London Show Announcement

Jimmy Eat World will headline the Roundhouse in London, UK on March 3rd 2008. Exclusive presale starts tomorrow at 10am GMT. Tickets will go on sale to the public at 9am GMT on Friday, November 16th

RecCenter.com interviews Jimmy Eat World

RecCenter.com recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Jimmy Eat World.

Jimmy Eat World Announce Tour Dates with Foo Fighters!

Jimmy Eat World will support Foo Fighters on a run of 2008 US tour dates!

January 16th – Miami, FL – Bank Atlantic Arena


January 17th – Orlando, FL – Amway Arena


January 19th – Birmingham, AL – BJCC Arena


January 20th – Pensacola, FL – Pensacola Civic Center


January 22nd – Houston, TX – Toyota Center


January 23rd – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center


January 25th – Memphis, TN – FedEx Forum

Jimmy Eat World Announce Japanese Tour!

Jimmy Eat World return to Japan this March for shows in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. Special guests Maritime will support. Details as follows:

March 17th – Tokyo - Shibuya AX
March 18th - Tokyo - Shibuya AX
March 20th – Nagoya – Club Quattro
March 21st – Osaka – Namba Hatch

Tickets go on sale to the public on January 19th.

JIMMY EAT WORLD AND PARAMORE CONFIRM U.S. CO-HEADLINE TOUR

Jimmy Eat World and Paramore have just confirmed a U.S. co-headline tour scheduled to kick off in March. Full schedule, on-sale dates and support acts will be announced shortly.


Said Jimmy Eat World singer Jim Adkins, "We're very excited for the upcoming tour with Paramore. We got to know them last December while playing festivals together. They put on a great show and we think it's going to be an awesome bill." Adds Hayley Williams (Paramore), "If it all ends tomorrow, we will be happy knowing that we got a tour with the band that gave us a reason to play music."

TOUR

1/22/2008

Concert
Houston, TX Toyota Center

1/23/2008

Concert
Dallas, TX American Airlines Center

1/25/2008

Concert
Memphis, TN FedEx Forum

1/28/2008

Concert
Brussels, Belgium Ancienne Belgique

Anspachlaan 110 B-1000

1/29/2008

Concert
Koln, DEU Live Music Hall

1/30/2008

Concert
Hamburg, Germany Grosse Freiheit 36

Schmuckstr. 15 20359

1/31/2008

Concert
Berlin, Germany Huxley's

2/2/2008

Concert
Bielefeld, Germany, DEU Ringlokschuppen

2/3/2008

Concert
Copenhagen, DNK Vega

2/4/2008

Concert
Oslo, Norway Rockefeller Music Hall

Torggata 16 181

2/5/2008

Concert
Stockholm, Sweden Debaser

2/7/2008

Concert
Bremen, Germany Aladin

Hannoversche Strasse 9-11 28309

2/8/2008

Concert
Amsterdam, Netherlands Paradiso

Weteringschans 6 - 8 1017SG

2/9/2008

Concert
Munich, Germany Muffathalle

Betriebsgmbh Lilienstr. 1 81669

2/10/2008

Concert
Vienna, Austria Gasometer

2/12/2008

Concert
Milan, Italy Musicdrome

2/13/2008

Concert
Zurich, Switzerland Xtra

2/14/2008

Concert
Wiesbaden, DEU Sclachtof

2/15/2008

Concert
Nurnberg, DEU Lowensaal

2/17/2008

Concert
Southampton, UK Guildhall

2/18/2008

Concert
London, UK Brixton Academy

2/19/2008

Concert
Birmingham, UK Academy

2/20/2008

Concert
Manchester, UK Academy

2/22/2008

Concert
Leeds, UK Leeds University (Refectory)

2/24/2008

Concert
Newcastle, UK Academy

2/25/2008

Concert
Glasgow, UK Barrowlands

2/26/2008

Concert
Belfast, IRE St. George’s Market

2/27/2008

Concert
Dublin, IRE Olympia

2/29/2008

Concert
Liverpool, UK University

3/1/2008

Concert
Bristol, UK Academy

3/3/2008

Concert
London, UK Roundhouse

3/17/2008

Concert
Tokyo Shibuya AX


3/18/2008

Concert
Tokyo Shibuya AX

3/20/2008

Concert
Nagoya Club Quattro

3/21/2008

Concert
Osaka Namba Hatch

Emo

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of rock music which describes several independent variations of music with common stylistic roots. Such use of the term has been the subject of much debate. In the mid-1980s, the term emo described a subgenre of hardcore punk which originated in the Washington, DC music scene. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", was also used to describe the emotional performances of bands in the Washington DC scene and some of the offshoot regional scenes such as Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and later, Moss Icon. (In more recent years, the term "emotive hardcore" entered the lexicon to describe the period.)

Starting in the mid-1990s, the term emo began to refer to the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi, which itself was an offshoot of the first wave of emo. Bands including Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason had a more indie rock style of emo, more melodic and less chaotic. The so-called "indie emo" scene survived until the late 1990s, as many of the bands either disbanded or shifted to mainstream styles. As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the mainstream style. As a result, the term "emo" became a vaguely defined identifier rather than a specific genre of music.

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk, commonly known as hardcore, is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in North America in the late 1970s. In North America, hardcore punk emerged with a new sound, which was generally thicker, heavier, and faster than standard punk rock.It is sometimes characterized by short, loud, and passionate songs about serious topics such as government, capitalism, anarchism, war, and the hardcore subculture itself.

History
In North America, the music genre that became known as hardcore punk originated in different areas in late 1980 and early 1981. Some of the major areas in North America associated with the origins of hardcore punk include: California, Washington, DC, Chicago, New York City, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Boston. At the same time, a British form of hardcore punk emerged, although it would not be known as UK 82, or British hardcore, until some years later.The origin of the term hardcore punk is uncertain, however one theory is that the Vancouver-based band D.O.A. made the term official with the title of their 1981 album, Hardcore '81.However, until about 1983, the term hardcore was used fairly sparingly, and mainly as a descriptive term. (i.e., a band would be called a "hardcore band" and a concert would be a "hardcore show"). American teenagers who were fans of hardcore punk simply considered themselves fans of punk—although they were not necessarily interested in the original punk rock sound of late 1970s (e.g., Television, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Heartbreakers). In many circles, hardcore was an in-group term, meaning 'music by people like us,' and it included a wide range of sounds, from hyper-speed hardcore to sludgy dirge-rock, and often including arty experimental bands, such as The Stickmen and Flipper.

