Just The Greats
 

Velvet Underground, The strokes, Deerhunter, Jesus and mary chain, Talking Heads, Television, Guided By Voices, Pixies, Temples, The Horrors, Sonic Youth,
The Stone Roses, Black lips, Joy division, The Smiths, The libertines, The Doors,
The Cure

If you think you know a band that would fit into that list would like to know very much

:shycouch:

Wow, there are groups here I never heard of.

Good list, I'd to add to it they might be giants, deerhoof, the residents.

Nirvana. They were instrumental in alternative going mainstream.

I think Nirvana belongs in that list but I wouldn't put them in my list. Feel the same way about R.E.M.

I'm not sure I'd put R.E.M. on any list.

lol but like Nirvana you could say they were instrumental to bringing alternative into the mainstream.

Yeah. But my Nirvana obsession let's me know about them as a band to creepy amounts. If R.E.M. is considered important in that as well, I've never heard anything about it. Always seemed like they were a band that finally found success thanks to the alt. boom in the 90s rather than help shape the genre or help with its mainstream success.

That's kinda how I see Nirvana too. What innovation can you credit to Nirvana in alternative music? Cause I luv Nirvana but apart from them popularizing the loud quiet loud formula they said they stole from the pixies and I don't see how they innovated alternative much.

From my perspective R.E.M was the first band I noticed that popularized alternative college rock. I see them as the band that opened the door for that genre but with Nirvana they sorta opened the door for grunge not alternative. Oddly enough I do see Nirvana more as an alternative band than a grunge one but I think their sound is more isolated and secluded regarding its influence on alternative. I could be wrong but the only bands I know that found similar success using a similar sound are Bush and Silver Chair.

Well, grunge popped up in mainstream as a result of Nevermind's success. and in the process of labels rushing to sign more grunge but unsure of what was grunge signed a bunch of alt bands in the process. Nirvana was heavily influential on reframing the entire music scene in the 90s. I've heard people even give arguments as to why Nirvana is responsible for the rise of gangsta rap. R.E.M. just seemed to ride on the coattails of that explosion.