Timeline of alternative rock

Alternative rock is generally understood to have begun in the late 1970s and early 1980s, primarily in the United Kingdom, starting with proto-punk, punk, post-punk, and new wave. Reaching a commercial and critical peak in the 1990s, alternative rock acts are still popular today and AAA radio is a common format.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

1966

Albums

• The Mothers of Invention – Freak Out
• The Beatles - Revolver (Song: "Tomorrow Never Knows")
• Love - Da Capo
• The Count Five Album

1967

Albums

• Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band – Safe as Milk
• Love - Forever Changes
• The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico
• The Who - The Who Sell Out

1968

Bands formed

• Sparks (as Halfnelson)

Albums

• The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat

1969

Albums

• Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica
• David Bowie – Space Oddity
• Iggy and The Stooges – The Stooges
• MC5 – Kick Out the Jams
• The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground

1970s

1970

Bands formed

• Roxy Music

Albums

• Syd Barrett – The Madcap Laughs
• David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World
• Iggy and The Stooges – Fun House
• The Velvet Underground – Loaded

1971

Bands formed

• Death
• Big Star

Albums

• Can  – Tago Mago
• David Bowie – Hunky Dory

1972

Albums

• Big Star – #1 Record
• Can – Ege Bamyasi
• David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
• Lou Reed – Transformer
• Nuggets compilation

1973

Bands formed

• New York Dolls
• Television

Albums

• Lou Reed – Berlin
• Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
• Iggy and The Stooges – Raw Power

Events

• CBGB (club) opened by Hilly Kristal in New York City

1974

Bands formed

• Cheap Trick

Albums

• Big Star - Radio City
• Sparks - Kimono My House

1975

Bands formed

• Blondie
• Patti Smith
• Ramones
• Richard Hell and the Voidoids
• Sex Pistols
• The Stranglers
• Talking Heads
• The Adicts

Albums

• Brian Eno – Another Green World
• Lou Reed – Metal Machine Music
• Roxy Music - Siren

1976

Bands formed

• Black Flag (as Panic)
• The Cars
• The Cure (as Malice)
• Buzzcocks
• The Fall
• Joy Division (as Warsaw)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees
• U2 (as Feedback)

Albums

• David Bowie – Station to Station
• The Ramones – Ramones

1977

Bands formed

• Gang of Four
• The Misfits

Albums

• Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick
• Cheap Trick – In Color
• The Clash – The Clash
• Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True
• David Bowie – Low, "Heroes"
• Iggy Pop – Lust for Life
• Peter Gabriel  – Car
• Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation
• Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
• Suicide – Suicide
• Talking Heads – Talking Heads: 77
• Television – Marquee Moon
• Wire – Pink Flag

Events

• Fast Product founded in Edinburgh, Scotland

1978

Bands formed

• Echo and the Bunnymen
• Killing Joke
• Social Distortion
• Dead Kennedys

Albums

• Big Star – Third/Sister Lovers
• The Cars – The Cars
• Cheap Trick – Heaven Tonight
• Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick at Budokan
• Devo - Q. Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
• Elvis Costello – This Year's Model
• Generation X – Generation X
• Kraftwerk – The Man-Machine
• Magazine - Real Life
• Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance
• Pere Ubu – Dub Housing
• Peter Gabriel – Scratch
• Public Image Ltd – Public Image: First Issue
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Scream
• Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food
• The Police – Outlandos d'Amour
• Various Artists  – No New York
• Wire – Chairs Missing

Events

• SST Records is founded in Long Beach, California by Greg Ginn

1979

Bands formed

• Cocteau Twins
• Fastbacks
• Felt
• Fishbone
• Hüsker Dü
• Mission of Burma
• The Replacements
• The The
• Moderns

Albums

• The B-52s - The B-52s
• The Cars – Candy-O
• Cheap Trick – Dream Police
• The Cure – Three Imaginary Boys
• The Clash - London Calling
• David Bowie – Lodger
• Gang of Four – Entertainment!
• Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle
• Gary Numan and Tubeway Army – Replicas
• Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
• The Specials – The Specials
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Join Hands
• Squeeze – Cool for Cats
• Talking Heads – Fear of Music
• Moderns  – Year of Today
• The Police – Reggatta de Blanc
• Wire – 154

1980s

1980

Bands formed

• Depeche Mode
• Malfunkshun
• Meat Puppets
• Minutemen
• New Model Army
• New Order
• R.E.M.
• The Church
• The Sisters of Mercy
• Violent Femmes

Albums

• The B-52s – Wild Planet
• Bauhaus – In the Flat Field
• The English Beat – I Just Can't Stop It
• The Cure – Seventeen Seconds
• David Bowie – Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
• Devo – Freedom of Choice
• The Fall – Grotesque (After the Gramme)
• Peter Gabriel – Melt
• Joy Division – Closer
• Killing Joke – Killing Joke
• The Selecter – Too Much Pressure
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Kaleidoscope
• Squeeze – Argybargy
• Suicide (band) – Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev
• Talking Heads – Remain in Light

Disbandments

• Wire
• Joy Division

Events

• Dischord Records is founded in Washington D.C. by Ian MacKaye.
• Sub Pop is founded as the fanzine Subterranean Pop in Seattle, Washington.
• 4AD is founded in London, England by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent.
• Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis hangs himself in his Macclesfield home, bringing an abrupt end to Joy Division; the surviving members would later regroup as New Order.

