Alternative metal is... what the hell is it, anyway?
OK, let's try this... you know
Alternative Rock? Stuff like
R.E.M.,
Radiohead and
They Might Be Giants? Well, imagine alternative rock. Imagine all its weirdness, all its... "
alternativeness". Now, imagine that with the sonic amplitude of
metal, and you've basically got alt-metal.
Alt-metal started off in the mid-to-late-eighties as a response to
Hair Metal, which was the commercial darling of MTV and had in many people's eyes reduced (non-underground) metal to a watered-down pop movement; consequently, alt-metal bands sought to bring back metal's original fire. There was no specific "scene" for alt-metal bands, and not even a specific sound, but they were all united by experimental flourishes and influences from other genres.
The genre became popular in the late eighties/early nineties (around the same time that alt-rock got its big break) thanks to a few bands that are considered the founding members of the genre; these bands included
Faith No More and
Primus. A couple of years later,
Tool took alt-metal
and made it considerably darker.
The genre is wide enough that bands will often have totally different sounds to each-other (compare Primus and Korn - do they sound the same?), which causes a fair bit of annoyance with people who like to categorise their bands. At the end of the day, though, alt-metal is a handy catch-all term for bands that are both
arguably metal and hard to classify.
See also
Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly, a trope that many alt-metal bands possessed.
Bands typically classed as alt-metal include:
- 10 Years (also falls under Post Grunge)
- Alice in Chains (Nominally Grunge/Heavy Metal. Certainly the most metal-influenced grunge band alongside Soundgarden.)
- Alien Ant Farm (not normally considered a metal band, although some of their work definitely draws from the genre. Also falls under Alternative Rock, Nu Metal, Post Grunge and Pop Punk).
- Alter Bridge
- Audioslave
- Avenged Sevenfold
- Biohazard (fused with Rap Metal and Thrash Metal)
- Breaking Benjamin (Also counts as Post Grunge)
- Breed 77 (uniquely overlaps with Spanish flamenco music)
- Candiria
- Chevelle (easily the most straightforward example, as they pretty much are a straight hybrid of metal and radio-friendly alternative rock)
- CKY
- Clutch (mixed with Stoner Metal, Hard Rock, Funk Metal, and far too many other genres to list)
- Crush 40 (also Hard Rock and Heavy Metal)
- Deftones
- Demon Hunter (also Groove Metal and Metalcore)
- Dir En Grey
- Dog Fashion Disco
- Evanescence (also Gothic Metal and Alternative Rock)
- Fair To Midland (overlaps with Folk Metal and Progressive Metal)
- Faith No More (one of the few alt metal bands commonly enjoyed by true metalheads, along with Primus, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden)
- Fear Factory (mainly Industrial Metal and Groove Metal, but you can hear alt-metal elements like the melodies they use)
- Fozzy (they also have strong traditional Heavy Metal influences)
- Helmet (bordering on Noise Rock)
- Incubus (mainly their early material)
- Ill Nino (fused with Latin and Nu Metal music)
- Jane's Addiction
- Katatonia (later)
- King's X (also falls under Hard Rock and Progressive Metal)
- L7 (also Grunge and Riot Grrrl)
- Lacuna Coil (later)
- Life of Agony
- Limp Bizkit (also Nu Metal, Funk Metal and Rap Metal)
- Living Colour
- Machinae Supremacy (also Power Metal)
- Marilyn Manson (mainly Industrial Metal)
- Mastodon (recent material. mainly progressive/sludge metal.)
- Maximum The Hormone
- Melvins
- Mr. Bungle
- Mudvayne (also Progressive Metal, Groove Metal and Nu Metal)
- Mushroomhead (also Industrial Metal)
- Nine Inch Nails (mainly Industrial Metal)
- Nonpoint
- Primus (overlaps with Funk Metal and Progressive Rock)
- Quicksand (example of alt-metal post-hardcore fusion.)
- Rage Against the Machine (also Rap Metal and Funk Metal)
- Rollins Band (a band that never really had a clear genre. Also falls under Hard Rock, Funk Metal, Jazz and Post Hardcore)
- Seether (also Post Grunge)
- Sepultura (later, fused with Groove Metal)
- Skindred
- Slipknot (Also Nu Metal and Groove Metal)
- The Smashing Pumpkins (also influenced by Shoegazing, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Dream Pop, Goth Rock and Alternative Rock - basically, think Deftones but with more nasal vocals, and you'd be reasonably close.)
- Soilwork (also Melodic Death Metal)
- Soulfly (early material, fused with Nu Metal / Groove Metal; later became Thrash Metal / Death Metal)
- Soundgarden (nominally Grunge, but heavy enough to fit here as well, like Alice in Chains)
- Staind (also Post Grunge and Nu Metal)
- System of a Down (Perhaps the most commercially successful and popular alternative metal band.)
- Three Days Grace (Also counts as Post Grunge)
- Tool (Also Progressive Metal)
- Type O Negative
- White Zombie
Tropes that apply to the alternative metal genre:
