The Song Planner

Alternative Dance

tagStarted 1988Peak 1989-1995Last big hit still active

Located in 3 routes

Rock → Industrial / Electronic / Dance RockElectronic / Dance → Indie Dance / Alternative DanceAlternative / Indie → Indietronica / Indie Dance / Indie Electronic

Indie guitar bands fused to acid-house and dance rhythms: loose, funky breakbeats, 'baggy' shuffling grooves, wah guitars and dub-wide basslines under woozy, melodic vocals. Born of Manchester's Hacienda and ecstasy culture, it swaps rock's stiffness for hypnotic, danceable repetition while keeping a guitar band at the core. Euphoric, swirling and rhythmic.

History

Exploded out of late-1980s Manchester (the 'Madchester' / baggy scene) as indie bands soaked up acid house at the Hacienda. The Stone Roses' 'Fools Gold' (1989) and Happy Mondays fused guitars with dance grooves; producer Andrew Weatherall's remix of Primal Scream's 'Loaded' (1990) birthed indie-dance, seeding electronic-leaning alternative rock for decades after.

Defining artists

Essential listening

← Explore Rock

Sources

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fools_Gold_(song)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_(Primal_Scream_song)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Only_One_I_Know
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pills_'n'_Thrills_and_Bellyaches