4 Alternative Rock Songs From the 1980s That Sound More Like the 1990s

We often think of decades in music history as isolated chapters. However, music, as with everything, evolves. Underground artists were reacting against the slick production and excess of popular music in the 1980s. R.E.M., Dinosaur Jr., Meat Puppets, and others were slowly building an audience on college radio and in small clubs with records that paved the way for Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Weezer, to name a few.

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So it’s no surprise to hear that these alternative rock songs from the 1980s sound very much like the 1990s.  

“Teen Age Riot” by Sonic Youth (1988)

Not everything in the 1980s was glossy. Sonic Youth emerged from New York’s underground noise rock and no wave scene and helped bring experimental music to the mainstream. You can hear the band’s influence on Nirvana, Radiohead, and PJ Harvey. Daydream Nation was Sonic Youth’s first release on Enigma Records. And “Teen Age Riot” helped turn a developing alternative rock mutiny into a cultural revolution.

“Monkey Gone To Heaven” by Pixies (1989)

Pixies helped popularize the quiet/loud song format that later defined 1990s alternative rock. Often, Kim Deal’s bass groove would guide softer verses before the more explosive choruses kicked in. Doolittle was a breakthrough album for the band, who, like The Velvet Underground before them, became deeply influential without achieving the comparative commercial success of their musical descendants.

“Unsatisfied” by The Replacements (1984)

A punk rock voice singing melodic acoustic tunes was a formula for success in the 1990s. Paul Westerberg, influenced by Alex Chilton and Big Star, helped create a blueprint for blockbuster releases by The Goo Goo Dolls (“Name”) and by fellow Minneapolis (and Twin/Tone Records) band Soul Asylum (“Runaway Train”). Though both the Goos and Soul Asylum started in the 1980s, their defining songs wouldn’t arrive until the following decade. And it’s hard to imagine either happening without The Replacements.

“Mountain Song” by Jane’s Addiction (1988)

The debut album by Jane’s Addiction only peaked at No. 103 on the Billboard 200. But it helped lift the underground into the open air of wider culture. “Jane Says” became alternative rock’s “Stairway To Heaven” and remains as ubiquitous on the radio as Led Zeppelin’s folk rock epic. With “Mountain Song”, the DNA of classic rock was there. But something was different about this band. Perry Farrell’s cavernous howl led a seedy party you might say wasn’t fit for teens. But Lollapalooza was just around the corner, and soon, many Gen Xers were like pigs in zen.

Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns