The Offspring – Genocide was playing at the beginning.
Some call it punk rock breaking into the mainstream, some call it pop punk that did it by bursting out a confetti of power-pop melodies, loud guitars with clean flat vocals at the top of their lungs. Rancid, Pennywise, Weezer and Green Day used to play pop punk under independent labels until Green Day decided to climb up the ladder and release the album Dookie from a major one. Almost 2 years after its release in 1994, it had sold 20 million copies worldwide. Along with my beloved, dear The Offspring’s Smash, they set the tune for years to come. Towards the end of 90s with Nimrod and Americana albums pop punk had peaked. Glam and 70’s punk-esque looking, more relaxed yet equally energetic boys of Blink 182, Good Charlotte and Sum 41 joined the race of pop punk in the new millennium. One of my personal favorites from the era is Fall Out Boy. Have a taste of the track “Champagne […]” (trust me in the title, let your streaming do the rest for you, “From Under the Cork Tree” titles take too long to write down).
And here comes Indie
Meanwhile indie rock, interchangeably used with alternative rock through the 80s, distanced itself from the latter, as the latter gained mainstream traction through new wave and post-punk transformations. Do-it-yourself and lo-fi attitude that has less to do with what mainstream dictates, indie rock was produced through indie labels effectively liberating artists, arguably making them more artistically pleasing. Indie rock also attracted a relatively higher ratio of female acts like Riot grrrl for example. Beck, Pavement, Belle and Sebastian and Arcade Fire are some of the first names to come to mind for this particular time of indie rock.
Elsewhere rockers that cranked the distortion up were experimenting with different sides of the genre emphasized. Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, Pantera, Sepultura and Faith No More started somewhere common and ended up mapping uncharted waters by fusing their own elements into the music. Although easily fighting like cats & dogs if left unattended (:D), hip hop was not distant rock music and early applications extend as far as the 80s.
Red Hot Chili Peppers and others
1990 saw Faith No More’s single Epic breaking into the mainstream having melted the two into each other clear enough. I am a die-hard fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and this is my favorite part. The funky side of Faith No More was what influenced naked guys in socks only (not feet) started making a name for themselves. Another conspicuous act was Rage Against the Machine with their sharp political views orienting the lyrics and the sound they achieved.
More metallic sounding diversification from there gave way to nu metal – Limp Bizkit, Korn and Slipknot all rose to fame during these years, appearing on MTV, nu metal is disgrace to some yet was heavily consumed at its zenith. You can’t ignore how much the likes of Linkin Park (saluting Chester), Disturbed, Papa Roach contributed into the rock scene.
Let’s try to wrap up this humble shot at a rough history of rock music with the next post.
Cheers!
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