This is an accepted version of this page
113-670: The Vaselines are a Scottish alternative rock band. Formed in Glasgow , Scotland in 1986, the band was originally a duo between its songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee , but later added James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively from the band Secession . McKee had formerly been a member of a band named The Pretty Flowers with Duglas T. Stewart , Norman Blake , Janice McBride and Sean Dickson. Eugene Kelly had formerly played in The Famous Monsters. The band formed in 1986, initially as
226-525: A Daydreamer . He was replaced by Bobby Kildea of V-Twin . The " Jonathan David " single, sung by Stevie Jackson, was released in June 2001 and was followed by " I'm Waking Up to Us " in November, which saw the band use an outside producer ( Mike Hurst ) for the first time. Most of 2002 was spent touring and recording a soundtrack album, Storytelling (for Storytelling by Todd Solondz ). Campbell left
339-581: A Man" on its B-side . By late 1987, Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly had joined on drums with James Seenan on bass. With this line-up and with Stephen Pastel producing again, they recorded the Dying for It EP, released in early 1988. It featured the songs " Molly's Lips " and " Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam ," both of which Nirvana would later cover. In June 1989 they released their first album, Dum-Dum , again on 53rd and 3rd but distributed by Rough Trade . The band broke up shortly after its release due jointly to
452-726: A Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch , the band has released twelve studio albums. They are often compared with acts such as the Smiths and Nick Drake . The name "Belle and Sebastian" comes from the 1965 television series Belle and Sebastian . Though consistently lauded by critics, Belle and Sebastian's "wistful pop" has enjoyed only limited commercial success. In 1994, Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David both enrolled at Stow College 's Beatbox programme for unemployed musicians in Glasgow. Together, with music professor Alan Rankine (formerly of
565-527: A Sunbeam" covered on MTV Unplugged in New York , the band gained a new audience. At the 1991 Reading Festival , Kelly joined Nirvana on stage for a performance of "Molly's Lips". "I've never made any money apart from my Nirvana royalties," Kelly noted. "It was my tiny bit of rock history, but a strange feeling because by then I was striving for recognition with other bands . I still haven't come to terms with it, although it allowed me to go on playing, and get
678-484: A confessional tone. Rites of Spring has been described as the first "emo" band. Former Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye founded Dischord Records which became the center for the city's emo scene. Gothic rock developed out of late-1970s British post-punk . With a reputation as the "darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock", gothic rock uses a synthesizer-and-guitar based sound drawn from post-punk to construct "foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes", and
791-514: A cover, with altered lyrics to become “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam.” In the summer of 2006, McKee and Kelly took to the stage together for the first time since 1990 to perform a set of Vaselines songs, as part of a joint tour to promote their individual solo albums. The Vaselines reformed (minus the old rhythm section) on 24 April 2008 for a charity show for the Malawi Orphan Support group at Glasgow's MONO venue. Invitation
904-523: A cynical response to an "authentic" rock movement. Bush , Candlebox and Collective Soul were labelled almost pejoratively as post-grunge which, according to Tim Grierson of About.com , is "suggesting that rather than being a musical movement in their own right, they were just a calculated, cynical response to a legitimate stylistic shift in rock music." Post-grunge morphed during the late 1990s and 2000s as newer bands such as Foo Fighters , Matchbox Twenty , Creed and Nickelback emerged, becoming among
1017-459: A duo backed by a drum machine. Originally intending to create a fanzine, Kelly and McKee decided to form a band instead. Stephen Pastel of The Pastels is credited with coming up with their name. After playing their first gigs, they signed to Pastel's 53rd and 3rd label and recorded the Son of a Gun EP with him producing, released in summer 1987. The EP featured a cover of Divine 's "You Think You're
1130-545: A flurry of British bands emerged that wished to "get rid of grunge" and "declare war on America", taking the public and native music press by storm. Dubbed " Britpop " by the media, and represented by Pulp , Blur , Suede , and Oasis , this movement was the British equivalent of the grunge explosion, in that the artists propelled alternative rock to the top of the charts in their home country. Britpop bands were influenced by and displayed reverence for British guitar music of
1243-571: A headliner in 1998. In light of the festival's troubles that year, Spin said, "Lollapalooza is as comatose as alternative rock right now". Despite these changes in style however, alternative rock remained commercially viable into the start of the 21st century. During the latter half of the 1990s, grunge was supplanted by post-grunge . Many post-grunge bands lacked the underground roots of grunge and were largely influenced by what grunge had become, namely "a wildly popular form of inward-looking, serious-minded hard rock."; many post-grunge bands emulated
SECTION 10
#17327908093381356-706: A late night new wave show entitled "Rock and Roll Alternative". " College rock " was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the college radio circuit and the tastes of college students. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture . According to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red , NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called "Alternative Charts". The first national chart based on distribution called
1469-467: A low profile at the insistence of Murdoch, who was still regaining his strength following years struggling with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) . The band played gigs sporadically, rarely gave interviews, and refused to appear in publicity photographs, often getting friends and acquaintances to pose instead. The relative reclusiveness helped to create an aura of mystique around them. The band released their third LP, The Boy with