1981

Bands formed

• 10,000 Maniacs
• Beastie Boys
• Butthole Surfers
• The Creatures
• Dream Syndicate
• James
• Sonic Youth
• Soul Asylum (As Loud Fast Rules)
• Talk Talk
• Sort Sol
• Jason & The Scorchers
• The U-Men

Albums

• The Cars – Shake It Up
• Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell
• Echo and the Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
• Generation X – Kiss Me Deadly
• New Order – Movement
• Television Personalities – And Don't the Kids Just Love It

Events

• Founding of New Zealand's Flying Nun Records; approximate start date for the Dunedin sound genre

1982

Bands formed

• Beat Happening
• Big Black
• Faith No More
• Guadalcanal Diary
• The Pogues
• Primal Scream
• Scratch Acid
• The Smiths
• Soda Stereo
• Spacemen 3
• Swans
• They Might Be Giants

Albums

• Bauhaus – The Sky's Gone Out
• Billy Idol – Billy Idol
• The Clash – Combat Rock
• Cocteau Twins – Garlands
• The Cure – Pornography
• Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
• The Fall – Hex Enduction Hour
• Flipper – Album - Generic Flipper
• A Flock of Seagulls – A Flock of Seagulls
• Peter Gabriel – Security
• Mission of Burma – Vs.
• R.E.M. – Chronic Town EP
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
• Sonic Youth – Sonic Youth
• Talking Heads – The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads

Events

• The Haçienda nightclub opens in Manchester, England.

1983

Bands formed

• American Music Club
• Camper Van Beethoven
• The Cult
• The Flaming Lips
• Guided by Voices
• The Housemartins
• The Lemonheads
• Melvins
• My Bloody Valentine
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Throwing Muses
• The Tragically Hip
• NOFX

Disbandments

• Bauhaus
• Mission of Burma

Albums

• Bauhaus – Burning from the Inside
• Big Black – Bulldozer EP
• Billy Idol – Rebel Yell
• The Chameleons – Script of the Bridge
• Cocteau Twins – Head Over Heels
• The Creatures – Feast
• Depeche Mode – Construction Time Again
• Echo & the Bunnymen – Porcupine
• New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies
• R.E.M. – Murmur
• Sonic Youth – Confusion Is Sex
• Talking Heads – Speaking in Tongues
• The The – Soul Mining
• U2 – War (breakthrough)
• Violent Femmes;- Violent Femmes

Events

• R.E.M.'s album Murmur is named Rolling Stone's best album of 1983.
• Creation Records is founded by Alan McGee.

1984

Bands formed

• Dinosaur Jr.
• Fields of the Nephilim
• The Jesus and Mary Chain
• The Lemonheads
• Green River
• The Offspring (Then Manic Subsidal)
• Soundgarden
• The Wedding Present
• Ween
• Yo La Tengo
• The Primitives

Albums

• Butthole Surfers – Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac
• The Cars – Heartbeat City
• Cocteau Twins – Treasure
• The Cure – The Top
• Depeche Mode – Some Great Reward
• Echo & the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain
• Felt – The Splendour of Fear
• Felt – The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories
• Guadalcanal Diary – Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man
• Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade
• Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets II
• Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime
• Public Image Ltd – This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get
• R.E.M. – Reckoning
• The Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Replacements – Let It Be
• Scratch Acid – Scratch Acid
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Hyæna
• The Smiths – The Smiths (breakthrough)
• Soul Asylum – Say What You Will, Clarence... Karl Sold the Truck
• Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
• U2 – The Unforgettable Fire
• Violent Femmes – Hallowed Ground

Events

• Talking Heads' concert film Stop Making Sense premieres.
• Sonic Youth bandmates vocalist-guitarist Thurston Moore and vocalist-bassist Kim Gordon get married.

1985

Bands formed

• Happy Mondays
• Jane's Addiction
• Love and Rockets
• Pussy Galore
• Radiohead (as On a Friday)
• Screaming Trees
• Skin Yard
• The Stone Roses

Disbandments

• Minutemen

Reunions

• The Feelies
• Wire

Albums

• Beat Happening – Beat Happening
• Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
• Camper Van Beethoven – Telephone Free Landslide Victory
• The Cure – The Head on the Door
• Dinosaur Jr. – Dinosaur
• The Fall – This Nation's Saving Grace
• Felt – Ignite the Seven Cannons
• Green River – Come on Down
• Hüsker Dü – New Day Rising
• Hüsker Dü – Flip Your Wig
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
• Killing Joke – Night Time
• Love and Rockets – Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven
• Meat Puppets – Up on the Sun
• Mekons - Fear and Whiskey
• New Order – Low-Life
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Freaky Styley
• R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction
• The Replacements – Tim
• The Sisters of Mercy – First and Last and Always
• The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
• Sonic Youth – Bad Moon Rising
• Talking Heads – Little Creatures

Events

• The Minutemen's D. Boon dies in a car crash on December 22.

