10 albums that gave birth to alternative rock
Not every rock band that jams in a garage is looking for a number one hit. As much as fans might like to find an audience for their music, the early days of rock and roll had just as many artists looking to transform what the words rock and roll meant in the eyes of the public. That meant something that wasn’t exactly radio-friendly, and the underground stations had a field day finding alternative rock acts like R.E.M. and The Smiths.
Although every one of these bands got their due respect after the fact, every one of these albums had an uphill battle in the beginning, either having a weird, quirky attitude behind the production or putting an eccentric twist on what rock and roll stood for. Despite being the laughing stock of rock and roll, each album got it’s just due later.
From being ahead of the times to exposing a new genre to the world, every one of these songs became pivotal once the alternative movement kicked in. Although not every one of these albums was treated like a classic, those listening started bands of their own, giving way to the alternative revolution that would come in the early 1990s.
While Nirvana might have set the world on fire at the time, Kurt Cobain would not have gotten off the ground if these records hadn’t laid the groundwork first. The alternative nation might have seemed sudden then, but it had been bubbling up from underground like these albums.
10 albums that gave birth to alternative rock:
The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground
Even in the 1960s, the rock scene was still supposed to be radio-friendly. Although the era of flower power was coming over from San Francisco, every band had their fair share of pop songs to get them onto the radio. While the California sunshine may have been fun, something a little seedier was happening in New York.
From the grimy side of the Big Apple, The Velvet Underground came out with some of the most feral rock and roll ever heard. Although Lou Reed liked the idea of rock and roll, his tales of life in the gutter were a reality check for listeners, going from the sweet sounds of ‘Sunday Morning’ to songs about prostitutes, drug dealers, and the calming effects that heroin can have.
Despite getting savaged in the press as one of the worst rock records ever released, every song on here has gone down as a classic, paving the way for the indie movement and gaining fans in fellow icons like David Bowie. The Velvets might not have been designed for the mainstream, but you could still be a freak and make your way into rock history.
Raw Power – The Stooges
Around the late ‘60s, the garage rock movement started sweeping the USA. Although the British Invasion may have been fun, American fans wanted to try something for themselves, jamming in their garages and making as much raucous noise as possible. There was always something more behind the rock and roll cacophony, and Iggy Pop was ready to unleash war when Raw Power came out.
While every one of the Stooges’ albums could have made this list, Pop has never sounded more feral than on this album, painting himself as the misfit alien version of James Dean. Whereas the Beatles were talking about the power of love, Pop was into destruction, writing songs that told the seedy stories of his native Detroit, from the acoustic ‘Gimme Danger’ to paving the way for hard rock on ‘Search and Destroy’.
As the ‘70s turned a corner, this record became the breeding ground for the punk movement, with bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash taking cues from the guttural sounds of The Stooges. Iggy might have been about tearing down the establishment, but the main focus was always to test the limits of what rock and roll could be on a stage.
RAM – Paul McCartney
So, how does one become one of the biggest pop stars in the world and still qualify as alternative? By the late ‘60s, no music fan didn’t know the name Paul McCartney, but his work with The Beatles had come to a bitter end over business. After testing some new songs on his glorified demo debut album, McCartney went into a studio with his wife Linda and went berzerk.
Across RAM, Macca is pulling at every single genre he can get his hands on, from delving into country rock to psychedelic music to making a spare ukulele ditty for the sorta-title track ‘Ram On’. Although his fans and bandmates might have been confused by this record, RAM guided the indie rock movement going forward.
Despite some of the ramshackle production, McCartney’s knowledge of production techniques makes this an organic answer to The Beach Boys’ sound while also finding time to put in the typical whimsy you’d expect out of a McCartney release. Although Macca might have been a little too ahead of the curve on this record, there’s a good chance that acts like Vampire Weekend could build their career off of any of these songs.
Combat Rock – The Clash
The alternative rock movement and punk had always gone hand in hand. Kurt Cobain had labelled himself a punk before Nirvana hit it big, and every great alternative act had the traditional DIY ethos you got out of punk rock. Though acts like the Ramones might have stayed in their one lane throughout their career, The Clash would bring punk into the next generation on Combat Rock.
Compared to the poignant statements made on London Calling, what sets this record apart is just how much The Clash are willing to buck trends. Despite being one of the biggest punk bands in the world, every song on here is a different creative endeavour, writing some of their poppiest songs about war-mongering bureaucrats on ‘Rock the Casbah’. Apart from their traditional songs, ‘Straight to Hell’ and ‘Know Your Rights’ were radical departures, dipping into the worlds of reggae and embracing dance textures that would inform the next phase of punk, like Gang of Four.
It’s that diversity that contributed to The Clash’s downfall, leading to Mick Jones being fired and Joe Strummer trying to continue on before calling it a day. It may have been a rough trade to give up Only Band That Matters, but The Clash were willing to go down swinging for their art.
Remain in Light – Talking Heads
When punk started dying out, new wave was already prepared to take its place. Although acts like Talking Heads may have fit in the punk mould back in the day, they set their sights on something a little artsier than what the Ramones or even Television were doing. While punk was becoming post-punk, Talking Heads locked themselves in a studio and painted their world music masterpiece.
