The 'adult alternative' pop music and radio format of the 1990's
| Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Abusive Talented Lodge | 03/11/26 | | Indecent lay | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | irradiated lavender garrison cuckoldry | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | Odious mediation dilemma | 03/09/26 | | Indecent lay | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Odious mediation dilemma | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Avocado Generalized Bond | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | sick stead | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza | 03/09/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/09/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | fiercely-loyal disrespectful orchestra pit newt | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | White useless brakes blood rage | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Internet-worthy brunch | 03/11/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | White useless brakes blood rage | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | fiercely-loyal disrespectful orchestra pit newt | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | gay hall | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Tan Nowag | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Unholy community account | 03/10/26 | | gay hall | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | arousing pozpig wagecucks | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | gay hall | 03/11/26 | | Indecent lay | 03/11/26 | | Unholy community account | 03/11/26 | | multi-colored mental disorder abode | 03/10/26 | | Indecent lay | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Indecent lay | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Yapping Fuchsia Indian Lodge | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Indecent lay | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Unholy community account | 03/11/26 | | Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | White useless brakes blood rage | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Avocado Generalized Bond | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Avocado Generalized Bond | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | Sticky laser beams background story | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | fiercely-loyal disrespectful orchestra pit newt | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | arousing pozpig wagecucks | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/11/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/11/26 | | yellow aphrodisiac national security agency fat ankles | 03/11/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/11/26 | | Unholy community account | 03/11/26 | | Abusive Talented Lodge | 03/11/26 | | mischievous glittery corner sound barrier | 03/10/26 | | hateful toilet seat home | 03/10/26 | | High-end filthy turdskin | 03/11/26 |
Poast new message in this thread
 |
Date: March 9th, 2026 9:09 PM Author: Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza
i feel like it represented the post-cold war totalization of pop culture into a specific set of products. 'adult alternative' wasn't really a single coherent sound or category; it was a kind of catch-basin for different marketing goals. 'grunge' was too harsh for a lot of consumers, so they got grunge-'adjacent' acts like counting crows and collective soul instead.
'jam bands' were too diffuse and difficult to edit for radio, so the AA format developed DMB and blues traveler and so on.
the riot girl stuff was too unpolished, but AA could take some of those notions and fold them into sheryl crow and melissa etheridge and so forth.
'roots rock' was too niche. bring in hootie. and on and on.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310486#49730641) |
 |
Date: March 9th, 2026 9:30 PM Author: Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza
there were also bands in other genres which saw the rise of AA and said "give me some of that." goo goo dolls, for example. they started back in the 80's as a metal-adjacent rock band. they decided at some point around 1992 that they did not want to compete with the grunge acts, and they polished their sound into smoother rock-based power-pop, eg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRbWasL1kac
this did okay for them, but they knew they could go further. and that's what they did by 1995, with their first AA mega-hit ('Name').
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310486#49730705) |
 |
Date: March 9th, 2026 9:24 PM Author: Odious mediation dilemma
good call. that song came out in 1989 and sort of presages the format OP talks about by 5 or 6 years.
i love 'What I Am', though. it's of a higher quality than 'Dishwalla' and the AC stuff that came in the 90s.
one of the few guitar-based top-40 songs of the era that was not a 'hard rock'/Alt rock crossover, just straight pop rock. it gives you a sense of what 80s/90s top 40 would have sounded like if it had never been 'Urbanized.' if the cultural currents that produced 70s 'soft rock' had persisted.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310486#49730693) |
Date: March 10th, 2026 2:23 PM Author: multi-colored mental disorder abode
180 thread
in movie terms, this era probably
Beginning - Singles / Slackers
Zenith- Reality Bites / Kicking and Screaming
End - High Fidelity or Garden State?
maybe I'm just describing Gen X generally
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310486#49732117) |
 |
Date: March 10th, 2026 6:11 PM Author: Canary Splenetic Selfie Piazza
i'm not sure how well the adult alternative format 'maps' to films, since movies were sort of the last 90's stronghold of the big 80's adult contemporary power ballad (the bodyguard, titanic, armageddon, etc.).
aesthetically, it reminds me of early-90's films which were set almost inexplicably in seattle (since it had become trendy by then) but made no reference to grunge or music which had given the city its trendy reputation. sleepless in seattle and disclosure in particular.
disclosure was marketed as a 'techno-thriller' to help ride the cyberpunk trend, but the tech elements were muted, and it was actually a romantic drama. not exactly a bait-and-switch, but you can see the marketing goals.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310486#49732779) |
Date: March 10th, 2026 7:56 PM Author: mischievous glittery corner sound barrier
I view this as an MTV vs VH1 war, where MTV was for kids looking for the latest cutting edge music (whether that be Nirvana or Britney Spears or KORN) vs VH1 which was for music someone over the age of 16 could listen to.
The VH1 market no longer exists because adults can instantly stream any music from the youth at any time - so you don't need bands like Matchbox 20 / Train / Third Eye Blind who appeal to 25-50 year olds.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310486#49733172) |
|
|