Is Velvet Revolver an "alternative" band?

[Tj]

Yeah, I can imagine a room with a therapist and a bunch of guys, and someone stands up and says "hi I'm Billy Corgan, and I'm a Guns N' Roses fan." And everyone says "Hi Billy."

Nobody seemed to give that the laugh it deserved, so here you go...

He's also a genius 

[Doc Emmett Brown]

Yeah. If your ever in Boston, I suggest WBCN. It's a good mix of modern and old school.

Do they actually mix it up proper?  what I mean is, KROQ only plays 80's stuff during their Flashback Lunch hour - they wont mix it with their modern rock stuff. 

As for the original question, I guess I dont see them as an alternative band.  I think it's because they have a different attitude towards music:

1) VR wants people to listen to their music (as opposed to the 'exclusive' bullshit).  They're more of a real hard rock band.

2) VR likes the sex-appeal angle and I dont really see other alternative bands doing that.

3) For some reason, the status of a band's audience/fanbase is just as important to the perception of a band as the actual  music.  In the April issue of Spin (with Interpol on the cover), there is an interview with Living Things who opened for VR for part of the club tour.  Spin call VR's fans a bunch of aging drunks while the lead singer explains that VR is more like KISS, and they are more like The Clash, the implication being I gues that one is alternative & cool, and the other isnt.

[Falcon]

KROQ only plays 80's stuff during their Flashback Lunch hour - they wont mix it with their modern rock stuff.?

The KROQ flashback lunch show is fantastic.?

Never GNR or any Sunstrip Strip stuff , but a great listen nonetheless..? All the forefathers of the alterna scene get a spin every now and again, along with early 90's stuff from NIN, Hole, Oasis and a many others.

A great listen.

[Mattman]

Velvet Revolver is a hard rock band, plain and simple.  People should clue into the fact that a lot of the bands that are labelled "alternative rock" are the most mainstream bands around.  Nickelback? Lifehouse? Yeah, that's real alternative.  No, the real alternative rock is indie stuff that isn't really popular in the mainstream.  That's why it's called "alternative".  You could also call them Chris Misfit bands. 

As for Guns N' Roses never being played on the radio...what are you guys talking about?  My local rock station plays them ALL THE TIME.  And even though I wasn't around for GN'R's original success, I'm pretty sure they were played around the radio.  We're not talking about Motorhead here, folks.  GN'R were a phenomenally successful mainstream rock band, and there's nothing wrong with that.  If you think there is, maybe you're more of an alternative kid than you thought.

[Midnight]

Velvet Revolver appeal to just about everyone, you've got like punk rock fans, 80's hair metal fans and hard rock fans all diggin' them.   Just when I thought music was lost and I'd be better off deaf to current artists along came Velvet Revolver with some proper fuckin' rock music, and it ain't just Guns N' Roses with a new frontman, and neither is it Scott Weiland trading band members to continue a Stone Temple Pilots deal.   They're a hard rock band puttin' their own spin on it, and have a pretty damn big fan base.

[Boner]

I will call them more like Grunge/ Alternative band!

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Alternative actually had some meaning in the early `90`s. Bands that came out and made music exciting again, blowing away a lot of the bad hair metal of the time. (Winger, Warrant, Poison)

 It wasn`t all about money (at first).

Then the later alternative bands became what they stood against, so now you have Nickelback type bands that are almost top 40, but still kinda are labeled as alternative.

VR is a rock band, pure and simple.

[Midnight]

Yeah that is so damn wacked, Nickleback labelled as an alternative band.   There as popular and mainsteam as it comes.   I kinda think of the word alternative now just for bands I can fit in anywhere else, y'know like Radiohead or Franz Ferdinand.   They're not rock, they're not pop, ain't grunge...basically they are some shit that is hard to stick in a genre, so I fuck them into alternative.   ...whatever, works for me.

[Skeba]

I really don't see why there has to be so tight definitions on what genre some music falls into. I understand that you can't call Metallica pop, or Sinatra rock, but why can't VR just be called rock, or hard rock.. Now with internet and global tv-programs, there's so much music in the mainstream, depending on what country you're in, or what week it is, that it's impossible to call anything alternative.

Just like things that are concidered progressive... What would be progressive in todays music? That people would sing their instruments and record the vocals backwards? I guess that would be. But other than that there really isn't a whole lot you can put under that category. I never really understood the need to categorize things too much.. Just say something that'll give people a general idea what it's like. Then let the people decide for themselves what category it falls into.. After all, there are only 3 categories in music: good, bad, and don't really give a shit.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

I really don't see why there has to be so tight definitions on what genre some music falls into. I understand that you can't call Metallica pop, or Sinatra rock, but why can't VR just be called rock, or hard rock.. Now with internet and global tv-programs, there's so much music in the mainstream, depending on what country you're in, or what week it is, that it's impossible to call anything alternative.

Just like things that are concidered progressive... What would be progressive in todays music? That people would sing their instruments and record the vocals backwards? I guess that would be. But other than that there really isn't a whole lot you can put under that category. I never really understood the need to categorize things too much.. Just say something that'll give people a general idea what it's like. Then let the people decide for themselves what category it falls into.. After all, there are only 3 categories in music: good, bad, and don't really give a shit.

Categories is all about marketing. I`d like to see your 3 categories listed at the local CD store. Imagine the clerk saying " Oh, you`ll find the new O-Town single over in the don`t really give a shit section on the back wall"   

[Skeba]

I'd go to that store.. But I really don't know what I'd expect to find at an alternative section anymore.. And I'm pretty sure that it depends a lot on which store you're in... The point was, that the descriptions are more than too detailed in many cases.