Originally Posted by The Batlord

When you consider that alternative contains everything from the Replacements, to My Bloody Valentine, to Jesus and the Mary Chain, to Radiohead, I think it's still innovative, but I definitely think that its connection to punk stunted its artistic growth.

Without punk I think alternative would never have gained as much mainstream traction as it ever did, but it probably would have been more experimental.

I guess you might say that punk was the worst thing to ever happen to purely experimental rock.