Echosmith cites their musical influences as 1980s new wave bands like The Smiths, Joy Division, and early U2 as well as more recent bands like Coldplay and The Killers. The document then provides background on alternative rock, noting it emerged from underground music in the 1980s and grew popular in the 1990s, consisting of genres like grunge, Britpop, and indie pop that were influenced by punk rock. While some alternative rock bands achieved mainstream success in the 1980s, many remained cult acts until the popularity of Nirvana and grunge in the early 1990s brought alternative rock into the musical mainstream.
2. Echosmith’s Musical Influences
Echosmith: “We’ve always loved ‘80s new
wave – The Smiths and Joy Division and
early U2 and we’re huge fans of Coldplay
and The Killers, too. So there’s lots of
influences, but those are some of the
main ones.”
3. Alternative Rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the underground
music scene of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s.
The term "alternative" was coined in the 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired
bands on independent record labels that did not fit into the mainstream
genres of the time.
As a musical genre, alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have
emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge,
Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their
collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk, which laid the groundwork
for alternative music in the 1970s.
Though the genre is considered to be rock, some of its subgenres are
influenced by folk music, reggae, electronic music and jazz among other
genres.
At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music
from underground artists in the 1980s, all music descended from punk rock
(including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk), and, ironically, for rock
music in general in the 1990s and 2000s.
4. Alternative Rock Bands
While a few artists like R.E.M. and The Cure
achieved commercial success and mainstream
critical recognition, many alternative rock artists
during the 1980s were cult acts that recorded on
independent labels and received their exposure
through college radio airplay and word-of-mouth.
With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the
popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements
in the early 1990s, alternative rock entered the
musical mainstream and many alternative bands
became commercially successful.
