Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s and 2000s. Although the term was most commonly associated in its commercial heyday with a loud, distorted guitar sound, its original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their collective debt to either the musical style, or simply the independent, D.I.Y. ethos of punk rock.

Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots.