Young generation discovers classic alternative music
By ALBERT CHING
Get Out

“Yesterday I got so old, I felt like I could die,” sang The Cure’s Robert Smith in his band’s 1985 hit “In-Between Days.”

Nearly 20 years later, he and his band are far from dead and they’ve been embraced by fans who weren’t even born when the song was released.

“The ’80s music is just, like, really good,” says Nicole Rodriguez, 14, of Chandler, at The Cure’s recent Cricket Pavilion show.

“I listen to a lot of older stuff: The Cure, and also Depeche Mode,” adds fellow concert-goer, 14-year old Andrew Cowley of Tempe.

Kids in America
Younger music fans — from those barely out of their ’N Sync phase to college kids — are discovering ’80s bands such as The Cure, The Pixies, The Smiths, The Clash and others. In the current musical climate of overproduced teen pop and flashy hip-hop and R&B glitz, the original “alternative music” is, once again, an alternative to the mainstream.
“I’d say it started about a year ago,” says Kristian Luce of the trend he’s seen firsthand as co-owner of Hoodlums record store in the basement of ASU’s Memorial Union. “It reminds me of a time when ‘alternative’ actually meant something that was different.”

Debbie Teiman, owner of Mesa’s Shirts ’n’ Things, a shop that carries music-related merchandise, has also noticed the trend.

“When we started 16 years ago, The Cure were one of our biggest bands,” she says. “It’s kind of funny that they’re back so big again. There’s a huge new generation discovering these bands.”

Local independent radio station The Edge (KEDJ 103.9 FM) recently overhauled its playlist to expand the number of older tracks in rotation.
“We got a lot of responses from people who wanted to hear more of the core (alternative) artists,” says Edge program director Marc Young. “We’ve been big on The Ramones, big on The Clash and a lot of The Cure and The Smiths.”

Alive and kicking
So what caused a wave of younger fans to abandon Britney Spears for Siouxsie Sioux? Young believes classic alternative music has a universal quality not found in other genres.

“I got a call from a 45-year-old man and he said the most amazing thing was driving in the car with his teenage daughter, and he said they could listen to the same station without hating it,” he says. “The music is good no matter what the generation is.”

Another appealing factor is that many of the ’80s bands are still recording. The Cure, Social Distortion, ex-Smiths frontman Morrissey, R.E.M. and Sonic Youth all released new albums this year.

“The new Cure (CD) did awesome and also the new Social Distortion record — the kids have been eating up that stuff,” says Luce.

Eddie Lebario, a member of Smiths-influenced local bands Echo Chamber, The Captives and is known as “DJ Manchester” when he spins at Scottsdale club Anderson’s Fifth Estate’s ’80s-flavored “Panic!” nights, says the staying power of the long-in-the-tooth groups is no accident.
“These bands are, for the most part, still around for the strength of their art,” he says.

The classic alternative bands are also touring. The reunited Pixies visit the Dodge Theatre Friday for their second show here in five weeks, while The Cure, Sonic Youth and Violent Femmes have all played in town this year and Social Distortion and Bad Religion are scheduled for November shows.

“The Pixies are a great example of that type of band that’s getting a second chance,” Lebario says. “It’s exciting and encouraging, because many people didn’t get a chance to see them the first time around.”

Memories can’t wait
The influence of these classic alternative bands is now felt in brand new groups.

“(Young customers) are picking up Interpol, which to me sound just like Joy Division, or The Faint or The Killers,” says Luce. “I’ve noticed the type of music kids are buying has a real ’80s sound to it, even The Shins and Franz Ferdinand.”

Leah Miller Collins, disc jockey at late Valley alternative station KUKQ, played the music during its first wave and notices the similarities in new bands.

“I saw The Killers the other night on Letterman, and I felt like I was watching Duran Duran,” she says. “I thought, ‘Am I 16 or am I in my 30s?’ ”
Another reason young people are discovering older bands is because of the publicity surrounding the deaths of members of those groups. Clash frontman Joe Strummer and three founding members of punk progenitors The Ramones have passed away in the last three years alone.

“That’s a big thing with college kids finding out about these bands,” Luce says.

Still, the main reason young people discover older groups is the simple concept of family. Whether it’s a cool older sibling, a hip aunt or uncle or (God forbid!) their parents, many kids have come to classic alternative music through a relative.
“I really started getting into music like that completely thanks to my dad,” says Megan Monaghan, 20, an ASU junior and DJ at campus radio station The Blaze (1260 AM).

“Mom and dad listening to The Cure is cooler than my parents listening to the Moody Blues,” says Miller Collins, who now works as the professional advisor at The Blaze.

Some budding music buffs have taken to older records like students to their econ textbooks — as part of an education. Local musican and ASU senior Brodie Hubbard, 25, likens it to gaining a strong knowledge of great literature.

“To become a good writer, you have to read the classics,” he says. “The more you listen to, the bigger base of knowledge you have.”
How soon is now?
It’s possible to view this trend in a cynical light — that it’s just cyclical and in a few years a new generation of kids will be seeking out the ’90s music of Soundgarden and wearing Smashing Pumpkins T-shirts at the mall.
“There’s some people who get into music just because it’s not mainstream, whether it’s good or not, like ‘I listen to the Pixies, and not a lot of other people my age do!’ ” says Shirts ’n’ Things manager Sean Nugent, 23, of Mesa.

At least part of the younger-kids-listening-to-older-alternative-music trend can be traced to that type of attitude, the need to look for something different than what's popular with their peers.

“It’s still what people refer to as ‘alternative,’ ” says Miller Collins. “It’s still something of a discovery.”

And one which some folks are inevitably late in making. Take it from The Edge’s Marc Young: “We’ll still get a call every now and then from a kid saying, ‘Nirvana, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ — what’s that new song?’ ”