Timeline: Alternative music/rock

Alternative rock music is thought to have begun in the late 1970's and early 1980's (Primarily in the uk).Reaching a commercial and critical peak in the 1990s. 



-1970's

Alternative bands started forming in the 70's. These bands  played mainly rock music but brought elements of punk, reggae and grunge into theire music- hence creating Alternative rock.  Bands started playing in small clubs/bars, they were either signed by a small record label or none at all. By the end of this decade many bands did not conform to any other genre and were anti-mainstream . Often singing about deep/darker topics including drug or alcohol abuse, depression, suicide ect... Some other bands would also be singing about hope 

-1975
-Formation of Blondie, Sex pistols, Talking heads
-1976
- Formation of  The cure 
-1980's 
There was no coverage on alternative music during the later 1980s but MTV started a new show called '120 Minutes' where they introduced music by bands such as Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam.
-1985
-Radioheads form
-1986
-MTV 120 minutes first aired
-1987
-Nirvana formed
-1990's
The 90's saw the rise of alternative music
-1991
-Nirvana released their album " Nevermind"soared into populaity.  Alot of people recognised the genre and began listening to alternative and grunge music. 
-American music festival 'Lollapalooza' took place for the first time, featured bands such as Butthole surfers, Nine inch nails and Janes addition. This was a big change to the genre as alternative bands moved from playing at small venues to big time concerts and gained more commercial attention. 
-1996
-Birth of indie music, Bands such as Modest Mouse, The Kooks and The Libertines introduced a new genre of alternative music which had a much softer sound than alternative rock. 
-2000's
In the early start of the 21st century many original alternative bands such as Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana have broken up and they ended up being replaced by modern Indie bands. The lyrics of songs were based on happiness and humour now. This changed the genre as while it was anti-mainstream before, it is now one of the most mainstream genres out there.