 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves fromclassic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music.
Modern rock (also known asalternative radio) is arockformat commonly found on commercialradio; the format consists primarily of thealternative rock genre.[1] Generally beginning withhardcore punk but referring especially to alternative rock music since the 1980s, the phrase "modern rock" is used in the US to differentiate the music fromclassic rock, which focuses on music recorded in the 1960s through to the early 1990s.
A few modern rock radio stations existed during the 1980s, such asKROQ-FM inLos Angeles,XETRA-FM inSan Diego, WHTG-FM (nowWKMK) on theJersey Shore,WLIR onLong Island,WFNX inBoston, andKQAK The Quake inSan Francisco.[1] Modern rock was solidified as a radio format in 1988 withBillboard's creation of theModern Rock Tracks chart. The chart was based on weighted reports from college radio stations and commercial stations such as those listed above.[2] The1988 episode of theVH1 showI Love the '80s discussedINXS,the Cure,Morrissey,Depeche Mode, andErasure as modern rock artists representative of that year. But it was the breakthrough success of thegrunge bandsNirvana andPearl Jam in 1991 that resulted in many American radio stations switching to the format.[1] Modern rock is considered by some to be a specific genre of alternative rock.[3]
The format has gone through two distinct periods, dividing the line from classic modern rock and the current alternative rock format used today. Up until grunge went mainstream, the format featured a wide variety of up-tempo danceable music from a diverse group of artists that were being played in rock discos and clubs.[2] This was a legacy fromnew wave music and theSecond British Invasion that immediately preceded it.[2] Of all the artists who had songs hit the top 30 in the first modern rock chart, only seven of them were American.[2] Between 1992 and 1994, most of the female, foreign and dance music had largely disappeared from the chart.[2] While the chart still featured a variety of alternative rock music, it was largely guitar rock created by male Americans.[2] By 1996, the modern rock chart was largely identical to the mainstream rock chart; it was therefore surveying what was then mainstream rock music.[2]
For most of the 2000s, modern rock radio stations mostly featured songs that were crossed over from theactive rock format. This was often famous for the second wave ofpost-grunge andnu metal scenes that derived from grunge and alternative metal music, respectively, in the 1990s. During the early 2000s, these two genres made up most of the modern rock format, despite the format being a heavily diverse format genre-wise (for example, in 2003, it was not uncommon to hear diverse artists likeJack Johnson,Muse,Coheed and Cambria,the Postal Service,the Mars Volta,Junior Senior,Snow Patrol,Story of the Year,the Black Keys, andKings of Leonall played on the same modern rock station). By the mid-2000s, the two genres were dropped, and the revivals of genres such aspost-punk,garage rock,noise rock, anddance-punk (often tagged in as thepost-punk revival of that time) took its place but the post-grunge and nu metal genres still had some success.
In the 2010s, modern rock served as an indie-driven radio format featuring new, young and recentindie rock bands and artists. Ranging from genres likereggae,folk,hip hop andEDM, common indie rock artists heard on the format includedYoung the Giant,Of Monsters and Men,Atlas Genius,the Neighbourhood,Arcade Fire,Weezer,Twenty One Pilots,the 1975,Arctic Monkeys andBastille.
Near the end of the 2010s, the popularity and amount of indie rock acts began to decline. In their place, many modern rock radio stations began playing crossover pop artists includingBillie Eilish,AJR,Post Malone,Glass Animals,the Kid Laroi, andMachine Gun Kelly, among others. New music from heritage acts likeFoo Fighters,Blink-182,Red Hot Chili Peppers,the Killers,Weezer, andthe Black Keys pulled the format back towards its roots in the mid-2020s. Newer artists heard on alternative stations during this period includeMåneskin,Lovelytheband,White Reaper,the Struts, andNoah Kahan.
In addition, several alternative radio stations shifted to aclassic alternative playlist in the early 2020s, focusing on music primarily from the 1980s and 1990s. Stations includeXETRA-FM in San Diego,WNNX in Atlanta, andWOLT in Indianapolis.
Modern, also called alternative...
| Components | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genres by decade of origin (sub-subgenres not included) | |||||||||||||
| Regional scenes |
| ||||||||||||
| Radio formats | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||