1986

Bands formed

• The Afghan Whigs
• Galaxie 500
• Goo Goo Dolls
• The House of Love
• Inspiral Carpets
• The La's
• Manic Street Preachers (as Betty Blue)
• The Mission UK
• No Doubt
• Pixies
• The Posies
• Sebadoh
• Shudder to Think
• The Sugarcubes
• Stone Temple Pilots (as Mighty Joe Young)
• Urge Overkill
• Green Day
• The Ocean Blue

Albums

• Big Black – Atomizer
• Butthole Surfers – Rembrandt Pussyhorse
• The Church - Heyday
• Depeche Mode – Black Celebration
• The Fall – Bend Sinister
• Felt – Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death
• Felt – Forever Breathes the Lonely Word
• The Feelies – The Good Earth
• Guadalcanal Diary – Jamboree
• The Housemartins – London 0 Hull 4
• Hüsker Dü – Candy Apple Grey
• Love and Rockets – Express
• New Order – Brotherhood
• Public Image Ltd – Album
• R.E.M. – Lifes Rich Pageant
• Scratch Acid – Just Keep Eating
• Screaming Trees – Other Worlds (Screaming Trees album)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Tinderbox
• Talk Talk – The Colour of Spring
• The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
• Sonic Youth – Evol
• Soul Asylum – Made to Be Broken
• Soul Asylum – While You Were Out
• Talking Heads – True Stories
• The The – Infected
• They Might Be Giants – They Might Be Giants
• Various Artists – Deep Six
• Various Artists – Sub Pop 100
• Violent Femmes – The Blind Leading the Naked
• XTC – Skylarking

Events

• MTV begins airing 120 Minutes, a program devoted to videos by alternative artists.
• NME magazine in the UK releases the C86 cassette compilation, which becomes a seminal release in British indie rock.

1987

Bands formed

• Alice in Chains
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
• Fugazi
• Galaxie 500
• Gin Blossoms
• Green Day (as Sweet Children)
• The Jesus Lizard
• Local H
• Pale Saints
• Slint
• Uncle Tupelo
• Nirvana

Disbandments

• Hüsker Dü
• The Smiths

Albums

• 10,000 Maniacs – In My Tribe
• Big Black – Songs About Fucking
• Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician
• The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
• Depeche Mode – Music for the Masses
• Dinosaur Jr. – You're Living All Over Me
• Echo & the Bunnymen – Echo & the Bunnymen
• Faith No More - Introduce Yourself
• Felt – Poem of the River
• Green River – Dry As a Bone
• Guadalcanal Diary – 2X4
• Guided by Voices – Devil Between My Toes
• Guided by Voices – Sandbox
• Happy Mondays – Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)
• The Housemartins – The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
• Hüsker Dü – Warehouse: Songs and Stories
• Jane's Addiction – Jane's Addiction
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands
• The Lemonheads – Hate Your Friends
• Love and Rockets – Earth, Sun, Moon
• Melvins – Gluey Porch Treatments
• Midnight Oil – Diesel and Dust (breakthrough)
• Pixies – Come on Pilgrim
• Primal Scream – Sonic Flower Groove
• Public Image Ltd – Happy?
• R.E.M. – Document (breakthrough)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Uplift Mofo Party Plan
• The Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me
• Skin Yard – Skin Yard (album)
• Scratch Acid – Berserker
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Through the Looking Glass
• Soundgarden – Screaming Life
• The Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
• The Smiths – Strangeways, Here We Come
• Sonic Youth – Sister
• U2 — The Joshua Tree
• The Wedding Present – George Best
• Wire – The Ideal Copy

Events

• R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" unexpectedly becomes a Top Ten hit on the American pop charts, helping to increase alternative rock's mainstream profile and earning the band a major label deal.
• No Doubt's original lead singer John Spence commits suicide.
• MTV introduces the Buzz Bin in the fall of 1987, which put various alternative videos into special rotation for a period of time. Many of these videos would become breakout hits and enter normal heavy rotation as well as the top 40, especially during the alternative boom of the following decade.

1988

Bands formed

• 311
• Barenaked Ladies
• The Beautiful South
• Better Than Ezra
• Blur (as Circus and later Seymour)
• The Boo Radleys
• The Breeders
• The Charlatans
• Deftones
• Jesus Jones
• Live (as Public Affection)
• Lush
• Mother Love Bone
• Mudhoney
• Nine Inch Nails
• Ride
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Spin Doctors
• Sublime

Disbandments

• Big Black
• Green River
• The Housemartins

Albums

• Barenaked Ladies – Buck Naked
• Beat Happening – Jamboree
• Butthole Surfers – Hairway to Steven
• Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll
• Dinosaur Jr. – Bug
• The Feelies – Only Life
• Felt – The Pictorial Jackson Review
• Felt – Train Above the City
• Fishbone – Truth and Soul
• Fugazi – Fugazi EP
• Galaxie 500 – Today
• Happy Mondays – Bummed
• Robyn Hitchcock – Globe of Frogs
• The House of Love – The House of Love
• Jane's Addiction – Nothing's Shocking
• The Lemonheads – Creator
• Morrissey – Viva Hate
• Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff EP
• Peter Murphy – Love Hysteria
• My Bloody Valentine – Isn't Anything
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Tender Prey
• Pixies – Surfer Rosa
• R.E.M. – Green
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Peepshow
• Soundgarden - Ultramega OK
• Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
• Soul Asylum – Hang Time
• The Sugarcubes – Life's Too Good
• The Church - Starfish (breakthrough)
• Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden
• Talking Heads – Naked
• They Might Be Giants – Lincoln
• U2 – Rattle and Hum
• Various Artists – Sub Pop 200
• Wire – A Bell Is a Cup ... Until It Is Struck
• Living Colour – Vivid

Events

• Billboard introduces the Modern Rock chart which lists the most played songs on alternative rock radio stations. "Peek-a-Boo" from Siouxsie and the Banshees is the very first song to top the chart in September.
• Alternative rock finds additional exposure in the mainstream, as The Cure, Midnight Oil, and The Church all break into the top 40 with "Just Like Heaven" (#40), "Beds Are Burning" (#17) and "Under the Milky Way" (#26) respectively.
• Mother Love Bone and Mudhoney form from members of Green River after they break up.
• Sub Pop begins the Sub Pop Singles Club.
• Hillel Slovak, guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers dies from a heroin overdose. Jack Irons leaves the band. They are replaced by John Frusciante and Chad Smith.
• Rolling Stone names R.E.M. "America's Best Rock 'n' Roll Band" and places them on the cover.
• Gwen Stefani becomes lead singer of No Doubt.
• Talk Talk leave Parlophone/EMI after poor management revolving the release and promotion of Spirit of Eden and how this might affect the recording of what later became Laughing Stock.
• Chuck Mosley leaves Faith No More.

