> But if it once was (or still is) alternative, one might then ask: Alternative to what?
One might ask that, but not if one were very smart.
"Alternative" was the dumping ground for anything not playing on the weekly top-40, rap, country, or oldies channels. It's a useless genre
On any given day you could turn the radio to the "alternative" channel and have almost no expectation at all as to what kind of music you'd hear. In that sense REM is perfect for the genre, because their sound changed so much from album to album.
These are all alternative songs, all of which played on the alternative radio stations alongside REM, but good luck finding any kind of common thread beyond "there's usually a guitar involved":
One might ask that, but not if one were very smart. "Alternative" was the dumping ground for anything not playing on the weekly top-40, rap, country, or oldies channels. It's a useless genre
On any given day you could turn the radio to the "alternative" channel and have almost no expectation at all as to what kind of music you'd hear. In that sense REM is perfect for the genre, because their sound changed so much from album to album.
These are all alternative songs, all of which played on the alternative radio stations alongside REM, but good luck finding any kind of common thread beyond "there's usually a guitar involved":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IqH3uliwJY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkIs37a2JE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt5EHAqhR1c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAdLskQtWo8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PDlGUdDF8Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPjPb3nNprg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFXFzqIjHM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GCrzjVdmSg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzUnqr1t7yI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m39DWVFK-Bw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDK-wsdEhNE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts