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

Mainstream acts got played on commercial radio. They wouldn’t touch ‘Indie’ or ‘Alternative’ music. Bands like REM (early on), Smiths, Pixies, Cure, Joy Division etc operated in a world outside mainstream. The music was an alternative choice.
It’s worth pointing out that radio was THE way you heard new songs – there was no file sharing, streaming, no spotify etc. Growing up at the time and listening to the bands I’ve mentioned – most people I was with had never ever heard of them because they weren’t ever ever played on commercial radio. You had to actively seek it out. Music was tribal in a way that doesn’t really exist now.