1989

Bands formed

• Cap'n Jazz
• The Charlatans
• Codeine
• Eraserheads
• Helmet
• Hole
• Hum
• Mazzy Star
• Mercury Rev
• Neutral Milk Hotel
• Ocean Colour Scene
• Pavement
• Red House Painters
• Spiritualized
• Suede
• Superchunk
• Swervedriver
• Teenage Fanclub
• Toadies

Disbandments

• Guadalcanal Diary
• Dream Syndicate
• Felt

Albums

• Beat Happening – Black Candy
• Camper Van Beethoven – Key Lime Pie
• The Cure – Disintegration (breakthrough)
• The Creatures – Boomerang
• Faith No More – The Real Thing (breakthrough)
• Felt – Me and a Monkey on the Moon
• Fugazi – Margin Walker EP
• Galaxie 500 – On Fire
• Goo Goo Dolls – Jed
• Gin Blossoms – Dusted
• Guadalcanal Diary – Flip-Flop
• Guided by Voices – Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Automatic
• Jesus Jones – Liquidizer
• The Lemonheads – Lick
• Love and Rockets – Love and Rockets (breakthrough)
• Meat Puppets – Monsters
• Mudhoney – Mudhoney
• New Order – Technique (breakthrough)
• Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine
• Nirvana – Bleach
• The Offspring - The Offspring
• Pixies – Doolittle
• Primal Scream – Primal Scream
• Primus – Suck on This
• Public Image Ltd – 9
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Mother's Milk
• Slint – Tweez
• Soundgarden – Louder Than Love
• The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses (breakthrough)
• The The – Mind Bomb
• Violent Femmes – 3
• The Wedding Present – Bizarro
• Wire – IBTABA

Events

• New Order, Public Image Ltd, and The Sugarcubes embark on the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour.
• Matador Records is founded.
• The documentary film 101 is released, telling the story of how Depeche Mode became a major draw in the United States without any major radio airplay and climaxing with their famous Rose Bowl concert in Pasadena, California.
• Mike Patton becomes the new frontman of Faith No More.
• Love and Rockets scores a surprise smash with So Alive, which peaks at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and tops the Modern Rock chart for 5 weeks.
• The Cure also scores a major hit with "Lovesong", peaking at #2 on the Billboard singles charts. The album Disintegration is their most critically and commercially successful album.
• Soundgarden signs a major label deal with A&M Records, the first Seattle act to do so.

1990s

1990

Bands formed

• Blind Melon
• Catherine Wheel
• The Cranberries
• Curve
• Drive Like Jehu
• Failure
• Goats Don't Shave
• Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
• Kyuss
• Pearl Jam (as Mookie Blaylock)
• Shed Seven
• Travis
• The Verve (as Verve)
• The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Disbandments

• Camper Van Beethoven
• Mother Love Bone

Albums

• 311 – Dammit!
• 311 – Downstairs EP
• Barenaked Ladies – Barenaked Lunch EP
• The Beautiful South – Choke
• Alice in Chains – Facelift
• The Boo Radleys – Ichabod and I
• The Breeders – Pod
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - 101 Damnations
• The Charlatans – Some Friendly
• Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas
• Codeine – Frigid Stars LP
• Depeche Mode – Violator (breakthrough)
• Echo & the Bunnymen – Reverberation
• Fugazi – Repeater
• Galaxie 500 – This Is Our Music
• Goo Goo Dolls – Hold Me Up
• Green Day – 39/Smooth
• Guided by Voices – Same Place the Fly Got Smashed
• Happy Mondays – Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
• Helmet – Strap It On
• The House of Love – The House of Love
• Jane's Addiction – Ritual de lo Habitual (breakthrough)
• The La's – The La's
• Mother Love Bone – Apple
• Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles
• Pale Saints – The Comforts of Madness
• Peter Murphy – Deep
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – The Good Son
• Pixies – Bossanova
• Primus – Frizzle Fry
• Ride – Nowhere
• The Sisters of Mercy – Vision Thing
• Social Distortion – Social Distortion
• Sonic Youth – Goo (breakthrough)
• Soul Asylum – And the Horse They Rode In On
• They Might Be Giants – Flood
• Uncle Tupelo – No Depression
• Ween – GodWeenSatan: The Oneness
• Wire – Manscape
• Superchunk – Superchunk

Events

• Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone is found dead.
• Sonic Youth signs with DGC records. Upon recommendations from Kim Gordon, Nirvana follows suit.

