has alt music changed this much in 15 years

[wibgradio99]

When 104.5 launched we heard the pistols, flys, screaming trees, fuel, better than ezra, rancid and others, last night I heard
eminem (fell off couch). Could this be the reason for Alternatives demise, all the good punk and harder stuff is replaced by rap and chicken alt watered down fluff.

 

[ZantennaG1]

Eminem is considered alternative? That does not seem likely. My local alternative stations focus more on underground rock from the 1990's and early 2000's. Stations do weird things sometimes, but I don't think the demise of Alternative is coming... yet.

 

[radiodx10]

104.5 is ran like a top 40 station, except it plays only what is topping the Alt Rock charts. I agree that 104.5 isn't really "alternative" at all, in fact it's as mainstream as it gets, but that is all subjective.

Alt rock, by today's standards, is more of an aesthetic rather than a definable musical style. Punk, grunge, shoegaze, britpop; all that stuff that made 80s-90s alt rock what it was are styles that have become very niche and underground today. The defining musical styles today that make up modern alt rock is electronic, rap and dance-rock.

What you're discussing would be considered classic alternative, which is a format sorely missing from most markets. A station that focuses in on 80s-early 2000s alt rock with bands like Weezer, Green Day, Oasis, Pixies, my bloody valentine, dead milkmen and so on.

But we have to remember that if this new alt rock music does genuinely connect with its listeners or audience, who am I to complain? I have spotify, so it's not like I depend on 104.5 for my fix of alt rock.

 

[atthestars]

When 104.5 launched we heard the pistols, flys, screaming trees, fuel, better than ezra, rancid and others, last night I heard
eminem (fell off couch). Could this be the reason for Alternatives demise, all the good punk and harder stuff is replaced by rap and chicken alt watered down fluff.

In a word, yes.

When Radio 104.5 signed on in 2007, the prime 90s years of Alternative (Sex Pistols, Flys, Screaming Trees, BTE etc.) was only 10 or so years in the past. Listeners who grew up with Y100 and WDRE were still somewhat in the target demo of and Alternative station. But we're 14 years past THAT. The younger end of the demo wasn't even alive in the 90s. They view Sublime, Sex Pistols, Nirvana etc. as Classic Rock. Sure, some of them dig it, but the majority of the younger demo want to hear newer stuff, and the newer stuff is being sourced on places like TikTok. Is the music climbing the charts today "good?" Well, everyone's opinions on that differs. Plus, is the younger end of the demographics listening to radio as much as streaming services? Is the music causing low Alt ratings, or are Alternative music fans finding their music in different places other than radio?

There's no one definitive answer. But yes, Alternative HAS changed that much since 104.5 launched. Just like how different Alternative radio was in 1990 vs 2004.

 

[atthestars]

last night I heard eminem (fell off couch).

That's not too surprising. "Lose Yourself" peaked at #14 at Alternative, and was one of four songs he charted at Alt. Not my cup of tea personally, but it's not surprising to hear as a flavor track in some Alt libraries.

 

[mjb1124]

Yes, Eminem got a fair amount of Alternative play during the height of the nu-metal years. He's only recently started to resurface on the format.

Not something that would fit my personal Alternative playlist, but I'm clearly not the target audience of the format nowadays (if I ever was).

 

[ksradiogeek]

Eminem is considered alternative? That does not seem likely. My local alternative stations focus more on underground rock from the 1990's and early 2000's. Stations do weird things sometimes, but I don't think the demise of Alternative is coming... yet.

Eminem has long been considered alt. I remember my alt in KC played Lose Yourself as a recurrent and a gold for years. Same with OutKast.