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The 'adult alternative' pop music and radio format of the 1990's
| ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| animeboi | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| kike coffin | 03/09/26 |
| animeboi | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| kike coffin | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| Big Clique Energy | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| cowgod | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
| ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. | 03/09/26 |
| things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: | 03/09/26 |
Poast new message in this thread
Date: March 9th, 2026 9:04 PM Author: ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. i feel like this stuff is still under-theorized as a sociocultural and marketing phenomenon. superficially, it was the music industry's pivot from the 'adult contemporary' format which was struggling after the 80's. but it grew well beyond that into a sprawling industry with some of the best-selling albums in US history, like hootie's first record. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730628) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 10:51 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730942) |
Date: March 9th, 2026 9:04 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730629) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:09 PM Author: ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. i feel like it represented the post-cold war totalization of pop culture into a specific set of products. 'adult alternative' wasn't really a single coherent sound or category; it was a kind of catch-basin for different marketing goals. 'grunge' was too harsh for a lot of consumers, so they got grunge-'adjacent' acts like counting crows and collective soul instead.
'jam bands' were too diffuse and difficult to edit for radio, so the AA format developed DMB and blues traveler and so on.
the riot girl stuff was too unpolished, but AA could take some of those notions and fold them into sheryl crow and melissa etheridge and so forth.
'roots rock' was too niche. bring in hootie. and on and on. |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:18 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730669) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:30 PM Author: ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. there were also bands in other genres which saw the rise of AA and said "give me some of that." goo goo dolls, for example. they started back in the 80's as a metal-adjacent rock band. they decided at some point around 1992 that they did not want to compete with the grunge acts, and they polished their sound into smoother rock-based power-pop, eg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRbWasL1kac
this did okay for them, but they knew they could go further. and that's what they did by 1995, with their first AA mega-hit ('Name'). |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:40 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730732) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:09 PM Author: animeboi (.) Toad the Wet Sprocket sucked. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730640) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:18 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: Wait - (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730670) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:11 PM Author: kike coffin what if God was one of us? just a slob like one of us? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730650) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:13 PM Author: animeboi (.) philosophy is just the talk on the cereal box. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730658) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:18 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730671) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:24 PM Author: kike coffin good call. that song came out in 1989 and sort of presages the format OP talks about by 5 or 6 years.
i love 'What I Am', though. it's of a higher quality than 'Dishwalla' and the AC stuff that came in the 90s.
one of the few guitar-based top-40 songs of the era that was not a 'hard rock'/Alt rock crossover, just straight pop rock. it gives you a sense of what 80s/90s top 40 would have sounded like if it had never been 'Urbanized.' if the cultural currents that produced 70s 'soft rock' had persisted. |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:39 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730730) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:18 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730674) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:18 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730675) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:21 PM Author: Big Clique Energy This shit was king in that weird interregnum between grunge and nu metal. It was like “we can’t go from Pearl Jam to Limp Bizkit right away, so here’s some Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730688) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:39 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: 180 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730731) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:40 PM Author: cowgod Lmao (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730735) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:51 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730766) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:43 PM Author: ,.,..,.,..,.,.,.,..,.,.,,..,..,.,,..,.,,. it was still big in the 00's for a while. matchbox twenty, for example. in fact, i'd say that coldplay was the last huge AA act. those guys eventually got edged out by pop-rap and other genres. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730748) |
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Date: March 9th, 2026 9:51 PM Author: things from the 90s/00s so ethereal and dreamlike: (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5843757&forum_id=2Vannesa#49730767) |