Alternative for the Masses
The '90s Alt-Rock Revolution - An Oral History
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Get the definitive story of the ’90s alt-rock movement straight from the musicians and figures who lived it.
No period in the history of rock music offered such an abrupt shift in prevailing tastes as the 1990s. While just a short while before, radio and MTV were clamoring for hair metal bands, suddenly alt-rockers such as Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Faith No More, Primus, Smashing Pumpkins, and of course, Nirvana, brought a sea change not just in what the most popular bands sounded like, but also in fashion, politics, and seemingly all aspects of pop culture.
In Alternative for the Masses: The Oral History of the ’90s Alt-Rock Revolution, veteran music critic Greg Prato presents more than 60 new interviews conducted exclusively for the book—with an emphasis on the 1990–1995 peak period—including insights from renowned names like:
Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Dischord Records)Frank Black (Pixies)Corey Glover (Living Colour)Moby (solo artist/DJ)Al Jourgensen (Ministry)Les Claypool (Primus)Kennedy (host of MTV’s Alternative Nation)Matt Pinfield (host of MTV’s 120 Minutes)Butch Vig (producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind)Tanya Donnelly (Belly, Breeders)Fred Armisen (Portlandia, Saturday Night Live)
Prato also includes excerpts from one of the last interviews with Steve Albini, arguably the period’s most influential recording engineer and producer, responsible for influential albums by the likes of Nirvana and PJ Harvey producer, among many others.
Prato sets out his book in thematic chapters covering topics such as:
The Lollapalooza music festivalThe impact of NirvanaAlt-rock’s many subgenresNotable producers of the periodThe impact of women rockersMTV’s influenceDrugs and addictionand much more!
Do you long for the days when it seemed rock artists were all about daring to be different, speaking their minds, and shaking up the music industry? The last decade before the internet, downloads, and streaming took over music? Alternative for the Masses will take you back to that time when alt-rock truly promised something different.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Music journalist Prato (Lanegan) delivers a comprehensive oral history of what he deems "rock's last truly great movement." Pulling from conversations with members of such 1990s alt-rock bands as the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., and Slint (plus figures like musician and actor Fred Armisen, MTV VJ Kennedy, and producer Steve Albini), the author tracks the genre's evolution. Alt-rock, he finds, began as a reaction to the popular "commercial hair bands" of the 1980s, combining strains of punk, hardcore, and college rock. Embracing distortion and liberal politics, alternative slowly took over the mainstream, aided by the popularity of the Lollapalooza festival and the superstardom of Nirvana. Along the way, alternative also came to serve as an umbrella term for stylistically diverse pocket genres like shoegaze, pop-punk, and riot grrrl. The book also probes alt-rock's intersection with drugs and addiction, its sometimes retrograde treatment of women, the relationship between major and minor record labels, and its signature guitar styles. It adds up to a multifaceted portrait of a vital chapter in rock history. Photos.