1582-420: A majority of groups that were signed to indie labels drew from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a sharp break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years. "Alternative music is music that hasn't yet achieved a mainstream audience, Alternative isn't new wave any more, it's a disposition of mind. Alternative music is any kind of music that has the potential to reach
1695-590: A mortgage without having a job." In 1992, Sub Pop released The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History , a compilation that contained The Vaselines' entire body of work at the time. The story of the Vaselines from 1986 to the early 1990s is covered in the 2017 documentary Teenage Superstars , in which both McKee and Kelly feature. The Vaselines song Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam was played in 1993 by Nirvana in their MTV Unplugged in New York concert as
1808-469: A new wave of post-rock bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Rós emerged who further expanded the genre. In 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins' album Siamese Dream was a major commercial success. The strong influence of heavy metal and progressive rock on the album helped to legitimize alternative rock to mainstream radio programmers and close the gap between alternative rock and
1921-464: A number of genres, including Krautrock , progressive rock , and jazz . The genre subverts or rejects rock conventions, and often incorporates electronic music. While the name of the genre was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds in 1994 referring to Hex by the London group Bark Psychosis , the style of the genre was solidified by the release of Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996) by
2034-622: A track recorded with Divine Comedy producer Darren Allison entitled Love on the March . The Thin Lizzy -inspired " I'm a Cuckoo " was the second single from the album. It achieved their highest chart position yet, reaching No. 14 in the UK. The Books EP followed, a double A-side single led by "Wrapped Up in Books" from Dear Catastrophe Waitress and the new "Your Cover's Blown". This EP became
2147-488: A wariness of its "macho" aesthetic. While indie rock artists share the punk rock distrust of commercialism, the genre does not entirely define itself against that, as "the general assumption is that it's virtually impossible to make indie rock's varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes in the first place". Labels such as Matador Records , Merge Records , and Dischord , and indie rockers like Pavement , Superchunk , Fugazi , and Sleater-Kinney dominated
2260-568: A wider audience. It also has real strength, real quality, real excitement, and it has to be socially significant, as opposed to Whitney Houston, which is pablum." —Mark Josephson, Executive Director of the New Music Seminar speaking in 1988 Throughout the 1980s, alternative rock remained mainly an underground phenomenon. While on occasion a song would become a commercial hit, or albums would receive critical praise in mainstream publications like Rolling Stone , alternative rock in
2373-492: Is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock , hard rock , and glam metal acts from
SECTION 20
#17327908093382486-510: Is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word. Alternative can describe music that challenges the status quo and that is "fiercely iconoclastic, anticommercial, and antimainstream", and the term is also used in the music industry to denote "the choices available to consumers via record stores, radio, cable television, and the Internet." However alternative music has paradoxically become just as commercial and marketable as
2599-660: The Billboard 200 album chart. Soundgarden 's album Badmotorfinger , Alice in Chains ' Dirt and Stone Temple Pilots ' Core along with the Temple of the Dog album collaboration featuring members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were also among the 100 top-selling albums of 1992. The popular breakthrough of these grunge bands prompted Rolling Stone to nickname Seattle "the new Liverpool ". Major record labels signed most of
2712-504: The Billboard charts. Pearl Jam also continued to perform well commercially with its second album, Vs. (1993), which topped the Billboard charts by selling a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release. In 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins released their major breakthrough album, Siamese Dream —which debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 4 million copies by 1996, receiving multi-platinum certification by
2825-569: The Bowlie Weekender in the form of Bowlie 2 presented by All Tomorrow's Parties . In 2013, Pitchfork TV released an hour-long documentary in February, directed by RJ Bentler which focused on the band's 1996 album If You're Feeling Sinister , as well as the formation and early releases of the band. The documentary featured interviews with every member that was present on the album, as well as several archival photos and videos from
2938-416: The Bowlie Weekender . Tigermilk was also given a full release by Jeepster before the band started work on their next LP. The result was Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant , which became the band's first top 10 album in the UK, though critics felt that the band were starting to stagnate. A stand-alone single, " Legal Man ", reached No. 15 and gave them their first appearance on Top of
3051-531: The Indie Chart was published in January 1980; it immediately succeeded in its aim to help these labels. At the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, rather than simply distribution status. The use of the term alternative to describe rock music originated around the mid-1980s; at
3164-607: The London Forum . On 5 May, Sub Pop released Enter the Vaselines . A deluxe-edition reissue of the 1992 Sub Pop release, it includes remastered versions of the band’s two EPs ( Son of a Gun and Dying for It ), and a remixed version of their sole album ( Dum-Dum ), as well as demos and live recordings from 1986 and 1988. The band toured the U.S. in May 2009, playing six dates, starting in Los Angeles on 10 May, then heading up
