orphicmusic.com Blog

I think we now have enough distance between ourselves and the 1990’s to “look back” at the concept of “Alternative” music.  According to the Wikipedia, the term came into existence in the mid-1980’s to describe the first generation of post-punk genres.  By the time I became aware of the “Alternative” label, it basically applied to all non-rap popular music.  For a brief time, the uniquitous “Pop/Rock” signs in record stores were replaced “Alternative” signs.  I’m amused now, as I was then, that everything was alternative.  What was it an alternative to?  I don’t remember anyone having a very good answer for that.  Over time, the term fell out of of use, and we’re all back to calling anything mainstream “Pop/Rock.”  It may be an overgeneralization, but at least its not a paradox.

A couple of years ago, I heard of the “Duetche Alternative Charts.”  I love these things for a number of reasons.  First, they have nothing to do with “Alternative” as we Americans used to know it.  Furthermore, and again in contrast to our legacy, the bands on these charts are of a distinctly different style than mainstream music.  Finally, a lot of bands on these charts are Synthpop and/or Industrial.  In 2005, Green Day and Coldplay did make it onto the Top 100 singles chart (there are a few other well-known names, but these are the only representatives of “Mainstream” music by American standards).  But, they were beat out VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk, Iris, and many others.  Depeche Mode’s “Precious” was number one.

It seems likely to me that the whole music chart system (admittedly invented as a marketing tool) homegenizes what people listen to.  If an album or single gets to the top of the charts, people listen to it more, and more people listen to it.  The charts ostensibly only reflect trends, but given the existence of Top 40 stations and radio countdowns, they clearly influence what continues to be played as well.  If Billboard, which currently summarizes the trends of the entire U.S. in its charts, were to divide the nation into many regions, I wonder if different and varied trends might emerge.  For now, I’ll have to be content with what Europe has to offer.