"Come on kids, these guys look like Nirvaner! Buy, buy, buy!"
Now, I love the music that came out of the 90s! I loved all of it: alternative, metal, electronic/rave, rap, and hip hop. It's what I grew up on. I feel that the 90s, for the latter three genres, was a time of great innovation and progress because they were basically brand new and weren't depending on too many past reference points to develop their sound. At least there was less sentiment when considering influences. Electronic music also had the advantage of having new inventions, toys and instruments coming along with regularity with which to work. I think Alternative, to a large degree, was the rockist 60s remade for an irony-obsessed, disconnected youth who weren't so much uprising or reacting against the status quo or the glossy pop factories of the 80s, as they were more simply bored to death with it. The anger and disillusion was there but it was a more internal and private affair as opposed to the hyper-aware (culturally and politically) rockers, punks, and postpunkers that broke out in the late seventies and early eighties. When the nineties came around everyone decided that looking like you were having a good time, much less dancing, was not cool and, opposed to past incarnations of bona fide guitar music, discussion moved from the cultural and political to the internal and psychological and any semblance of groove was removed from the music. Now don't get me wrong, I loved "alternative" music and the movement produced loads of great music. Like any great scene though, the music factories eventually caught on and imitation and market saturation eventually lead to its demise...and what an ugly demise it was. The (Korn filled) shit leftover from alternative's dying breaths was some of the worst music we've had...I think anyway. Sometimes I think Prozac nation, errr, America is still a bit hungover from 90s and as much as I love the period, I plan to have little to do with any expected revival of the scene. People are just now uncrossing their arms and swaying to the music just a bit. Anwyay, whatever, here's a take from the Quietus
