History Main / AlternativeDance

It's a very eclectic genre, since Alternative Rock and Electronic Music are quite varied in and of themselves, but there are certain common threads: a greater emphasis on songwriting than in typical dance music (if such a thing can be said to exist); generally conventional (verse/chorus) song structures; lyrics that reflect the influence of Alternative Rock and are thus likely to be [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and/or more complex]] than those found in Dance Pop; and often (though not always) some combination of Rock instruments (guitar, bass, drums) and electronic music. Alternative rock in general has always been more open to non-rock influences than mainstream rock, with dance music having a significant PeripheryDemographic of alternative rock fans, largely owing to the continuing popularity of alternative dance. The genre has also served as a mutual GatewaySeries for fans of dance music and alternative rock into each other's genres. Alternative dance is so popular that even many straightahead AlternativeRock artists would create 12-inch dance mixes for club play in the '80s and '90s. In the late '80s and early '90s, alternative dance ''was'' alternative rock, for the most part. Alternative dance artists also made heavy use of the maxi-single format with numerous remixes. Even Music/SuzanneVega had a dancefloor hit with a remixed version of her ''a capella'' song "Tom's Diner" in 1990, though initially without the knowledge of Vega or her record company. The overlap between alternative and dance goes back to the late disco era, when NewWaveMusic was played in clubs as disco started to wane in the late '70s and early '80s while American rock radio largely shunned new wave in favor of ArenaRock before Creator/{{MTV}} came along. Music/TalkingHeads' appreciation for dance music showed in the band's rhythmic grooves and Music/JoyDivision managed to land on Billboard's disco chart with "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

* Music/RealLife (also SynthPop and {{New Wave| Music}})

* Music/KimWilde (Also SynthPop and {{New Wave| Music)

The genre continued into the [[The90s 90s]], with new bands (Music/SaintEtienne, Republica, Music/{{Garbage}}, Music/{{Space}}, Music/{{Curve}}) forming and many older bands who were established in other genres [[GenreShift moving towards it]] (Music/PrimalScream, Everything But the Girl and, most famously Music/{{U2}}, who embraced the genre on their huge hit ''Music/AchtungBaby''). Also, many of the older bands experienced their biggest hits at the turn of the decade, for example, Music/NewOrder and Music/Depeche ode, music who both finally broke into the American mainstream and maintain dedicated stateside followings to this day. The popularity of Grunge generally did little to hurt the genre, and it even provided influence for some (for example, Garbage)-- many bands added heavier guitars and turntablism as a result of Grunge, HipHop, NuMetal, and (to some extent) BritPop. The "alternative" aspect also helped the genre escape the stigma toward dance-pop in the wake of the Music/MilliVanilli scandal. There was also a lot of cross-pollination betwen alternative dance and alternative rock through the decade. Many alternative bands in turn experimented with electronics and dance beats. The fact that alternative dance was [[ShapedLikeItself in and of itself alternative]] likely helped its longevity, with the distinct uniqueness of its sound and ethos helping it survive the backlash against more typical synthpop.

The genre continued into the [[The90s 90s]], with new bands (Music/SaintEtienne, Republica, Music/{{Garbage}}, Music/{{Space}}, Music/{{Curve}}) forming and many older bands who were established in other genres [[GenreShift moving towards it]] (Music/PrimalScream, Everything But the Girl and, most famously Music/{{U2}}, who embraced the genre on their huge hit ''Music/AchtungBaby''). Also, many of the older bands experienced their biggest hits at the turn of the decade- for example,bMusic/NewOrder, who both finally broke into the American mainstream and maintain dedicated stateside followings to this day. The popularity of Grunge generally did little to hurt the genre, and it even provided influence for some (for example, Garbage)-- many bands added heavier guitars and turntablism as a result of Grunge, HipHop, NuMetal, and (to some extent) BritPop. The "alternative" aspect also helped the genre escape the stigma toward dance-pop in the wake of the Music/MilliVanilli scandal. There was also a lot of cross-pollination betwen alternative dance and alternative rock through the decade. Many alternative bands in turn experimented with electronics and dance beats. The fact that alternative dance was [[ShapedLikeItself in and of itself alternative]] likely helped its longevity, with the distinct uniqueness of its sound and ethos helping it survive the backlash against more typical synthpop.

