Genre guide

Alternative and indie.
The sound of the outsiders.

Alternative and indie music grew out of the underground rock scenes of the 1980s, defined less by a single sound than by a shared refusal to chase the mainstream. From the jangle of college radio and the rise of independent labels to the breakthrough of bands like R.E.M., Pixies, and Radiohead, alternative became the dominant rock language of the 1990s - and indie carried its do-it-yourself spirit into a new century. Today the style spans dream pop, lo-fi, post-punk revival, and bedroom recordings, united by personality, experimentation, and a certain restless independence.

From the genre's founders to the names still being discovered.