Alternative rock

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Smiths Bassist Andy Rourke Dead at 59
Smiths Bassist Dies at 59
OBITUARY

Smiths Bassist Dies at 59

Morrissey, Johnny Marr lead tribute to Andy Rourke

(Newser) - Heaven knows a lot of fans of the Smiths are miserable now. Andy Rourke, the group's bass player, died from pancreatic cancer early Friday in New York, the New York Times reports. He was 59. Guitarist Johnny Marr said he died after a lengthy illness. "Andy will be...

REM: Behind the Breakup
 REM: Behind 
 the Breakup 

REM: Behind the Breakup

'We're doing this for good reasons'

(Newser) - After 31 years, what makes a band decide to go separate ways ? For REM, it’s pretty simple. “We're happy. But we're done,” bassist Mike Mills tells Rolling Stone . Or, as singer Michael Stipe put it: “A wise man once said, ‘The skill...

REM Splitting Up Amicably After 31 Years
 REM Breaking Up 

REM Breaking Up

In what they insist is an amicable split

(Newser) - REM is calling it quits after 31 years of performing together, the band announced today, in what members insisted was an entirely amicable breakup. “We feel kind of like pioneers in this,” bassist Mike Mills wrote on REM’s website . “There’s no disharmony here, no falling-outs,...

Jared Leto: Pinnacle of Hipster Manhood

Actor-turned-rock-visionary is 'ultimate Alt Alpha Male'

(Newser) - Is Jared Leto the very pinnacle of hipster manhood, the breed’s most desirable? Certainly seems so to blogger Carles, who writes that “alt bros should be jealous of Leto because of his authentic career as an actor in alt movies, and his successful band”—30 Seconds to...

'90s Faves Pavement Can't Make Cut Now
 '90s Faves Pavement 
 Can't Make Cut Now 
HIPSTER GENERATIONS COLLIDE

'90s Faves Pavement Can't Make Cut Now

Oldsters make too much of alt kings, new schooler says

(Newser) - One of “the alt-est of 1990s alt rock” bands is on the comeback trail, but Pavement looks to be falling on deaf ears with today’s hipsters. Sure, Pavement’s got “Guitars. Drums. Guy with a dopey voice. Earnest Lyrics. Yelling,” Carles blogs at Hipster Runoff —...

Grammys Don't Get Alternative
 Grammys Don't Get Alternative 
OPINION

Grammys Don't Get Alternative

A new category should recognize real indie music

(Newser) - Real alternative music acts have been shut-out at the Grammys in favor of their major-label siblings, observes James Reed in the Boston Globe. The Alternative Music category, which has been around since 1991, has never exactly been groundbreaking in its choices—an already well-known Sinead O'Connor took home the prize...

Woo-Hoo! Blur to Reunite This Summer

(Newser) - Blur, the '90s Britpop band famous for “woo-hooing” through its hit single “Song 2,” will reunite this summer for a live show in London, NME reports. The original four members of the band have not performed together publicly since 2000, and the long-awaited reunion announcement has fueled...

Pumpkins Want 20th Anniversary to Be a Smash
Pumpkins Want 20th Anniversary to Be a Smash
GLOSSIES

Pumpkins Want 20th Anniversary to Be a Smash

Corgan hopes to be seen as more than a 'reunion band'

(Newser) - The re-formed Smashing Pumpkins start their 20th-anniversary tour next month, shrugging off the blasé reception that met their 2006 tour. Frontman Billy Corgan—who admits the group's breakup in 2000 was "a total mistake"—tells Rolling Stone that fans who attend multiple shows in some cities will be...

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