3277-655: The NME Awards 2014. In 2014, the band returned to the studio, recording in Atlanta , Georgia for their ninth studio album, along with announcing tour dates for various festivals and concerts across the world during 2014. Their ninth album Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance was released on 19 January 2015. It was their first album with Dave McGowan, who had been their touring bassist since 2011. The Belle and Sebastian song "There's Too Much Love" forms much of
3390-631: The RIAA . In 1995, the band released their double album, Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness — which went on to sell 10 million copies in the US alone, certifying it as a Diamond record. With the decline of the Madchester scene and the unglamorousness of shoegazing, the tide of grunge from America dominated the British alternative scene and music press in the early 1990s. As a reaction,
3503-495: The hair metal that had dominated rock music at that time fell out of favor in the face of music that was authentic and culturally relevant. The breakthrough success of Nirvana led to the widespread popularization of alternative rock in the 1990s. It heralded a "new openness to alternative rock" among commercial radio stations, opening doors for heavier alternative bands in particular. In the wake of Nevermind , alternative rock "found itself dragged-kicking and screaming ... into
The Vaselines - Misplaced Pages Continue
3616-561: The "grunging of America" to the mass-marketing of punk rock, disco , and hip hop in previous years. As a result of the genre's popularity, a backlash against grunge developed in Seattle. Nirvana's follow-up album In Utero (1993) was an intentionally abrasive album that Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic described as a "wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record." Nevertheless, upon its release in September 1993 In Utero topped
3729-553: The 1970s, which served as a progressive alternative to top 40 radio formats by featuring longer songs and giving DJs more freedom in song selection. According to one former DJ and promoter, "Somehow this term 'alternative' got rediscovered and heisted by college radio people during the 80s who applied it to new post-punk, indie, or underground-whatever music." At first the term referred to intentionally non-mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by "heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave" and "high-energy dance anthems". Usage of
3842-479: The 1980s was primarily featured on independent record labels, fanzines and college radio stations. Alternative bands built underground followings by touring constantly and by regularly releasing low-budget albums. In the United States, new bands would form in the wake of previous bands, which created an extensive underground circuit filled with different scenes in various parts of the country. College radio formed an essential part of breaking new alternative music. In
3955-553: The 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry . The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock . Traditionally, alternative rock varied in terms of its sound, social context, and regional roots. Throughout
4068-463: The 1980s, alternative bands generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth . As such, there is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although in 1989 The New York Times asserted that the genre is "guitar music first of all, with guitars that blast out power chords, pick out chiming riffs, buzz with fuzztone and squeal in feedback." More often than in other rock styles since
4181-402: The 1980s, magazines and zines , college radio airplay , and word of mouth had increased the prominence and highlighted the diversity of alternative rock's distinct styles (and music scenes), such as noise pop , indie rock , grunge , and shoegaze . In September 1988, Billboard introduced "alternative" into their charting system to reflect the rise of the format across radio stations in
4294-752: The 2000s with multi-platinum acts such as Fall Out Boy , My Chemical Romance , Paramore and Panic! at the Disco . Bands such as the White Stripes and the Strokes found commercial success in the early 2000s, influencing an influx of new alternative rock bands that drew inspiration from garage rock , post-punk and new wave , establishing a revival of the genres. In the past, popular music tastes were largely dictated by music executives within large entertainment corporations. Record companies signed contracts with those entertainers who were thought to become
4407-597: The 20th anniversary of the first Bowlie Weekender festival, Belle & Sebastian held a third festival, dubbed the Boaty Weekender . Unlike the previous two festivals, the Boaty Weekender was held on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea instead of UK holiday parks. The band's eleventh studio album, A Bit of Previous , was released in May 2022. In January 2023, the band announced
4520-473: The American indie scene for most of the 1990s. One of the main indie rock movements of the 1990s was lo-fi . The movement, which focused on the recording and distribution of music on low-quality cassette tapes , initially emerged in the 1980s. By 1992, Pavement, Guided by Voices and Sebadoh became popular lo-fi cult acts in the United States, while subsequently artists like Beck and Liz Phair brought
4633-487: The Arab Strap in 1998, and it reached No. 12 in the UK charts. Arab Strap garnered an NPR interview and positive reviews from Rolling Stone and The Village Voice , and others; however, the album has its detractors, including Pitchfork , who gave the album a particularly poor review, calling it a "parody" of their earlier work (Pitchfork has since removed the review from their website and re-reviewed
The Vaselines - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-655: The Associates ), they recorded some demos, which in 1996 were picked up by the college's Music Business course that produces and releases one single each year on the college's label, Electric Honey . As Murdoch had a number of songs already and the label was extremely impressed with the demos, he was granted permission to record a full-length album, which was recorded mostly live over three days, entitled Tigermilk . Murdoch and David recruited local musicians Stevie Jackson (guitar and vocals), Isobel Campbell (cello/vocals), Chris Geddes (keys) and Richard Colburn (drums),
