Like most styles of rock music, alternative rock quickly split into different directions: neopsychedelia (a modern version of 1960s psychedelic rock), dream-pop (melodic atmospheric music), shoegaze (an offshoot of dream-pop based on the sound of distorted guitars), gothic rock (music based on the post-punk tradition with introspective lyrics that often talk about death and use gothic and religious symbolism), grunge (a combination of grunge, heavy rock, heavy metal, and punk rock), post-grunge (a more commercial version of grunge), industrial music (industrial, a hybrid of avant-garde rock and electronic music), noise rock (an experimental style combining minimalism, industrial music and punk rock), emo (emotionally heightened music, often with depressingly fatalistic, suicidal lyrics), post-rock (music based on sound textures and timbral refinement with influences from rock, electronica, jazz, minimalism, etc.), and others. etc.) and others. In the UK, the leading style of alternative rock in the 1990s was Brit-pop, whose representatives distanced themselves from the worldwide popularity of grunge rock by emphasizing the historical traditions of British rock and pop music.
As the recognition of individual musicians among mass audiences grew, so did the interest of major record companies in this music. The complexity of the relationship between alternative styles and the music industry was exacerbated by the fact that in 1991 a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album was introduced, but the author of the winning work I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, refused the award in protest against the industry’s “materialistic false values”.
The radical change was marked by the unexpected success of the grunge band Nirvana – in January 1992, their album “Nevermind” reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart, symbolically replacing the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson and his album “Dangerous,” which began a rapidly growing wave of popularity of alternative rock. Since then, many musicians have collaborated with major companies, and their recordings and videos have been broadcast on commercial radio and MTV music television. The traveling festival Lollapalooza, which first took place in 1991, greatly contributed to the prestige and spread of new styles, becoming an important event with wide resonance.
However, even at a time when many artists originally belonging to the alternative circuit were joining the mainstream of rock music, a number of musicians (Pavement, Fugazi, Mudhoney, Sleater-Kinney, Swans, etc.) still remained faithful to the originally non-commercial style – their creations were also increasingly referred to as indie rock in the United States. Over time, the term “indie rock” became an international synonym for “alternative rock”.
Famous alternative rock musicians of the time include Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Hole, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, Alanis Morissette, Skunk Anansie, Beck, PJ Harvey, Weezer, Bush, Garbage, Tori Amos, Nick Cave, Blur, Oasis, Suede and others.