Hardcore lauded a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. In most cities the hardcore scene relied entirely on DIY recordings, zines, radio shows, and concerts, due to many bands having little to no access to any means of production. Hardcore punk fans brought a dressed-down T-shirt, jeans, and crewcut style, which contrasted with the more elaborate and provocative clothing styles of punk rockers, such as Richard Hell, Sid Vicious, and Soo Catwoman.

Mark Trombino

Mark Trombino is a rock music producer. He started his career as the drummer of Night Soil Man, before playing for Drive Like Jehu. He also played in a Long Beach-based punk rock band called First Offense which released a seven inch on Mystic Records entitled "Broken Home."

Mitch Porter

Mitch Porter was the first bass player in Jimmy Eat World. He left the band in 1995 for what the band cites as "personal reasons" and was replaced by Rick Burch. Mitch decided to leave so that he could serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in Costa Rica for two years.

Believe in What You Want

Believe in What You Want is a video of a concert by Jimmy Eat World. Recorded live at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C. in 2002, the concert provides great insight into the collective mind of Jimmy Eat World as they play songs from the albums Clarity and Bleed American.

A "rock-ography" in the special features section of the DVD also highlights the band's making of their 2001 album Bleed American, and even how the band got their name with videos of some songs being recorded.

Track Listing

1. A Praise Chorus (Live From 9.30 Club)

2. Bleed American (Live From 9.30 Club)

3. If You Don't, Don't (Live From 9.30 Club)

4. Just Watch The Fireworks (Live From 9.30 Club)

5. For Me This Is Heaven (Live From 9.30 Club)

6. Authority Song (Live From 9.30 Club)

7. No Sensitivity (Live From 9.30 Club)

8. Get It Faster (Live From 9.30 Club)

9. Goodbye Sky Harbor (Live From 9.30 Club)

10. Blister (Live From 9.30 Club)

11. The Middle (Live From 9.30 Club)

12. Sweetness (Live From 9.30 Club)

13. Hear You Me (Inner Ear Session Acoustic)

14. My Sundown (Inner Ear Session Acoustic)

15. Believe In What You Want (Documentary)

16. In Studio Retrospective (More Interviews)

Riding in Vans with Boys

Riding in Vans with Boys is a 2003 documentary film directed by Matthew Beauchesne describing the experiences of the band Kut U Up, a relatively unknown group that went on tour in the summer of 2002 as an opening act for major groups like Blink-182, Green Day and Jimmy Eat World in the Pop Disaster Tour.

The documentary was filmed using a few cameras that the band packed in their new van, and depicts the events of the tour during summer 2002.

The name of the film is a reference to the book/film "Riding in Cars with Boys".

Rick Burch

Rick Burch (born February 4, 1975 in Mesa, Arizona) is the bassist for Jimmy Eat World. He is from Mesa, Arizona.

Tom Linton

Tom Linton plays guitar in the band Jimmy Eat World. Born August 8, 1975 in Mesa, Arizona, Linton formed Jimmy Eat World with childhood friends Jim Adkins, Mitch Porter, and Zach Lind. On the earlier albums, Linton wrote several songs and performed lead vocals on them; since Clarity, however, the majority of songs have been sung and written by Jim. He named the band after a drawing created by his younger sibling. He plays a red and black Gibson SG.

Zach Lind

(born March 19, 1976) is the drummer for Jimmy Eat World. He also produced several songs on the David Crowder Band album Illuminate. While playing with Jimmy Eat World, Zach has released six albums: 'Jimmy Eat World' (1994); 'Static Prevails' (1996); 'Clarity' (1999); 'Bleed American' (2001) (later re-named 'Jimmy Eat World' after 9/11); 'Futures' (2004); and most recent, "Chase This Light (2007). On 'Jimmy Eat World', 'Static Prevails', 'Clarity' and 'Bleed American', Zach was sponsored by Tama drums, but has recently signed a deal with Drum Workshop, and their sub-company, 'PDP'. He uses Zildjian cymbals, preferring the A-Zildjian range.

On 'Jimmy Eat World' he used a Tama Rockstar kit. On 'Static Prevails', 'Clarity' and 'Bleed American' he used a Tama Starclassic kit.

His daughter Ava, with wife Holly, was born in 2001.

Social impacts

The influence of rock and roll is far-reaching, and has had significant impact worldwide on fashion and film styles. Its impact has been positive as well, with the trend of many rock stars facilitating charity events such as Live Aid. Saving the World is becoming a more and more common phrase associated with rock music today.

There are also spiritual aspects tied to rock music. Songwriters like Pete Townshend have explored these in their work. The common usage of the term rock god acknowledges the religious quality of the adulation some rock stars receive.

Metalcore

Often dubbed new-nu-metal by many metal fans, metalcore evolved way back in the early 90's but only really came to prominence in the early 21st century with the video play of bands such as Killswitch Engage, Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine on TV music channels. Metalcore came about from combining hardcore punk and post-hardcore with metal. Influences from early emocore and screamo are also common.

Emo

In the early 2000s, pop punk began to regain popularity, with dominant acts such as Hawthorne Heights. Media institutions began to label this scene as emo despite the fact that emo was originally an underground offshoot of 80s hardcore rock, involving such bands as Sunny Day Real Estate. There is still a lot of debate over which bands truly are emo, and the term could be used to describe everything including Fugazi. As the name suggests, the lyrics in many emo songs are often about depression and troubled relationships. Recently dubbed emo bands include: My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy,Cute Is What We Aim For and Panic! at the Disco.

Post-punk revival

Additionally, the retro trend has led to a Post-punk revival with bands like The Libertines, The Killers, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and Editors. Many of these bands are also sometimes included under the umbrella term of Indie Rock.

Garage rock revival

After existing in the musical underground, garage rock saw a resurgence of popularity with the garage rock revival. Bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Vines, and The Hives all released successful singles and albums. This wave is also sometimes referred to as back-to-basics rock because of its raw sound.