4859-512: The British indie scene through the end of the decade, as various bands drew from singer Morrissey 's English-centered lyrical topics and guitarist Johnny Marr 's jangly guitar-playing style. The C86 cassette, a 1986 NME premium featuring Primal Scream , the Wedding Present and others, was a major influence on the development of indie pop and the British indie scene as a whole. Other forms of alternative rock developed in
4972-723: The British music press at the end of the decade along with the Madchester scene. Performing for the most part in the Haçienda , a nightclub in Manchester owned by New Order and Factory Records , Madchester bands such as Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses mixed acid house dance rhythms with melodic guitar pop. The Amerindie of the early '80s became known as alternative or alt-rock, ascendant from Nirvana until 1996 or so but currently very unfashionable, never mind that
5085-586: The Chicago group Tortoise . Post-rock was the dominant form of experimental rock music in the 1990s and bands from the genre signed to such labels as Thrill Jockey , Kranky , Drag City , and Too Pure . A related genre, math rock , peaked in the mid-1990s. In comparison to post-rock, math rock relies on more complex time signatures and intertwining phrases. By the end of the decade a backlash had emerged against post-rock due to its "dispassionate intellectuality" and its perceived increasing predictability, but
5198-881: The Lollapalooza festival became the most successful tour in North America in July and August 1991. For Dave Grohl of Nirvana who attended the festival at an open-air amphitheater in Southern California , "it felt like something was happening, that was the beginning of it all". The tour helped change the mentalities in the music industry: "by that fall, radio and MTV and music had changed. I really think that if it weren't for Perry [Farrell], if it weren't for Lollapalooza , you and I wouldn't be having this conversation right now". The release of Nirvana's single " Smells Like Teen Spirit " in September 1991 "marked
5311-514: The Pops . As the band's popularity and recognition was growing worldwide, their music began appearing in films and on television. The 2000 film High Fidelity mentions the band (with Jack Black 's character referring to them as "old sad bastard music" and disdaining their soft style) and features a clip from the song " Seymour Stein " from The Boy with the Arab Strap . Two songs by the band ("Expectations" and "Piazza, New York Catcher") appeared on
5424-625: The Replacements upended a number of underground scene conventions; Azerrad noted that "along with R.E.M., they were one of the few underground bands that mainstream people liked." By the late 1980s, the American alternative scene was dominated by styles ranging from quirky alternative pop ( They Might Be Giants and Camper Van Beethoven ), to noise rock ( Sonic Youth , Big Black , the Jesus Lizard ) and industrial rock ( Ministry , Nine Inch Nails). These sounds were in turn followed by
5537-474: The Story) Morning Glory? (1995), went on to become the third best-selling album in the UK's history. Long synonymous with alternative rock as a whole in the U.S., indie rock became a distinct form following the popular breakthrough of Nirvana. Indie rock was formulated as a rejection of alternative rock's absorption into the mainstream by artists who could not or refused to cross over, and
5650-591: The Top 40 and spawned a number of jangle pop followers. One of the many jangle pop scenes of the early 1980s, Los Angeles' Paisley Underground revived the sounds of the 1960s, incorporating psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and the guitar interplay of folk rock as well as punk and underground influences such as the Velvet Underground . American indie record labels SST Records , Twin/Tone Records , Touch and Go Records , and Dischord Records presided over
5763-599: The UK charity War on Want ; the group subsequently recorded a song inspired by the trip titled "The Eighth Station of the Cross Kebab House", which would first appear on the digital-download version of the charity album Help!: A Day in the Life and would later have a physical release as a B-side on 2006's " Funny Little Frog " single. Push Barman to Open Old Wounds , a compilation of the Jeepster singles and EPs,
SECTION 50
#17327908093385876-463: The UK during the 1980s. the Jesus and Mary Chain 's sound combined the Velvet Underground's "melancholy noise" with Beach Boys pop melodies and Phil Spector 's " Wall of Sound " production, while New Order emerged from the demise of post-punk band Joy Division and experimented with disco and dance music . The Mary Chain, along with Dinosaur Jr. , C86 and the dream pop of Cocteau Twins , were
5989-568: The UK in December 2010. The band performed a cover version of the Nirvana song "Lithium" as part of a Spin Magazine's exclusive album, Newermind . It is the Nirvana album Nevermind , performed by different artists. The Vaselines second studio album, Sex With an X , was released in September 2010. The Vaselines announced their third studio album, V for Vaselines , in June 2014 which
6102-577: The US by a more pop-oriented focus (marked by an equal emphasis on albums and singles, as well as greater openness to incorporating elements of dance and club culture) and a lyrical emphasis on specifically British concerns. As a result, few British alternative bands have achieved commercial success in the US. Since the 1980s, alternative rock has been played extensively on the radio in the UK, particularly by disc jockeys such as John Peel (who championed alternative music on BBC Radio 1 ), Richard Skinner , and Annie Nightingale . Artists with cult followings in
6215-626: The US received greater exposure through British national radio and the weekly music press, and many alternative bands had chart success there. Early American alternative bands such as the Dream Syndicate , the Bongos , 10,000 Maniacs , R.E.M. , the Feelies and Violent Femmes combined punk influences with folk music and mainstream music influences. R.E.M. was the most immediately successful; their debut album, Murmur (1983), entered
6328-408: The United States by stations like KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and WDRE-FM in New York, which were playing music from more underground , independent, and non-commercial rock artists. Initially, several alternative styles achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands, such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction , were signed to major labels . Most alternative bands at the time, like the Smiths , one of
