Here's a little glossary of terms used in today's Alternative Rock.
- Adult Alternative
Adult Alternative was born in the mid-1990s, when the Alternative Rock and
Grunge styles were the most popular rock styles. New artists appears, influenced
by alternative bands, that were targeting the adult audiences with a music
that was not too loud, nor threatening.
(Counting crows, Cake, Tori
amos, Alanis morisette, Matchbox twenty, Aimee mann).
- Alternative Country
Music inspired by traditional Country but with
a rock vision and sometimes louder guitars.
(Cowboy junkies, Giant sound,
Uncle tupelo).
- Alternative Metal
Uses the same conventions that Heavy Metal always has - loud guitars and
bludgeoning riffs - but with some post-punk concepts and without the endless
guitar solos and hoarse vocals.
(Soundgarden, Marylin manson, Henry rollins,
Korn).
- Ambient Pop
Combines conventional pop with electronic textures and
atmospheres. An extension of Dream Pop that uses more electronic sound including
sampling.
(Air, Violet indiana, Stereolab, Laika).
- Brit Pop
English pop bands with a "rock" star attitude
and image, and most of the time with a Beatles like sound.
(Oasis, Blur,
Pulp, Coldplay, Travis, The verve, Supergrass).
- Chamber Pop
Carefully orchestrated music with instruments not commonly
used in rock music.
(Nick cave, Tindersticks, Rufus wainwright, The divine
comedy).
- College Rock
Any Alternative bands that are played on the college
radios.
- Digital Hardcore
Aggressive Hardcore Punk music made digitally.
(Atari
teenage riot, Prodigy)
- Dream Pop
Atmospheric subgenre of alternative rock that relies on sonic textures as much
as melody. It often features breathy vocals and processed,
echo-laden guitars and synthesizers.
(Cocteau twins, The sundays, Luna, Echo
& the bunnymen).
- Electro Industrial
Artists that relies more on the experimental and electronic edge of industrial music
than the guitar saturated and gothic image of industrial crossever bands.
(Front
line assembly, Front 242)
- Electronic Punk
Bands that play fast-paced punk music with synthesizers
and computers.
(Shampoo, Chicks on speed)
- Emo
Extension of Punk Hardcore, a brand of visceral yet complex guitar music
driven by pendulum-esque dynamics and often deeply personal lyrics.
(Fugazi,
Braid).
- Goth
Goth Rock had grand, baroque arrangements performed with gloomy
synthesizers and processed guitars. Lyrically, Goth was dark,
featuring a lot of cryptic, morbid poetry. Almost as remarkable as its sound was
Goth's image: the bands and the fans usually dressed in black
(Cure, Sisters
of mercy, Christian death).
- Grunge
A hybrid of Heavy Metal (guitars sound) and Punk (lyrics,
attitude) made popular by Nirvana.
(Nirvana, Pearl jam, L7, Hole, Stone
temple pilots).
- Indie Folk
Folk music associated with a more experimental songwriting
than the average Folk artist and a more crude sound.
(Cat power, Elliot
smith, Beth orton, Ida, Indigo girls).
- Indie Garage
Garage Rock (raw form of rock & roll) revival.
(Boss hog, The donnas).
- Indie Pop
General term that refers to alternative pop bands that
embraces the basic tenets of Pop songwriting but filters them through
the warped sensibilities of Indie Rock.
(The high llamas, Ben folds five,
Drugstore)
- Indie Rock
General term that refers to alternative rock bands that
refuses to become mainstream after Nirvana's success, they chose to stay
in independent labels. Not all of the music sounds the same, but nearly every indie
rock band is
based in post-punk guitar rock.
(Pavement, Jesus lizard, Throwing muses).
- Industrial Metal
While pure industrial takes its primary cues from experimental music and
electronic dance, Industrial Metal makes the distorted noise of electric
guitars a crucial part of the music. It's a crossover genre between Heavy Metal
and Industrial dance music.
(Ministry, White zombie, Nine inch nails,
Marylin manson)
- Lo Fi
Lo Fi is recorded on a cheap equipment.
The goal is to maintain a rough, immediate sound at the opposite of over-produced
recordings.
(Ben lee, Sebadoh, Guided by voices, The folk implosion).
