Some thoughts on Alternative Rock

DO NOT DISS NU-METAL!

Except Slipknot, insult them all you want.

edited 15th Apr '12 2:02:39 PM by KingNerd

The smartest idiot you will ever meet.

ATTN: WIMPS AND POSERS

PLEASE VACATE THE HALL

Only Death Is Real

The future of Rock:

The 5 geek social fallacies. Know them well.

oh stillbirth you so funnay

The future of rock seems a lot like the past of electronic.

edited 15th Apr '12 2:16:42 PM by 0dd1

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I know!!!

Chrome Hoof is really cool. ^w^

DISCO WILL RISE AGAIN.

edited 15th Apr '12 2:24:57 PM by inane242

The 5 geek social fallacies. Know them well.

YES. I fucking love Chrome Hoof.

With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.

Oh, shut up. All your bitching about post-rock does nothing but show how little you actually know about post-rock. (Which, considering your complaints about others not knowing enough about metal, strikes me as amazingly hypocritical.)

Seriously, we like a lively discussion, but you're being an obnoxious prat.

Also, call me a wimp or a poser one more time and I will duct-tape you to an office chair and force you to listen to Paradoxa Paradoxa on repeat, I swear.

*wipes foam off lips*

Moving on...

edited 16th Apr '12 5:39:28 AM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Guise

Koolit

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He says long after everything has cooled down.

The 5 geek social fallacies. Know them well.

It looked like it was starting to heat up again. Can't be too careful.

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5 hours later?

The 5 geek social fallacies. Know them well.

@JHM: That was a joke post, a reference to an old line from a Manowar song aimed at King Nerd. At the same time, simply because I have a rather unpleasant view on post rock doesn't suddenly make my views of it less valid. I only mentioned it in passing reference anyways as one of the many things I saw as having come out of the alt-rock explosion.

Only Death Is Real

I don't pay attention to the timestamps half the time

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I guess I'm in the minority of people who are fine with how alt rock is nowadays.

I mean, if it gives me more bands inspired by Manchester Orchestra (such as the amazing band All Get Out) and other acts in that scene, then I'm perfectly fine with the course we're on.

Er...

*scratches head*

...sorry about that. I didn't get the joke. But that said, the initial posts you made regarding the subject were ridiculously stereotyped and factually inaccurate, not only because it describes only a fairly specific strain of the "genre" (the post-Mogwai/GSY!BE imitator crowd) but because you got the history of the music so dramatically wrong. Considering the foundations of the bands which ultimately codified the first wave of post-rock—Talk Talk, Slint, Bark Psychosis, Stereolab, Gastr Del Sol—I'd be inclined to say that hardcore punk and Krautrock had more to do with post-rock (especially early on) than alternative rock ever did. (Though you can blame its popularisation—and subsequent decline into the noodly pretence of which you speak—on the alternative boom.)

Speaking of which, have you ever actually listened to any Godspeed You! Black Emperor? You might like them more than you'd expect.

edited 16th Apr '12 9:58:06 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I was speaking about alt-rock's relation to those genre's less so on completely direct musical ideas and rather the sort of general over-arching effects they'd have on the musical world. Basically more of creating the sort of "climate" where certain genres would prosper and others would not.

And yes, I have heard GYBE but eh, let's just say I'm not a fan.

Only Death Is Real

2deep4u

If you don't like a single Frank Ocean song, you have no soul.

Yet at the same time, one could also argue that it served, on a smaller, subtler level, to help reintroduce metal to the underground crowd.

I wouldn't say that. He listens to plenty of strange, intelligent music. He just happens to not like Godspeed, which is cool, even if I don't agree with him. I just took issue with some of his other opinions.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I was joking.

If you don't like a single Frank Ocean song, you have no soul.

I sort of got that. But I had to answer, because my sarcasm-proof switch was fully engaged. It's... hard to explain.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I know what you're talking about, I have that problem too.

If you don't like a single Frank Ocean song, you have no soul.

I'd say metal's underground status had been going strong for a very long time; ever since around 1985, death and black metal had already been gestating and up to the mid 90's, they fared well in spite of the dying off and subsequent disappearance of a lot of more conventional metal genres, at least in North America. To this day, they're still doing pretty well in spite of all the ways clueless record labels and modern day trends have attempted to water down both genres. So it didn't really need to be "re-introduced" as much as merely re-adapted to a different socio-cultural climate.

Only Death Is Real

I apologize for necro-ing a dead post here, but I felt I had to respond to the first post in this thread (and maybe indirectly to some of the others).

First off, there's a bit of a misconception here about what Alternative Rock is- namely, that it emerged as a reaction to Hair Metal- it didn't. It was a descendent (or an offshoot) of Punk Rock, and more directly, it derived (or started with, depending on one's interpretation) from New Wave and Post-Punk. Alternative Rock can be said to begin in the late 70s/early 80s, not later in the decade. Hell, some people even trace it back to The Velvet Underground or The Stooges back in the SIXTIES. I think that's a bit of a stretch myself, but they were big influences on it.

Also, Alternative Rock isn't a sound. It's hardly even a genre. It's a collection of genres that share, at most, a vague aesthetic. Most of these genres don't sound very similar to each other- compare Alternative Dance (i.e. Depeche Mode, New Order, Pet Shop Boys) to Goth Rock (The Cure, The Sisters Of Mercy, Bauhaus), or Alternative Country (i.e. Uncle Tupelo, Cowboy Junkies, Blue Rodeo) to Grunge (I don't even need to lsit examples of this one). And the ones I've mentioned only scratch the surface. The point is, All they share is a certain "alternativeness", for lack of a better word.

Also, not all Alternative Rock bands are all about angst or whining. Hell, there's little angst to be had from Mudhoney, or Faith No More, or many others I can name. Plenty of Alternative Rock bands wrote songs about other subjects.

Finally, I should point out that genres like Alternative Dance, Synth-Pop, Industrial and Alternative Metal are all borderline cases, but nevertheless are often classified as Alternative Rock, and can be considered as such. If one likes any of those things, congratulations- you like at least some Alternative Rock. Also, Goth Rock and Dark Wave count as well, so if you like either of those, the same applies.

That's my two (well, okay, more than two) cents on the subject. Again, sorry for resurrecting this maggot-covered corpse...

Eh, I'd say even earlier than the Velvet Underground. Honestly, I'd consider garage rock bands to be the genesis of alternative rock. The Velvet Underground and The Stooges were certainly some of the biggest influences once people started listening to them, but I wouldn't say they were the progenitors. They were, perhaps, the Trope Codifiers, if you will.

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