Nu metal and Rapcore

In the early 90s bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, 311, Cypress Hill and later Limp Bizkit and Korn had brought a fresh sound by combining rap and rock with much success. Later in the decade this style, which contained a mix of grunge, metal, and hip-hop, became known as rapcore and spawned a wave of successful bands like Linkin Park and P.O.D.. Many of these bands also considered themselves a part of the similar genre nu metal.

Post-grunge

In the wake of Cobain's death a new style of music called post-grunge evolved. Similar to the relationship between pop punk and punk rock, post-grunge differed from grunge in its more radio-friendly pop-oriented sound. After Australia's Silverchair achieved international success with their debut album Frogstomp record labels began to actively search for the "next Nirvana". Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl's new band the Foo Fighters helped further popularize the genre, and other bands such as Creed, Collective Soul, Everclear and Live helped cement post-grunge one of the most commercially viable sub-genres of the late nineties.

Female solo artist Alanis Morissette also found success while being labeled under the post-grunge tag. In 1995 her album Jagged Little Pill became a major hit by featuring blunt, revealing songs such as "You Oughta Know". Combining the confessional, female-centered lyrics of artists such as Tori Amos with a post-grunge, guitar-based sound created by producer Glen Ballard, it succeeded in moving the introspection that had become so common in grunge to the mainstream. The success of Jagged Little Pill influenced successful more pop-oriented female artists during the late 90s including Fiona Apple, Jewel and Liz Phair.

Pop punk

One result of the 70s punk explosion was pop punk. Championed by bands such as the Buzzcocks and the Ramones, the genre was never as commercially successful as the name may have suggested, but it's influence can be still be heard in many artists today; the fusion of pop melodies, rapid-fire playing of instruments, and the raw and visceral lyrics and sound of punk rock is apparent in everyone from Nirvana to Oasis.

Today, pop punk is used to describe modern punk bands with a heavy pop influence, bands such as Green Day, Rancid and The Offspring championed the genre, while Blink 182, Sum 41 and Good Charlotte brought the genre to new commercial heights in the late nineties to early 2000s. Modern pop punk bands (sometimes labeled as "emo") include Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

Indie rock

By the mid-90s, the term "alternative music" had lost much of its original meaning as rock radio and record buyers embraced increasingly slick, commercialized, and highly marketed forms of the genre. At the end of the decade, hip hop music had pushed much of alternative rock out of the mainstream, and most of what was left played pop-punk and highly polished versions of a grunge/rock mishmash.

Many acts that, by choice or fate, remained outside the commercial mainstream became part of the indie rock movement. Indie rock acts placed a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, often releasing albums on their own independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, and airplay on independent or college radio stations for promotion. Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompasses a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge influenced bands like Superchunk to do-it-yourself experimental bands like Pavement to punk-folk singers such as Ani DiFranco.

Currently, many countries have an extensive local indie scene, flourishing with bands with much less popularity than commercial bands, just enough of it to survive inside the respective country, but virtually unknown outside them.

Britpop

While America was full of grunge, post-grunge, and hip hop, Britain launched a 1960s revival in the mid-90s, often called Britpop, with bands like Suede, Oasis, Supergrass, The Verve, Radiohead, Pulp and Blur. These bands drew on myriad styles from the 80s British rock underground, including twee pop, shoegazing and space rock as well as traditional British guitar influences like the Beatles and glam rock. For a time, the Oasis-Blur rivalry was similar to the Beatles-Rolling Stones rivalry, or the Nirvana-Pearl Jam rivalry in America. While bands like Blur tended to follow on from the Small Faces and The Kinks, Oasis mixed the attitude of the Rolling Stones with the melody of the Beatles. The Verve and Radiohead took inspiration from performers like Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd and R.E.M. with their progressive rock music, manifested in Radiohead's most famous album, OK Computer. These bands became very successful, and for a time Oasis was given the title "the biggest band in the world" thanks to an album selling some 19 million copies worldwide but slowed down after band breakups, publicity disasters in the United States and slightly less popular support. The Verve disbanded after on-going turmoil in the band. Radiohead has gone on to make more experimental albums, thus losing some of their fan base.

Grunge

By the 1990s, rock was dominated by slick and commercial glam metal, hair metal and arena rock artists. MTV had arrived and promoted this excessive focus on image and style. Disaffected by this, in the mid-1980s, bands in Washington state (particularly in the Seattle area) formed a new style of rock music which sharply contrasted the mainstream rock of the time.

The developing genre came to be known as "grunge", a term meaning "dirt" or "filth". The term was perhaps seen as appropriate due to the dirty sound of the music and the unkempt appearance of most musicians. Grunge fused elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal into a single sound, and made heavy use of guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback. The lyrics were typically apathetic and angst-filled, and often concerned themes such as social alienation and entrapment. Although it was also known for its dark humor and parodies of commercial rock.

Bands such as Green River, Soundgarden, the Melvins and Skin Yard pioneered the genre, with Mudhoney becoming the most successful by the end of the decade. However grunge remained largely a local phenomenon until 1991, when Nirvana's album Nevermind broke into the mainstream. Pearl Jam also contributed to this with their album Ten. Both bands were more melodic than their predecessors and were instant sensations worldwide, but they refused to buy in to corporate promotion and marketing mechanisms. During 1991 and 1992, other grunge bands such as Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Candlebox gained a wider audience. Commercial rock and metal faded almost completely from the mainstream.

While grunge itself can be seen as somewhat limited in range, its influence was felt across many geographic and musical boundaries; many artists who were similarly disaffected with commercial rock music suddenly found record companies and audiences willing to listen, and dozens of disparate acts positioned themselves as alternatives to mainstream music; thus alternative rock emerged from the underground. This helped pave the way for bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots who were initially stereotyped as grunge but later enjoyed commercial and critical success independent of the genre.

In early April 1994, grunge took a sudden shift in popularity with the death of Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain. Although grunge bands continued to release albums, the genre began to decline in popularity and, by the end of the decade, many grunge bands had split up, stopped touring, or had changed their musical direction.

