Alternative Rock Genre

Kodaline’s music genre is mainly classed as Alternative rock. This is a genre of rock music that was formed through the independent music underground of the 1980s and this then became extremely popular through the next ten years. The original term was a lot broader and was mainly given to those who were unsure of their specified genre and whether it was the actual music or their ‘punk rock’ styling which was popular at the time and in the late 70s laid the groundwork for alternative music. Also, alternative at times has been used to describe artists’ work that received mainstream recognition or any music that seemed to have been based upon punk rock.

Alternative rock is one of the widest defined genres of music as it can easily change based upon its sound, social context, regional roots etc. For example, although Kodaline and Fall Out Boy are both examples of alternative rock, they both sound very different as Kodaline are Irish and Fall Out Boy are American; a lot of it is based upon the bands’ interpretation of the genre and the way they want to play music. When Alternative rock first came about, there were many sub genres within it and although some bands were signed to big record labels, the majority were independent labels and received very little attention from mainstream radio, television or newspapers. This highlights the success of Alternative rock and how much it has developed to today- although some bands are still signed to independent labels, a large amount of alternative rock bands are signed to big labels and festivals such as Reading and Leeds support this.

Since Alternative rock has been around, it was largely defined as the ‘rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture’ however from the 1990s onwards, this was argued against as some of the most successful bands’  music today is defined as Alternative Rock being signed to major labels. It is also said that the actual music alternative rock bands create and the lyrics in their songs are more meaningful and truthful than that of any other genre; it’s said that the lyrics tend to address areas of social and political concern such as drugs, depression, suicide and environmentalism which means far more than lyrics used in pop songs about relationships and parties.

 

Some alternative rock groups include:
30 Seconds to Mars
Bastille
You Me At Six
Fall Out Boy
Coldplay
Blink 182