1992 - The Year Alternative Broke

The origins of alternative music can be traced back to the late 1960s when in ’67 the Velvet Underground released “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, an album that would go on to inspire decades of alt rock bands much like bands a couple generations later would when alt/grunge broke in the early 90s.

In the 1980s, people were looking for something other than bands from the 70s releasing new music and the metal scene and hair metal scene that was popular which included Guns ‘N’ Roses, Motley Crue, Metallica, Poison, Bon Jovi and more. Band like REM, 10,000 Maniacs, Henry Rollins, and Violent Femmes led the underground movement bringing an alternative music choice to more and more people by the year. Things really changed in the early 1990s. Alternative music became the mainstream. In 1991, REM released “Out Of Time” and album widely regarded as the blueprint for up and coming grunge scene and alternative bands to follow. It was regarded as a fad, but by the end of the 90s, Metallica, KISS, Bon Jovi and more 80s metal bands had released an alternative record.  A new music festival emerged called Lollapalooza that was giving a larger stage for these alternative acts to share their music to the masses. Although the first Lollapalooza (Jane’s Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails) tour wasn’t the big market success it would eventually become, it did set the scene for 1992, the year Alternative music broke.

The last couple of months in 1991 saw some of the biggest albums of all-time released within weeks of each other … Pearl Jam released ‘TEN’ on August 27th, September 24th saw the release of BOTH Red Hot Chili Peppers “Blood Sugar, Sex, Magik” and Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, Soundgarden released “Badmotorfinger” on October 8th. By Christmas 1991 these albums were averaging 400,000 sales per week.

30 years ago everyone was wearing plaid, Doc Martin’s and ripped jeans. Alternative was the mainstream and there was no bigger example of that than the Lollapalooza 1992 tour that featured the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Pearl Jam, Soundgraden, Ice Cube, Rage Against The Machine (second stage), Stone Temple Pilots (second stage) & more…

How about Soundgarden adding “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to their Lollapalooza set list …

https://youtu.be/umlis5HLVXI?t=111

There was even a movie about the Seattle alt/grunge scene called SINGLES that actually featured Pearl Jam – as Matt Dillon’s band members in the fictional group Citizen Dick. It also featured cameos from Chris Cornell and Alice In Chains. The soundtrack featured the above bands, plus Smashing Pumpkins, Paul Westerberg, Screaming Trees and more. This was really the “alternative music is here” moment.

By the end of 1992, alternative music had exploded … Lollapalooza was a household name, we had discovered Stone Temple Pilots, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Sugar, and Rage Against The Machine … plus some old vets like Tom Waits, REM, Nick Cave and even Neil Young had an even bigger following thanks to the launch of the alternative/grunge scene.

The early Alternative scene eventually led to us getting bands like No Doubt, Weezer, Green Day, Foo Fighters, The Killers, Cake, The Toadies, Queens Of The Stone Age, Linkin Park, Jimmy Eat World, Death Cab For Cutie, The Black Keys and so many many many more.

If you want to hear more, check out ResurreXtion Sunday every Sunday from 10am-1pm when we go back in time and revisit the best alternative music from the past four decades including 1992 – the year alternative broke.