- Math Rock
Math Rock is a relation to Post-Rock, a better known indie-rock style
that shares similar aesthetics. Where Post-Rock has distinct jazz influences,
Math Rock is the opposite side of the same coin: it's dense and
complex, filled with difficult time signatures and intertwining phrases.
(Chavez,
Polvo)
- Neo Glam
A revival of the 70's Glam Rock, it combines 70's Heavy
Metal sound with melodic pop music with attitude.
(Placebo, Suede)
- New Psychedelia
Inspired by the 60s bands, with the joyful approach
to making music, an eschewal of cynicism and irony, and a love for bizarre instruments as
common denominator.
(The apples in stereo, Beulah, Dressy bessy, Elf
power, Of montreal).
- Noise Pop
Pop music wrapped in noisy and distordant guitar, a mix
of melodic pop songs and out of control guitars.
(Lush, Jesus & mary
chain, Ride)
- Noise Rock
Chaotic sounds orchestrated into discordant anti-songs.
(Sonic
youth, Yo la tengo, Dinosaur jr).
- Post Punk
Early 80's music that have roots in the independent
and counterculture spirit of punk but that was interested in exploring
new territories. It's the father of 90's Alternative Pop/Rock. This includes
different style of music, from New Wave (Cure, Joy Division, U2) to Punk
Hardcore.
- Post Rock
Experimental form of Rock mixing Noise, Free Jazz and Electronica.
(Tortoise,
Mogwai, Aphex twin).
- Punk Folk
See Urban Folk.
- Punk Hardcore
The most rigid and extreme variation of punk rock. Emerging in the early '80s,
it was fast paced with shouted vocals and a crude sound. Most of the bands
with time, left the sound of hardcore behind, but not its ideals.
(Beastie
boys, Bad religion, Bad brains, Husker Dü, Dead kennedys).
- Punk Pop
A post-grunge strand of alternative rock that combines power-pop melodies and
chord changes with speedy punk tempos and loud guitars.
( Weezer, Ash, Lemonheads,
Pixies).
- Punk Revival
Emerging in the 90's Punk Revival bands were all traditionalists, keeping alive the sounds
and styles of 77's Punk groups but with a heavier sound (signs of the time).
(Offspring,
Green Day, Blink 182).
- Queercore
Punk subgenre that differs by its lyrics, which explore openly
themes of
prejudice, oppression, and same-sex attraction.
(Team dresch, Butchies).
- Rap Metal
Fusion of the most aggressive elements of Hip-Hop and Heavy
Metal.
(Rage against the machine, Limb bizkit, Kid Rock )
- Riot Grrrl
Subgenre of Indie Rock and Punk Rock that is distinguished by its
radical feminist lyrics and its raw, willfully amateurish musical attack.
(Bratmobile,
Sleater-kinney, Le tigre, Bikini kill).
- Sadcore
Primarily an extension of Independent Rock, Sadcore is slow,
fragile and gut-wrenching music made by and for the depressed. Themes of
heartbreak, loss, and misery dominate the lyrics, and the music itself is
resolutely downbeat.
(American music club, Red house painters).
- SkatePunk
Not so different musically from Punk Revival, it's difference
lies in the cultural background, it's the rock music of skateboarders.
(NoFX,
Milencolin, Labwagon).
- Slowcore
Soft melodies shrouded in thick, dark atmospheres. Similar
to Sadcore, Slowcore's concerns are far more musical than lyrical.
(Low,
Galaxie 500)
- Space Rock
Hypnotic music defined by washes of heavily reverbed guitar, minimalist drumming, and
gentle, languid vocals.
(Spaceman
3, Mogwai, Spiritualized, My bloody valentine, Radiohead).
- Trip Hop
Hybrid of Dance-based listening music, Jazz, Funk, and Soul.
(Bjork,
Portishead, Massive attack, Tricky, Moby, Fatboy slim, Propellerheads, Cibo
matto).
- Twee Pop
A Bubblegum Indie Rock: spirit of Punk with a simplicity
and innocence not seen since the earliest days of Rock & Roll.
(Belle
& sebastian, Shonen knife, The cardigans, The softies).
- Urban Folk
A movement of singer/songwriters that grew out
of punk rock.They performed solos with an acoustic or electric guitar singing
often angry lyrics.
(Ani di franco, Michelle shocked, Vic chesnutt, Billy
bragg).