6441-481: The Velvet Underground , which influenced many alternative rock bands that would come after it. Eccentric and quirky figures of the 1960s, such as Syd Barrett have influence on alternative rock in general. The Dead Kennedys formed the independent record label Alternative Tentacles in 1979, releasing influential underground music such as the 1983 self-titled EP from the Butthole Surfers . By 1984,
6554-558: The advent of Boston 's Pixies and Los Angeles' Jane's Addiction. Around the same time, the grunge subgenre emerged in Seattle , Washington, initially referred to as "The Seattle Sound" until its rise to popularity in the early 1990s. Grunge featured a sludgy, murky guitar sound that syncretized heavy metal and punk rock. Promoted largely by Seattle indie label Sub Pop , grunge bands were noted for their thrift store fashion which favored flannel shirts and combat boots suited to
6667-475: The aesthetic to mainstream audiences. The period also saw alternative confessional female singer-songwriters. Besides the aforementioned Liz Phair, PJ Harvey fit into this sub group. In the mid-1990s, Sunny Day Real Estate defined the emo genre. Weezer 's album Pinkerton (1996) was also influential. Post-rock was established by Talk Talk 's Laughing Stock and Slint 's Spiderland albums, both released in 1991. Post-rock draws influence from
6780-491: The album positively in 2018). During the recording of the album, long-time studio trumpet-player Mick Cooke was asked to join the band as a full member. The This Is Just a Modern Rock Song EP followed later that year. In 1999, the band was awarded with Best Newcomer (for their third album) at the BRIT Awards , upsetting better-known acts such as Steps and 5ive . That same year, the band hosted their own festival,
6893-539: The alternative rock community" including Henry Rollins , Butthole Surfers , Ice-T , Nine Inch Nails , Siouxsie and the Banshees (as second headliners) and Jane's Addiction (as the headlining act). Covering for MTV the opening date of Lollapalooza in Phoenix in July 1991, Dave Kendall introduced the report saying the festival presented the "most diverse lineups of alternative rock". That summer, Farrell had coined
SECTION 60
#17327908093387006-437: The alternative/independent scene and dryly tore it apart." David Lowery , then frontman of Camper Van Beethoven, later recalled: "I remember first seeing that word applied to us... The nearest I could figure is that we seemed like a punk band, but we were playing pop music, so they made up this word alternative for those of us who do that." DJs and promoters during the 1980s claim the term originates from American FM radio of
7119-508: The band being signed to Jeepster Records in August 1996, who released their second album If You're Feeling Sinister on 18 November. The album was named by Spin as one of the 100 greatest albums between 1985 and 2005, and it is widely considered the band's masterpiece. Just before the recording of Sinister , Sarah Martin (violin/vocals) joined the band. Following this a series of EPs were released throughout 1997. The first of these
7232-412: The band in the spring of 2002, in the middle of the band's North American tour to pursue a solo career, first as The Gentle Waves , and later under her own name. She later collaborated with singer Mark Lanegan on three albums. The band left Jeepster in 2002, signing a four-album deal with Rough Trade Records . Their first album for Rough Trade, Dear Catastrophe Waitress , was released in 2003 and
7345-522: The band performed their first UK gig in almost four years to a crowd of around 30,000 at Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Southwold . They performed two new songs, "I Didn't See It Coming" and "I'm Not Living in the Real World". Their eighth studio album, released in the UK and internationally on 25 September 2010, was titled Write about Love . The first single from the album, as well as
7458-571: The band played a historic show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl . The opening act at the 18,000 seat sell-out concert was The Shins . The members of the band see this as a landmark event, with Stevie Jackson saying, "This is the biggest thrill of my entire life". In October 2006, members of the band helped put together a CD collection of new songs for children titled Colours Are Brighter , with
7571-488: The band's early days. The band compiled a second compilation album The Third Eye Centre which included the B-sides and rarities released after Push Barman to Open Old Wounds , from the albums Dear Catastrophe Waitress , The Life Pursuit , and Write about Love . In an interview at the end of 2013, Mick Cooke confirmed he had left the band on good terms. The band received an 'Outstanding Contribution to Music Award' at
7684-534: The band's third top 20 UK release, and the band was nominated for both the Mercury Music Prize and an Ivor Novello Award . In January 2005, B&S was voted Scotland's greatest band in a poll by The List , beating Simple Minds , Idlewild , Travis , Franz Ferdinand , and The Proclaimers , among others. In April 2005, members of the band visited Israel and the Palestinian territories with
7797-490: The bands Painkillers in 1994 and Suckle in 1997 before releasing her first solo album, Sunny Moon , in 2006. Though they were not widely known outside Scotland during their short career, their association with Nirvana brought exposure to the band. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain once described Kelly and McKee as his "favorite songwriters in the whole world". With their songs "Son of a Gun" and "Molly's Lips" covered on Nirvana's album Incesticide and "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for
7910-467: The death of Layne Staley and the subsequent disbanding of Alice in Chains in 2002, and the disbanding of both the Cranberries and Stone Temple Pilots in 2003. Britpop also began fading after Oasis ' third album, Be Here Now (1997), was met with lackluster reviews. A signifier of alternative rock's changes was the hiatus of the Lollapalooza festival after an unsuccessful attempt to find
