Alternative
This section covers album stories, birthdays, and anniversaries from artists across alternative and indie rock, plus notes on vinyl reissues as they come out. Alternative music grew up alongside independent labels, and many of its defining albums were pressed in comparatively modest runs the first time around, which is part of why later represses and anniversary editions get treated as real events rather than routine catalog work. Expect stories about how records were actually made — home studios, small budgets, unlikely breaks — and context on the pressings collectors look for when a favorite title finally returns to vinyl.
254 STORIES
How Charly García's Clics modernos rewired Argentine rock
Charly García released Clics modernos on November 5, 1983, five days after Argentina's first post-dictatorship presidential election. The New York-recorded album sounded nothing like his earlier rock.
· 4 min read
Why Did The Stranglers Rebuild Aural Sculpture?
Epic Records rejected The Stranglers' Brussels tapes and forced a new producer on the band. Aural Sculpture was rebuilt around Laurie Latham's brass trio and released on November 5, 1984.
· 4 min read
How Radiohead Reunited Kid A and Amnesiac
Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac came from the same sessions but lived as separate albums. On November 5, 2021, Kid A Mnesia reunited them with a third disc of unheard material.
· 3 min read
Why Did Siouxsie and the Banshees Bet on a Dreamhouse?
Siouxsie and the Banshees released A Kiss in the Dreamhouse on November 5, 1982, via Polydor, with no synthesizers and a string section instead.
· 4 min read
Why Did Ryan Adams Make Rock n Roll?
Ryan Adams recorded Rock n Roll in two weeks at Stratosphere Sound after Lost Highway refused to release Love Is Hell. The album arrived on November 4, 2003.
· 3 min read
How Aphex Twin Made Richard D. James Album
Aphex Twin's Richard D. James Album arrived on November 4, 1996, built from a car-boot violin, a single Macintosh and breakbeats pushed to new speeds.
· 4 min read
They Might Be Giants at 40
They Might Be Giants released their untitled debut, known to fans as The Pink Album, on Bar/None Records on November 4, 1986. It grew into a 100,000-copy independent success.
· 3 min read
My Bloody Valentine's Loveless at 35
My Bloody Valentine's Loveless took two and a half years and nineteen studios to finish. It arrived on November 4, 1991, and was greeted as a landmark of shoegaze.
· 4 min read
How Ramones Made Rocket to Russia Outrun Punk's Chaos
The Ramones released Rocket to Russia on November 4, 1977. Johnny Ramone demanded the band outplay the Sex Pistols, and Tommy Ramone played on his last album with the group.
· 3 min read
How The Clash Lost Control of Cut the Crap
The Clash released Cut the Crap on November 4, 1985, with Paul Simonon absent from the recordings. Manager Bernie Rhodes was credited as producer under a pseudonym.
· 3 min read
How Alanis Morissette Followed Jagged Little Pill
Marilyn Manson's former label Nothing Records released the album in 1998. The record followed a tour that left the singer with post-traumatic stress disorder.
· 4 min read
Why Did Razorlight's Slipway Fires Divide Everyone?
Razorlight's third album Slipway Fires reached number 4 in the UK but scored just 52 on Metacritic, leaving critics and fans with very different verdicts.
· 4 min read
How Anathema's A Natural Disaster Changed Everything
Anathema released A Natural Disaster in the UK on November 3, 2003, moving from doom metal to alternative and progressive rock on Music for Nations.
· 3 min read
How Did Therapy? Sneak Nurse Into the UK Charts?
Therapy? released Nurse on A&M Records in November 1992, a major-label debut built from farmhouse demos, a cello and LSD-warning samples that still reached number 38 in the UK.
· 4 min read
Why Did Die Ärzte Package an Album as a Pizza Box?
Die Ärzte released their eleventh studio album 'Jazz ist anders' on November 2, 2007. It came packaged as a real pizza carton, with the disc printed as a pizza and a green-pepper code.
· 4 min read
Why Did Foo Fighters Record Their Grammy Winner in a Basement?
Dave Grohl recorded There Is Nothing Left to Lose in his own Alexandria basement with Taylor Hawkins and Nate Mendel. The album won Foo Fighters their first Grammy.
· 4 min read
How They Might Be Giants Started With a Puzzling Single
They Might Be Giants released “Don’t Let’s Start” as their first single on November 2, 1987, a song already familiar from their 1986 debut album.
· 3 min read
Why Did Texas Cross the Atlantic for Ricks Road?
Texas recorded Ricks Road in New York across 1992 and 1993, and the Mercury release of November 1, 1993 traded polished pop for a rawer, guitar-led sound.
· 4 min read
How Manic Street Preachers Broke Their Own Sound on Lifeblood
Manic Street Preachers released Lifeblood on November 1, 2004, a quieter, more synthetic album. Nicky Wire called the record 'elegiac pop' and later an 'album of detachment.'
· 3 min read
Why Did Nirvana's MTV Unplugged Refuse to Be Unplugged?
Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York was taped on November 18, 1993, with Kurt Cobain running his acoustic guitar through an amplifier and pedal board.
· 4 min read
What Made This Charming Man by The Smiths a Classic?
The Smiths released 'This Charming Man' on Rough Trade on October 31, 1983, weeks after Johnny Marr wrote it in a BBC session for John Peel's radio show.
· 4 min read
How Did Lifehouse's No Name Face Break Through?
Jason Wade had already spent years leading Lifehouse as a church rock group, playing worship services with friends before any record deal. On October 31, 2000, …
· 4 min read
How Soundgarden's Debut Became Their Great Frustration
Soundgarden's first full-length album, Ultramega OK, arrived on SST Records in 1988. The band felt the producer never understood its sound.
· 3 min read
Why Did Dinosaur Jr.'s Bug Almost Tear the Band Apart?
Dinosaur Jr. released Bug on SST Records on October 31, 1988, the last album with bassist Lou Barlow until 2007 and the record J Mascis calls his least favourite.
· 4 min read