1993 was the birth of alternative music as an accepted and defined genre. That's a loose definition, however. Alternative rock is essentially an amalgamation for underground music that has emerged in 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. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth. The term basically became the accepted genre for a combination of sub-genres that includes college rock, post-punk, brit-pop and new wave among many others. Alternative can describe music that challenges the status quo and that is fiercely iconoclastic, anti-commercial, and anti-mainstream, so the genre has always theoretically existed. But in 1993 the music marketing machine decided we needed alternative music as a definitive genre, thus commercializing the anti-commercial and making mainstream the anti-mainstream. History lesson over. Thanks for playing.
However, the alternative movement was chastised by many journalists and artists alike. 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."
Robert Smith of The Cure rejected genre labels like alternative, gothic rock, and college rock applied to his band. He has said, "Every time we went to America we had a different tag ... I can't remember when we officially became alt-rock".
So there.
Nirvana, Pearl Jam and R.E.M. were the standard-bearers musically in 1993. In particular, R.E.M.'s success had become a blueprint for many alternative bands in the late 1980s and 1990s to follow; the group had outlasted many of its contemporaries and by the 1993, with the release of "Automatic For The People", had become one of the most popular bands in the world. Thanks to PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Belly, Luscious Jackson, Juliana Hatfield, and the Breeders, 1993 was named the year of Women in Rock — so coined by the trade magazines looking hard for a trend.
On the flip side, debut, major label releases by bands like Stone Temple Pilots, Urge Overkill, Counting Crows and The Afghan Whigs, as well as a break-out releases by Radiohead and The Smashing Pumpkins indicated that the industry was embracing it's alternative image. As a reaction, a flurry of defiantly British bands emerged that wished to capitalize on the movement, taking the public and native music press by storm. Dubbed brit-pop by the American media, this movement represented by the bands Blur, Oasis, Suede, and Pulp was the British equivalent of the alternative explosion.
At the MTV Video Music Awards, Pearl Jam was music's undisputed champion. The Seattle-based band performed "Jeremy" a year earlier on the VMAs and came back to collect and armful of awards for its Mark Pellington-directed clip: Best Group Video, Best Metal/Hard Rock Video, Best Direction and Video of the Year. Interestingly, it wasn't long after this success that the band gave up making videos entirely.
The Grammy Association avoided the alternative movement almost completely, giving the award for Best Alternative Performance to U2, which is clearly an anthem-rock band, and giving Whitney Houston the coveted Album and Record Of The Year Awards.
Playlist Adds For Friday Flashback 1993
01. San Francisco Days by Chris Isaak
02. Soul To Squeeze by Red Hot Chili Peppers
03. For Tomorrow by Blur
04. No Rain by Blind Melon
05. Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like That) by Digable Planets
06. Ignoreland by R.E.M.
07. Rid Of Me by P.J. Harvey
08. Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz
09. Feed The Tree by Belly
10. Plush by Stone Temple Pilots
11. Walking In My Shoes by Depeche Mode
12. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers
13. Ordinary World by Duran Duran
14. These Are Days by 10,000 Maniacs
15. Today by Smashing Pumpkins
16. If 60's Was 90's by Beautiful People
17. Oh Carolina by Shaggy
18. Push The Little Daisies by Ween
19. She Don't Use Jelly by The Flaming Lips
20. My Insatiable One by Suede
21. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight by R.E.M.
22. It's Martini Time by The Reverend Horton Heat
23. Rilly Groovy by Beautiful People
24. Mr. Wrong by Cracker
25. Mrs. Robinson by The Lemonheads
26. What Jail Is Like by Afghan Whigs
27. A Murder Of One by Counting Crows
28. Jimmy Olsen's Blues by Spin Doctors
29. Linger by The Cranberries
30. Informer by Snow
31. Runaway Train by Soul Asylum
32. Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana
33. Fuck And Run by Liz Phair
34. Sister Havana by Urge Overkill
35. A Thousand Miles From Nowhere by Dwight Yoakam
36. Broken by Toad The Wet Sprocket
37. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You by Sting
38. Found Out About You by Gin Blossoms
39. Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.
40. Creep by Radiohead
41. Get Off This by Cracker
42. Cherub Rock by Smashing Pumpkins
43. Fields Of Gold by Sting
44. Bed Of Roses by Bon Jovi
45. Insane in The Membrane by Cypress Hill
46. Mmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm by Crash Test Dummies
47. December by Collective Soul
48. Nearly Lost You by Screaming Trees
49. Man On The Moon by R.E.M.
50. 36-24-36 by Violent Femmes
51. If That's Your Boyfriend by Me'shell Ndege'cello
52. Help Me Mary by Liz Phair
53. Laid by James
54. Come To My Window by Melisa Etheridge
55. Loser by Beck
56. The Turnpike Down by The Lemonheads
57. Cannonball by The Breeders
58. Little Miss Can't Be Wrong by Spin Doctors
59. Sullivan Street by Counting Crows
60. Rooster by Alice In Chains
61. Start Choppin' by Dinosaur Jr.
62. Mr. Wendall by Arrested Development
63. rearviewmirror by Pearl Jam
64. Star Me Kitten by R.E.M.
65. Mr. Jones by Counting Crows
66. All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow
67. Fade Into You by Mazzy Star
68. Animal Nitrate by Suede
69. There She Goes by The Las
70. Daughter by Pearl Jam
71. Connected by Stereo MCs
72. Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine
73. Sober by Tool
74. Gin And Juice by Snoop Doggy Dogg
75. All Apologies by Nirvana
76. Republic by New Order
Previous In This Series: Friday Flashback 1977
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