The Underground Mentality

Let's face it Underground Music is being fed to our kids as a hip alternative to popular music culture. The problem with this Underground Music Mentality is that what is being pushed as Underground is actually Alternative. I know Hip Hop Heroes such as Atmosphere's Slug, Sage Francis, and El-P sometimes shy away from the label of Alternative Hip Hop, but that's what it is, and an excellent alternative at that. Underground Musicians are not going on European Tours. Underground Musicians are not selling 100,000 units. Underground musicians are not necessarily different than what you hear on the radio. Underground musicians are musicians that not many people have heard of, that do not have a large skale budget, and are not ever-ever-ever reviewed in Rolling Stone Magazine. Some Underground musicians are sold at local record stores, and treck in vans on week long regional tours. Some Underground musicians have 20,000 friends on myspace.

Alternative Music is what hip kids with angled hair cuts and skull T-shirts should be saying they listen to, not Underground. The Label Alternative has been utterly mangled however over the years. If a rock band were to say they were alternative kids would probably be waiting for Kurt Cobain esque vocal throbbings and text book drum rolls and chord signatures. Maybe it's time to drop the Underground Label. Maybe it's time to drop the Alternative monachre. I've never been a fan of the term experimental. We could label ourselves Indie, but really....what the f(*& does that mean. There are independent artists and labels pumping out commercial music every hour......They aren't Underground or Alternative or by any means experimental.....so what are they....Almost major label artists? Should Indie 911 and Broadjam have a genre specific Almost major label artist section? The only other choice is to mark yourself "other" which will never get your music looked at.................Anyone have a good term for Underground Independent artists that make alternative music to the main stream but do not want to be labeled experimental or other? I'd like to find one........Peace and Knowledge......Bear the Astronot.