Is Alternative dead and how can it go forward?

[TheBigA]

realistically, the most tone deaf people in radio are the ones who say rock is dead.

I have news for you: Most people in radio (including me) are tone deaf. That's why we're in radio. If we weren't, we'd be on stage trying to sing and play instruments. It's infinitely more fun than working in radio.

 

[Don CT]

I have news for you: Most people in radio (including me) are tone deaf. That's why we're in radio. If we weren't, we'd be on stage trying to sing and play instruments. It's infinitely more fun than working in radio.

You have a face for radio.

 

[Sundrowned]

I dont think it can go forward. They milked that indie pop dance music sound with the hipster aesthetic (Tame Impalacore I call it) for all it was worth for the past decade and now they are trying to go back to proper 90s indie rock bands that sound like Pavement I guess. I wish we'd get more grunge sounding bands but I know those bands arent getting signed to majors or are charting high ever again. The majors could have signed them in the early 2010s but they passed on them in favor of the easy to market and sell indie pop bands.

 

[PrezSquid]

The Grammys are becoming more irrelevant every year. The ratings have cratered as have music sales. I consider Radio and the Grammys as the same entity. Alternative Radio was once a somewhat accurate name as it played artists that were not featured on Top 40 or AOR playlists. That was a long time ago...

Arctic Monkeys, Big Thief, Florence and the Machine, Wet Leg and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are all artists fitting for alternative. If you think top 40 or AOR stations are playing ANY of these acts, you must have a kickass top 40 station.

 

[PrezSquid]

There was nothing mainstream about Metallica either until they came along. Thanks for supporting my point.

based macattack

 

[davideduardo]

I have news for you: Most people in radio (including me) are tone deaf. That's why we're in radio. If we weren't, we'd be on stage trying to sing and play instruments. It's infinitely more fun than working in radio.

Very true. Because I could not deal with musicians and analyze sheet music and the like, I turned down offers to partner on the startup of Menudo about 45 years ago and the launch of Juan Luis Guerra around 38 years ago. Both went on to be among the biggest names in Latin Music, and if I had taken those assignments they probably would have failed!

 

[PrezSquid]

Alt spent much of the 2010s dominated by the hipsters - probably related to the backlash to the aggro 2000's. Lots of folk and indie in general.

Alt also stayed hipster-friendly in the latter-half of the 2010's by going with avant-garde pop music (following in the footsteps of Lorde). You can tell that 2021 is a different year because the hipsters are furious at various forums and websites, complaining at a level I haven't seen since maybe 2009-11.

As someone who was a teenager during the 2000's I can only say that Alt changes every few years and unless your favorite artist has a timeless sound (or is a huge hitmaker) they're not going to stay relevant on Alt forever.

The hipster-friendly era of alternative went hard. Harder than the 90s did tbh tbh