Online Encyclopedia
Timeline of alternative rock
This is a timeline of alternative rock, from its beginnings in the 1980s to the present.
1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004
1979
- Newly formed bands
1980
- Newly formed bands
- Events
- Sub Pop is founded as the fanzine Subterranean Pop.
1981
- Newly formed bands
1983
- Newly formed bands
- Dinosaur Jr.
- Green River - considered to be the first ever grunge band
- The Flaming Lips
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Events
- WFNX, one of the first commercial stations to play alternative rock, begins broadcasting.
1984
- Newly formed bands
1985
- Newly formed bands
1986
1987
- Newly formed bands
1988
- Newly formed bands
- Albums
- Pixies - Surfer Rosa
- Events
- Mother Love Bone forms after the break up of Green River. Later that year, Andrew Wood is found dead.
1989
- Newly formed bands
- Albums
- Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
- Pixies - Doolittle
1990
- Newly formed bands
- Disbandments
- The Pixies
- Albums
- Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
1991
- Newly formed bands
- Disbandments
- Jane's Addiction
- The Replacements
- Albums
- Nirvana - Nevermind
- Pearl Jam - Ten
- The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (breakthrough album)
- Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
- Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog
- Events
- Nirvana releases Nevermind, popularizing grunge in the mainstream, especially due to the hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
- Temple of the Dog, made up of members of Soundgarden and the newly formed Pearl Jam, releases thier first and only album as a tribute to Andrew Wood.
- The first ever Lollapalooza takes place.
- The term riot grrl is coined by Alison Wolfe of Bratmobile.
1992
- Newly formed bands
- Albums
- Blind Melon - Blind Melon
- R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
- Events
- The grunge speak hoax appears in the November 15 issue of The New York Times.
- Trent Reznor founds Nothing Records.
- The movie Singles is released.
- The movie 1991 - The Year Punk Broke is released.
1993
- Newly formed bands
- Albums
- Beck - Mellow Gold
- The Breeders - Last Splash
- Green Day - Dookie
- Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
- Nirvana - In Utero
- The Offspring - Smash
- Radiohead - Pablo Honey
- The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
- Events
- Nirvana plays MTV Unplugged in New York on November 18.
- Beck's "Loser" becomes a hit single.
- The Offspring releases Smash, becoming one of the best selling albums from an independent record label of all time. Along with the release of Green Day's Dookie, it repopularizes punk rock in the mainstream.
- Mazzy Star has some success with the single "Fade Into You", becoming the biggest hit for dream pop in the mainstream.
1994
- Newly formed bands
- The Foo Fighters
- Disbandments
- Nirvana
- Albums
- Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies
- Bush - Sixteen Stone (breakthrough album)
- Hole - Live Through This (breakthrough album)
- Meat Puppets - Too High to Die
- Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (most commercially successful album)
- Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
- Soundgarden - Superunknown
- Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
- Events
- Kurt Cobain of Nirvana dies on April 19.
- Kristen Pfaff of Hole dies on June 16.
- Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" becomes a hit single; some cite it as the last major hit of the grunge era.
1995
- Newly formed bands
- Disbandments
- Meat Puppets
- Albums
- Dishwalla - Pet Your Friends
- Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters
- Garbage - Garbage (breakthrough album)
- P. J. Harvey - To Bring You My Love
- Mad Season - Above
- Silverchair - Frogstomp
- The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
- Events
- Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon is found dead on October 21.
- Ska becomes popular, with bands such as No Doubt, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Sublime seeing commercial success.
- Folk Implosion has a hit single with "Natural One".
- Mad Season, a band made up of members of Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and the Screaming Trees, forms and breaks up in the same year.
1996
- Disbandments
- Screaming Trees
- Albums
- Beck - Odelay
- Local H - As Good as Dead (breakthrough album)
- Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
- Events
- Jonathan Melvoin of The Smashing Pumpkins dies on July 12.
- Alice in Chains makes their last appearance on MTV Unplugged.
- Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar is released, becoming industrial music's most successful album.
- Hype! , a documentary about the grunge scene of the early 1990s, is released.
1997
- Disbandments
- Porno for Pyros
- Soundgarden - believed by many to signal the end of grunge's mainstream success.
- Albums
- Everclear - So Much for the Afterglow
- Radiohead - OK Computer
- Events
- Jane's Addiction reunites; later that year, they disband again.
- On haitus while Scott Weiland is in rehab, members of The Stone Temple Pilots form Talkshow ; the new band lasts for only a short time.
1998
- Albums
- Jerry Cantrell - Boggy Depot
- Soul Coughing - El Oso
- Events
- For the first year since it began, Lollapalooza does not take place, and goes on hiatus for 6 years.
1999
- Newly formed bands
- Disbandments
- Blind Melon - after years of struggling to continue on without Shannon Hoon.
- The Jesus Lizard
- Luscious Jackson
- Albums
- The Stone Temple Pilots - No. 4
- Events
- John Baker Saunders of Mad Season dies.
- Despite rumors of disbanding, The Stone Temple Pilots return to recording.
2000
- Disbandments
- Letters to Cleo
- Rage Against the Machine
- The Smashing Pumpkins
- Soul Coughing
- Albums
- The Smashing Pumpkins - MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
- Events
- The Smashing Pumpkins have their last concert on December 2.
- The Smashing Pumpkins release MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music for free to music downloaders on the internet.
- The Meat Puppets reunite.
2001
- Newly formed bands
- Disbandments
- Toadies
2002
- Disbandments
- Hole
- Events
- Layne Staley of Alice in Chains dies on April 19, the 8th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.
- Jane's Addiction reunites again.
- Nirvana's "You Know You're Right", a previously unreleased song, becomes a hit single.
2003
- Events
- The first Lollapalooza in 6 years takes place.
2004
- Disbandments
- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Events
- The Pixies reunite.
Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45