Taking cues from the sounds they heard from African rhythms, the majority of Remain in Light deals with strange textures that weren’t common in Western music. Although songs like ‘Crosseyed and Painless’ may have been a tough pill to swallow at the time, this was art rock’s first step into the mainstream.
After being relegated to the independent stations, songs like ‘Once in a Lifetime’ began making the rounds on MTV, talking about a disastrous future that would come and a dystopia where water would be floating underground. That dystopia might not have come to pass exactly as David Byrne described it, but this album built the musical dystopia that alt-rock turned into.
Murmur – R.E.M
In terms of underground music, some of the biggest names in the scene had come from overseas. Although the USA may have wanted to have their underground names, some of the biggest names like The Clash and the Sex Pistols, set an example from half a world away. Just as MTV was starting, a band from Athens began making waves and accidentally set the world on fire.
Though R.E.M. could never have estimated their rise to fame, Murmur hit on something much more human than anything else on the radio. Peter Buck’s guitar played through every other guitar solo on the radio, while Michael Stipe’s musical gibberish gave a voice to people struggling to find where they belonged in the world.
While the band’s rise to power felt like a fluke then, their reputation would only grow stronger through the years, becoming a favourite of grunge bands and notching up some of the biggest hits of their career years after their debut. They say slow and steady wins the race, but considering this album’s success, R.E.M. can have their cake and eat it in front of us.
Surfer Rosa – Pixies
When talking about the greatest hot spots for new music, the tide doesn’t turn to Boston all that often. Though bands like The Cars and Aerosmith hail from the northeast, most listeners tend to look towards New York as the hotbed for all new trends in music. Amid the other underground acts, the Pixies came to town with some of the most off-the-wall pop tunes ever conceived.
And no, you didn’t read that incorrectly. Throughout most of Surfer Rosa, Pixies are writing pop songs that have been turned inside out, either with deeply sinister lyrics or dynamics that can shift on a dime. Although something like ‘Where is My Mind’ might seem straight ahead, there are just as many left turns, like Joey Santiago playing crazy surf rock guitar and Frank Black being complimented by Kim Deal’s high alto voice.
The Pixies might not have gotten their due, but every band in the world copied them once the ‘90s kicked in. As alt-rock gained traction on MTV, every band cited the Pixies as a main influence, from Kurt Cobain admitting to ripping them off to latter-day power pop artists like OK Go. Frank Black had a good idea for what his music was supposed to sound like, it just happened to come about a decade too early.
The Queen is Dead – The Smiths
Alternative rock has always been punk rock’s moodier cousin. Since punk rock was always about destruction, alternative music gave artists a chance to be more introspective, talking about depressing topics or some of the torment they were dealing with every single day. Alternative rock lets you open up, and it’s all Morrissey’s fault.
Though the leader of The Smiths has had a colourful history, even in the band’s prime, The Queen is Dead stands as one of the best examples of writing emotionally gripping alternative rock. Being more of a poet than a singer, Morrissey brings a sense of melancholy to every song here, talking about wandering around a graveyard on ‘Cemetry Gates’ and wanting nothing more than to die with his love by his side on ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’.
Lyrics can only take you so far, but Johnny Marr puts bounce into every song on here, bringing a retro sound of the ‘60s with his Rickenbacker guitar while also paving the way for what the six-string was capable of at the time. The emo movement might not have taken hold until a few years later, but this is ground zero if you’re talking about songs that wear their heart on their sleeve.
Tim – The Replacements
In their prime, The Replacements were the biggest bunch of drunks that rock and roll had ever seen. Although the band weren’t half bad when playing in their native Minneapolis, there was always something that kept them from reaching the heights they deserved. Even though R.E.M. took the mantle waiting for them, no one will take Tim away from their accolades.
Being students of rock and roll, The Replacements found the middle ground between pop-rock, alternative, and absolute debauchery across this album. Even though you can see the bar band they always were on ‘Waitress in the Sky’, songs like ‘Kiss Me On the Buss’ and ‘Dose of Thunder’ brought an extra weight to their sound that would go on to influence everyone from the Foo Fighters to Green Day.
These drunks were still human, and some of the best moments on this record are where they reel it back, like the Springsteen-style rocker ‘Bastards of Young’ or the sad sack sitting at the bar in ‘Here Comes a Regular’. They were never trying to impress anybody with their music. The Replacements were always just normal guys, and when they came together, they created something extraordinary.
The La’s – The La’s
At the end of the ‘80s, the British indie scene had started to dry up a little bit. Though the rumblings of Madchester were just beginning with acts like the Stone Roses, Lee Mavers was still looking to write songs that could tug on your heartstrings as opposed to making you dance. While he did paint a masterpiece, he still has never forgiven himself for it.
In a bid to reach perfection in the studio, The La’s debut album was made as ramshackle as possible, only for the label to get fed up and release the album anyway. Although these are still rough sketches of the band’s sound, they captured something magical between these grooves, taking the basic building blocks of pop songwriting and talking about life on the wrong side of England.
Despite the fluke hit ‘There She Goes’, Mavers disappeared from public life for a while, only for this album to become the building blocks of Britpop, with Noel Gallagher of Oasis confessing to being a huge fan. Wherever Mavers resides these days, here’s hoping he knows how much his music has meant to millions of indie kids worldwide.