Alternative music and the indie movement

The term alternative music (also often known as alternative rock) was coined in the early 1980s to describe bands which didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time. Bands dubbed "alternative" could be most any style not typically heard on the radio; however, most alternative bands were unified by their collective debt to punk. Important bands of the '80s alternative movement included R.E.M., Sonic Youth, the Smiths, Pixies, Hüsker Dü, the Cure, and countless others. Artists largely were confined to indie record labels, building an extensive underground music scene based around college radio, fanzines, touring, and word-of-mouth. Although these groups never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on the generation of musicians who came of age in the 80s and ended up breaking through to mainstream success in the 1990s. Notable styles of alternative rock during the 80s include jangle pop, gothic rock, college rock, and indie rock. The next decade would see the success of grunge in the US and Britpop in the UK, bringing alternative rock into the mainstream.

Instrumental rock

Instrumental rock was also popularized during this period with Joe Satriani's release of Surfing with the Alien. Many guitarists, feeling constrained by the style of music performed by their respective bands, began releasing solo albums that showcased their guitar skills. Guitarists such as: Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Morse have all greatly contributed to the genre.

Glam metal

One genre that was widely popular in the 1980s (c.1983) was glam metal. Taking influence from various artists such as Aerosmith, Queen, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Sweet and the New York Dolls. The earliest glam metal bands to gain notability included: Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P. and Quiet Riot. They became known for their debauched lifestyles, teased hair and use of make-up and clothing. Their songs were bombastic and often defiantly macho, with lyrics focused on sex, drinking, drugs, and the occult.

In 1987 a second wave of glam metal acts, sometimes referred to as sleaze rock, emerged including L.A. Guns and Faster Pussycat.

Rock diversifies in the 1980s

In the 1980s, popular rock diversified. This period also saw the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with bands such as Iron Maiden and Def Leppard gaining popularity. The early part of the decade saw Eddie Van Halen achieve musical innovations in rock guitar, while vocalists David Lee Roth (of Van Halen) and Freddie Mercury (of Queen as he had been doing throughout the 1970s) raised the role of frontman to near performance art standards. Bono of U2 would continue this trend. Concurrently, pop-New Wave bands remained popular, with performers like Billy Idol and The Go-Go's gaining fame. American heartland rock gained a strong following, exemplified by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Donnie Iris, John (Cougar) Mellencamp and others. Led by the American folk singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the British former prog rock star Peter Gabriel, rock and roll fused with a variety of folk music styles from around the world; this fusion came to be known as "world music", and included fusions like aboriginal rock. Also, more extreme forms of rock music began to evolve; in the early eighties, the harsh and aggressive thrash metal attracted large underground audiences and a few bands, including Metallica and Megadeth, went on for mainstream success.

Post-punk

Alongside New Wave, post-punk developed as an outgrowth of punk rock. Sometimes thought of as interchangeable with New Wave, post-punk was typically more challenging, arty, and abrasive. The movement was effectively started by the debut of Public Image Ltd. in 1978, formed by former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten), and was soon joined by bands such as Joy Division, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Fall, Gang of Four, and Echo & the Bunnymen. Predominantly a British phenomenon, the genre continued into the 1980s with some commercial exposure domestically and overseas, but the most successful band to emerge from post-punk was Ireland's U2, which by the late 1980s had become one of the biggest bands in the world.

New Wave

Punk rock attracted devotees from the art and collegiate world and soon bands sporting a more literate, arty approach, such as Talking Heads, and Devo began to infiltrate the punk scene; in some quarters the description New Wave began to be used to differentiate these less overtly punk bands.

If punk rock was a social and musical phenomenon, it garnered little in the way of record sales (small specialty labels such as Stiff Records had released much of the punk music to date) or American radio airplay, as the radio scene continued to be dominated by mainstream formats such as disco and album-oriented rock. Record executives, who had been mostly mystified by the punk movement, recognized the potential of the more accessible New Wave acts and began aggressively signing and marketing any band that could claim a remote connection to punk or New Wave. Many of these bands, such as The Cars and the Go-Go's were essentially pop bands dressed up in New Wave regalia; others, including the Police and the Pretenders managed to parlay the boost of the New Wave movement into long-lived and artistically lauded careers.

Between 1982 and 1985, influenced by Kraftwerk and Gary Numan, New Wave went in the direction of such New Romantics as Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls, Psychedelic Furs, Talk Talk and the Eurythmics, sometimes using the synthesizer to replace all other instruments. This period coincided with the rise of MTV and led to a great deal of exposure for this brand of synth-pop. Some rock bands reinvented themselves and profited too from MTV's airplay, for instance Golden Earring, who had a second round of success with "Twilight Zone", but in general the times of guitar-oriented rock were over. Although many "Greatest of New Wave" collections feature popular songs from this era, New Wave more properly refers to the earlier "skinny tie" rock bands such as the Knack or Blondie.

Punk rock

Punk rock started off as a reaction to the lush, producer-driven sounds of disco, and against the increasing commercialism of hard rock and arena rock. Early punk borrowed heavily from the garage band ethic: played by bands for which expert musicianship was not a requirement, punk was stripped-down, three-chord music that could be played easily. Many of these bands also intended to shock mainstream society. Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone stated, "In its initial form, a lot of [1960s] stuff was innovative and exciting. Unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere. By 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bad rock 'n' roll".[2] While the Ramones were often regarded as the first punk band,[3],[4] they had many contemporaries from the same era in the New York scene. Artists like Patti Smith, The Heartbreakers, and Television played the same fast paced, stripped-down, style of rock, and often played shows along with the Ramones at burgeoning club CBGB's.

In 1976 the Ramones, along with British punk band the Sex Pistols, went on a tour of the United Kingdom. The tour was widely credited for inspiring the first wave of English punk bands such as The Clash, The Damned, and The Buzzcocks. In England, the music became a more violent and political form of expression, represented with the Sex Pistols first two singles "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen". Despite an airplay ban on the BBC, the records rose to the top chart position in the UK. Other bands, like the Clash, were less nihilistic, more overtly political and idealistic.

As the Sex Pistols toured America, they spread their music to the West Coast. Before, punk was mostly an East Coast phenomenon in the US, with scenes in New York and Washington D.C.. In the late 70s California punk bands such as the Dead Kennedys, X and Black Flag, gained greater exposure.

Arena rock

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Grand Funk Railroad and The Who began the practice of live performances for large audiences in stadiums and arenas. The growing popularity of metal and progressive rock led to more bands selling out large venues. Entertainment companies marketed a series of arena rock bands, such as: Journey, Boston, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Heart, and Foreigner in the late 70s.

