The History of Alt-Rock: Chapter 8

Ongoing History of New Music

Curiouscast

History, Music, Music Commentary, Music History, Music Interviews

4.8 • 605 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

When punk rock first appeared in the middle 1970s, the major record companies in north America really didn’t care...they were happily making millions and millions of dollars from big rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles..... And there was millions more coming in from disco...which was sweeping the world....it was like a plague–but a profitable one...so why would they bother with this weird stuff bubbling up from tiny, scary clubs on both sides of the Atlantic?...they were too busy going to big stadium shows and getting down at Studio 54... But this new music wouldn’t go away...so when Led Zeppelin broke up and the Stones and The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac disappeared up their own buts and the disco bubble finally burst the record execs tried to tame it......marketing the gentler and less intense bands under the umbrella of something they called “New Wave”. Oh, they tried with punk, but they got it really, really wrong...you gotta wonder what was going through that executive’s head when The Ramones were picked to open shows for toto.... No, seriously...The Ramones were the opening act for Toto on one tour...I swear I didn’t make that up...it happened in Lake Charles, Louisiana...January 26, 1979...they were also paired up with Foreigner and Blue Oyster Cult... But we have to be fair....the general public just didn’t get punk....when The Sex pistols appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in the fall of 1977, it was one of their poorest-selling issues, ever....mind you, the headline read “rock is sick and living in London”...the story began with a quote from Isaiah 3:24: “instead of perfume, there will be rottenness”.... After that, most Rolling Stone writers were instructed to stop writing about this music...it was bad for business...really bad... But there were people who got it....and frankly, fans of non-mainstream music were quite happy to be left alone...they were into this new music precisely because they hated the mainstream...and over the next dozen years, the musical underground was allowed left to gestate undisturbed......it slowly mutated and evolved into something very unique---very powerful...this is the complete history of alt-rock, chapter 8... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing
0:04.3	history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.
0:10.9	Sean has had some good ideas over the years, but using Canva was a really good one.
0:17.8	Sean designed some social posts to promote his friend's car boot sale. They looked good.
0:24.6	Really, really good. Next thing he knows, someone came and bought the loft, including the car.
0:33.8	Now Sean doesn't know how he's going to get home. Thanks, Canva.
0:39.3	Hey, it's Alan Cross.
0:40.4	And this summer, we thought we would do something special with the ongoing history podcast and give you our fantastic audience a bonus episode every Sunday from now through Labor Day.
0:51.3	We're going all the way back to the spring of 2010 and a 15-part deep dive
0:56.8	into the history of Alternative Rock. It's the history of Alt Rock series. So every Sunday,
1:01.7	you'll get a brand new episode of this series that examines every single facet of Alt Rock from the
1:07.5	1950s right up to, well, pretty much today.
1:12.7	And don't worry, because we'll have a brand new episode of the ongoing history podcast for you every Wednesday as well.
1:15.4	So you're getting two podcasts every week now through Labor Day.
1:19.5	I hope you enjoy.
1:20.7	And thanks for supporting the ongoing history of new music.
1:24.0	When punk rock first appeared in the middle 1970s,
1:26.7	the major record labels in North America
1:29.3	did not care.
1:31.3	They were happily making millions and millions of dollars from big rock bands like Led Zeppelin
1:36.3	and Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles.
1:39.3	Because I got a peaceful, easy feeling.
	...

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