Genre Research

The genre of our chosen music video is Alternative Rock. This genre is very similar to Rock music and was very well known in the 1980s, but it became exceptionally popular in the 1990s. There are many different sub genres to Alternative Rock but they all keep a similar identifiable theme even though they differ slightly from the genre. There are still many different Alternative Rock bands providing music across the world including the band of our chosen video, R.E.M. R.E.M was formed around the time that Alternative Rock became popular and they split in 2011 meaning they had been providing the world with their Alternative Rock music for over thirty years. Other successful bands like Green Day, Oasis, The White Stripes, Nirvana and Muse are all identifiable for performing music in an Alternative Rock style.

Alternative Rock was heavily influenced by punk rock, folk music, Reggae music and Jazz music. When Alternative Rock was recognised as a completely different genre of music to normal Rock in the 1980s, it was difficult for the genre to be successful. For the artists that wrote music in this genre style found it extremely difficult as there were only a few of radio channels that would air songs in the Alternative Rock genre. Artists that are still popular today also found it hard to find success when the genre was first recognised. R.E.M was a very successful Alternative Rock band due to the fact that they had a very loyal fan base and they began very small by touring a number of colleges, having underground gigs and performing in small clubs. By performing their music in different areas they gained a much wider fan base than other artists and this is why they carried on their success until 2011.