From Maltese festivals to Metallica finally getting a Top 40 debut for Master Of Puppets – 37 years after its release. 2022 has been full of action and revelations for many of those involved in the alternative music scene, and it seems that alternative artists finding their way into the mainstream in a way that hasn’t been witnessed in quite some time, so what exactly is going on?
If you look back to previous moments in alternative music’s history, there was no such thing as an “alternative” music scene, certainly not one as cohesive in nature as the one we are currently witnessing. Clashes between fans of different genres meant that despite finding themselves as outsiders to the mainstream, there was, rather ironically, not much in the way of acceptance for one another. But today, there is a beautiful coalition between those who find themselves under the alternative umbrella, starting all the way from the fans, right the way up to the artists themselves, which is helping to break boundaries and reject both gatekeeping and the premise of genre. Which not only leads to a healthier community, but also to a more promising future for the new artists who are beginning to blossom amongst the resurging scene.
In years gone by, MySpace was a dominant force in alternative spaces. Whereas today, we see that social media platforms such as TikTok have helped to drum up support for newer artists like never before, and with many of the older songs that were considered classics of the alternative scene are now being discovered by a whole new generation of youth through Tiktok, from Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’ to Panic! At The Disco’s ‘I Write Sins, Not Tragedies’, a younger generation that perhaps were told stories of this wave of emo now pour their adoration into these bands, romanticizing a time and culture that they never even experienced. This new wave of fans combined with the nostalgia sought by many throughout the course of the pandemic and its many lockdowns has meant that the scene which once provided the soundtrack for many people’s teen years is once again providing, which culminates in a scene that although separated in age, is in fact united by their unfaltering love for these artists.
Evidence of this resurgence and newfound appreciation for all things alternative is perhaps shown vividly by how Netflix has aided discovery for a new generation. As a result of their track ‘Master of Puppets’ featuring in the Stranger Things Season 4 soundtrack, the single from Metallica’s 3rd album finally found itself on the Top 40 charts for the first time, some 37 years after it was initially released . On social media, this involvement in what has become one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons in recent years has meant that they too have managed to find themselves a whole new generation of fans.
In May, off the back of a particularly loud BRIT Awards performance with one Ed Sheeran, which saw them open up the ceremony, the deathcore-gone-rock band Bring Me the Horizon hosted their very own festival in Malta, bringing along emerging talent including the likes of Spiritbox and Static Dress, two bands who are certain to have success in the years to come and who are already well regarded in the scene. So whilst the rockers from Sheffield find themselves headlining the Saturday and Sunday night at Reading and Leeds respectively this month. The Malta weekender very much felt like a passing of a torch moment from a band who found fame in the Myspace era, to those in an industry and society so focused on Tiktok.
It may be rather easy to brush this resurgence as just a moment of reminiscence for those who once found themselves in alternative spaces, but in reality, it couldn’t be any different. Whilst the appreciation and support for artists who were once the darlings of the alternative scene in times gone by has helped to sow the seeds, the alternative scene you see before you today is a whole new scene that is only just beginning to blossom, artists such as Cassyette, Hot Milk, and the recently Mercury Prize nominated Nova Twins are proof of a much more cohesive and diverse scene, one that invites collaboration and acceptance of one another, and is therefore a scene which is built to last.