1991

Bands formed

• Adorable
• Archers of Loaf
• AFI
• Belly
• Cake
• Candlebox
• Dave Matthews Band
• Everclear
• Far
• Guster
• HIM
• Jim Rose Circus
• Kerbdog
• Luna
• Luscious Jackson
• Oasis
• Primitive Radio Gods
• Rage Against the Machine
• Slowdive
• Sponge
• Stereolab
• Sub Sub (later became Doves)

Disbandments

• Galaxie 500
• Jane's Addiction
• The Replacements
• Spacemen 3
• Talk Talk
• Talking Heads

Albums

• 311 – Unity
• Barenaked Ladies – The Yellow Tape
• Beat Happening – Dreamy
• Blur – Leisure
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - 30 Something
• Dinosaur Jr. – Green Mind
• Drive Like Jehu – Drive Like Jehu
• Fishbone – The Reality of My Surroundings
• Fugazi – Steady Diet of Nothing
• Hole – Pretty on the Inside
• Jesus Jones – Doubt
• The Jesus Lizard – Goat
• Kyuss – Wretch
• Live – Mental Jewelry
• Mercury Rev – Yerself Is Steam
• Morrissey – Kill Uncle
• Mudhoney – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
• My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (breakthrough)
• Nirvana – Nevermind (breakthrough)
• Pearl Jam – Ten (breakthrough)
• Pixies – Trompe le Monde
• Spin Doctors – Pocket Full of Kryptonite (breakthrough)
• Primal Scream – Screamadelica (breakthrough)
• Primus – Sailing the Seas of Cheese
• R.E.M. – Out of Time
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik (breakthrough)
• Sebadoh – Sebadoh III
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Superstition
• Slint – Spiderland
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
• Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger (breakthrough)
• Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend
• Swervedriver – Raise
• Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
• Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque
• Temple of the Dog – Temple of the Dog (breakthrough)
• Throwing Muses – The Real Ramona
• U2 – Achtung Baby
• Violent Femmes – Why Do Birds Sing?
• The Wedding Present – Seamonsters
• Wire – The Drill
• Wire – The First Letter

Events

• Nirvana releases Nevermind, popularizing grunge in the mainstream, especially due to the hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The album reaches the top 5 of the Billboard album charts a month and a half after release.
• Alternative rock finds additional exposure in the mainstream as Siouxsie and the Banshees break into the US Top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100, with "Kiss Them for Me" (at number 23).
• The first ever Lollapalooza takes place with Jane's Addiction as the top of the bill and Siouxsie and the Banshees as second headliners.
• The first Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is given out.
• During a Manic Street Preachers interview by NME journalist Steve Lamacq, Richey Edwards carved the words "4 Real" into his arm with a razor blade to prove the band's sincerity in music.
• Barenaked Ladies' The Yellow Tape goes platinum in Canada. It is the first indie release in Canada to ever do this. Sales are partly fueled by controversy regarding Toronto mayor June Rowlands banning the group from playing a show at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto because she thought the name "Barenaked Ladies" objectified women.

1992

Bands formed

• Ash
• blink-182
• Built to Spill
• Bush
• The Cardigans
• Chalk FarM
• Elastica
• Grandaddy
• Moist (Canadian band)
• MxPx
• Nada Surf
• Our Lady Peace
• Porno for Pyros
• Puddle of Mudd
• Rancid
• Reel Big Fish
• Seven Mary Three
• Silverchair (as Innocent Criminals)
• Soul Coughing
• Stereophonics (as Tragic Love Company)
• Sixpence None the Richer
• Stone Sour
• Sunny Day Real Estate
• The Verve Pipe
• Weezer

Disbandments

• The Feelies
• The Happy Mondays
• Pixies
• Public Image Ltd
• The Sugarcubes
• Wire (second disbandment)

Albums

• 311 – Hydroponic
• Alice in Chains – Dirt (breakthrough)
• Alice in Chains – Sap EP
• Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
• Barenaked Ladies – Gordon
• Beat Happening – You Turn Me On
• The Beautiful South – 0898 Beautiful South
• Blind Melon – Blind Melon (breakthrough)
• The Boo Radleys – Everything's Alright Forever
• Catherine Wheel – Ferment
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - 1992: The Love Album
• The Charlatans – Between 10th and 11th
• Codeine – Barely Real EP
• The Cure – Wish
• Curve - Doppelgänger
• Failure – Comfort
• Faith No More – Angel Dust
• Far – Listening Game
• Gin Blossoms – New Miserable Experience
• Goats Don't Shave – The Rusty Razor
• Green Day – Kerplunk
• Guided by Voices – Propeller
• Happy Mondays – Yes Please!
• PJ Harvey – Dry
• Helmet – Helmet
• The House of Love – Babe Rainbow
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Honey's Dead
• The Jesus Lizard – Liar
• Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun
• L7 – Bricks Are Heavy
• The Lemonheads – It's a Shame About Ray
• Luna – Lunapark
• Lush – Spooky
• Manic Street Preachers – Generation Terrorists
• Morrissey – Your Arsenal
• Mudhoney – Piece of Cake
• Nine Inch Nails – Broken EP
• No Doubt – No Doubt
• Ocean Colour Scene – Ocean Colour Scene
• Pale Saints – In Ribbons
• Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
• Public Image Ltd – That What Is Not
• R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
• Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine (breakthrough)
• Ride – Going Blank Again
• Screaming Trees – Sweet Oblivion
• Sebadoh – Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock
• Sonic Youth – Dirty
• Soul Asylum – Grave Dancer's Union (breakthrough)
• Stone Temple Pilots – Core (breakthrough)
• Sublime – 40oz. to Freedom
• Sugar – Copper Blue
• They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18
• Ween – Pure Guava

