Alternative metal
Alternative Metal , sometimes abbreviated as Alt-Metal , is a generic term for several modern varieties of Metal . They are very divergent musically and are generally characterized by experimental content, such as B. unconventional texts, tempo changes or unusual instruments. There are no uniform stylistic characteristics, apart from the connection of metal with other musical styles.
definition
The term alternative metal was in the 1990's for many artists in use that a crossover occurred from metal and other influences and deliberately from Metal demarcated .
“Across all styles. Out of rock 'n' roll , into rap , back out to punk - everything goes, it just has to be loud - and content (here the kids get a little closer to their 68 parents) can be back: After Heavy Metal of the 80s was about as full of content and meaning as the Musikandenstadl was, the bands of the 90s have again texts with meaning, social criticism and message on their tongue. "
Thus, the term alternative in metal was defined more through the lack of metal-typical clichés, such as the associated pathos and the corresponding fashion, and the tendency to make social or political statements, than through a commonality in musical orientation.
Alternative metal was assigned to rap metal bands such as Rage Against the Machine , Biohazard and Body Count , and grunge bands such as Alice in Chains and Soundgarden . But also post-hardcore artists like Helmet and Rollins Band , groove metal bands like Pantera and Sepultura and industrial metal and rock bands like Ministry or Nine Inch Nails were grouped under the name Alternative Metal.
In addition to this wealth of styles, Alternative Metal continues to name bands whose style can be found in this broad spectrum and yet cannot be exactly assigned to any style. Accordingly, for example, Tool , Marilyn Manson or The Melvins are subordinated to the term Alternative Metal. The composition appears particularly striking because of the difference to previous metal and hard rock . A precise stylistic classification via musical or content-related similarities is therefore not available. The term could hardly establish itself in the German-speaking world. The representatives of alternative metal were mostly referred to as crossover , alternative or at the beginning still as independent . The musical styles of alternative metal are therefore often more general under the collective term alternative , which also includes styles that are atypical for metal.
Today the term is often used for the band Tool and those artists who stylistically resemble it, such as Hurt , Chevelle , A Perfect Circle or Deftones .
history
As early as the early 1980s, new representatives of punk were experimenting with styles that were previously viewed as incompatible. This mélange produced an abundance of heterogeneous, subculture-oriented rock music that clearly stood out from punk.
From this, among other things, alternative metal emerged at the end of the 1980s as a counter-movement to the then popular hair metal . The first alternative metal bands, which previously were often hardcore punk or thrash metal bands, distanced themselves from this with their harder music. In the late 1980s , bands like Anthrax or Living Color combined metal with elements of rap , funk and hip-hop , like Soundgarden and The Melvins with garage rock and punk, or Ministry and Godflesh with ideas from post-industrial . Many of these newly developed styles were given their own name over time and established an independent basis.
However, some could still not be defined more precisely, so that the term Alternative Metal remained as a general super-category. Particularly noteworthy are interpreters such as Waltari , The Melvins and Tool, whose style seemed unique or particularly changeable for a long time.
In the 1990s, leading bands in the scene such as Tool and Faith No More influenced new representatives such as KoЯn , Coal Chamber and Limp Bizkit who came to be known as Nu Metal .
In general, the term continues to apply in the Anglo-American language area as a super-category of those styles that stand out from conventional and established metal styles, combine metal with apparently incompatible styles of music and consciously stand against common metal types such as B. present Thrash , Power , Death , Doom , True Metal or the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and increasingly open Metal to the alternative scene.
After alternative metal had established itself, it became a pop cultural phenomenon as a modern variant of the independent and metal scene. Heavy rotation in music television and radio replaced large parts of the previous rock and metal mainstream.
Important representatives and currents
Due to the stylistic diversity, there is no band that represents all of alternative metal. Therefore, the most important representatives are very different bands, each of which can be summarized via the newly defined styles or the influencing styles. Rough overlaps with alternative rock can often be made out.
The following list refers to the high phase of the 1990s.
Cultural appearance and commercial use
The music of alternative metal finally gained media attention and commercial importance with the worldwide success of the second nirvana album Nevermind in 1991.
"In the years that followed, the cleverly fanned mass hysteria surrounding anti-stars, Gen X lifestyle, teenage rebellion and grunge look formed the ideal hook for the effective marketing of youthful identification poles [...]."
In the course of the 1990s, many of the subordinate styles of alternative metal established themselves and took up a large space in the previous alternative and metal scene. In the metal scene in particular, alternative metal replaced most of the traditional forms of metal. Popular magazines such as Metal Hammer reacted accordingly and at times in the 1990s oriented themselves towards the styles of alternative metal. The Dynamo Open Air Festival represented one of the largest events in Europe, which was primarily dedicated to the spectrum and thus represented a counterpart to the American Lollapalooza Festival. In 1992, the American MTV set up Alternative Nation, a second daily broadcast format in addition to the weekly 120 minutes for the field of alternative rock and alternative metal. The amalgamation of media, art and commerce ultimately led to the commercial use of alternative metal for advertising purposes, e.g. E.g. the grunge song Inside for a commercial for the jeans brand Levi’s , which gave the previously unknown band Stiltskin a number one hit in the UK charts. A track from the remix album Further down the Spiral by the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails was also used for a Levi's commercial in 1996.
