Commercialization: The Grim Reaper of alternative music

By JUSTIN SEITZ
Collegian Staff Writer

If everything is alternative, is anything alternative?

In an age when groups like Eve 6 rule the airwaves, this question is hard to answer. Alternative music has become diluted and hard to define and listeners have noticed the trend.

"Alternative music today is alternative to what I like," said Pete Stewart (junior-marketing), guitarist for the Pittsburgh-based indie-rock band Crime.

Like many people, the recent commercialization and homogenization that has plagued the alternative rock scene for the past few years dismays Stewart. Recently, bands such as Sugar Ray and Matchbox 20 have defined and become staples of new alternative music, each selling over 2 million albums.

While both bands are considered alternative, their music is a far cry from the genre's seminal works.

"Alternative is just another label for rock," said Eric Himan (sophomore-communications), singer and guitarist for local modern-rock band Dunston Ashe. "It used to mean something, but now it is just a label for cheesy rock bands."

The line between rock and alternative has become so blurred it's difficult for Greg Gabbard to file records in the downtown store he owns.

Records that are "a little more modern, a little less 'in' and in the rock vein" go in the store's alternative section, said Gabbard, owner of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave.

Today's alternative music has taken the form of mainstream guitar rock, but this was not always the case.

When the term "alternative music" was coined in the 1980s, it was used to label bands that were not part of the mainstream. Bands such as the Buzzcocks, Husker Du and The Smiths defined early alternative music. They provided listeners with an escape from the commercialized new wave, which was popular during that time.

Alternative music took over the mainstream in 1992 when Nirvana's stunning album Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous out of the No. 1 Billboard spot.

Since then, the market has become flooded with sterile, formulated bands masquerading as alternative.

Gabbard attributed the commercialization of modern alternative music to the involvement of major record labels in the scene.

"Anytime you have major labels involved in a new genre of music, marketing of the bands will lead to commercialization," he said.

Gabbard has considered integrating the alternative and rock sections in his store, but decided not to because some people identify with the different musical designations. Some customers are more inclined to buy an album if it is in the alternative section, he said.