The genre first came into existence in the [[The80s 80s]] in the aftermath of the mainstream success of NewWaveMusic and SynthPop. Arguably the first bands to play this style of music were Joy Division's successor, Music/NewOrder (who [[TropeMaker virtually invented it]] on singles like "Temptation" and, most famously, "Blue Monday"), [[Music/DepecheMode Depeche Mode]] (starting with ''Music/ConstructionTimeAgain'' in 1983; earlier work is straight SynthPop or {{New Wave|Music}}), Music/{{Yazoo}} (formed by the original songwriter for Depeche Mode, incidentally), and Music/OrchestralManoeuvresInTheDark. These bands all combined electronic music with PostPunk rock music and had somewhat more thoughtful lyrics than was typical of the SynthPop of the day. The latter three bands came from a SynthPop background, whereas Music/NewOrder were rooted in the PostPunk of their former incarnation as Music/JoyDivision. These two genres were the largest influence on AlternativeDance, at least early on. Also, these bands were all British, as were most of the prominent bands in the early history of the genre, as the [[DiscoSucks late '70s/early '80s anti-disco backlash]] never reached British shores.

The genre continued into the [[The90s 90s]], with new bands (Music/SaintEtienne, Republica, Music/{{Garbage}}, Music/{{Space}}, Music/{{Curve}}) forming and many older bands who were established in other genres [[GenreShift moving towards it]] (Music/PrimalScream, Everything But the Girl and, most famously Music/{{U2}}, who embraced the genre on their huge hit ''Music/AchtungBaby''). Also, many of the older bands experienced their biggest hits at the turn of the decade- for example, Music/DepecheMode and Music/NewOrder, who both finally broke into the American mainstream and maintain dedicated stateside followings to this day. The popularity of Grunge generally did little to hurt the genre, and it even provided influence for some (for example, Garbage)-- many bands added heavier guitars and turntablism as a result of Grunge, HipHop, NuMetal, and (to some extent) BritPop. The "alternative" aspect also helped the genre escape the stigma toward dance-pop in the wake of the Music/MilliVanilli scandal. There was also a lot of cross-pollination betwen alternative dance and alternative rock through the decade. Many alternative bands in turn experimented with electronics and dance beats. The fact that alternative dance was [[ShapedLikeItself in and of itself alternative]] likely helped its longevity, with the distinct uniqueness of its sound and ethos helping it survive the backlash against more typical synthpop.

The genre was closely related to TripHop, which often influenced it, especially in the 90s. In fact, many Trip Hop bands can be classified as Alternative Dance as well. By nature of its inception, it's also closely related to Synth Pop, which was a major influence on and continues to be to this day, and to a lesser degree, to DreamPop, DarkWave and Industrial (especially the more danceable end of it; among other examples, Music/NineInchNails frontman Trent Reznor openly compared the band's first album to Depeche Mode).

* Music/DepecheMode (one of the {{Trope Codifier}}s; shifted to the style in 1983 and has stuck with it ever since; also overlaps with SynthPop)
** 1983 - ''Music/ConstructionTimeAgain''
** 1984 - ''Music/SomeGreatReward''
** 1986 - ''Music/BlackCelebration''
** 1987 - ''Music/MusicForTheMasses''
** 1990 - ''Music/{{Violator}}''
** 1993 - ''Music/SongsOfFaithAndDevotion''
** 1997 - ''Music/{{Ultra}}''
** 2005 - ''Music/PlayingTheAngel''
** 2007 - ''Music/{{Hourglass}}'' (Dave solo)

* Music/PopWillEatItself

** Music/ArtAngels

* Music/TearsForFears
** 1983 - ''Music/TheHurting''
** 1985 - ''Music/SongsFromTheBigChair''
** 1989 - ''Music/TheSeedsOfLove''
** 1993 - ''Music/{{Elemental|Album}}''
** 1995 - ''Music/RaoulAndTheKingsOfSpain''
** 2004 - ''Music/EverybodyLovesAHappyEnding''

* Music/LusciousJackson (also AlternativeHipHop and plain old AlternativeRock)

** Including ''Music/VanishingPoint''

* Music/TheJuanMacLean

* Music/{{Pendulum|Band}} (bordering into this once they started incorporating rock elements from ''In Silico'' onwards, also DrumAndBass)

Alternative Dance artists include:

* !!!