History Of Chosen Genre - Alternative Rock.

1955 -

The very first rock and roll song to make it onto any music charts was Bill Haley’s song titled “Rock Around the Clock” performed by Bill Hayley and his Comets. (Below)

1960's-early 1970's-This was a big moment in history since at the time rock and roll was still a new music, and to many parents they looked at rock and roll as noise, or to some the music of the devil. As rock and roll became more popular it began to have its own rock music charts, which focused on rock and not all of the other styles of popular music at the time, like Motown, which was just beginning in the motor city of Detroit. One of the most famous Detroit rockers who has become a household name is Alice Cooper. But another one of them is Bob Seger, who founded the classic rock band Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.

Mid 1960's-

Another one of the very important people that came from the Detroit rock music scene was a musician called Iggy Pop who played in a rock band called The Stooges at the time before they changed the bands name to Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Iggy Pop and the Stooges was the first band to pretty much start the punk rock movement in the mid sixties, and their influence is seen to this day as all the aforementioned artists. Since then Detroit has seen many forms of music and many popular rappers come from there nowadays but they still turn out many rock and metal bands as well. Some of the more recent famous rockers from Detroit include Kid Rock, Taproot, and The White Stripes.


Late 1970's - 1980's - Alternative Rock also made a big influence in Britain where Punk Rock was more popular. Creating Iggy Pop, The Sex Pistols, and The Stooges. Punk rock music was a music that was anti everything and many of the English punk bands considered themselves anarchists and tried to ensure they were social outcasts.

Punk music was very simplistic, usually consisting of a couple chords, fast drum beats, and nihilistic lyrics. Many punk rock music bands and their fans wore raggedy clothes and everything was held together by safety pins. Another signature of the punk rock (especially in the British punk) was the new and unique hair styles and hair colours. Hairstyles such as the Mohawk and the liberty spikes became extremely popular among punk rockers, and they were usually died colours like green, red, and blue. Many bands started taking punk and branching out from it and many different forms of punk rock are in existence today, and a majority of today’s top music acts are variations of punk rock.
In fact, Alternative Rock music entered mainstream in Britain earlier than it did in the United States. This gave Alternative bands a broader venue even before it gained popularity in the United States.

1980's -
REM was making their start in Alternative Rock by most of their airtime was by college radio stations; which is where their loyal fan base started. (However their commercial success started about the time that Alternative Rock became popular in the 1990's.) The rock music of the 80's was very optimistic and upbeat. This is why 80's rock music ends up in a lot of good movies and some songs show up on multiple movie soundtracks. This is one of the best ways to accumulate great 80's rock music without buying a bunch of individual albums.

• One of the best movie soundtracks for 80's rock music is The Wedding Singer. This film has songs from Billy Idol to The Culture Club. (Pictures featured to the left)

• Another great movie for 80's rock music is The Breakfast Club; which was created in the 80's. The theme song that was written by Keith Forsay and Steve Schiff was performed by the band Simple Minds. “Don't You Forget About Me” became an instant 80's rock music hit. (First YouTube Video shown below)

• Another great movie was released in 1997 with a great 80's rock music soundtrack. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and included songs like “Foot Loose”, “Time After Time”, and Turning Japanese”. (Second YouTube video - Footloose opening - which features the theme tune 'Footloose') - (Picture featured to the left)

Movie soundtracks are a great way to purchase a CD with a variety of music. Instead of all of the songs sounding the same, you get a bunch of great songs. The ones listed above are great for fans of 80's rock music. They have the classic 80's music that you are looking for and the movies are great too.

1990's -
Alternative Rock became popular in the 1990's by the popular band 'Nirvana' brought Alternative Rock to the mainstream audience by gaining popularity by college crowds. Due to this gain in popularity; the Grunge Genre movement started, which started in Seattle, Washington and then took the world by storm. This movement featured bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.












                                                                                                                                                           Conclude: Many different styles or rock and roll have dominated the rock music charts in the different periods from the charts beginnings to modern time. There were years where southern rock dominated and then it was a lot of the new wave and punk bands. Eventually the eighties arrived and many of the rock/metal bands were dominating until the alternative music craze started in the 90’s, and the grunge scene dominated the charts throughout the 90’s. In the modern day and age many of the rock charts are dominated by pop/punk bands and alternative bands, but many seventies inspired bands have been on the rise.