No Alternative
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Last Sunday I went to the New World Music Theatre for Q101’s Jamboree ’96, a veritable who’s who concert of the station’s current playlist. Since “alternative rock” was originally a marketing term and is now, among other things, a radio format encompassing everything from fun-wanting popster Sheryl Crow, who played at last year’s Jamboree, to blunt-smoking hip-hoppers Cypress Hill, who headlined the festival this year, to Metallica, set to headline the next Lollapalooza, its definition was sufficiently far enough out of my grasp for me to ask around. Alternative rock’s literal meaning has evaporated; according to Billboard, 9 of the 13 bands that performed at Jamboree ’96 have albums in the top 200; Cypress Hill, Everclear, Seven Mary Three, and Foo Fighters have platinum records; Korn and Garbage both have gold records. What can the mainstream provide an alternative to? Indeed, outside the theater I saw one of those mobile billboards for Rock 103 declaring “There is no alternative.” Who better, I figured, to seek wisdom from than the people who listen to this stuff?
When I found Vicki Magenta, 17, of Elk Grove, she was hurrying toward one of the many merchandise booths, wearing a Q101 shirt commemorating Jamboree ’96 and emblazoned with the Pearl Jam song title “This Is Not for You,” a phrase the station has used as a motto. When asked who the music wasn’t for she responded, “It’s not for everyone.” Pressed further she said, “It’s for people who are alternative.”
