ProggyMan

I don' think you're reading mine. I'm saying that mainstream doesn't have a sound, which means neither does alternative, meaning that Alt. Rock doesn't have a meaning.

Wayfarer

Read and try again.

ProggyMan

I wasn't responding to you, was I? I never said they were opposites.

sleepy jack

Uh you were just comparing them in the same manner you'd compare opposites, in fact this is the same argument you used when discussing independent labels and major labels, two opposites.

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ProggyMan

Part of my arguement is that alternative and mainstream aren't opposites. And where am I discussing them as opposites?

Wayfarer

If "mainstream" and "alternative" are not the same thing, and furthermore are not antithetical, how could you come to this conclusion? You're making it out to sound like they have some marked effect on each other. They don't.

Basically, here's how I see it:

"Alternative rock" is a notably vague term, yes, but it can certainly still be used as somewhat of a vignette - an expression to connote unusual instrumentation, uncommon time signatures, things along those lines.

"Mainstream", on the other hand, really cannot be used as any kind of illustrator. The term evinces nothing other than the fact that the band in question has received wide recognition. It doesn't even do so much as allude to what the band might sound like.

ProggyMan

If there's no mainstream how can there be an alternative to it? Lol at unusual time signatures.

Wayfarer

"Alternative" does not necessarily mean "Alternative to the mainstream".

ProggyMan

Then what does it mean? Alternative to...

Wayfarer

Convention?