Although The Beatles did not find this form of performance to their taste, other bands carried on, driving the development of technology for large scale concerts, notably The Who, Pink Floyd and Queen.

Hard rock and heavy metal

A second wave of British and American rock bands became popular during the early 1970s, with groups that were less influenced by folk and blues music than their predecessors. Bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Queen, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Status Quo, Aerosmith,Black Sabbath, and Uriah Heep played highly amplified, guitar-driven hard rock that would come to be known as heavy metal. Hard Rock languished into obscurity in the late 1970s. A few bands including Kiss, Black Sabbath, Queen, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Rush maintained large followings and there were occasional mainstream hits such as Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) the Reaper". Music critics overwhelmingly disliked the genre. This began to change in 1978 following the release of Van Halen's self-titled debut album. The album helped to usher in an era of more commercialized rock and roll, based out of Los Angeles, California.

Soft rock

Rock music had a short-lived "bubble gum pop" era, of soft rock, including groups such as The Partridge Family, The Cowsills, The Osmonds, and The Archies. Other bands or artists added more orchestration and created a popular genre known as soft rock. Performers included Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Olivia Newton-John, Gerry Rafferty and Eric Carmen, and groups such as Bread, The Carpenters, Electric Light Orchestra, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Chicago and Tina Turner.

Indian rock

There are a few rock bands in India, like Silk Route or Euphoria. The music is mainly targeted at young adults and is gaining more acceptance in recent years.

In Turkey progressive rock began to grow with Barış Manço in the mid-1970s. His symphonic-progressive rock album 2023, released in 1975, is one of the most important albums in Turkey. He made a contribution to the other genres of rock music with his other albums and became a famous rock star in Turkey.

Pakistani rock

Although Pakistan has a long history of rock music producing legendary bands such as Junoon and Strings it was only in the 90s that progressive rock made its mark on Pakistani rock scene. One of the bands is Mizraab from the city of Karachi who started of in 1996 with their first album An Abstract Point of View. Then Panchi in 1999. Failing to leave an impact with their first albums Mizraab launched their third album Mazi Haal Mustaqbil in 2004 which proved a great success. Pakistani progressive rock is slowly gaining popularity and more bands are making this kind of music.

Italian rock

In Italy progressive rock was also popular in the 1970s. Some Italian progressive rock bands were Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Area International Popular Group.

Krautrock

By the late-1960s, German audiences began listening to progressive rock bands from Britain and the United States. During this period, avant-garde musicians in Germany were playing electronic classical music. These German avant-garde musicians adapted their electronic instruments for a style of music that blended progressive rock and psychedelic rock sounds. By the early 1970s, German progressive rock (later called krautrock) bands were blending jazz (Can) and Asian music (Popol Vuh). The music by bands such as and influenced the development of techno and other related genres.

Progressive rock

Progressive rock bands went beyond the established rock music formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and musical forms. The Who popularized the rock opera. Some bands such as Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Procol Harum, and Deep Purple experimented with new instruments including wind sections, string sections, and full orchestras. Many of these bands moved well beyond the formulaic three-minute rock songs into longer, increasingly sophisticated songs and chord structures. With inspiration from these earlier artists, referred to as "proto-prog", it flowered into its own genre, initially based in the UK, after King Crimson's 1969 genre-defining debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King. Progressive rock bands borrowed musical ideas from classical, jazz, electronic, and experimental music. Progressive rock songs ranged from lush, beautiful songs to atonal, dissonant, and complex songs. Few achieved major mainstream success, but large cults followed many of the groups. Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and a few less notable others were able to work in hit singles to their otherwise complex and untraditional albums to garner a larger audience.

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelia began in the folk scene, with the Holy Modal Rounders introducing the term in 1964. With a background including folk and jug band music, with bands like the Grateful Dead and Big Brother & the Holding Company being two famous bands of the genre.

The Fillmore was a regular venue for groups like another former jug band, Country Joe and the Fish, and Jefferson Airplane. Elsewhere, The Byrds had a hit with Eight Miles High. The 13th Floor Elevators titled their album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The music increasingly became associated with opposition to the Vietnam War.

In England, Pink Floyd had been developing psychedelic rock since 1965 in the underground culture scene. In 1966 the band Soft Machine was formed. Donovan had a folk music-influenced hit with Sunshine Superman, one of the early psychedelic pop records. In August 1966 The Beatles released their Revolver album, which featured psychedelia in Tomorrow Never Knows and in Yellow Submarine, along with the memorable album cover. The Beach Boys responded in the U.S. with Pet Sounds. From a blues rock background, the British supergroup Cream debuted in December, and Jimi Hendrix became popular in Britain before returning to the US.

1967 was the year when the psychedelic scene truly took off. Many pioneering records came out including the first album from The Doors and Jefferson Airplane's highly successful Surrealistic Pillow. The Beatles' groundbreaking album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in June, and by the end of the year Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Cream's Disraeli Gears and even The Rolling Stones's Their Satanic Majesties Request. As the Summer of Love reached its peak, the Monterey Pop Festival went underway headlining the top bands of the genre including Jefferson Airplane and also introducing Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix to the mainstream.

The culmination of rock and roll as a socially-unifying force was seen in the rock festivals of the late '60s, the most famous of which was Woodstock in 1969 which began as a three-day arts and music festival and turned into a "happening", as hundreds of thousands of youthful fans converged on the site.

Years later, especially with the rise of 1980s alternative music, psychedelic rock gained a slight reboost in popularity, such examples being Echo & The Bunnymen.

Folk rock

The folk scene was made up of folk music lovers who liked acoustic instruments, traditional songs, and blues music with a socially progressive message. The folk genre was pioneered by Woody Guthrie. Bob Dylan came to the fore in this movement, and his hits with Blowin' in the Wind and Masters of War brought "protest songs" to a wider public.

The Byrds, playing Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, helped start the trend of folk rock, and helped stimulate the development of psychedelic rock. Dylan continued, with his "Like a Rolling Stone" becoming a US hit single. Neil Young's lyrical inventiveness and wailing electric guitar attack created a variation of folk rock. Other folk rock artists include Simon & Garfunkel, Joan Baez, The Mamas & the Papas, Joni Mitchell, Bobby Darin and The Band.

