The underground should include something that challenges the established order. In the case of music genres it contains something new that is different from what has passed for the conventional and established. Underground is not merely "not yet popular", although it is not generally popular, at least not yet. But it also must challenge what is generally popular with some new element.
Why? And if it doesn't, if it's merely created without an eye on mainstream success; what is it then? Is it alternative or indie OR have those terms lost much of their meaning after being almost fully incorporated into the rock and pop mainstream?
The whole concept of being underground is not meant to be a metaphor for not in the light. As in not yet in the bright light of day. - that is NOT underground. Instead, think of the French Underground in World War II. They were fighting the Germans, the Nazis. They were not merely a bunch of people who did not yet have a contract.
OK, if you want a less inflammatory example, Radio Caroline was an "underground" radio station - operating outside of the law. Personally, I loathe the terms "alternative" and "indie" as applied to music.
Alternative has an especially negative connotation for me, since it became a radio format back in the 90's. Our local "alternative" rock station used to play the most godawful stuff imaginable.
It's mostly because I have a difficult time thinking that Linkin Park is "Alternative" while Nina Hagan is not. Cognitive dissonance.
Yeah, that's it exactly. Linkin Park, Creed, etc. were labeled as alternative, when they were really mainstream horse----. Not that everything mainstream is bad but bands like that were the bane of 90's rock.
Wasn't Tom Petty the first artist specifically marketed as part of the "New Romantic" genre to retailers?
There was a time when those terms were meaningful. But alternative is only alternative until it becomes mainstream.
It's funny reading these posts. About music and folks are getting all tangled up trying to give it a name to describe it. Jeez...
No. But he was occasionally lumped in with New Wave, as Corporate Rock was so entrenched that an adenoidal singer with an actual organ in the mix was outre enough to qualify as "New Wave."
While the mental image of Tom Petty as a new romantic is hilarious, both the decade and the country of origin are wrong.
If the vast ways of discovering music is preventing bands from becoming a global sensation, then how have the likes of Adele, Kendrick Lamar and Drake managed it?
