7.29.2011

Headphones Recommended: What Exactly Is the "Alternative" Genre?

Don't know about you, but I find how music industry handles their genre classifications infuriating.

What is especially infuriating, is people who work within the music industry seem to use "Alternative" as a dump genre. It is like they think, "hmmm, I really don't know exactly what this is, so let's just label it Alternative." This just isn't limited to the Alternative genre, it is like the people behind classifying music really don't have a clue as what exactly a good portion of their product is. It is personal interpretation to a fault in many ways. When looking at genre listings (any of them...after all, we've all seen major label releases classified as "Indie"...wtf?!), you don't really know for sure what you're going to get until you listen to it & correct the genre listing in your library.

Take a look at every other art medium & you'll find they have a pretty good handle on their genres. If a book is tagged "fantasy", you pretty much know the type of story you're going to get. Same w/ movies in the "horror" section at the video store, & "sci-fi" when it comes to a TV show (the exception being SyFy channel reality shows, but we all know they're all on crack). Even the art industry has a handle on their descriptive genres (which has a lot of room for personal interpretation). If a painter is tagged as "Abstract", that is pretty much what your going to get from them.

Just so this isn't a total whine of a blog post, the music industry is unique in another way too. It is the only industry that after an artist releases their work (an album), the songs on that album remain lucid. Meaning as the artist practices/performs the songs, they inevitably tweak them over time, so the song you hear live (6 months, a year, etc.) down the road more than likely is slightly different (improved...hopefully) from the version released on CD. Works from the publishing, movie, TV, art industries are concrete in their releases, and no matter how much the artist might want to change this small thing here or there, they can't w/o taking the product off the market or redoing it entirely.

Thanks for reading my rant, feel free & listen to some Alternative songs...



Track List
1. Controller.Controller | Disco Blackout | History
2. Zoey Van Goey | You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate | Propeller Versus Wings
3. Pretty Girls Make Graves | Blue Lights | The New Romance
4. Spoon | Everything Hits At Once | Girls Can Tell
5. Hammerbox | Kept House | Hammerbox
6. Pere Ubu | Oh Catherine | Worlds In Collision
7. The Unicorns | Tuff Ghost | Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
8. Little Comets | Her Black Eyes | In Search Of Elusive Little Comets
9. The Joy Formidable | Buoy | The Big Roar
10. The Flaming Lips | I Can Be A Frog | Embryonic
11. Fever Ray | Seven | Fever Ray
12. Cadallaca | Two Beers Later | Introducing Cadallaca
13. say hi | Sister Needs A Settle | um, uh oh
14. Crystal Stilts | Invisible City | In Love With Oblivion
15. Ocean Colour Scene | Policemen & Pirates | Moseley Shoals
16. Band of Skulls | Hollywood Bowl | Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
17. Man Man | Dark Arts | Life Fantastic
18. The Sugarcubes | Pump | Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!
19. Daniel Johnston | Love Not Dead | The Late, Great Daniel Johnston Discovered Covered
20. Talking Heads | Houses In Motion | Remain In Light

If ya don't like cuss'n, then don't listen.

Cheers!


Previous Headphones Recommended

Volume 2
Headphones Recommended: Cow Tipping Flash Mob
Headphones Recommended: Amidst Hell & High Water
Headphones Recommended: Rock Is Undead!
The Return of Headphones Recommended

Volume 1
Headphones Recommended: Time. To. Rock.
Headphones Recommended: An Eclection of Songs
Headphones Recommended: The Country Mix, y'all
Headphones Recommended: The Facebook Comp
Headphones Recommended: Chillax, yo.
Headphones Recommended: The 12.10.10 Soundtrack
Headphones Recommended: Great Songs From Fave Bands