In Britain, Fairport Convention began applying rock techniques to traditional British folk songs, followed by groups such as Steeleye Span, Lindisfarne, Pentangle, and Trees. Alan Stivell in Brittany had the same approach.

Rock as a counterculture movement (1963-1974)

In the late 1950s the US beatnik counterculture was associated with the wider anti-war movement building against the threat of the atomic bomb, notably CND in Britain. Both were associated with the jazz scene and with the growing folk song movement.

1960s Surf music

The rockabilly sound influenced a wild, mostly instrumental sound called surf music, though surf culture saw itself as a competing youth culture to rock and roll. This style, exemplified by Dick Dale and The Surfaris, featured faster tempos, innovative percussion, and reverb- and echo-drenched electric guitar sounds. In the UK, British groups included The Shadows. Other West Coast bands, such as The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean slowed the tempos down and added lush harmony vocals to create what became known as the "California Sound".

1960s garage rock

The British Invasion spawned a wave of imitators that played mainly to local audiences and made inexpensive recordings, a movement later called garage rock. Some music from this trend is included in the compilation album Nuggets. Some of the better known bands of this genre include The Sonics, Question Mark & the Mysterians, and The Standells.

Early British rock

In the United Kingdom the trade jazz movement brought visiting blues music artists to Britain, While BAC was developing the Concorde, Lonnie Donegan's 1955 hit "Rock Island Line" was a major influence, and helped to develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, including John Lennon's the Quarry Men, the 1957 precursor to The Beatles. Britain developed a major rock and roll scene, without the race barriers which kept "race records" or rhythm and blues separate in the U.S.

Cliff Richard had the first British rock 'n' roll hit with "Move It", effectively ushering in the sound of British rock. At the start of the 1960s, his backing group The Shadows was one of a number of groups having success with surf music instrumentals. And while rock 'n' roll was fading into lightweight pop and schmaltzy ballads, at clubs and local dances British rock groups, heavily influenced by blues-rock pioneers like Alexis Korner, were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts.

By the end of 1962, the British rock scene had started, with groups drawing on a wide range of American influences including soul music, rhythm and blues and surf music. Initially, they reinterpreted standard American tunes, playing for dancers doing the twist, for example. These groups eventually infused their original rock compositions with increasingly complex musical ideas.

The Beatles brought together an appealing mix of image, songwriting and personality, and achieved an unprecedented level of worldwide popularity. In mid-1962 The Rolling Stones started as one of a number of groups increasingly showing blues influence, along with The Animals and The Yardbirds. In late 1964, The Kinks, The Who and The Pretty Things represented the new Mod style. Towards the end of the decade, British rock groups began to explore psychedelic musical styles that made reference to the drug subculture and hallucinogenic experiences.

After their initial success in the UK, the Beatles launched a large-scale US tour to a frenzy of fan interest known as Beatlemania, which spread worldwide with the Beatles' first visit to the US in 1964 including their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964. In the wake of Beatlemania, other British bands headed to the US, notably the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Yardbirds.

Rock

Rock music is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass. Many styles of rock music also use keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, mellotron, and synthesizers. Other instruments sometimes utilized in rock include harmonica, violin, flute, banjo, melodica, and timpani. Also, less common stringed instruments such as mandolin and sitar are used. Rock music usually has a strong back beat, and often revolves around the guitar, either solid electric, hollow electric, or acoustic.

Rock music has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll and rockabilly, which evolved from blues, country music and other influences. According to the All Music Guide, "In its purest form, Rock & Roll has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody. Early rock & roll drew from a variety of sources, primarily blues, R&B, and country, but also gospel, traditional pop, jazz, and folk. All of these influences combined in a simple, blues-based song structure that was fast, danceable, and catchy."

In the late 1960s, rock music was blended with folk music to create folk rock, blues to create blues-rock and with jazz, to create jazz-rock fusion, and without a time signature to create psychedelic rock. In the 1970s, rock incorporated influences from soul, funk, and latin music. Also in the 1970s, rock developed a number of subgenres, such as soft rock, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, and punk rock. Rock subgenres that emerged in the 1980s included synth-rock, hardcore punk and alternative rock. In the 1990s, rock subgenres included grunge, Britpop, indie rock, and nu metal.

A group of musicians specializing in rock music is called a rock band or rock group. Many rock groups consist of a guitarist, lead singer, bass guitarist, and drummer, forming a quartet. Some groups omit one or more of these roles and/or utilize a lead singer who plays an instrument while singing, forming a trio or duo; others include additional musicians such as one or two rhythm guitarists and/or a keyboardist. More rarely, groups also utilize stringed instruments such as violins or cellos, and/or horns like trumpets or trombones.

Britpop and post-Britpop trends

With the decline of the Madchester scene and the unglamorousness of shoegazing, the tide of grunge from America dominated the British alternative scene and music press in the early 1990s. In contrast, only a few British alternative bands, most notably Radiohead and Bush, were able to make any sort of impression back in the States. As a reaction, a flurry of defiantly British bands emerged that wished to "get rid of grunge" and "declare war on America", taking the public and native music press by storm. Dubbed "Britpop" by the media, this movement represented by Oasis, Blur, Suede, and Pulp was the British equivalent of the grunge explosion. Centered on a revitalization of British youth culture celebrated as "Cool Britannia," it propelled alternative rock to the top of the charts in its home country. In 1995 the Britpop phenomenon culminated in a rivalry between its two chief groups, Oasis and Blur, symbolized by their release of competing singles on the same day. Blur won "The Battle of Britpop", but Oasis's second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, went on to become the third best-selling album in Britain's history. Oasis also had major commercial success overseas.

Britpop faded as Oasis's third album, Be Here Now, received lackluster reviews and Blur began to incorporate influence from American alternative rock. At the same time Radiohead achieved critical acclaim with its 1997 album OK Computer, which was a marked contrast with the traditionalism of Britpop. Radiohead, along with post-Britpop groups like Travis and Coldplay, were major forces in British rock in the subsequent years. Recently British indie rock has experienced a resurgence, spurred in part by the success the Strokes achieved in the UK prior to their domestic breakthrough. Like modern American indie rock, many British indie bands such as Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines, Bloc Party, and Arctic Monkeys draw influence from post-punk groups such as Joy Division, Wire, and Gang of Four.

