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Billie Eilish on Alt-Rock Stations

The issue with Punk bands is troubling to say the least, as artists like the Sex Pistols and the Clash built Modern Rock radio. I mean, why is it OK to play indie-pop such as the 1975, Arctic Monkeys, ect, when much of the music was rooted in the post-punk style of the Talking Heads, Joy Division, ect. Yet, the punk bands that directly influenced the post-punk bands are MIA.

Also, what ever happened to hearing Ska music on alternative? If I'm not mistaken, bands like Big Reel Fish, Mighty Mighty Bosstones and early No Doubt still maintain their popularity with audiences. Then again, maybe the large pop-punk influences of Ska bands is what scares Alt-programmers, just as much as the new Blink 182 single does. Then again, what ever happened to Garbage? Their new single charted on AAA, but not Alternative.

Then again, the male-dominated nu-metal, faux-grunge years of 1999-2003 and 2007-2010 probably left a bad taste in the mouths of many heritage alt-rock programmers. Even Kevin Weatherly at KROQ had a hard time balancing the then popular music of Nickleback, against emerging bands such as the Killers and White Stripes. When the format was too heavy in the rock-direction, the crossover appeal of the music almost ceased to exist. Not to mention, bands like Kid Rock, Puddle of Mudd and the like often had openly misogynistic lyrics that completely turned away female listeners.

In 2019, the opposite is happening. The aftermath of the 2000's era has meant that programmers don't want to risk turning off casual listeners. This means playing the safest indie-pop available, in order to cater to a diverse audience comprised that doesn't favor one gender. The only issue is that playing too much crossover music will eventually cause an alt-station to lose its core selling point. I mean, whats the point of playing the same Twenty-One Pilots song that already gets play once an hour on CHR stations. Hard Rock was never a turn-off to a mass-appeal audience. I mean it wasn't the loud guitars that caused people to detest Puddle of Mudd, it was the awfulness of the lyrics and the extremely generic sound of the music.

Green Day, the Bosstones, Niravna, Garbage, STP, Rancid and the like are still listened to by a large, gender-neutral audience. The reason why the hard-rock approach didn't work in the 2000's wasn't the heaviness of the music, but the cringe-worthy lyrics and overtly vanilla sound.

Billboard Alternative Songs, 25 Years (1988-2013)
https://pitchfork.com/features/arti...-years-of-billboards-alternative-music-chart/

Kevin Weatherly
https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/modern-rock-fading-from-modern-radio/
 
gamefreak said:
The issue with Punk bands is troubling to say the least, as artists like the Sex Pistols and the Clash built Modern Rock radio.
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I'm not sure I agree with that. They were a subgenre on rock stations that were also playing mainstream rock and new wave. I don't think there were stations that only played punk to the exclusion of everything else, except maybe some college stations
 
To clarify my statement. Punk built at least one of the pillars that defined Alternative radio in the 80's and 90's. The other pillars were New-Wave, Post-Punk, Ska and Power Pop. Grunge will become an additional pillar to the foundation of the alt-rock format. Punk alone can't build a format, just as a all-decade format couldn't just rely on music from one decade.

On the other hand, it was the Sex Pistols that directly influenced Siouxsie Sioux and the future members of Joy Division. Then it was Siouxsie Sioux and Joy Division that led to a many artists that have called alt radio home over the next 30 years.
 
gamefreak said:
To clarify my statement. Punk built at least one of the pillars that defined Alternative radio in the 80's and 90's. The other pillars were New-Wave, Post-Punk, Ska and Power Pop. Grunge will become an additional pillar to the foundation of the alt-rock format.
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OK so what are the pillars now? You consider the strength of those six styles, are there six current styles that each have as much power as, lets say, new wave?
 
EDM, new wave and indie-pop would be the pillars of the format today. No, while I am a fan of electronic music, as well as bands like the Killers that take direct influence from 80's post-punk, I do not consider the 3 pillars of today to subjectively be sturdy enough to support an entire radio format. Moral of the story, there are only 3 pillars supporting the alternative format as of today, as compared to the 6 pillars that existed in the early to mid 90's. Three sub genres and an occasional gold title from another 3-5 sub genres is the issue that alternative has in 2019, which overall leads to less available music to be played. I mean, the way the format works today, the White Stripes, Beastie Boys, Nirvana, Franz Ferdinand, Depeche Mode, ect would never chart if not for having a history on the format.
 
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Then again, even the new wave aspects of the format have been toned down significantly as opposed to the 80's and 90's. As mentioned before, even a more recent band, such as Chrvches, have had difficulty getting a single into the top 10 on the charts.
 
gamefreak said:
Then again, even the new wave aspects of the format have been toned down significantly as opposed to the 80's and 90's. As mentioned before, even a more recent band, such as Chrvches, have had difficulty getting a single into the top 10 on the charts.
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This is why I wonder if alternative is going to become a pop format in the 2020's. Alt programmers seem to be applying stricter and stricter standards to the rock stuff, making it more and more difficult for a rock artist to climb up the alt ladder into the top 10. "Alligator" is the heaviest track to gain traction on alt in quite some time (depending on how heavy you feel "She's Kerosene" is), and it stalled out multiple times because several stations just did not want to play it until its general popularity forced their hands. But that doesn't happen frequently.

Everything being shoved into Mainstream Rock is not going to be pretty but there is another format out there that would prevent such a cataclysm, AAA. If alternative does go pop I am thinking that AAA will evolve into being a de facto Modern Rock format as many rock and indie bands have been releasing singles and followups exclusively to the format lately. For example, The Head and the Heart, The Lumineers, and The Revivalists all have released AAA-exclusive singles within the last month or so despite their history of Alt success and getting songs to place high on the alt chart just this year (hell The Lumineers and The Head and the Heart both pulled off a #1 on the alternative chart this year).

My local AAA station has been playing Rancid, Green Day, White Stripes, The Strokes, The Killers, Smashing Pumpkins, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Garbage, Nirvana, etc. all in the last year or so, when they never showed an inkling of interest in those bands throughout its entire history up until now. Even "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour is no longer off-limits. A switch has flipped somewhere, I think...

I wonder where this leaves alternative/active hybrids like KPNT. What do they do, if alternative continues leaning away from rock?
 
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"bad guy" was knocked out of the top 10 on Mediabase's alternative chart by Billie's polar opposite, The Black Keys and their song "Go". There's a pun somewhere in there.

This is the start of a new test now that "bad guy" is a recurrent. Will it have staying power or will it be like Billie's previous alt singles and just vanish?
 
So here's the question: Is Billie Eilish's Grammy sweep going to be the kiss of death for her music at alternative radio?

Is she now too successful to get alternative airplay?
 
TheBigA said:
So here's the question: Is Billie Eilish's Grammy sweep going to be the kiss of death for her music at alternative radio?

Is she now too successful to get alternative airplay?
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Depends, Coldplay has been big on CHR and Hot AC radio since at least 2008. The band has had at least one number 1 hit on the Pop charts, as well as many in the Top 40. Yet, Orphans has just recently hit number 1 on the Alt charts.

Heck, the local Alt station were I live, 97x in Tampa, even played Hymn for the Weekend just a few years back. Yes, the one with Beyonce as a guest vocalist, still got airplay on alt.
 
TheBigA said:
So here's the question: Is Billie Eilish's Grammy sweep going to be the kiss of death for her music at alternative radio?

Is she now too successful to get alternative airplay?
Click to expand...

I think I'm hearing her even more often on the two Alt stations in LA...
 
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