what is the difference between alternative rock and hard rock?

Answer 1

absolutely nothing. alice in chains has been described as both, as countless others have. sub-genre's are stupid. best way to describe alice in chains (or someone similar) is rock.

Answer 2

Punk = The New York Dolls, The Clash, The Ramones are the originals and the best Hard Rock = The talentless crap that you hear everywhere Alternative = An interesting mix of all sorts of persuasions from indie to punk. Bit softer but you can still rock out to it.

Answer 3

Hard rock refers to any rock that is heavier and more "ballsy" than regular pop rock.

Alternative rock became a common phrase when the early 90's grunge scene became popular. It refers to any rock that doesn't follow a normal genre. Hybrid of grunge, classic rock, hard rock, acid rock, folk, accoustic, grind. Perfect examples of alternative rock are Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains.

A broad and basic meaning of Alternative rock could also be any hard rock that is very, artistic, eccentric, strange, or out of the normal parameters of regular rock.

Answer 4

Alternative Rock can be Hard Rock and Hard Rock can be Alternative Rock also. It can cross over almost not noticed.

Answer 5

Rock is rock. Why is everyone obsessed with labeling everything ? Emo, punk, alternative, arena, acid, hard, metal, classic, new wave, indie, etc, etc. To quote Mr. Jagger, "It's only rock and roll". Keep it simple, life is complicated enough.

Answer 6

Alternative Rock:

Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. The term "alternative" was coined in the 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired bands on independent record labels that did not fit into the mainstream genres of the time. As a musical genre, alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.

Though the genre is considered to be rock, some of its subgenres are influenced by folk music, reggae, electronic music and jazz among other genres. At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk), and, ironically, for rock music in general in the 1990s and 2000s.

While a few artists like R.E.M. and The Cure achieved commercial success and mainstream critical recognition, many alternative rock artists during the 1980s were cult acts that recorded on independent labels and received their exposure through college radio airplay and word-of-mouth. With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the early 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became commercially successful.

Hard Rock:

Hard rock is a variation of rock and roll music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock. It is typified by a heavy use of distorted electric guitars, bass guitar and drums. The term "hard rock" is often used as an umbrella term for genres such as grunge or metal and in order to distinguish them from pop rock genre.

Hard rock is strongly influenced by blues music[citation needed]; the most frequently used scale in hard rock is the pentatonic, which is a typical blues scale. Unlike traditional rock and roll (which takes elements of the "old" blues), hard rock incorporates elements of "British blues", a style of blues played with more modern instruments such as electric guitars, drums, keyboards and electric bass. A notable departure from traditional blues forms is that hard rock is seldom restricted to the I, IV, and V chords prevalent in 12- or 16-bar blues, but includes other chords, typically major chords rooted on tones of the minor scale.

The term "hard rock" is often applied to many styles of rock music, their only common feature being that they deviate from pop rock, though this is generally incorrect. Two such examples are punk rock and grunge. Punk rock uses a faster tempo and fewer riffs (often using power chords).

Answer 7

None......... maybe lyrically hard rock is not always as serious.........

A lot of large hard rock bands have alternative bands open for them so that they can get new fans to come

Answer 8

alternative rock is kinda pop punk andkinda soft and hard rock sounds metal and scremo

Answer 9

alternative is more instrumentally creative where hard rock tends to bash their drums and guitars. alternative usually combines a lot of genres into their music like folk, jazz, and electronic.

Answer 10

alternitive is all clean with a quick beat and modern like sound

Hard rock is like... well hard thrashing screaming rock and roll

in my mind alternative rock is wussy rock lol

Answer 11

Frank Zappa vs Led Zeppelin.