Genres and trends of the 1980s

Gothic rock developed out of late-1970s British post-punk. Most of the first goth bands, including Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and The Cure, are labeled as both post-punk and gothic rock. With a reputation as the "darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock," gothic rock utilizes a synthesizer-and-guitar based sound drawn from post-punk to construct "foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes," and the genre's lyrics often address literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and supernatural mysticism." Gothic rock began to develop into its own in the early 1980s with the opening of The Batcave nightclub and the emergence of a goth subculture. By the mid-1980s, goth bands such as The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, and Fields of the Nephilim achieved success on the UK pop charts. Meanwhile Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure moved away from goth, broadening their sound and becoming internationally successful by the start of the 1990s.
Robert Smith of The Cure rejects the genre labels like alternative, gothic rock, and college rock applied to his band. He has said, "Every time we went to America we had a different tag [. . .] I can't remember when we officially became 'alt-rock'".
Robert Smith of The Cure rejects the genre labels like alternative, gothic rock, and college rock applied to his band. He has said, "Every time we went to America we had a different tag [. . .] I can't remember when we officially became 'alt-rock'".

British indie rock and indie pop drew from the tradition of Scottish post-punk bands such as Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, utilizing jangly, shambling guitars and clever wordplay. The most popular and influential band to emerge from this lineage was Manchester's The Smiths. The band managed to score a number of hits and influence a generation of bands while signed to an independent label, Rough Trade Records. Their embrace of the guitar in an era of synthesizers is viewed as signaling the end of the New Wave era in Britain; the band also gained a sizable cult following in the United States. After The Smiths broke up in 1987, singer Morrissey embarked on a successful solo career. Indie rock bands such as The Housemartins and James emerged in their wake. The C86 cassette, a 1986 NME premium featuring such bands as The Wedding Present, Primal Scream, The Pastels, and the Soup Dragons, was a major influence on the development of indie pop and the British indie scene as a whole.

Other forms of alternative rock developed in the UK during the 1980s. The Jesus and Mary Chain wrapped their pop melodies in walls of guitar noise, while New Order emerged from the demise of post-punk band Joy Division and experimented with techno and house music, forging the alternative dance style. The Mary Chain, along with Dinosaur Jr and the dream pop of Cocteau Twins, were the influences for the shoegazing movement of the late 1980s. Named for the bandmembers' tendency to stare at their feet onstage, shoegazing acts like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, and Lush created an overwhelmingly loud "wash of sound" that obscured vocals and melodies with long, droning riffs, distortion, and feedback. Shoegazing bands dominated the British music press at the end of the decade along with the drug-fueled Madchester scene. Based around The Haçienda, a nightclub in Manchester owned by New Order and Factory Records, Madchester bands such as The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays mixed acid house dance rhythms with melodic guitar pop.

Alternative Pop/Rock

Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged from the underground music scene of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. The term "alternative" was coined in the 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired bands on independent record labels that did not fit into the mainstream genres of the time. As a musical genre, alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, 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.

While a few artists like R.E.M. and The Cure achieved commercial success and mainstream critical recognition, many alternative rock artists during the 1980s were cult acts that recorded on independent labels and received their exposure through college radio airplay and word-of-mouth. With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the early 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became commercially successful.

The term "alternative rock"

The music now known as alternative rock was known by a variety of terms before "alternative" came into common use. "College rock" was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the college radio circuit and the tastes of college students. In the United Kingdom the term "indie" was (and still is) preferred; by 1985 the term "indie" had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, rather than a simple demarcation of status. "Indie rock" was also largely synonymous with the genre in the United States up until the genre's commercial breakthrough in the early 1990s due to the majority of the bands belonging to independent labels.

By 1990 the genre was called "alternative rock". The term "alternative" had originated sometime around the mid-1980s; it was an extension of the phrases "new music" and "post modern", both for the freshness of the music and its tendency to recontextualize the sounds of the past, which were commonly used by music industry of the time to denote cutting edge music. Individuals who worked as DJs and promoters during the 1980s claim the term originates from American FM radio of the 1970s, which served as a progressive alternative to top 40 rock radio formats by featuring longer songs and giving the DJs more freedom in their song selections. One former DJ and promoter has said, "Somehow this term 'alternative' got rediscovered and heisted by college radio people during the 80s who applied it to new post-punk, indie, or underground-whatever music . . ." Thus the original use of the term was often broader than it has come to be understood, encompassing punk rock, New Wave, post-punk, and even pop music, along with the occasional "college"/"indie" rock, all music found on the American "commercial alternative" radio stations of the time such as Los Angeles' KROQ-FM. The use of the term "alternative" gained popular exposure during 1991 with the implementation of alternative music categories in the Grammy Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards, as well as the success of Lollapalooza, where festival founder and Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell coined the term "Alternative Nation".

Defining music as "alternative" is often difficult because of two and often conflicting applications of the word. "Alternative" can describe music that challenges the status quo and that is "fiercely iconoclastic, anticommercial, and antimainstream," but the term is also used in the music industry to denote "the choices available to consumers via record stores, radio, cable television, and the Internet.

Overview

One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. relied on college radio airplay, constant touring, and a grassroots fanbase to break into the musical mainstream.
One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. relied on college radio airplay, constant touring, and a grassroots fanbase to break into the musical mainstream.

"Alternative rock" is essentially an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of the punk rock movement since the mid-1980s. Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth. As such, there is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although The New York Times in 1989 asserted that the genre is "guitar music first of all, with guitars that blast out power chords, pick out chiming riffs, buzz with fuzztone and squeal in feedback." Sounds range from the dirty guitars of grunge to the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitar pop revivalism of Britpop to the shambling innocence of twee pop. More often than in other rock styles, alternative rock lyrics tend to address topics of social concern, such as drug use, depression, and environmentalism. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Although alternative artists of the 1980s never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on later alternative musicians and laid the groundwork for their success. The popular and commercial success of Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind took alternative rock into the mainstream, establishing its commercial and cultural viability. As a result, alternative rock became the most popular form of rock music of the decade and many alternative bands garnered commercial and critical success. However, many of these artists rejected success, for it conflicted with the rebellious, DIY ethic the genre had espoused prior to mainstream exposure and their ideas of artistic authenticity. As many of the genre's key groups broke up or retreated from the limelight, alternative rock declined from mainstream prominence.

