The Failure of the Dream of 1990s Alt Rock.

One of those things that I spend way too much time thinking about is how the Alternative Music "Revolution" of the 1990s failed. In the short term, it made music more interesting. In the long term, it changed the course of Hard Rock and MOR , and not for the better. One thing that came to mind when I was thinking about it this morning was the scene from "Easy Rider" where Wyatt (Peter Fonda) says to Billy (Dennis Hopper), "We blew it." In the context of my thought, it would really be more like "They" blew it, "They" being The Music Industry, since there really wasn't a whole lot I could do to keep the momentum going. I was too naive to see it in 1994 and 1995, but the signs were there that things weren't going in the direction I'd hope they'd go.

1. Candlebox.  The first few times I heard "Change", I thought, "This kinda sounds like a hair band." "You" didn't sound quite as much like a hair band, but "Far Behind" was definitely a power ballad. They might get some brownie points for getting their name from a Midnight Oil song, but no, just no. Candlebox were indicative of a problem with The Industry when it tries to push a certain genre, in this case Alternative in general and Grunge in particular. There were many bands that had been around for years, touring in vans, and were just bubbling under the mainstream. A few of those bands managed to make it (Soundgarden finally having done it in 1994), but for the most part The Industry were more interested in signing, and at times possibly even creating, bands that hadn't been around long, and were like some watered down version of the genuine article. But most kids in places like Shepherdsville, Kentucky, didn't know any better. I remember cringing one time during my senior year of high school when I heard a classmate say, "I like Alternative, Candlebox rocks!" A year after that, my brother was substitute teaching at our old school, and I think some kids asked him what kind of music he listened to, and when he said Alternative, they asked him if he was going to see Collective Soul.
2. Ignoring newer stuff from "older" bands. Faith No More put out one of the best albums of 1992, and Living Colour put out a fairly strong album in 1993, but they were virtually ignored. Sometime in early 1994, the local Modern Rock station played Living Colour's "Cult Of Personality", and the DJ said something about them being in the "Where Are They Now?" file. I wanted to call up the station and tell the guy, "Where are Living Colour? They put out an album a year ago called 'Stain', you oughtta check it out."
3. Hootie & the Blowfish. "Hold My Hand" was a song that got started on Modern Rock stations before it made its way to Contemporary Hits Radio. But the first time I heard it, I thought, "This is not Alternative." I think the only people who could try to make a case as to why it would be Alternative would be the kids who didn't know better. They're Mainstream Rock through and through.
4. Sheryl Crow/Jewel. I'm not really sure how these women got lumped in with Alternative either. I find it funny that both of them and Darius Rucker are now singing Country, or the music that is referred to as Country these days.
5. Either ignorance or no respect from the "kids" towards the people that paved the way. As mentioned elsewhere in this blog, I first got into Alternative well before "Nevermind" made it cool, so I tend to lean more towards '80s Alt. I'm also a history nut, especially when it comes to Rock music. At the end of 1994, I was still a few years away from buying a Psychedelic Furs CD, but I really dug the few Furs songs I had heard, including three that got regularly played on the local Modern Rock station. I also really liked the first single from Richard Butler's new band Love Spit Love, called "Am I Wrong". In March 1995, my brother and I went to see Live, with Love Spit Love and Sponge opening. Sponge seemed to be fairly well liked, but Love Spit Love didn't make quite as good an impression on some people, most likely due to Richard Butler's flamboyance, and others because, honestly, they weren't great, especially compared to the Furs, but most of the people who were coming to see Live probably didn't give a shit about or had never heard of the Furs anyway. Apparently, on one side of my brother was me geeking out over Richard Butler, even going so far as yelling "RICHARD!!!", and on his other side were some dudes calling Richard a fag. It seems like I yelled something back about how this guy was in The Psychedelic Furs, or being a legend, or something. I do seem to remember that being an overall disappointing night, and should've been the moment I said, "We blew it." One of my hopes was that Alternative Rock would somehow make people more open minded, but, eh, not so much. Hell, I know people who do listen to legit Alt Rock who are pretty staunchly Conservative. And then there's Representative Paul Ryan, who claims to have been a Rage Against The Machine fan. Dude, did you even bother listening to their lyrics?
6. To be honest, I don't know how many people in the Louisville area during the mid-'90s listened to the local Modern Rock station (105.9Q-Too/WXNU) compared to the mainstream Rock station (100.5 The Fox, now at 93.1), but it seemed like Fox listeners had 105.9 listeners way outnumbered. I could understand the older people who were into hair bands or arena rock listening to The Fox, but not the kids I went to school with. It's like, did they know there was an alternative and didn't like it, or did they even know it existed? I guess some people just don't like exploring the dial in hopes of hearing something good on the radio, but people around here seem to be content with mediocrity.

On a related note, it occurred to me later in the day that today was the anniversary of Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley's deaths in 1994 and 2002, respectively. I can't help but think that bands like Nickelback have Kurt rolling in his grave.

I don't know why I worry about it. I was young and naive, and my expectations as to what music could accomplish were way too high. One thing I've learned since I've gotten older, and by watching tons of movies, is that Scenes are essentially born to die. After all, how many musical genres or sub-genres can you name from the past fifty years alone? It was fun, but it will end, and you'll either have to move on, or get stuck in a time warp.