Top 5 Alt-Rock Pioneers
1. R.E.M.
Before the alternative scene had much of an identity, R.E.M. were the archetypal definition of what an alternative rock act was supposed to be. Vocalist Michael Stipe had an eclectic weirdness in his delivery that sat beautifully on top of the music. By his side, guitarist Peter Buck helped reinvent what it was like to be a guitar hero with his use of arpeggios and infectious guitar tones. At the back, the rhythm section of Bill Berry and Mike Mills helped the band truly jump.
When the band broke out with their debut album Murmur in 1983, they remained an oddity in the music scene up until the 90's when they came out with one great album after another. Stipe's lyrics went from near-indecipherable gibberish to thoughtful discussions about heavy topics such as religion and the passage of time.
In the time when they came up, R.E.M. set the stage for alternative rock's sound while also showing each act to come what it meant to live the alt-rock lifestyle. It always seemed like R.E.M. never fit in with what was going in music, but remained prominent anyway because their music was that good, which is about as close to a definition of alternative as you can get.