In the first decade of the 21st century, mainstream rock has largely moved beyond alternative's 1980s roots and low-fidelity ethos. Today's most popular rock music acts, typified by youth-oriented modern rock groups such as Linkin Park that owe a debt to both metal and grunge, incorporate complex electronic beats and a sophisticated production style. Many alternative rock fans do not see these bands—despite their debt to the genre—as alternative, but rather as nu metal acts. In 2004, alternative rock received renewed mainstream attention with the popularity of indie rock and post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and Franz Ferdinand, respectively.

Alternative rock in the United States

In the 1980s, alternative rock in the United States was primarily the domain of college radio stations. Most commercial stations ignored the genre. On television, MTV would occasionally show alternative videos late at night. In 1986, the network began airing the late-night alternative music program 120 Minutes, which would serve as a major outlet for the genre prior to its commercial breakthrough in the following decade. Ultimately, in the late 1980s, commercial stations such as Boston's WFNX and Los Angeles' KROQ began playing alternative rock, pioneering the modern rock radio format.

The 1980s underground

Early American alternative bands such as R.E.M., The Feelies, and Violent Femmes combined punk influences with folk music and mainstream music influences. R.E.M. was the most immediately successful; its debut album, Murmur (1983), entered the Top 40 and spawned a number of jangle pop followers. One of the many jangle pop scenes of the early 1980s, Los Angeles' Paisley Underground was a 1960s revival, incorporating psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and the guitar interplay of folk rock as well as punk and underground influences such as The Velvet Underground.

American indie labels SST Records, Twin/Tone Records, Touch & Go Records, and Dischord Records presided over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. Minneapolis bands Hüsker Dü and The Replacements were indicative of this shift. Both started out as punk rock bands, but soon diversified their sounds and became more melodic, culminating in Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade and The Replacements' Let It Be (both 1984). They were critically acclaimed and drew attention to the burgeoning alternative genre. That year, SST Records also released landmark alternative albums by the Minutemen and the Meat Puppets, who mixed punk with funk and country, respectively.
Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth

R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü set the blueprint for much of the decade's alternative, both sonically and in how they approached their careers. In the late 1980s, the U.S. underground scene and college radio were dominated by college rock bands like the Pixies, They Might Be Giants, Camper Van Beethoven, Dinosaur Jr, and Throwing Muses as well as post-punk survivors from Britain. Another major force was the noise rock of Sonic Youth, Big Black, Butthole Surfers, and others. By the end of the decade, a number of alternative bands began to sign to major labels. While early major label signings Hüsker Dü and the Replacements had little success, acts who signed with majors in their wake such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction achieved gold and platinum records, setting the stage for alternative's later breakthrough. Some bands such as the Pixies had massive success overseas while they were ignored domestically. By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was abuzz about alternative rock's commercial possibilities and actively courted alternative bands including Dinosaur Jr, fIREHOSE, and Nirvana.

Alternative rock in the United Kingdom

British alternative rock is distinguished from that of the United States by a more pop-orientened focus (marked by an equal emphasis on albums and singles, as well as greater openess to incorporating elements of dance and club culture) and a lyrical emphasis on specifically British concerns. As a result, few British alternative bands have achieved commercial success in the US. Since the 1980s alternative rock has been played extensively on the radio in the UK, particularly by DJs such as John Peel (who championed alternative music on BBC Radio 1), Richard Skinner, and Annie Nightingale. Artists that had cult followings in the United States received greater exposure through British national radio and the weekly press, and many alternative bands had chart success there.

Alternative rock in other countries
Canadian band Arcade Fire
Canadian band Arcade Fire

Australia has produced a number of notable alternative bands, including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Go-Betweens, Dead Can Dance, Silverchair, The Vines, and Eskimo Joe. Double J, a government-funded radio station in Sydney and the Melbourne-based independent radio station 3RRR broadcast alternative rock throughout the 1980s. In 1990, Double J, now known as Triple J, began broadcasting nationally. Much like America's Lollapalooza festival, Australia's Big Day Out festival serves as a touring showcase for domestic and foreign alternative artists. To the east, New Zealand's Dunedin Sound was based around the university city of Dunedin and the Flying Nun Records label. The genre, whose heyday was the mid-1980s, produced bands such as The Bats, The Clean, Straightjacket Fits and The Chills.

Mainstream alternative rock in Canada ranges from the humorous pop of Barenaked Ladies and Crash Test Dummies to the post-grunge of Our Lady Peace, Matthew Good Band, I Mother Earth, and Nickelback. In Montreal, an indie infrastructure developed in the aftermath of economic and social trouble during the 1990s. The city is now home to many indie rock bands such as the Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and The Dears.

The Sugarcubes were the most successful band to emerge from Iceland. After the band's breakup in the early 1990s, vocalist Björk embarked on a solo career that incorporated influences including trip hop, jazz, and electronica in addition to alternative rock. Icelandic indie rock bands include Múm and Sigur Rós. Continental Europe has produced numerous alternative styles and bands, from Germany's industrial rock and industrial metal acts such as KMFDM or Rammstein to more idiosyncratic bands like the Netherlands' The Gathering and Italy's Bluvertigo.

Japan has an active noise rock scene characterized by groups such as Boredoms and Melt-Banana. Indie pop band Shonen Knife have been frequently cited as an influence by American alternative artists including Nirvana and Sonic Youth.

Many bands active in Mexico in the early 1990s can be considered alternative rock, though they are generally grouped in the Rock en español genre. Fobia and Café Tacvba are two of the most popular bands. Argentina has many alternative rock bands. Groups such as El Otro Yo, Jaime sin Tierra, Bicicletas, Babasónicos, Peligrosos Gorriones, and Los Brujos emerged in the 1990s as part of the so-called Nuevo Rock Argentino (New Argentine Rock) movement. While alternative rock has not broken into the Argentine mainstream in a broad way, Babasónicos has became one of the most popular bands in the country.

Underground pop-influenced alternative rock went mainstream in the Philippines during the 1990s. Alternative Philippine rock bands include Eraserheads, Yano, Parokya ni Edgar, and Rivermaya.