Genre Study on Alternative Rock

1. GENRE STUDY
GEORGE ALLEN & KAMAL SINGH

2. ALTERNATIVE ROCK
 THIS GENRE ALMOST FULLY
CONSISTS OF BAND MUSIC,
WITH MOST ‘CLASSIC’
BANDS FALLING INTO THIS
CATEGORY.
 THIS GENRE INCLUDES
BANDS LIKE THE 1975,
ARCTIC MONKEYS OR
OASIS.
 THE GENRE IS A BROAD
ONE, WITH MUSIC THAT
DIFFERS GREATLY IN
TERMS OF ITS SOUND,
CONTEXT AND MEANING,
LIKE THE AUDIBLE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
OASIS’ “WONDERWALL” AND
ARCTIC MONKEYS
“BRIANSTORM” FOR
EXAMPLE.

3. WHATS TYPICAL OF
ALTERNATIVE ROCK
 TYPICALLY YOU WOULD
EXPECT TO HEAR VOCALS,
ELECTRIC GUITARS, BASS
GUITARS AND DRUMS IN AN
ALTERNATIVE ROCK SONG.
BASICALLY WHAT YOU WOULD
THINK OF WHEN A BAND WAS
MENTIONED, AS BASICALLY ALL
OF THE GENRES ARTISTS ARE
BANDS. MOST OF THESE
SONGS WOULD CONTAIN A
REPETITIVE ‘RIFF’ THAT IS
PLAYED BY THE ELECTRIC
GUITAR, ACCOMPANIED BY A
CONTINUOUS BEAT BY THE
DRUMS AND BASS GUITARS. AN
EXAMPLE OF THIS COULD BE
‘CHOCOLATE’ BY THE 1975.

4. ORIGINS
 THE GENRE ORIGINALLY DERIVED FROM A
MIX OF OTHER GENRES, LIKE PUNK ROCK,
POST PUNK, NEW WAVE OR HARDCORE
PUNK. SMALL FACTORS FROM ALL 4 OF
THESE, ALONGSIDE OTHER COMPONENTS,
WERE COMBINED TO CREATE THE GENRE
WE KNOW TODAY. DERIVATIVE FORMS OF
THE GENRE INCLUDE ALTERNATIVE
COUNTRY, ALTERNATIVE HIP HOP, BIG BEAT
AND TRIP HOP. THE BREAKTHROUGH OF
‘NIRVANA’ ALLOWED FOR ALTERNATIVE
ROCK TO ENTER THE MUSICAL
MAINSTREAM, GIVING MORE ALTERNATIVE
BANDS THE OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME
SUCCESSFUL, LIKE DURING THE LATE
1990S AND EARLY 2000S, BANDS LIKE ‘THE
WHITE STRIPES’ EMERGED,BRINING WITH
THEM HITS LIKE ‘SEVEN NATION ARMY’,
ONE OF THE MORE COMMONLY
RECOGNISED GUITAR RIFFS OF THE 2IST
CENTURY.