At one time in history, between the time when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth and when the first sheep was cloned, there was a music that needed a poetic description, an new name to signify it was not punk and not rock and not anything. So when you have something that is supposedly different but not really different you need an alternative and when you can't come up with something good like "Rock and Roll" or "The Blues" you go with the political speak and call it "Alternative".
What the frack? Alternative rock was once a wide blanket term that referred to many different artists, styles, genres that didn't wanted to pigeon-holed into an existing style or genre so they created a new pigeon-hole that was hip and edgy.
In those early years, back when phones had wires that ran into walls and rock bands played in sketchy bars where people drank beer and smoked cigarettes, like back in the ‘80s, alternative rock was called college rock because it was mostly spread on college radio and other underground radio stations by the neo-hipsters who were leading the secret movement of bizarre music that seemed to to transcend the mechanical and cold pop and big hair arena rock that was flooding the airwaves at the time. The term "Alternative" exploded in popularity in the ‘90s with such super groups as R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins, Live, Oasis, Bush, The Pixies and more.
We have a wide variety of alternative rock albums for you to choose from. To make your search easier, you can filter our albums by sub genre, including American Alternative, British Alternative, New Wave & Punk, and more. Some of the top alternative rock bands form the last few years are here in our collection, including Mumford & Sons, The Black Keys, Of Monsters and Men, Queens of the Stone Age, and many others. If you think the ‘90s were the best decade for alternative rock, we have many of your favorite groups, including the Smashing Pumpkins, Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls, Talking Heads.
Alternative is now a huge melting pot and pretty much any group or fan can declare themselves or their favorite group as an Alternative band because it has become synonymous with being better and different than anything else. But now, everything from the lo-Fi, or low fidelity, alternative rock that is is recorded on vintage recording equipment to give it that dusty, well-seasoned sound that helps create a richer ambience to the new indie alternative rock has seen a huge influx of great lyricists and guitar players who use hyper-processed digital recording techniques and deep base loops to create hybrid of rock/rap/drone aesthetics with meditative and sometime cerebral songs that can be found an childrens movie soundtracks.
This is the arena of the lions of exciting alternative rock that combine the best crunchy guitar riffs, off-tempo basic drum tears, whiney or lackadaisicle vocal delivery, and political messages and angsy poetry instead of sappy love songs. Get off on the heavy drums, overly-distorted fuzz-guitar riffs, and dungeon deep bass lines that can inspire an intense atmosphere perfect for peaking on an amphetamine or dozing out on a low dose opiod with the red lights turned on and the throb aching into your left ventricle.
Get yourself out of the ordinary, sure we all know KORN, and Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Evanescence, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Red Hot Chili Peppers but there are more that maybe your alternative friends missed at the crossroads.
My Bloody Valentine, Slowdrive, Ride, Chapterhouse, Catherine Wheel, Lush and Swervdriver are other bands you might not know but maybe your grandma remembers them?
Explore the diversity of alternative rock here at Base Vinyl to discover new favorites to annoy your friends and to create a soundtrack for your alternative dreams as you drift through this mortal boil.
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![Yankee Hotel Foxtrot [Vinyl]](https://www.basevinyl.com/image/cache/catalog/heavy-metal/yankee-hotel-foxtrot-vinyl-B000063TE5-400x400.jpg "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot [Vinyl]")
