the weathering magazine greatest hits vol.1

Can an artist with that level of commercial pop success still be considered alternative? It seems much more feasible if it’s an artist that breaks through with one surprise hit - like Love and Rockets with “So Alive”, for example, or Suzanne Vega’s “Luka”. Most would agree that Blondie‘s earlier material, all of which was released in the ’70s, would fit into the alternative realm, but what about their string of chart-topping pop hits? They had four #1 singles in a three-year span: “Heart of Glass”, “Call Me”, “Rapture”, and “The Tide Is High”. There are songs that hit the top of the singles chart in the UK or elsewhere in the world - the Boomtown Rats’ 1979 classic “I Don’t Like Mondays”, for example, the Jam’s “A Town Called Malice”, or David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” - which had zero chance of ever becoming a mainstream hit in America. Of course, it also depends on the artist, the album, the country, or even the listener. All of these fit within the umbrella of what would be considered alternative. Before that, we had punk, post-punk, new wave, college rock, underground, modern rock, and other more specific labels like goth, industrial, new romantic, ska, power pop, hardcore, indie rock, etc. The term “alternative” didn’t really become prominent until the very end of the ’80s, and into the early ’90s. It’s hard to put your finger on it exactly, but you know it when you hear it. “Alternative” requires a certain edge, a particularly adventurous vibe, a very specific sensibility. After all, there are plenty of artists who reside outside the limited universe of Top 40 radio who wouldn’t be considered alternative: folk, metal, country, reggae, bluegrass, orchestral, jazz, blues, some hip-hop and others. “Outside the mainstream” isn’t really enough of a definition. My first question: What is alternative? As it pertains to ’80s music, or any other decade for that matter, the answer is never really quite clear. But like all musical decades, there is another layer of music that by and large didn’t fit neatly into Top 40 playlists (at least in the US). Many younger music fans in particular consider ’80s music irredeemably cheesy, and in many cases they are correct. There’s no question that it was a golden age for pop music, although some of the quintessential hits of the ’80s have aged better than others.

Generally when people think of ’80s music, the first artists that pop into their heads might be Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Prince, Duran Duran, a-ha and other staples of MTV and the Top 40.

The weathering magazine greatest hits vol.1