n\\nThere were so many different sounds and textures and moods and looks that just trying to come up with a definition of \\u201calternative music\\u201d was impossible\\u2026basically, we went by the credo of \\u201cI can\\u2019t tell exactly what it is, but I know it when I hear it\\u201d\\u2026\\n\\nCome to think of it, in many ways, back then was a lot like the alt-rock of today\\u2026a vast variety of sounds that were adventurous, different and sometimes weird\\u2026\\n\\nBut then came along something that codified everything, something around which everything else could coalesce and organize\\u2026and once that happened, alt-rock was unstoppable\\u2014for a while, anyway\\u2026\\n\\nThis is part 3 of our look back on the 1990s\\u2026\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'