How "alternative" is Alternative?

What is alternative music nowadays? I can't seem to figure it out anymore. It seems to have morphed into mainstream pop and metal. Of course, that kind of contradicts the "alternative" label then, doesn't it? I first fell into the scene back in the mid 80's somewhere. It was cool and refreshing from the boring metal that was going on (that was turning into those comical hair bands!). Yeah, boring - at least for guitar. Same fast riffs just done in different ways. Alternative music at that time was inventive and creative. Bands like Missing Persons, The Cure, The Smiths, etc. really had refreshing sounds to me that I really latched on to. The "alternative" radio station back then was WXRT. They still call themselves the "original" alternative music station. They are correct to a degree: outside of college radio you really couldn't find much of that stuff on the airwaves back then. If there was an 'XRT night at a club somewhere, we were there.

But then 'XRT fell into a funk. It started playing more classic rock like the Who and such. It stayed a lot with the bands that made the station popular - even though those bands were past their prime. Not that it was bad but it became less interesting. They still played some new stuff but it became less and less. That was around the early 90's when Q101 changed to becoming the new alternative music station. Yeah, it was awesome! Grunge was hitting the scene and I was really digging a lot of that stuff. Problem was, alternative was changing. It was becoming more mainstream and pop with no real new style to replace it. So, naturally, Q101 moved towards the nu-metal types and it really sounded like a metal station for a while. The last couple years they moved from that but now I think that they have become what WXRT became: more classic alternative. Now they don't play the Who or anything like that but whenever I turn that station on, I don't hear nearly as much new stuff as I used to.

I don't think it is any of the station's fault...at least to a degree. It just seems to me that alternative music isn't really alternative anymore in this day and age. It is kind of a joke when you listen to some of the internet radio stations playing "alternative". It is all based on their perspective of what it is. I mean, "adult alternative"! What is that - really? It's just pop music without the Madonnas and Britneys of the world on it. And even then, it isn't all true (I remember when Madonna was borderline alternative when she arrived on the scene!).

Oh there are a lot of places to look for new music. The internet has made that beyond easy. I just don't think alternative music really exists anymore. That's just the way of things.

Now give me my Rush music. There is some great stuff to behold!