Events

• Alternative rock fully breaks into the American mainstream consciousness, as albums and singles by bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Toad the Wet Sprocket, R.E.M., Soul Asylum, The Cure, and Nine Inch Nails reach the Top 40 of the Billboard charts. Most notable: Nirvana's Nevermind dethrones Michael Jackson's Dangerous from the top of the Billboard 200 chart
• Pearl Jam's Ten breaks into the top 10 after nine months of release, helped by months of heavy touring and MTV exposure, eventually peaking at #2, and remaining near the top for many weeks thereafter.
• The grunge speak hoax appears in the November 15 issue of The New York Times.
• Trent Reznor founds Nothing Records.
• Merge Records is founded by members of Superchunk.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist John Frusciante quits the band; he returns in 1998.
• Factory Records declares bankruptcy. The label had been placed in dire financial straits due to Happy Mondays' album Yes Please! going significantly over-budget—to the point of burning through most of Factory's funds—and failing to turn a profit, and because of delays suffered by New Order in releasing a follow-up album to 1989's Technique. London Records attempted to buy out Factory, but backed out of the deal due to the latter's lack of contracts giving their artists full rights to their backlogs; many of these artists would sign on to London Records following Factory's closure.

1993

Bands formed

• At The Drive In
• Black Grape
• Björk
• The Bluetones
• Collective Soul
• Dishwalla
• Filter
• Folk Implosion
• Garbage
• Modest Mouse
• Jimmy Eat World
• The Presidents of the United States of America
• Billy Talent (Formerly Pezz)
• Soul Coughing
• Snow Patrol
• Super Furry Animals
• Supergrass
• Third Eye Blind
• Veruca Salt
• Harvey Danger
• Korn

Disbandments

• Echo & the Bunnymen
• The House of Love

Reunions

• The Buzzcocks

Albums

• 311 – Music
• Adorable – Against Perfection
• Archers of Loaf – Icky Mettle (breakthrough)
• Björk – Debut (breakthrough)
• Blur – Modern Life Is Rubbish
• The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps
• The Breeders – Last Splash (breakthrough)
• Built to Spill – Ultimate Alternative Wavers
• Butthole Surfers – Independent Worm Saloon
• Buzzcocks – Trade Test Transmissions
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - Post Historic Monsters
• Catherine Wheel – Chrome
• Collective Soul – Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid (breakthrough)
• The Cranberries – Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (breakthrough)
• Depeche Mode – Songs of Faith and Devotion
• Dinosaur Jr. – Where You Been
• Eraserheads – UltraElectroMagneticPop! (breakthrough)
• The Fall – The Infotainment Scan
• The Flaming Lips – Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
• Fugazi – In on the Kill Taker
• Goo Goo Dolls – Superstar Car Wash
• Guided by Voices – Vampire on Titus
• PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
• The House of Love – Audience with the Mind
• Hum – Electra 2000
• Jesus Jones – Perverse
• The Juliana Hatfield Three – Become What You Are
• The Lemonheads – Come on Feel the Lemonheads
• Manic Street Preachers – Gold Against the Soul
• Mazzy Star – So Tonight That I Might See
• Mercury Rev – Boces
• Mudhoney – Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew
• New Order – Republic
• Nirvana – In Utero
• Pearl Jam – Vs.
• Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
• Porno for Pyros – Porno for Pyros (breakthrough)
• Primus – Pork Soda (breakthrough)
• Radiohead – Pablo Honey (breakthrough)
• Sebadoh – Bubble & Scrape
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream (breakthrough)
• Stereolab – Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements
• Swervedriver – Mezcal Head
• Suede – Suede (breakthrough)
• The The – Dusk
• U2 – Zooropa
• The Verve – A Storm in Heaven
• The Verve Pipe – Pop Smear
• Slowdive – Souvlaki

Events

• Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder appears on the cover of the October 25 issue of Time as part of its feature article on the rising popularity of alternative rock. The band's massive night at the year's Video Music Awards with Jeremy leads to a disillusionment with creating music videos, which they stop doing for five years. Even so, their second album, Vs., sells approximately 950,000 copies in its opening week, setting a record for opening week sales.
• Nirvana plays MTV Unplugged on November 18.
• 1991: The Year Punk Broke, a documentary chronicling the Summer 1991 European tour of Sonic Youth, is released. The film also features Courtney Love of Hole, Dinosaur Jr., Ramones, and most notably, Nirvana, a month shy of the release of their breakthrough Nevermind.
• Former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro joins the Red Hot Chili Peppers after numerous guitarist changes.
• New Order goes on a 5-year hiatus following the release of Republic.

1994

Bands formed

• The Dandy Warhols
• Evanescence
• Foo Fighters
• Guano Apes
• Hoobastank
• Kara's Flowers
• Limp Bizkit
• Muse (as Gothic Plague, later Fixed Penalty, and later Rocket Baby Dolls)
• Peatbog Faeries
• Placebo
• The Rasmus
• Sigur Rós
• Sleater-Kinney
• Snow Patrol
• Skunk Anansie
• Spacehog
• Wilco

