T.V Chnnels and Radio Stations...

MTV Rocks- Was launched in October 1998, the channel was initially named MTV2 Europe and played mainly Alternative Indie themed music videos.

WFNX- Was a radio station in Boston Massachusetts which played Alternative Rock music. It started operating as a commercial broadcast radio station from July 24th, 1983, and then during 2012 it turned into an internet-only stream. WFNX was owned by Phoenix Media/Communications Group.



 The Amp- Was a channel launched in 2003, and aired mainly Alternative and Non- mainstream music. It was owned by British Sky Broadcasting and was part of a trio which included SCUZZ and Flaunt as its sister channels. 

Bands from the 1980s...

• The Church (band)
• Depeche Mode
• Malfunkshun
• Meat Puppets
• Minutemen
• Mission of Burma
• New Model Army (band)
• New Order
• R.E.M.
• The Church
• The Sisters of Mercy
• Violent Femmes

Alternative Rock's Origins....

Alternative rock music started off with a very small audience, throughout most of the 1980s most alternative rock bands remained as underground bands and only on very few occasions did they succeed in getting a mainstream audience, eg the Rolling Stones were one of these exceptions. Alternative bands increased their underground fan-base by releasing low budget albums regularly. In the US new alternative band slowly started to form and this increased more and more till the underground scene was filled with these alternative artists. Even though American alternative artists in the 1980s never had amazing album sales they still ad a considerable influence on the next generation and had already build a strong foundation for the genre leading the next alternative rock generation to success.

In comparison British Alternative rock was better distinguished in the UK, as British alternative music had small elements of pop included in it; bands tended to incorporate elements of dance and  club culture, which made it appeal to a larger audience resulting in larger fan-bases and more successful album sales. From the 1980s radio stations in the UK played alternative rock regularly, espacially by DJ's such as John Peel (who was one of the first people to broadcast rock, metalcore, alternaive music etc. on the British radio). Many alternative American bands received greater exposure and success in Britain through the British radio and press.

Example of good alternative music video..

30 Seconds To Mars: Kings and Queens

This in my opinion is an amazing example of an alternative/rock music videos as it follows most of the forms and conventions of its genre and also conforms with the Andrew Goodwin theory. The music video contains visuals which link with the lyrics, however they aren't very direct making them non stereotypical eg- when they say 'into the night' there is a shot of the bike riders riding in the night. A lot of the shots are edited to match the rhythm and there are loads of cuts to the band as well as close-ups of the lead singer. The main motif of the band are that majority of their music videos are similar to movies and this particular music video is supposed to be like a short movie which was inspired by this song as opposed to a stereotypical music video.  

Forms and Conventions of the Alternative/Rock Genre

Typical forms and conventions of an alternative/rock music video:
1) Camera angles and shots- usually include lots of close-ups of the bands (mainly their lead singer) as well as close-ups of the instruments playing. They also have a few long shots of the band. There are also cut away shots and focusing on some of the instruments the bands are playing.

2) Editing-  The music videos tend to cut between the shots of the narrator and the band, as these music videos usually have a combination of a performance video and a narrator. The shots are usually in sync with the beat,(fast paced music has fast paced cut way shots etc.)

3) Mise-en-scene- The performance shots of these music videos are usually shot either on-stage, in studios or in a live concert. Usually low key lighting is used throughout most of the videos as their lyrics tend to be more tragic, and so low key lighting helps create a sadder atmosphere. The narrators are usually dressed in dark casual clothing as it conforms with the 'rock/emo' genre.    

Song Choice....

We as a group, have decided to do our main music video on Paramore's Now I'm One of Those Crazy Girls.



 This song falls under the rock/alternative genre. we wanted to make the song a narrative video, because we felt that it would be best suited for a song like this as we could have a female narrator and it would be easier to convey the music video's storyline with a narrator.