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
The Band: How Five Sidemen Invented a New American Sound
In 1969, The Band released their self-titled second album, turning rural American history into an urgent sound. It corrected everything psychedelic rock had become.
· 4 min read
Nirvana: The 1990 Show Dave Grohl Watched Before Joining
Dave Grohl watched Nirvana from a crowd of 15,000 on September 22, 1990, days before his audition. The biggest show the band had played became an accidental preview of its future.
· 4 min read
Strangeways, Here We Come: The Smiths' Last Record
The Smiths' fourth and final album, Strangeways, Here We Come, arrived on Rough Trade Records in September 1987. It came months after Johnny Marr had already left the band.
· 4 min read
Why Ramones bet radio on Road to Ruin and lost
The Ramones' fourth album, Road to Ruin, arrived on September 22, 1978 via Sire Records. It aimed for radio airwaves but landed below expectations on the Billboard 200.
· 4 min read
How Nick Cave turned a Victorian childhood into gothic rock
Nick Cave was born on September 22, 1957, in Warracknabeal, Victoria, and grew from a rural Anglican childhood into the baritone voice behind gothic rock.
· 4 min read
Emilie Autumn Learned Sheet Music Before the Alphabet
Emilie Autumn Liddell, born September 22, 1979, was reading sheet music before the alphabet. This skill shaped her path from classical training to her self-coined Victoriandustrial sound.
· 3 min read
Radiohead's Creep: Why the band tried to kill their hit
Radiohead released 'Creep' on 21 September 1992 as an accidental debut single. Its raw vulnerability became a worldwide hit the band spent decades trying to escape.
· 5 min read
Oasis: How Liam Gallagher's Birthday Shaped Britpop's Legacy
Liam Gallagher, born 21 September 1972 in Manchester, became the voice of a generation. His brother Noel supplied nearly every melody, fueling Oasis's rise and fall.
· 3 min read
Sam Rivers: The Bassist Who Held Limp Bizkit Together
Sam Rivers, born September 21, 1977, co-founded Limp Bizkit and played bass on every studio album. He anchored the band's nu-metal sound from 'Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$' to 'Still Sucks'.
· 4 min read
Why did Nirvana almost bury their final album in 1993?
In September 1993, Nirvana released In Utero, a raw album that DGC Records reportedly feared would fail commercially after Nevermind's massive success.
· 4 min read
Why Did The Fragile Drop Off Billboard So Fast?
Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile topped the Billboard 200, then collapsed to 16th in a week. Trent Reznor's ambitious 1999 triple album paid a price for its scope.
· 4 min read
Liam Gallagher: The Kid Who Swallowed Britpop Whole
Liam Gallagher, born in Burnage in 1972, rose from a violent Manchester childhood to co-found Oasis. He became one of the most recognisable voices in 1990s British rock.
· 4 min read
Rick Woolstenhulme: Why Lifehouse's Drummer Defined Their Sound
Rick Woolstenhulme, born into a family of musicians, became the rhythmic anchor of Lifehouse. The American rock group sold over 15 million albums worldwide.
· 4 min read
David Hemmingway: Why the Housemartins bassist never stopped
David Hemmingway, born on 20 September 1960, built a four-decade career on melodic bass lines. From The Housemartins through The Beautiful South to ongoing solo work.
· 4 min read
Why Did Tori Amos Turn 12 Male Songs into Women?
Tori Amos released Strange Little Girls in September 2001. The album dismantled twelve male-written songs and rebuilt them from a female point of view.
· 3 min read
The Butler, the DJ's Son, and Jarvis Cocker at 63
Jarvis Cocker, born in Sheffield on 19 September 1963, turns 63 in 2026, having spent decades as Pulp's frontman, a solo artist, and a BBC radio host.
· 4 min read
Lana Del Rey's Honeymoon and the Art of Disappearing
Lana Del Rey's fourth album Honeymoon, released in September 2015, marked a deliberate retreat into baroque pop. It captured her embrace of disappearing into a mood.
· 4 min read
Alan Jay of Lit: What 1973 Set in Motion
Alan Jay of Lit was born in 1973, the year Gram Parsons died and the course of popular music shifted in ways that shaped his generation.
· 4 min read
DROP · October 2, 2026Stadium Arcadium at 20: four colour LPs out on 2 October
The 2006 double album that topped the Billboard 200 and gave the band Dani California, Snow (Hey Oh) and Tell Me Baby gets a 20th-anniversary reissue. On 2 Octo…
· 1 min read
The Fairlight in a Barn That Made Kate Bush Immortal
Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, recorded in a converted barn in Welling with a Fairlight CMI, remains her defining work forty-one years after its release.
· 4 min read
How Scissor Sisters Made Ta-Dah a Chart Magnet
Scissor Sisters' second album, Ta-Dah, opened with the chart-topping single I Don't Feel Like Dancin'. It reached the top of the British charts in late September 2006.
· 3 min read
Morten Harket: Why A-ha's Voice Was Never Measured
Morten Harket, the voice behind A-ha, never measured his five-octave range, yet a 20.2-second note he held became a British chart record.
· 4 min read
Nas: The 53-Year Journey from Queensbridge to Illmatic
Born in 1973 to a blues musician and a postal worker, Nas rose from Queensbridge to release Illmatic in 1994. The album now sits in the Library of Congress.
· 5 min read
ADONXS: The Voice That Dropped to Bass-Profondo
Adam Pavlovčin, the Slovak artist who performs as ADONXS, lost his tenor register during puberty and became a bass-profondo. He rebuilt his career, culminating in Eurovision and national awards.
· 3 min read