GENRE STUDY
GENRE STUDYGEORGE ALLEN & KAMAL SINGH
ALTERNATIVE ROCKTHIS GENRE ALMOST FULLY CONSISTS OF BAND MUSIC,
WITH MOST CLASSIC BANDS FALLING INTO THIS CATEGORY. THIS GENRE
INCLUDES BANDS LIKE THE 1975, ARCTIC MONKEYS OR OASIS. THE GENRE IS
A BROAD ONE, WITH MUSIC THAT DIFFERS GREATLY IN TERMS OF ITS SOUND,
CONTEXT AND MEANING, LIKE THE AUDIBLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OASIS
WONDERWALL AND ARCTIC MONKEYS BRIANSTORM FOR EXAMPLE.
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WHATS TYPICAL OF ALTERNATIVE ROCKTYPICALLY YOU WOULD EXPECT TO
HEAR VOCALS, ELECTRIC GUITARS, BASS GUITARS AND DRUMS IN AN
ALTERNATIVE ROCK SONG. BASICALLY WHAT YOU WOULD THINK OF WHEN A
BAND WAS MENTIONED, AS BASICALLY ALL OF THE GENRES ARTISTS ARE
BANDS. MOST OF THESE SONGS WOULD CONTAIN A REPETITIVE RIFF THAT IS
PLAYED BY THE ELECTRIC GUITAR, ACCOMPANIED BY A CONTINUOUS BEAT BY
THE DRUMS AND BASS GUITARS. AN EXAMPLE OF THIS COULD BE CHOCOLATE
BY THE 1975.
ORIGINSTHE GENRE ORIGINALLY DERIVED FROM A MIX OF OTHER GENRES,
LIKE PUNK ROCK, POST PUNK, NEW WAVE OR HARDCORE PUNK. SMALL FACTORS
FROM ALL 4 OF THESE, ALONGSIDE OTHER COMPONENTS, WERE COMBINED TO
CREATE THE GENRE WE KNOW TODAY. DERIVATIVE FORMS OF THE GENRE
INCLUDE ALTERNATIVE COUNTRY, ALTERNATIVE HIP HOP, BIG BEAT AND TRIP
HOP. THE BREAKTHROUGH OF NIRVANA ALLOWED FOR ALTERNATIVE ROCK TO
ENTER THE MUSICAL MAINSTREAM, GIVING MORE ALTERNATIVE BANDS THE
OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL, LIKE DURING THE LATE 1990S AND
EARLY 2000S, BANDS LIKE THE WHITE STRIPES EMERGED,BRINING WITH THEM
HITS LIKE SEVEN NATION ARMY, ONE OF THE MORE COMMONLY RECOGNISED
GUITAR RIFFS OF THE 2IST CENTURY.
