Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music

Welsh identical twin brothers, Jay and Michael Aston, formed the band Gene Loves Jezebel. From their post-punk and gothic rock debut album in 1983, the band would achieve commercial success by the th…

Starting in 1981, Sonic Youth pushed boundaries as part of American experimental no wave scene to redefine what noise meant in terms of music. The band would combine innovative guitar tunings, disson…

In 1989, Nick Cave would experience some life changes and with those changes, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds would take their music in a new direction. By the end of the 1990’s, the band would achieve wor…

When Disintegration was released in May of 1989, the album signified a return to The Cure's darker and gloomier days of their early years. 

The eighth studio album from the band includes classic singl…

The Cramps took various music styles including punk rock, rockabilly, surf and garage rock, along with campy humor, sex, and horror/sci-fi film imagery to become the progenitor of what would be calle…

Happy Mondays became one of the pioneering artists of the Madchester scene fusing indie rock, funk, psychedelia and acid house music to create a unique sound associated with this rave club cultural m…

Flesh for Lulu was born London in late 1982 when lead singer and guitarist Nick Marsh met future drummer James Mitchell. Over the years, the band would build off of their post-punk roots to create mu…

The impact Buzzcocks had on music was beyond what Pete Shelley could have imagined when he started the band with Howard Devoto in 1976. Beyond organizing a legendary concert in Manchester that would …

The English band Shriekback was formed in 1981 by three musicians from post-punk backgrounds. Barry Andrews (formerly of XTC) , Dave Allen (previously with Gang of Four) , and Carl Marsh (from Out on…

Mazzy Star, behind the sultry vocals of Hope Sandoval, became one of the legendary bands of 90’s alternative rock with the iconic song, "Fade Into You".

The precursor to Mazzy Starr was the band Opal,…

In 1982, Simple Minds released the album, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), and with this album the band would begin to solidify the path to worldwide success through next two albums, Sparkle in the Rain…

Formed in Hamburg in 1980, Xmal Deutschland started as an all female band and was one of the early gothic groups of the New Deutsche Welle, or New German Wave.

The band's second single, "Incubus Succu…

Sad Lovers & Giants, with their atmospheric and sometimes dark, melancholic, and psychedelia post-punk, was one of the most overlooked bands of the early post-punk era.

The original line-up formed in …

KMFDM, led by German born founder, frontman, producer and musician Sascha Konietzko, started their musical journey in 1984 as a performance art project. By the 90's this industrial band would pioneer…

In the late 1970's, The Specials combined the music of 60's Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae along with the attributes of punk music, and political and social commentary. This music would be know…

Devo originated in Akron, Ohio forming a band based on the social theory of de-evolution. This innovative and unique band would combine experimental, art punk, and electronic music along with matchin…

The Cranberries formed in Limerick, Ireland in 1989 and within a year would add an incredible 18-year old singer, Dolores O’Riordan. The band would sign with Island Records and release the singles "D…

Following the breakup of The Teardrop Explodes, lead singer Julian Cope would begin a solo career starting with the album "World Shut Your Mouth" in 1984. 

The eccentric Cope would create multiple alb…

Led by the Australian singer-songwriting and guitarist duo of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, The Go-Betweens became one of the great, and one of the most underrated bands from the 1980's. Founded…

In 1989, when Trent Reznor created the groundbreaking Nine Inch Nails album, Pretty Hate Machine, it changed the course of alternative music. The music blended industrial, rock, dance and pop synths,…