The entire audience was unable to develop a close fashionable or cultural connection; instead, many of the fans assigned themselves to different sub- or supergroups such as crossover, grunge, alternative or metal. Nevertheless, through the mixing of musical influences and the marketing via the status of the musical rebellion, fashion and ideological overlaps took place.
Another aspect of the term alternative refers to the reformulation of the former genre term independent . While the term “independent” also represents a market economy aspect, “alternative” simply denotes the opposite of the mainstream . At the beginning of the 1990s, many representatives of the previous independent were able to break away from their indie labels and signed contracts with large record companies that recognized the market value of specialty music early on. Other previously free bands signed similar contracts and sold their records through large companies. The possibility of wider advertising and higher circulation promoted the spread of the new styles and thus the market value of alternative metal. This is particularly evident in grunge and so-called rap metal. Rage Against the Machine were marketed by Epic Records , and Body Count and Clawfinger were also part of the Warner Music Group early in their careers . Even Nirvana and Soundgarden were bands of the Warner Music Group, while Alice in Chains at Columbia Records and Pearl Jam were with Epic Records. Smaller bands from lesser-known companies with lower circulation could hardly attract any attention, and the term alternative took over the aspect of distancing itself from the mainstream just like the classification independent before, whereby the independent increasingly lost importance.
The two terms crossover and grunge represented the new terms for the alternative and independent attitude to life of the supposedly young generation of the early 1990s. The term Generation X tried to understand this new group of alternative youths as a general movement. The rebellious interest of this group, which was characterized in particular by nominal refusal to consume, became a relevant economic factor with the success of the different musical styles. Skateboard, snowboard, energy drinks and corresponding everyday and sportswear such as baggy pants , baseball caps and sports jackets were marketed in particular through the popular crossover Rap Metal and were also able to gain a foothold in the successor genre Nu Metal . Grunge, on the other hand, was represented by a simple, occasionally dingy jeans look with a tree felling or similar everyday shirt, which was also used successfully by the shoe and jeans industry.
In addition to the jeans brand Levi's, Converse also benefited from the grunge fashion trend with their chucks and shoes from the Doc Martens brand, which is closely linked to several underground scenes.
Effect and further development
The continuation of the alternative metal scene can be found in as diverse and different styles of music as the actual big wave of the 1990s itself. Nu metal , post metal and parts of post grunge openly refer to representatives and styles of early alternative metal. Nu-metal artists name the bands Tool and Helmet as often as representatives from funk , groove and rap metal as a major influence.
A large part of post-grunge is not only based on the obvious representatives of grunge , but also on tools, helmets and other artists from early alternative metal. Bands like Chevelle , Three Days Grace and Hurt are often attributed to Tool and Helmet.
These two bands are also named by the representatives of post-metal as important pioneers. However, Godflesh and The Melvins also appear to be equally relevant . Neurosis' post-metal crossers were still considered alternative metal in the mid-1990s, and Aaron Turner of the band Isis emphasized the fascination for alternative metal music of the early 1990s. He repeatedly named bands like Godflesh, The Melvins, Beastie Boys and Napalm Death when trying to describe his early influences and his path to music.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alternative Metal ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at the website economicexpert.com ; Retrieved April 17, 2010
- ↑ a b Alternative Metal at Allmusic ; Retrieved April 16, 2010
- ↑ Heiko Heinemann: Metal post Heavy Metal . In: Deese, Hillenbach, Kaiser, Michatsch: Jugend und Jugendmacher . Metropolitan, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-89623-050-6 , p. 62; Original edition.
- ↑ a b Alternative Metal. Silver Dragon Records, archived from the original on July 16, 2012 ; Retrieved April 19, 2010 .
- ↑ a b c d e Genre description at Allmusic (accessed on April 19, 2010)
- ↑ a b c d Genre description on Rock.About.com (accessed April 23, 2010)
- ^ Bettina Roccor: Heavy Metal. The bands. The fans. The opponents . CH Beck, Munich 1998, p. 76 ff.
- ↑ a b c d Marcel Anders: Alternative - how long will the new way? In: Deese, Hillenbach, Kaiser, Michatsch: Jugend und Jugendmacher . Metropolitan, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-89623-050-6 , p. 55 ff.
- ^ Danzig at Allmusic ; Retrieved May 1, 2010
- ↑ Type O Negative at Allmusic ; Retrieved May 1, 2010
- ↑ Life of Agony at Allmusic ; Retrieved May 1, 2010
- ↑ Marcel Anders: Alternative - how long will the new way? In: Deese, Hillenbach, Kaiser, Michatsch: Jugend und Jugendmacher . Metropolitan, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-89623-050-6 , p. 57
- ↑ The Levi's- spot with Nine Inch Nails - Self Destruct, Part Two; Retrieved April 23, 2010
- ↑ a b Alternative ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Schallgrenzen.de; Retrieved April 22, 2010
- ↑ Fred Durst Biography ( February 3, 2005 memento on the Internet Archive ) on Fred Durst.com ; Retrieved April 19, 2010
- ↑ Helmet at Allmusic; Retrieved April 19, 2010
- ↑ Chevelle at Allmusic (accessed April 19, 2010)
- ↑ Hurt at Allmusic (accessed April 19, 2010)
- ↑ Isis at Allmusic (accessed April 19, 2010)
- ↑ Enemy of the Sun (Neurosis): Review (accessed April 19, 2010)
- ↑ Interview with Aaron Turner (accessed April 19, 2010)