Disbandments

• Adorable
• Codeine
• Nirvana
• Uncle Tupelo

Albums

• 311 – Grassroots
• Adorable – Fake
• Alice in Chains – Jar of Flies EP
• Barenaked Ladies – Maybe You Should Drive
• The Beautiful South – Miaow
• Beck – Mellow Gold (breakthrough)
• Blur – Parklife (UK breakthrough)
• Jeff Buckley – Grace
• Built to Spill – There's Nothing Wrong with Love
• Bush – Sixteen Stone (breakthrough)
• Cake – Motorcade of Generosity
• The Charlatans – Up to Our Hips
• Codeine – The White Birch
• The Cranberries – No Need to Argue
• Curve – Cuckoo
• Dinosaur Jr. – Without a Sound
• Drive Like Jehu – Yank Crime
• Eraserheads – Circus
• Failure – Magnified
• Far – Quick
• Frente – Marvin the Album
• Green Day – Dookie (breakthrough)
• Guided by Voices – Bee Thousand
• Helmet – Betty
• Hole – Live Through This (breakthrough)
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Stoned & Dethroned
• Kerbdog – Kerbdog
• Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
• Live – Throwing Copper (breakthrough)
• Luna – Bewitched
• Lush – Split
• Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible
• Meat Puppets – Too High to Die
• Morrissey – Vauxhall and I
• Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral (breakthrough)
• Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York
• The Nixons – Halo
• Oasis – Definitely Maybe (breakthrough)
• The Offspring – Smash (breakthrough)
• Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (breakthrough)
• Pearl Jam – Vitalogy
• Liz Phair – Whip-Smart
• Portishead – Dummy
• Powderfinger – Parables for Wooden Ears
• Primal Scream – Give Out But Don't Give Up
• Pulp – His 'n' Hers
• R.E.M. – Monster
• Ride – Carnival of Light
• Sebadoh – Bakesale
• Shed Seven – Change Giver
• Sonic Youth – Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
• Soundgarden – Superunknown
• Sponge – Rotting Pinata
• Stereolab – Mars Audiac Quintet
• The Stone Roses – Second Coming
• Stone Temple Pilots – Purple
• Sublime – Robbin' the Hood
• Suede – Dog Man Star
• Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary
• They Might Be Giants – John Henry
• Toadies – Rubberneck
• Veruca Salt – American Thighs
• The Wedding Present – Watusi
• Ween – Chocolate and Cheese
• Weezer – Weezer (breakthrough)

Events

• Kurt Cobain of Nirvana commits suicide on April 5; his body is found three days later. Cobain's suicide sends shockwaves though the music community, serving as a catalyst for the decline of the grunge movement.
• Kristen Pfaff of Hole dies on June 16.
• Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" becomes a hit single; the album Superunknown debuts at #1 on the album charts. Some cite it as the last major hit of the grunge era.
• The term post-rock is coined by Simon Reynolds to describe the music of the likes of Stereolab and Disco Inferno.
• Manic Street Preachers' Richey Edwards is admitted to a psychiatric hospital around the release of The Holy Bible and misses some shows.
• The Brett Anderson/Bernard Butler songwriting partnership of Suede is ended when Butler walks out over musical differences.
• The music video for Weezer's "Buddy Holly" is included on the Windows 95 operating system disc.
• Mazzy Star has some success with the single "Fade into You", becoming the biggest hit for dream pop in the mainstream.
• Pearl Jam confronts Ticketmaster when they add service charges to concert tickets.

1995

Bands formed

• Radio Dept
• Biffy Clyro (as Screwfish/Skrewfish)
• Blue October
• Days of the New
• Keane
• Kill Hannah
• Kula Shaker
• Mad Season
• Mando Diao
• Mansun
• Matchbox Twenty
• Matthew Good Band
• Mogwai
• Mojave 3
• The Rentals
• Sparklehorse
• Slipknot

Disbandments

• American Music Club
• Drive Like Jehu
• Kyuss
• Meat Puppets
• Slowdive
• Sunny Day Real Estate
• The Verve (reform in 1996)

Albums

• 311 – 311 (breakthrough)
• Alice in Chains – Alice in Chains
• AFI – Answer That and Stay Fashionable
• Archers of Loaf- Vee Vee
• Better Than Ezra – Deluxe
• Björk – Post
• Black Grape – It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah
• Blind Melon – Soup
• Blink 182 – Cheshire Cat
• Blur – The Great Escape
• The Boo Radleys – Wake Up! (breakthrough)
• Built to Spill & Caustic Resin – Built to Spill Caustic Resin ep
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - Worry Bomb
• Catherine Wheel – Happy Days
• The Charlatans – The Charlatans
• Collective Soul – Collective Soul
• The Dandy Warhols – Dandys Rule OK
• Dishwalla - Pet Your Friends (breakthrough)
• Elastica – Elastica
• Eraserheads – Cutterpillow
• Everclear – Sparkle and Fade
• Faith No More – King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
• Filter – Short Bus
• The Flaming Lips – Clouds Taste Metallic
• Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters
• Fugazi – Red Medicine
• Garbage – Garbage (breakthrough)
• Goo Goo Dolls – A Boy Named Goo
• Green Day – Insomniac
• Guided by Voices – Alien Lanes
• PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
• Hum – You'd Prefer an Astronaut
• Incubus – Fungus Amongus
• Kyuss – ...And the Circus Leaves Town
• Local H – Ham Fisted
• Luna – Penthouse
• Mad Season – Above
• Matthew Good Band – Last of the Ghetto Astronauts
• Mercury Rev – See You on the Other Side
• Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill (breakthrough)
• Morrissey – Southpaw Grammar
• Mudhoney – My Brother the Cow
• No Doubt – The Beacon Street Collection
• No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom (breakthrough)
• Oasis – (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
• Our Lady Peace – Naveed
• Pavement – Wowee Zowee
• The Presidents of the United States of America – The Presidents of the United States of America (breakthrough)
• Primus – Tales from the Punchbowl
• Pulp – Different Class
• Radiohead – The Bends
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – One Hot Minute
• Red House Painters – Ocean Beach
• The Rentals – Return of the Rentals
• Seven Mary Three – Churn
• Seven Mary Three – American Standard
• Silverchair – Frogstomp (breakthrough)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Rapture
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Most commercially successful album)
• Sonic Youth – Washing Machine
• Spacehog – Resident Alien
• Sparklehorse – Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
• Soul Asylum – Let Your Dim Light Shine
• Supergrass – I Should Coco (breakthrough)
• Sunny Day Real Estate – LP2
• Swervedriver – Ejector Seat Reservation
• The The – Hanky Panky
• The Verve – A Northern Soul
• Wilco – A.M.

