Classic "Alternative": Punk, Art Rock, New Wave, "whatever"...

[From The Shadows]

The Vaselines - Molly's Lips

[From The Shadows]

Nirvana covering the Vaselines

Nirvana - Molly's Lips

[From The Shadows]

Nirvana - Been A Son

[ed2962]

I can't remember if I posted this before, but singer Reggie Youngblood is doing his best Robert Smith from the Cure imitation on this song.

[ed2962]

Franz Ferdinand

[ed2962]

Cranberries

[The no face guy]

TSOL

[ed2962]

TSOL

Wow. I haven't thought about these guys in a while. I remember when they made a few heads turn when they "went metal" with Hit And Run. It wasn't that they got heavier ( a lot of hardcore bands did), it was more cuz they went in such an obvious MTV commercial style of metal.

[The no face guy]

Wow. I haven't thought about these guys in a while. I remember when they made a few heads turn when they "went metal" with Hit And Run. It wasn't that they got heavier ( a lot of hardcore bands did), it was more cuz they went in such an obvious MTV commercial style of metal.

I think they saw the writing on the wall with the hardcore punk movement, so they opted for an alternative gothy style to capture the college audience, before selling out and going glam metal. It is interesting how you can be a great band, but if your doing a genre that's popular you go relatively unoticed.

[ed2962]

I think they saw the writing on the wall with the hardcore punk movement, so they opted for an alternative gothy style to capture the college audience, before selling out and going glam metal. It is interesting how you can be a great band, but if your doing a genre that's popular you go relatively unoticed.

I think TSOL's problem was that they did the most generic approach possible. It's funny cuz right at the same time The Cult did the exact same thing...they were seen as a post punk/goth band and then went metal with Electric. But the difference is that the public saw it as Ian and Billy doing their own version of hard rock ( plus they got Rick Rubin involved ), where as TSOL came across as them trying to do Dokken or something.

Listening the Revenge album, that sounds like it could have been a hit under the right conditions, but...

[The no face guy]

I think TSOL's problem was that they did the most generic approach possible. It's funny cuz right at the same time The Cult did the exact same thing...they were seen as a post punk/goth band and then went metal with Electric. But the difference is that the public saw it as Ian and Billy doing their own version of hard rock ( plus they got Rick Rubin involved ), where as TSOL came across as them trying to do Dokken or something.

Listening the Revenge album, that sounds like it could have been a hit under the right conditions, but...

Funny I was thinking about the Cult to, when I thought about TSOL's change. I guess the big difference is that it doesn't look like TSOL ever got picked up by a major label. In the UK the goth alternative scene was mainstream, so you could get signed in the UK and than try to crack the American market. (The Cult, The Cure, Depeche Mode) but in Los Angeles they probably didn't even get a second look buried under all that glam metal.

[ed2962]

Funny I was thinking about the Cult to, when I thought about TSOL's change. I guess the big difference is that it doesn't look like TSOL ever got picked up by a major label. In the UK the goth alternative scene was mainstream, so you could get signed in the UK and than try to crack the American market. (The Cult, The Cure, Depeche Mode) but in Los Angeles they probably didn't even get a second look buried under all that glam metal.

Well, they were signed to Enigma who signed Poison who were really big for a period, but yeah...part of it was they got lost in that glut of hair metal bands. Awhile back in the metal thread, I posted songs by Junkyard...a band made up of guys who had serious hardcore punk cred ( Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Big Boys, etc), but were trying to be a sorta GnR style group and it just didn't work in a world where they had to compete with Danger Danger, Dangerous Toys, Brother Cane, etc

[ed2962]

X is a good example of punk band that cleaned up and tried to be more professional, but I don't think you would say they "sold out".

[ed2962]

Sonic Youth is interesting...Thurston Moore said somewhere, "During Goo and Dirty we just thought it would fun to see if we could write pop songs." I have on a VHS tape where he says, "Yeah, we used to be on labels where it'd be just a room for of 5 or 6 people and a computer and maybe a fax machine, but on Giffen it's a million dollar corporation so there's a lot more money involved. But we don't care that much, give us a bag full of money, we might burn it."

[ed2962]

White Zombie didn't sell out as much as they gained control of their instruments. Their first album was quasi-Sonic Youth but once they became better musician, they evolved into Gen X version of The Misfits.