Eli5 why rock n’ roll music in the 90s was called alternative? What was it alternative to? What defined it as a separate genre?

Question

Eli5 why rock n’ roll music in the 90s was called alternative? What was it alternative to? What defined it as a separate genre?

In: 1778

Answer 1

All media used to be very top-down, its content being dictated by the decisions of executives at a small handful of record labels and tv stations. Top40 radio dominated the country. Popular culture wasn’t nearly so fragmented as it is now. And being exposed to stuff outside the mainstream wasn’t as convenient or common as it is now.

Music of all varieties that was recorded, distributed, and talked about outside the the major media was called “alternative” going back to the late 70s. Groups and musical movements would periodically bubble up from the alternative space and reach a mainstream audience but this was uncommon. Before grunge bubbled up there were some successful punk and new wave groups that came up from the alternative crowd. And REM.
But alternative acts never took over mainstream music like they did in the 90s.