8023-459: The decisions were business people dealing with music as a product, and those bands who were not making the expected sales figures were then excluded from this system. Before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sorts of music to which it refers were known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about. In 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had
8136-590: The dissolution of 53rd & 3rd and the end of Kelly and McKee's romantic relationship. They briefly reformed in October 1990 to open for Nirvana when they played in Edinburgh . Kelly went on to found the band Captain America (later renamed Eugenius after legal threats from Marvel Comics ), supporting Nirvana on their UK tour. Following solo performances Kelly released the album Man Alive in 2004. McKee founded
8249-453: The early 2000s, when indie rock became the most common term in the US to describe modern pop and rock, the terms "indie rock" and "alternative rock" were often used interchangeably; while there are aspects which both genres have in common, "indie rock" was regarded as a British-based term, unlike the more American "alternative rock". The name "alternative rock" essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in
8362-429: The formative influences for the shoegazing movement of the late 1980s. Named for the band members' tendency to stare at their feet and guitar effects pedals onstage rather than interact with the audience, shoegazing acts like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive created an overwhelmingly loud "wash of sound" that obscured vocals and melodies with long, droning riffs, distortion, and feedback. Shoegazing bands dominated
8475-430: The foundation for its large cult following. The key British alternative rock band to emerge during the 1980s was Manchester 's the Smiths . Music journalist Simon Reynolds singled out the Smiths and their American contemporaries R.E.M. as "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day", commenting that they "were eighties bands only in the sense of being against the eighties". The Smiths exerted an influence over
8588-457: The instigation of the grunge music phenomenon". Helped by constant airplay of the song's music video on MTV, their album Nevermind was selling 400,000 copies a week by Christmas 1991. Its success surprised the music industry. Nevermind not only popularized grunge, but also established "the cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general." Michael Azerrad asserted that Nevermind symbolized "a sea-change in rock music" in which
8701-454: The involvement of major bands such as Franz Ferdinand and The Flaming Lips . On 18 November 2008 the band released The BBC Sessions , which features songs from the period of 1996–2001 (including the last recordings featuring Isobel Campbell before she left the band), along with a second disc featuring a recording of a live performance in Belfast from Christmas 2001. On 17 July 2010,
8814-422: The key British alternative rock bands during the 1980s, remained signed to independent labels and received relatively little attention from mainstream radio, television, or newspapers. With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream, and many alternative bands became successful. Emo found mainstream success in
8927-604: The latter of whom shared a flat with David and was a student on the Music Business course, to perform on the album, with Murdoch describing the process as a "product of botched capitalism". The band chose the name Belle and Sebastian from a short story Murdoch had written inspired by the television series Belle and Sebastian , about a six-year-old boy and his dog, named Belle, a Great Pyrenees. In June 1996, Electric Honey pressed up one thousand copies of Tigermilk on vinyl . The warm response Tigermilk received led to
9040-420: The local weather. Early grunge bands Soundgarden and Mudhoney found critical acclaim in the U.S. and UK, respectively. By the end of the decade, a number of alternative bands began to sign to major labels. While early major label signings Hüsker Dü and the Replacements had little success, acts who signed with majors in their wake such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction achieved gold and platinum records, setting
9153-495: The mainstream rock, with record companies using the term "alternative" to market music to an audience that mainstream rock does not reach. Using a broad definition of the genre, Dave Thompson in his book Alternative Rock cites the formation of the Sex Pistols as well as the release of the albums Horses by Patti Smith and Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed as three key events that gave birth to alternative rock. Until
9266-559: The mainstream" and record companies, confused by the genre's success yet eager to capitalize on it, scrambled to sign bands. The New York Times declared in 1993, "Alternative rock doesn't seem so alternative anymore. Every major label has a handful of guitar-driven bands in shapeless shirts and threadbare jeans, bands with bad posture and good riffs who cultivate the oblique and the evasive, who conceal catchy tunes with noise and hide craftsmanship behind nonchalance." However, many alternative rock artists rejected success, for it conflicted with
9379-494: The mainstreaming of rock music, alternative rock lyrics tend to address topics of social concern, such as drug use, depression, suicide, and environmentalism . This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s. Precursors to alternative rock existed in the 1960s with proto-punk . The origins of alternative rock can be traced back to The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) by
9492-509: The mid-1980s, college station KCPR in San Luis Obispo, California , described in a DJ handbook the tension between popular and "cutting edge" songs as played on "alternative radio". Although American alternative artists of the 1980s never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on later alternative musicians and laid the groundwork for their success. On September 10, 1988, an Alternative Songs chart
9605-460: The more melodic, diverse music of college rock that emerged. Azerrad wrote, "Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren't antithetical." The band also set an example by being the first group from the American indie scene to sign to a major record label, which helped establish college rock as "a viable commercial enterprise". By focusing on heartfelt songwriting and wordplay instead of political concerns,
