[quote][i]Originally posted by Wayne[/i]
<br>As played out as it became, I can't agree that all "grunge" was bad; Nirvana sounded pretty damn good on the radio when they started getting major airplay in '91. It was in the following year or two when super-mainstream sounding songs like "Plush" by Stone Temple Pilots and "Alive" by Pearl Jam entered the mix that alternative radio in general started its long downward spiral. I'm not even saying those are terrible songs; they're not. But they were so far removed from anything to do with new wave or punk , so mainstream, arena-rock sounding, that it truly was the beginning of the end.
Still, no doubt there was good music getting airplay in the 90's. Were Blur, Oasis, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, etc. really that bad? So when was alternative-rock radio in fact ultimately all over? The exact time of the funeral can be traced to one band: once Metallica was suddenlly considered "alternative", that was officially the end for me.
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My sentiments exactly. I can't speak for KROQ but WLIR/WDRE went wrong in about 1994. Looking over their playlists, it's not so much that they played pseudo-Grunge (real Grunge was dead and buried by 94) but they went into that AAA coffee house territory of Dave Matthews and Hootie and The Blowfish which you could hear anywhere (and still can). They missed a golden opportunity to really push 90's BritPop. Sure they played the biggies like Oasis and Blur but that entire scene could have reinvigorated the station. Bands like Sleeper, Rialto, Space etc. had a much firmer link to WLIR's past than those damn Spin Doctors. Had they made BritPop their primary focus they could have seamlessly slipped in the latest releases from Depeche Mode or New Order without the effect being so jarring. The 90's Britpop box from Rhino is a good idea of what they should've focused on IMO.