Whereas the Police were of my parents’ generation, most alternative pop/rock artists were and are of my generation and, despite the wide disparity of sounds among us, we all share a common place in history (and we all grew up listening to the Police who, let’s face it, are now considered
classic rock by most). Generation X had a lot to live up to musically with not only the Police but also the shadow of the ‘60s looming over us. Everything had already been done and so what was the point of even trying to do something new? And that right there was our shared artistic theme which only the so-called
alternative artists seemed to grasp: we were free and bold enough to not worry about musical innovation and taste and just explore wherever our imaginations led us, even if that meant going backwards- or inwards.
AIDS spelled the end of free love, and pop music in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s was so bad many of us escaped the boredom by digging into the underground to find any music that was listenable or at least reflected how we were feeling- and we made some great discoveries. I will never forget a night in the ‘90s in a college dive bar in upstate New York where on the jukebox I had selected a Police tune I had somehow never heard before (“So Lonely”) and standing in that noisy, crowded bar the song hit me like a revelation.
Alternative music definitely attracted its share of lonely young people and the saddest part of it all was how the media tried to define
grunge as the music of my generation before the so-called leader of the movement went and blew his brains out. So much for the voice of a generation.
In the late ‘90s,
alternative music seemed to be going nowhere fast when I decided to join the Peace Corps and left America for Bulgaria. Only while living in Europe for two years did I begin to discover and appreciate other types of music including
Sting,
U2, and
Britpop, after which the American
alternative music scene I had left behind seemed so small and limited. But, over the years, I have also discovered that many of those seemingly less popular American underground and
pop punk bands did in fact have huge worldwide followings and tremendous impact on my generation; there was just no way to track back then their immense popularity as none of them were on the radio or MTV and so we all just assumed we were the only ones listening to them. We were wrong.
I’m not saying the Police are better than other alternative pop/rock artists, or that the Police are my favorite
alternative band (I’ve listened to all the Police albums and prefer just a handful of their greatest hits). What I am saying is no
alternative artist or band has achieved or will likely ever achieve as much commercial and international success as the Police. The world in which we live- with disintegration of popular music, irrelevance of MTV and record companies, and availability of other online forms of entertainment- makes such an occurrence virtually impossible- and that’s a shame. Timing is everything and perhaps a lot of these alternative pop/rock artists could have been bigger had they come along at the exact right time and place as the Police did. Here are some more of my favorites. Enjoy!
01. Counting Crows – “A Long December” (1996)
02. The Divine Comedy – “Generation Sex” (1998)
03. The Cure – “One More Time” (1987)
04. Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” (1999)
05. Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Knock Me Down” (1989)
06. Bush – “Glycerine” (1994)
07. Fountains of Wayne – “Mexican Wine” (2003)
08. Belle and Sebastian – “Another Sunny Day” (2006)
09. Parasites – “Crazy” (1992)
10. Snow Patrol – “Chasing Cars” (2006)
11. Keane – “Somewhere Only We Know” (2004)
12. Rancid – “Bob” (2002)
13. Beastie Boys – “Body Movin’ (Fatboy Slim Remix)” (1998)
14. The Replacements – “Androgynous” (1984)
15. Stephen Malkmus – “Shiggy” (2018)
16. The Mr. T Experience – “You Today” (1995)
17. NOFX – “Please Play This Song on the Radio” (1992)
18. Liz Phair – “Favorite” (2003)
19. Hole – “Celebrity Skin” (1998)
20. Sonic Youth – “Youth Against Fascism” (1992)
21. American Music Club – “Johnny Mathis’ Feet” (1993)
22. The Police – “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (1980)
23. Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon – “Where Are We Gonna Work (When the Trees Are Gone?)” (1994)
24. The Police – “So Lonely” (1978)
Listen to the playlist on Spotify...
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