9718-512: The most popular rock bands in the United States. At the same time Britpop began to decline, Radiohead achieved critical acclaim with its third album OK Computer (1997), and its follow-ups Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), which were in marked contrast with the traditionalism of Britpop. Radiohead, along with post-Britpop groups like Travis , Stereophonics and Coldplay , were major forces in British rock in subsequent years. Belle and Sebastian Belle and Sebastian are
9831-448: The most popular, and therefore who could generate the most sales. These bands were able to record their songs in expensive studios, and their works were then offered for sale through record store chains that were owned by the entertainment corporations, along with eventually selling the merchandise into big box retailers . Record companies worked with radio and television companies to get the most exposure for their artists. The people making
9944-443: The music is still there. — Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s (2000) By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was enticed by alternative rock's commercial possibilities and major labels had already signed Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dinosaur Jr. In early 1991, R.E.M. went mainstream worldwide with Out of Time while becoming a blueprint for many alternative bands. The first edition of
10057-569: The past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion , glam rock , and punk rock . In 1995, the Britpop phenomenon culminated in a rivalry between its two chief groups, Oasis and Blur, symbolized by their release of competing singles “ Roll With It ” and “ Country House ” on the same day on 14 August 1995. Blur won " The Battle of Britpop ", but they were soon eclipsed in popularity by Oasis whose second album, (What's
10170-418: The prominent grunge bands in Seattle, while a second influx of bands moved to the city in hopes of success. At the same time, critics asserted that advertising was co-opting elements of grunge and turning it into a fad. Entertainment Weekly commented in a 1993 article, "There hasn't been this kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the '60s." The New York Times compared
10283-427: The rebellious, DIY ethic the genre had espoused before mainstream exposure and their ideas of artistic authenticity. Other grunge bands subsequently replicated Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam had released its debut album Ten a month before Nevermind in 1991, but album sales only picked up a year later. By the second half of 1992 Ten became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on
10396-401: The record's title track " Write about Love ", was released in the US on 7 September 2010. Write about Love entered the UK albums chart in its first week of release, peaking at No. 8 as of 19 October 2010. Norah Jones is featured on the track "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John", and Carey Mulligan sings on the title track. In December 2010 Belle and Sebastian curated the sequel to
10509-518: The return of Murdoch as the group's primary songwriter, following the poorly received Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant and Storytelling , both of which were more collaborative than the band's early work. A documentary DVD, Fans Only , was released by Jeepster in October 2003, featuring promotional videos, live clips and unreleased footage. A single from the album, " Step into My Office, Baby " followed in November 2003; it would be their first single to be taken from an album, and included
10622-419: The same year, the band appeared in the news for a comical story that occurred during their US tour, in which they accidentally forgot Colburn in a North Dakota Walmart . In December 2017 and January and February 2018, the band released a trio of EPs under the name How to Solve Our Human Problems . On 3 November 2018, the band announced that Dave McGowan had become a member. In August 2019, to celebrate
10735-421: The shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. Minneapolis bands Hüsker Dü and the Replacements were indicative of this shift. Both started out as punk rock bands, but soon diversified their sounds and became more melodic. Michael Azerrad asserted that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and
10848-479: The sound and style of grunge, "but not necessarily the individual idiosyncracies of its original artists." Post-grunge was a more commercially viable genre that tempered the distorted guitars of grunge with polished, radio-ready production. Originally, post-grunge was a label used almost pejoratively on bands that emerged when grunge was mainstream and emulated the grunge sound. The label suggested that bands labelled as post-grunge were simply musically derivative, or
10961-457: The soundtrack for the 2007 hit film Juno . Also, the title track from Arab Strap was played over the end credits of the UK television series Teachers , and the lyric "Colour my life with the chaos of trouble" from the song was quoted by one of the characters in the 2009 film (500) Days of Summer . Stuart David soon left the band to concentrate on his side project, Looper , and his book writing, which included his The Idle Thoughts of
11074-545: The soundtrack for the Brazilian film The Way He Looks , about a blind, gay teenage boy and his friends, released in 2014. Belle and Sebastian performed at the Glastonbury Festival on 28 June 2015, on 'The Other Stage' and at O2 Academy, Glasgow in March 2017 which was televised in the UK as part of the 'BBC 6 MUSIC Presents Festival'. In mid-2017, the band put out a new single, "We Were Beautiful". During
11187-514: The stage for alternative's later breakthrough. Some bands such as Pixies had massive success overseas while they were ignored domestically. In the middle of the decade, Hüsker Dü's album Zen Arcade influenced other hardcore acts by tackling personal issues. Out of Washington, D.C.'s hardcore scene what was called "emocore" or, later, " emo " emerged and was noted for its lyrics which delved into emotional, very personal subject matter (vocalists sometimes cried) and added free association poetry and
11300-513: The subgenre's lyrics often address literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and supernatural mysticism. Bands of this subgenre took inspiration from two British post-punk groups, Siouxsie and the Banshees , and Joy Division . Bauhaus ' debut single " Bela Lugosi's Dead ", released in 1979, is considered to be the proper beginning of the gothic rock subgenre. The Cure 's "oppressively dispirited" albums including Pornography (1982) cemented that group's stature in that style and laid
