I don't know, miro, I remember the use of the term "alternative" being used at least a decade before the grunge movement. Long before Seattle hit us with flannel shirts and $4 cups of coffee, the New York scene centered around CBGBs in New York was pumping out an "alternative" scene of punk and new wave with everybody from the Ramones and the Cramps to Blondie and the Talking Heads. Even then their roots can be traced back to bands like the Velvet Underground, who were considered quite "alternative" in the mid 60s. One could even go back to the 50's, one will find bebop being referred to as the "alternative" movement to "standard" jazz - usually before the "bebop" name was adapted.
I have real problems with classification and categorization of music - let alone bands - by titles, names or even genres. Except for the most obvious generic examples, such classifications are often arbitrary and meaningless, IMHO.
For example, both the Ramones and Blondie were part of the "alternative" movement of the mid-late 70s, yet no one with any kind of ear could call their music even remotely similar. And as far as the grunge "alternative" movement, are we talking the Seattle grunge of Nirvana or the Atlanta grunge of R.E.M.? Not quite the same, are they?
And speaking of the Ramones, we like to call them punk or post-punk "alternative", but weren't they really more 1950s drive-in rock and roll than anything else?
Why is Lyle Lovett categorized as country when his music is far more jazz standard than it is country? Just because he's from Texas and wears cowboy boots? Similar for Clarance Gatemouth Brown, who's music is usually referred to as Texas blues, though it's jazz ensemble roots are far more obvious.
When the Rolling Stones play "Dead Flowers" or "Angie", are they playing rock or country?
Were the Beatles really British Invasion when they went psychedelic? Yet nobody would ever call them a "psychedelic rock band".
Why is Pink Floyd considered one of the gods of classic rock when their time signatures, chord usages and general sound has about as much relation to rock as I do to George Clooney.
And how would one classify Elvis Constllo or Tom Waits? Typically they'd be called post-punk or urban balladeer, respectively; but in reality they grabbed and emulated practically every "genre" on the planet, often within a single album.
And forget bands, how about genres themselves. Can anybody really draw sharp lines between jive, jump blues, and rock and roll?
G.
