Post-grunge and pop punk (1995-2000)

With the death of Kurt Cobain, rock and roll music searched for a new face, sound, and trend. A second wave of alternative rock bands began to become popular, with grunge declining in the mid-90s. Green Day, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, and Creed spearheaded rock radio, and 311 and Rage Against the Machine brought a fresh rap/rock hybrid sound. In 1995, a Canadian pop star, Alanis Morissette, arose, and released Jagged Little Pill, a major hit that featured blunt, personally-revealing lyrics. It succeeded in moving the introspection that had become so common in grunge to the mainstream. The success of Jagged Little Pill spawned a wave of popularity in the late 90s of confessional rock releases by female artists including Jewel, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Liz Phair. Many of these artists drew on their own alternative rock heroes from the 1980s and early 90s, including the folksy Tracy Chapman and various Riot Grrrl bands. The use of introspective lyrics bled into other styles of rock, including those dubbed alternative.

The late 1990s brought about a wave of mergers and consolidations among US media companies and radio stations such as the Clear Channel Communications conglomerate. This has resulted in a homogenization of music available. Bands like Green Day and Blink 182 defined pop punk at the end of the 90s. At this time, "nu metal" began to take popular form, it contained a mix of grunge, metal, and hip-hop. Using downtuned 7 string guitars, KoRn first created their heavy crushing riffs in 1994 with their first self-titled album. This then helped spawn a wave of nu metal bands such as Linkin Park, Deftones, Static-X, Disturbed, and Limp Bizkit.