Alternative Metal - History

History

Faith No More and Soundgarden are recognized as two of the earliest alternative metal bands, with both bands emerging during the early 80s, and setting the template for the genre by mixing heavy metal music with a variety of different genres. During the 1980s Alternative metal appealed mainly to alternative rock fans, since virtually all 1980s alt-metal bands had their roots in the American independent rock scene. The emergence of grunge as a popular style of rock music in the early 1990s helped make alternative metal more acceptable to a mainstream audience, with alternative metal soon becoming the most popular metal style of the 90s. The alternative music festival Lollapalooza conceived by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell, helped bands associated with the movement such as Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Primus, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains gain exposure. The progressive rock influenced band Tool became a leading band in the alternative metal genre with the release of their 1993 debut album Undertow, Tool's popularity in the mid-‘90s helped kick off an era of bands with alt-metal tendencies also classified in other genres like industrial (Nine Inch Nails) and rap rock (Rage Against the Machine). Many established 1980s metal bands released albums in the 1990s that were described as alternative metal, including Metallica.

In the latter part of the 90s, a second wave of alternative metal emerged; dubbed nu metal, it often relied more on hip hop influences, and others, as opposed to the influences of the original first wave of alternative metal bands, with this style subsequently becoming more popular than alternative metal.