Portal:Alternative music/Selected articles
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[edit] Selected articles
The Selected Articles are what we believe to be the best articles in Wikipedia related to Alternative music and alternative rock. Prior to being listed here, articles are reviewed at Portal:Alternative music/Selected article candidates for style, prose, completeness, accuracy and neutrality according to our selected article criteria.
[edit] Usage
- Add a new selected article to the next available subpage.
- Update "max=" to new total for its {{Random portal component}} on the main page.
[edit] Selected articles list
[edit] Pixies
The Pixies are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1985. The band disbanded in 1993 in acrimonious circumstances but reunited in 2004. Black Francis, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal, and Dave Lovering have been the band's continual members. The Pixies found only modest success in their home country, but were significantly more successful in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, although never achieving mainstream success with their studio albums.
The group is frequently posited as the immediate forebearer of the alternative rock boom of the early 1990s, though they disbanded before reaping any of the benefits this might have brought them. Avowed fan Kurt Cobain's acknowledgement of the debt Nirvana owed to the Pixies, along with similar tributes by other alternative bands, ensured that the Pixies' legacy and influence grew substantially in the years following their demise.
[edit] Elliott Smith
Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), better known as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, bass, harmonica and drums. Smith had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery", and use of multi-tracking to create vocal harmonies. Although born in the Midwest and raised primarily in Texas, Smith spent the majority of his life in Portland, Oregon.
After playing in the rock band Heatmiser for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994 with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars. He eventually signed a major label contract with DreamWorks Records in 1997, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery", written for the film Good Will Hunting, was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998.
[edit] The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago in 1988. While the group has gone through several lineup changes, The Smashing Pumpkins have consisted of Billy Corgan (vocals/guitar), James Iha (guitar/vocals), D'arcy Wretzky (bass/vocals), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums/percussion) for most of the band's recording career.
Disavowing the punk rock roots shared by many of their contemporaries, the Pumpkins have a diverse, densely layered and guitar-heavy sound, containing elements of gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, shoegazer-style production and, in later recordings, electronica. Frontman Billy Corgan is the group's primary songwriter—his grand musical ambitions and cathartic lyrics have shaped the band's albums and songs, which have been described as "anguished, bruised reports from Billy Corgan's nightmare-land."
[edit] Nirvana
Nirvana was an American rock band originating from Aberdeen, Washington. With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their 1991 album Nevermind, Nirvana exploded into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained in popularity, and, as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s.
Nirvana's brief run ended with the death of Cobain in 1994, but the band's popularity expanded in the years that followed. Eight years after Cobain's death, "You Know You're Right", an unfinished demo that the band recorded two months prior to Cobain's death, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold more than sixty million albums worldwide, including more than ten million copies of Nevermind in the US alone. Nirvana remains a consistent presence on radio stations worldwide.
[edit] Frank Black
Frank Black (born April 6, 1965 as Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Active since 1985, Black is best known as leader of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, where he performed under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under his current pseudonym. After releasing two albums with 4AD, he left the label and formed a backing band, Frank Black and the Catholics. Black reformed the Pixies in 2004 and continues to release solo records while touring and recording with the band.
Black's vocal style has varied from a screaming, yowling delivery as lead vocalist of the Pixies to a more measured and melodical style in later Pixies' albums and solo career. His cryptic lyrics mostly explore unconventional subjects, such as surrealism, incest and Biblical violence, along with dam collapses, science fiction and surf culture. His use of atypical meter signatures, loud-quiet dynamics and distinct preference for live-to-two-track recording in his career as a solo artist give him a unique style in alternative rock.
[edit] Grunge music
Grunge music (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a genre of alternative rock inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock. Grunge was created in the mid-1980s by bands from Washington state, particularly in the Seattle area.
Grunge music is generally characterized by "dirty" guitar, strong riffs, and heavy drumming. The "dirty" sound resulted both from the common use of heavy guitar distortion and feedback, and from a stylistic change in the standard method of playing punk rock. Grunge involves slower tempos and dissonant harmonies that are generally not found in punk. The lyrics concern similar themes such as social alienation, apathy, entrapment and a desire for freedom. They are typically angst-filled — anger, frustration, ennui, fear, depression and drug addiction are often explored in grunge songs. The lyricism bears similarities to those of punk and the perceptions of Generation X.
It became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. The genre is closely associated with Generation X in the US, since the popularity of the genre and usage of the generational term rose simultaneously. Grunge was an early defining musical phenomenon of the 1990s, which distinguished 1990s rock music from that of the 1980s.
[edit] Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English four-piece indie rock/post-punk revival band originating from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. Formed in 2002, the band currently consists of Alex Turner on lead vocals and guitar, Jamie Cook on guitar, Matt Helders on drums and backing vocals and Nick O'Malley on bass guitar, a position formerly held by Andy Nicholson.
Arctic Monkeys achieved chart success with their first two singles, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history and received critical acclaim, winning the 2006 Mercury Prize.
Arctic Monkeys are generally considered part of the indie rock scene alongside similar contemporary guitar bands such as The Libertines, The Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand. Arctic Monkeys achieved their success through fan-made demo tapes and online file-sharing. They were heralded as one of the first acts to come to public attention via the internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a sea change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. The band eventually signed to independent record label Domino Records.
[edit] Jeff Tweedy
Jeffrey Scott Tweedy (born August 25, 1967 in Belleville, Illinois, United States) is an American songwriter, musician, and poet. Tweedy formed cowpunk band The Primitives with high school friend Jay Farrar. The band changed its name to Uncle Tupelo in 1987 after Primitives lead singer Wade Farrar went to college. After releasing four albums, conflicts between Tweedy and Farrar caused the band to break up in 1994.
In 1995, Tweedy formed Wilco with John Stirratt, Max Johnston, and Ken Coomer. Wilco has released six albums and found popular success with their albums Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. The band also released two collaboration albums with Billy Bragg and one with The Minus 5. Jeff Tweedy has been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, including Best Alternative Album for A Ghost Is Born. Tweedy has also participated in a number of side groups including Golden Smog and Loose Fur, has released a book of poems, and has released a DVD of solo performances. He was originally influenced by punk and country music, but has recently reflected more experimental themes in his music.
