Alternative goes mainstream (the 1990s)

Grunge

By the late 1980s rock radio was dominated by hard rock artists, slick and glam metal; MTV had arrived and brought with it a perception that style was more important than substance. Disaffected by this, some young musicians began to reject glam metal and arena rock, created instead angst-ridden music. The American Pacific Northwest region, especially Seattle, became a hotbed of this style, dubbed grunge.

Early grunge bands, particularly Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, took much of their sound from early heavy metal and much of their approach from punk, though they eschewed punk's ambitions towards political and social commentary to proceed in a more nihilistic direction. Grunge remained a mostly local phenomenon until the breakthrough of Nirvana in 1991 with their album Nevermind. A slightly more melodic, more completely produced variation on their predecessors, Nirvana was an instant sensation worldwide and made much of the competing music seem stale and dated by comparison, after Guns N' Roses' successful 1991 double-album Use Your Illusion I and II experimental hard-rock faded almost completely from the mainstream.

Nirvana whetted the public's appetite for more direct rock music, leading to the success of bands like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden who took a somewhat more traditional rock approach than other grunge bands but shared their passion and rawness. Pearl Jam were a major commercial success from their debut but, beginning with their second album, refused to buy in to the corporate promotion and marketing mechanisms of MTV and Ticketmaster, with whom they famously engaged in legal skirmishes over ticket service fees.

While grunge itself can be seen as somewhat limited in range, its influence was felt across many geographic and musical boundaries; many artists who were similarly disaffected with commercial rock music suddenly found record companies and audiences willing to listen, and dozens of disparate acts positioned themselves as alternatives to mainstream music; thus alternative rock emerged from the underground.

By 1994 grunge rock and its bands had become some of the most famous bands and genre of the 20th centry. In 1991 Nevermind was released and grunge was popular, along with Pearl Jam's Ten. In 1992 Alice In Chains released Dirt and thus grunge was huge. But in 1994 grunge basically ended when sometime early in April Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain committed suicide. Grunge basically survived because Alice In Chains released their phenomenal EP Jar of Flies later that year, and Soundgarden released their follow up to 1991s Badmotorfinger entitled Superunknown with the huge hit "Black Hole Sun." Though after 1994 Alice In Chains released their self titled in 1995 and prolonged grunge a little longer but by 1996 the grunge fad was no more, with unsuccessful albums from Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots.

Britpop

While America was full of grunge, post-grunge, and hip hop, Britain launched a 1960s revival in the mid-90s, often called Britpop, with bands like Suede, Oasis, The Verve, Radiohead, Pulp and Blur. These bands drew on myriad styles from the 80s British rock underground, including twee pop, shoegazing and space rock as well as traditional British guitar influences like the Beatles and glam rock. For a time, the Oasis-Blur rivalry was similar to the Beatles-Rolling Stones rivalry. While bands like Blur tended to follow on from the Small Faces and The Kinks, Oasis mixed the attitude of the Rolling Stones with the melody of the Beatles. The Verve and Radiohead took inspiration from performers like Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd and R.E.M. with their progressive rock music, manifested in Radiohead's most famous album, OK Computer. These bands became very successful, and for a time Oasis was given the title "the biggest band in the world" thanks to an album selling some 14 million copies worldwide but slowed down after band breakups, publicity disasters in the United States and slightly less popular support. The Verve disbanded after on-going turmoil in the band, but on the other hand Radiohead threw themselves into electronic experimentation in their latest records and have stood the test of time in both the U.K and the USA as a major act

Indie rock

By the mid-90s, the term "alternative music" had lost much of its original meaning as rock radio and record buyers embraced increasingly slick, commercialized, and highly marketed forms of the genre. At the end of the decade, hip hop music had pushed much of alternative rock out of the mainstream, and most of what was left played pop-punk and highly polished versions of a grunge/rock mishmash.

Many acts that, by choice or fate, remained outside the commercial mainstream became part of the indie rock movement. Indie rock acts placed a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, often releasing albums on their own independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, and airplay on independent or college radio stations for promotion. Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompasses a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge influenced bands like Superchunk to do-it-yourself experimental bands like Pavement to punk-folk singers such as Ani DiFranco.

Currently, many countries have an extensive local indie scene, flourishing with bands with much less popularity than commercial bands, just enough of it to survive inside the respective country, but virtually unknown outside them.

Stoner rock

With some influences of Psychedelic Rock and riff orientated structure of early Heavy Metal, stoner rock emerged in the late 1980s. Bands such as Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Nebula and Queens of the Stone Age. Characterised by sludgy sounding, heavily distorted amps and detuned guitars, stoner rock tries to simulate the experience of an LSD trip or smoking marijuana. Many stoner rock bands can often play one song for up to 20 minutes with incredible variation in emotion, speed and genre.

Stoner rock remains the cornerstone of the independent recording industry, with few mainstream exceptions. Most notably Josh Homme who was the songwriter for both Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age.