Comments on Alts vs Alts

Matos railed against "indie" in favor of "alternative".

Try again, Josh. I wrote:

The piece props up the idea of “alt” that Matos (I think convincingly) rails against, that it’s specific to the ’90s.

In his post on the subject, Matos rails agains the idea of "alt" being a term specific to only '90s rock, arguing that it makes more sense to use today than does "indie."

Sorry. I might have misread your sentence. Or, at least I read it before I read the "Monsters of Alt" charticle.

I guess the reason I was confused is your parenthetical "convincingly". Does that mean that, joking about Bumbershoot's nostalgia rock acts aside, you also think that "alt" shouldn't be chained only to the 90s?

On intellectual grounds, I agree with the argument that "indie" is an even flimsier term and less tenable term. Emotionally, however, I'm not sure that I'm onboard for an "alt" revival. Alternative wasn't a great term then, a passing decade didn't make it any better. Why not kick them both into the dustbin of history and come up with something new?

To clarify: you're in favor of "alt" being a 90s-only term and

(ack! feel free to delete that last sentence fragment. it got lost in the text box.)

Did Scott Weiland beat up your grandma or something? Jesus Christ, man.

@3, 4 - I think alternative and indie both have pretty specific meanings, neither of which need be tied to an actual genre/sound of music. independent is antithetical to corporate; alternative is antithetical to mainstream. Neither of those define a style of music so much as a place that music occupies in the market/culture. It's when those words become shorthand for style and lose their more literal meanings that we get into trouble. So, in short, I think both can still be valid but both are too often misused.

@5 - Yes. Yes he did.

Another error in your charticle, Grandy: "Mellow Gold" was not produced by the Dust Brothers. That was "Odelay."

Thanks, Dave. That one I actually am bummed to have screwed up.