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
Why did R.E.M. plug in and turn Monster up this loud?
R.E.M.'s 1994 album Monster traded mandolins and strings for loud, warped guitar tones, and the shift was a deliberate break from the band's quieter early-nineties records.
· 5 min read
Why Did Rammstein Cut 6 Songs From Reise, Reise?
Rammstein's 2004 album Reise, Reise cut six of seventeen recorded songs, and those leftovers became the basis for the follow-up Rosenrot.
· 3 min read
Mitski's Graduation Project Became a Global Soundtrack
A college senior in upstate New York sits in a practice room, layering guitar feedback over a melody she wrote for a grade. The assignment was a senior project …
· 4 min read
Lil Wayne: the nine-year-old who signed to Cash Money
In 1993, an eleven-year-old from Hollygrove named Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. signed to Cash Money Records after Birdman spotted him rapping on a New Orleans street corner.
· 4 min read
Why Does Pure Heroine Still Sound Like a Warning?
Lorde's debut album Pure Heroine, released on September 27, 2013, outsold nearly everything on American radio. Its sound felt like it belonged to no major label at all.
· 4 min read
Meat Loaf: Why Bat Out of Hell Took Five Years to Escape
Meat Loaf, born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas in 1947, turned a childhood of chaos into Bat Out of Hell. The album took five years to escape the industry's rejection.
· 4 min read
U2-3: How a 1000-Copy EP Made Irish Vinyl History
In September 1979, U2 released their first record, the three-song EP U2-3, a thousand numbered copies that sold out instantly and made Irish vinyl history.
· 4 min read
James Blake: Why the Mercury Prize Years Still Define Him
A single piano note hangs in a London studio, then splits into four harmonized versions of itself. That was the moment James Blake stopped being a dubstep produ…
· 4 min read
Sonic Youth: Washing Machine at 31
Sonic Youth's ninth album, Washing Machine, released on September 26, 1995, through DGC Records. Thirty-one years later, it still sounds like a deliberate refusal to behave.
· 4 min read
Seven Days for One Song and the Birth of Rammstein
Herzeleid, Rammstein's debut album, turns 31 this year. The record was born from a seven-day recording process and a language barrier that nearly broke the studio sessions.
· 4 min read
Gang of Four Wired Marx Into the Dance Floor
Gang of Four's 1979 debut Entertainment! fused punk's aggression with funk's discipline and dub's space, turning the dancefloor into a site of political critique.
· 4 min read
Rosalía: The Catalan Experiment That Rewrote Flamenco
Rosalía Vila Tobella, born in 1992 near Barcelona, moved from flamenco study to global pop, releasing Los ángeles in 2017 and El mal querer in 2018.
· 4 min read
Why Nirvana's Nevermind Still Sounds Like a Break
Nirvana's Nevermind, released on DGC Records in September 1991, knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the Billboard 200. It went on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide.
· 4 min read
Shawn Crahan: Why Slipknot's Clown Built Metal's Most Physical Mask
Michael Shawn Crahan, born September 24, 1969, co-founded Slipknot in 1995. He has spent three decades turning percussion into a contact sport, from severed cow heads to directing the band's videos.
· 4 min read
Live at the Paramount: Nirvana's Only 16mm Concert Film
Nirvana's Halloween 1991 show at Seattle's Paramount Theatre became a video album in 2011. It is the only concert the band ever captured entirely on 16mm film.
· 5 min read
Why is Badmotorfinger still Soundgarden's sharpest turn?
Soundgarden's 1991 album Badmotorfinger arrived as Seattle's grunge wave was about to swallow rock radio. Yet the band leaned harder into heavy metal than anything the scene was producing.
· 4 min read
Why Did Nickelback's Silver Side Up Land on 9/11?
Nickelback's third album Silver Side Up was released on September 11, 2001. Despite the day's chaos, it became a global hit driven by 'How You Remind Me'.
· 4 min read
Blood Sugar Sex Magik: The Day Funk Metal Learned to Whisper
In September 1991, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released Blood Sugar Sex Magik, recorded in a Hollywood mansion with Rick Rubin. The album's quiet intimacy transformed their sound and career.
· 4 min read
Why did Pixies call their last album Trompe le Monde?
The fourth Pixies album, Trompe le Monde, arrived on September 23, 1991. It was the final statement from the original lineup, its title meaning 'to deceive the world.'
· 4 min read
Ani DiFranco: How a 19-Year-Old Built a Folk Empire Alone
Ani DiFranco, born in 1970, built Righteous Babe Records at nineteen and turned independent folk music into a career that reached Broadway.
· 5 min read
Neil Young: How the 2006 Americana Honor Defined a Rebel
In September 2006, Neil Young received Artist of the Year at the Americana Honors and Awards, just after releasing the protest album Living With War.
· 5 min read
Moby's Punk Detour That Nearly Ended His Career
Moby's 1996 punk rock album Animal Rights, released through Mute Records, was a deliberate departure from his electronic sound and nearly ended his career.
· 4 min read
Why Demi Lovato's Don't Forget Still Sounds Like 18
Demi Lovato's debut album, recorded in ten and a half days while filming Camp Rock, arrived on September 23, 2008. It turned the Disney star into a Billboard 200 contender.
· 4 min read
Björk Homogenic: Why Volcanoes and Strings Collided
Björk's third studio album Homogenic fused electronic rupture with volcanic stillness. Released September 22, 1997, it was born from a year of stalker terror and personal collapse.
· 4 min read