11413-644: The term Alternative Nation . In December 1991, Spin magazine noted: "this year, for the first time, it became resoundingly clear that what has formerly been considered alternative rock —a college-centered marketing group with fairly lucrative, if limited, potential—has in fact moved into the mainstream." In the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. In 1997, Neil Strauss of The New York Times defined alternative rock as "hard-edged rock distinguished by brittle, '70s-inspired guitar riffing and singers agonizing over their problems until they take on epic proportions." Defining music as alternative
11526-514: The term would broaden to include new wave , pop, punk rock , post-punk , and occasionally " college "/" indie " rock, all found on the American "commercial alternative" radio stations of the time such as Los Angeles' KROQ-FM . Journalist Jim Gerr wrote that Alternative also encompassed variants such as "rap, trash, metal and industrial". The bill of the first Lollapalooza , an itinerant festival in North America conceived by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell , reunited "disparate elements of
11639-528: The time, the common music industry terms for cutting-edge music were new music and postmodern , respectively indicating freshness and a tendency to recontextualize sounds of the past. A similar term, alternative pop , emerged around 1985. In 1987, Spin magazine categorized college rock band Camper Van Beethoven as "alternative/indie", saying that their 1985 song "Where the Hell Is Bill" (from Telephone Free Landslide Victory ) "called out
11752-488: The type of rock played on American 1970s Album Oriented Rock radio. In the early 21st century, many alternative rock bands that experienced mainstream success struggled following the suicide of Nirvana 's Kurt Cobain in April 1994, Pearl Jam 's failed lawsuit against concert venue promoter Ticketmaster , Soundgarden 's break-up in 1997, the Smashing Pumpkins losing its original members in 2000, L7 's hiatus in 2001,
11865-405: The wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture, although this could be contested since some of the major alternative artists have eventually achieved mainstream success or co-opted with the major labels from the 1990s onward (especially into the 2000s, and beyond). In
11978-876: The west coast to San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Dates for Chicago, IL and Brooklyn, NY would end the tour on 18 May. The band finished their May tour at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona . On 19 July 2009, The Vaselines played the Uncut Arena at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk. On 9 October 2009, The Vaselines made a long-awaited return to Edinburgh to support Mudhoney at HMV Picture House. The band were chosen personally by Belle and Sebastian to perform at their second Bowlie Weekender festival presented by All Tomorrow's Parties in
12091-479: Was Dog on Wheels , released in May and consisting of four demo tracks recorded prior to the real formation of the band. In fact, the only long-term band members to play on the songs were Murdoch, David, and Mick Cooke , who played trumpet on the EP but would not officially join the band until a few years later. It charted at No. 59 in the UK singles chart. The Lazy Line Painter Jane EP followed in July. The track
12204-587: Was by word-of-mouth with no press announcements and the band played to a packed, enthusiastic audience. The Vaselines performed on 16 May 2008 at Scotland's Tigerfest. Members of Belle and Sebastian supported their live set. The band then played their first-ever U.S. performance at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ on 9 July. The band also performed at Sub Pop Records' 20th Anniversary SP20 music festival on 12 July at Marymoor Park just outside Seattle WA. On 27 March 2009, they played their first London date in 20 years at
12317-529: Was created by Billboard , listing the 40 most-played songs on alternative and modern rock radio stations in the US: the first number one was " Peek-a-Boo " by Siouxsie and the Banshees . By 1989, the genre had become popular enough that a package tour featuring New Order , Public Image Limited and the Sugarcubes toured the US arena circuit. Early on, British alternative rock was distinguished from that of
12430-410: Was produced by Trevor Horn . The album showed a markedly more "produced" sound compared to their first four LPs, as the band was making a concerted effort to produce more "radio-friendly" music. At this point, the band began to engage more with the press and started appearing in publicity shots. The album was warmly received and is credited with restoring the band's "indie cred". The album also marked
12543-603: Was recorded in the church where Murdoch lived and features vocals from Monica Queen . The EP narrowly missed out on the UK top 40, peaking at No. 41. The last of the EPs was October's 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light . The EP was made Single of the Week in both the NME and Melody Maker and reached No. 32 in the charts, thus becoming the band's first top 40 single. Despite the band's growing popularity, during this period they kept
12656-633: Was released in May 2005 while the band were recording their seventh album in California. The result of the sessions was The Life Pursuit , produced by Tony Hoffer . The album, originally intended to be a double album, became the band's highest-charting album upon its release in February 2006, peaking at No. 8 in the UK and No. 65 on the US Billboard 200 . "Funny Little Frog", which preceded it, also proved to be their highest-charting single, debuting at No. 13. On 6 July 2006,
12769-559: Was released on 29 September 2014 on Rosary Music. "One Lost Year" from the album was made available for free download from their SoundCloud page. The single "High Tide Low Tide" followed in August, being released as a digital download and 7-inch vinyl. The band features in the book Postcards From Scotland detailing the 1980's and 1990's independent music scene in Scotland. Alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music , alt-rock or simply alternative )
#337662