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Why Do "They" Call Early Alternative Music, "80's College Rock"? - Page 2

post #16 of 25
8/24/10 at 6:28pm
I'm not as into dropping obscure bands as some of you, but I'll take a stab at this.

In the wake of punk, there were a bunch of indie label bands that rebelled against the trend of huge stadium rock venues. They liked the small venues, indie labels, and generally went and did their thing without thinking of "genre." They were often only played on college stations, by people into dropping obscure band names. This included everything from Violent Femmes, Husker Do, and Canadian acts like The Tragically Hip (which went on to some fame in Canada) and English acts such as The Cure, The Smiths, and Bauhaus. Some got grouped in with the emerging Goth scene, like The Cure and Smiths, others got tagged as the forerunners of alternative, and then others got funny names like "shoegazers."

So 30 years down this path now, all the old bands are basically getting conflated into "alternative."

Totally agree it only became a name when the "Seattle Sound" went mainstream.

Just my take.

Btw, Love and Rockets. Man, I used to love that "band played" song.
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post #17 of 25
8/24/10 at 7:46pm
husker do also lol this is all shit my dad listens to when he gets drunk
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post #18 of 25
8/24/10 at 8:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tck13 View Post
Has anyone else seen this on iTunes or wherever? I find it really annoying. That music, to me, was the original Alternative music. Groups like Love and Rockets, Depeche Mode, New Order, REM, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, etc...
your holding the iphone wrong.. if you don't cover the antenna it will fix the classification system.
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post #19 of 25
8/25/10 at 1:39am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post
I'm not as into dropping obscure bands as some of you, but I'll take a stab at this.

In the wake of punk, there were a bunch of indie label bands that rebelled against the trend of huge stadium rock venues. They liked the small venues, indie labels, and generally went and did their thing without thinking of "genre." They were often only played on college stations, by people into dropping obscure band names. This included everything from Violent Femmes, Husker Do, and Canadian acts like The Tragically Hip (which went on to some fame in Canada) and English acts such as The Cure, The Smiths, and Bauhaus. Some got grouped in with the emerging Goth scene, like The Cure and Smiths, others got tagged as the forerunners of alternative, and then others got funny names like "shoegazers."

So 30 years down this path now, all the old bands are basically getting conflated into "alternative."

Totally agree it only became a name when the "Seattle Sound" went mainstream.

Just my take.

Btw, Love and Rockets. Man, I used to love that "band played" song.

But that's just it, they're NOT being called 'alternative'. It's now known as '80's college rock'. Although, as I said, I think all of those bands ARE alternative / were the original alternative and should be grouped as such (even though it included synth pop, industrial, punk, ska, etc...)

I'm right, dammit!
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post #20 of 25
8/25/10 at 2:04am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fffffut View Post
husker do
also lol this is all shit my dad listens to when he gets drunk

Be a good son and go get your dad a beer - and some Billy Bragg or Fugazi CD's.
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post #21 of 25
8/25/10 at 3:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slopho View Post
The funny thing is that I would consider New Order new wave or 80's pop rather than Alt. But what can you do, just get your flannel boxers out of bunch and continue living.

trudat
they came on the same wave as haircut 100, depeche, duran, kajagoogoo, flock of seagulls etc.. highschool music
alternative? lol
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post #22 of 25
8/25/10 at 12:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post

Btw, Love and Rockets. Man, I used to love that "band played" song.

oh yes, "Ball of Confusion" brings back fond memories....
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post #23 of 25
8/25/10 at 4:18pm
'Alternative' was a '90s radio and shelving categorization - a catchall that could cover everything from pop-punk to grunge to lesser known genres like shoegaze and older indie/punk.

'College rock' is used because bands (specifically, of those mentioned, REM) were primarily popular on college radio and on campuses. It's rarely used to refer to British imports like the Smiths and Love & Rockets (the former being 'indie' in the UK, a term used there before it was used widely here), but does get conflated because they appealed to the same demographic.
The decade is specified because college radio changed a lot when alternative rock radio stations started popping up across the country and what had previously been played on college radio got co-opted commercially.
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post #24 of 25
8/25/10 at 6:23pm
Hmmm .. in Australia and the UK we never talked about "university rock". Alternative was a term used by wannabes by the mid 1980s. Indiepop or Indierock, maybe.
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post #25 of 25
8/26/10 at 2:12pm
I grew up in the 80s, and those were some of the bands I and my group of friends listened to. At the time, it was difficult to find albums or listen to the music. The local college station was about the only place where the typically English groups music could be heard. What is surprising to me is how that music is somewhat popular today in America.
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