Classic Alternative: Music That Speaks To Me

Anyone that knows me knows that I have a love of music. What I love most about music is how it speaks to me. The musical genre that speaks the loudest to me is classic alternative. Also sometimes referred to as first wave, it was an offshoot of pop/rock music that began in the late 1970s.

Early Days Of Classic Alternative

Alternative music can trace it’s roots back to the 1970s as an offshoot of pop/rock. Most of the pop music of that time fell into a couple of categories. Disco, which seemed to focus on style over substance, was at the height of it’s popularity. Traditional rock music had segmented into several subgenres. These included southern rock and folk rock, which were typically performed by singer/songwriters telling their own story.

Alternative music contains many subgenres of its on; its roots can be traced to the punk and early techno movements. From these roots, classic alternative expanded to include post-punk, goth rock, college rock, new wave, synthpop, ska, and New Romantic.

Popular Classic Alternative Acts

Over the years, many bands from the first wave of alternative music have influenced later generations. I had considered doing a top ten list, but it is hard to narrow a list down to just ten. So in no particular order, here are some examples of great classic alternative bands.

Duran Duran

The first classic alternative band that I was introduced to, Duran Duran are a quintessential synthpop band. Initially a part of the New Romantic movement, their global popularity peaked in the mid-1980s, with two number 1 hits: “The Reflex” and “A View To A Kill”. With lineup changes in the late 80s, the original Fab 5 reunited in 2004 on their 25th anniversary.

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode’s music crosses over several sub-genres of classic alternative. Their music can be described as industrial goth synthpop. A lot of their music explores relationship dynamics from a darker point of view. Songs like “Policy Of Truth” and “Enjoy The Silence” question the value in being completely open and honest. Meanwhile, songs like “Master And Servant”, “Behind The Wheel”, and “Question Of Time” explore taboo themes like dominance and submission.

The Cure

Front man Robert Smith shaped The Cure into the prototype for goth rock. Their music ranges from songs about heartbreak like “Pictures Of You” to songs about being joyfully in love like “Love Song” and “Just Like Heaven”. Stylistically Robert Smith dressed in all black with disheveled black hair, pasty white face, dark eyeliner and bright red lipstick influenced the look of goth and emo artists for decades to come.

The Smiths

One of the, if not the, most influential classic alternative bands were The Smiths. Front man and primary lyricist Morrissey’s lyrics had a way of touching the listener where they are in life. The lyrics and his vocal delivery combine to create songs that sound bleakly depressing. Yet The Smiths fans identify with the messages of their songs. They explored some of the darkest parts of the mind in songs like “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”. The song “Panic” is more relevant than ever in it’s criticism of modern pop music.

Roxy Music

Roxy Music are hard to pin down to one subgenre. They were hugely influential to synth rock bands like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. Additionally, bands like The Smiths, U2, Garbage, and Radiohead cite Roxy Music as influential to their own sounds. From the bass driven “Love Is The Drug” to the ethereal “Avalon”, it is easy to see how Roxy Music influenced so many artists.

Siouxsie And The Banshees

Another early classic alternative band, Siouxsie and The Banshees were also influential to other classic alternative bands as well as modern alternative music. Touching nearly every aspect of the alternative music genre, they bridged the punk revolution to new wave and spawned the goth movement. Showing respect to rock music that inspired them, they covered songs like The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”. With songs like “Cities In Dust” and “Spellbound”, Siouxsie and The Banshees showed they were not afraid to break new ground.

I could go on and on with all of the various influential classic alternative music acts, as I know I’ve not covered even all of my favorites here.

The Legacy Of Classic Alternative

Classic alternative sowed the seeds that spawned the college rock scene of the late 1980s with bands like R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, and 10,000 Maniacs. What would the 1990s have been like without the grunge movement and bands like Pearl Jam, Green Day, and Nirvana? And how different would the 2000s and 2010s have been without bands like, Evanescence, The Killers, Panic! At the Disco, and so many other bands that are considered mainstream rock music today thanks to the groundwork laid by classic alternative bands.

Housekeeping: I fixed the missing featured image from last week’s post, Self-Care: Showing Love For Your Self.

Teaser: Next time we’ll take a look at what happens when something old is made new again.