Events

• Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon is found dead on October 21.
• Richard James Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers disappears on February 1; he is presumed deceased thirteen years later. The following year, the band released Journal for Plague Lovers containing only songs penned by Edwards.
• The Smashing Pumpkins release Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and selling nearly 10 million copies becoming the most successful double album in alternative rock.
• Third wave ska becomes popular, with bands such as No Doubt, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, and Sublime seeing commercial success.
• The "Battle of Britpop" occurs between Blur and Oasis when they release their "Country House" and "Roll With It" singles on the same day.
• Alan Wilder leaves Depeche Mode, claiming lack of credit for the band's work and Dave Gahan's battle with drugs as primary reasons for leaving. The band continues as a three-piece band.

1996

Bands formed

• Coldplay
• !!!
• A
• Belle & Sebastian
• Camera Obscura
• Fountains of Wayne
• Gomez
• Linkin Park
• The Shins
• Switchfoot

Disbandments

• Pale Saints
• The Pogues
• Ride
• Siouxsie and the Banshees
• The Stone Roses
• Sublime

Reunions

• Echo & the Bunnymen

Albums

• AFI – Very Proud of Ya
• Alice in Chains – Unplugged
• Ash – 1977 (breakthrough)
• Barenaked Ladies – Rock Spectacle
• The Beautiful South – Blue Is the Colour
• Beck – Odelay
• Belle & Sebastian – If You're Feeling Sinister
• Belle & Sebastian – Tigermilk
• Better Than Ezra – Friction, Baby
• Blind Melon – Nico
• The Bluetones – Expecting to Fly
• The Boo Radleys – C'mon Kids
• Bush – Razorblade Suitcase
• Butthole Surfers – Electriclarryland
• Buzzcocks – All Set
• The Cranberries – To the Faithful Departed
• The Cure – Wild Mood Swings
• Cake – Fashion Nugget
• Dave Matthews Band – Crash
• Eraserheads – Fruitcake
• Failure – Fantastic Planet
• Far – Tin Cans with Strings to You
• Fountains of Wayne – Fountains of Wayne
• Gin Blossoms – Congratulations... I'm Sorry
• Guided by Voices – Under the Bushes, Under the Stars
• Guided by Voices – Tonics and Twisted Chasers
• Kula Shaker – K
• The Lemonheads – Car Button Cloth
• Local H – As Good as Dead
• Lush – Lovelife
• Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go (breakthrough)
• Modest Mouse – This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
• Neutral Milk Hotel – On Avery Island
• Nirvana – From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
• Ocean Colour Scene – Moseley Shoals (breakthrough)
• Pearl Jam – No Code
• Peatbog Faeries – Mellowosity
• Phish – Billy Breathes
• Placebo – Placebo
• Porno for Pyros – Good God's Urge
• Powderfinger – Double Allergic
• The Presidents of the United States of America – II
• Primitive Radio Gods – Rocket
• The Rasmus – Peep
• Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire
• Red House Painters – Songs for a Blue Guitar
• R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi
• Ride – Tarantula
• Shed Seven – A Maximum High
• Sleater-Kinney – Call the Doctor
• Soundgarden – Down on the Upside
• Sponge – Wax Ecstatic
• Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup
• Stone Temple Pilots – Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
• Sublime – Sublime (breakthrough)
• Suede – Coming Up
• Superdrag – Regretfully Yours
• Super Furry Animals – Fuzzy Logic
• They Might Be Giants – Factory Showroom
• Various Artists  – Hype! The Motion Picture Soundtrack
• The Verve Pipe – Villains
• Ween – 12 Golden Country Greats
• Weezer – Pinkerton
• Wilco – Being There

Events

• The Smashing Pumpkins' touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin dies of an overdose on July 12 while using heroin with drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Chamberlin is subsequently fired and the band continues as a three-piece until his return in 1999.
• Alice in Chains makes their last appearance with singer Layne Staley on MTV Unplugged.
• Hype!, a documentary about the grunge scene of the early 1990s, is released.
• R.E.M. sign a new deal with Warner Bros. worth $80 million. At the time, it was the largest record contract in history.
• Bradley Nowell of genre-crossing band Sublime dies of a heroin overdose. The band splits up soon after Nowell's death.
• Oasis performs for 225,000 in two nights at Knebworth. Ticket applications for the show were in excess of 1 million.
• A studio fire destroys the master tapes for Sub Sub's second album, but the band decide to start from scratch on a third album, renaming themselves Doves.
• Chris Acland drummer of Lush is found dead from suicide at his parents’ house. Thus ending Lush. Lush officially announced their breakup in 1998

1997

Bands formed

• Death Cab for Cutie
• DeVotchKa
• Eisley
• Elbow
• Motion City Soundtrack
• Queens of the Stone Age
• The Shins
• The White Stripes
• Zebrahead
• Lostprophets
• Three Days Grace
• Thursday

Disbandments

• Cocteau Twins
• Failure
• Gin Blossoms
• Jane's Addiction
• Porno for Pyros
• Soundgarden – believed by many to signal the end of grunge's mainstream success
• Throwing Muses
• The Wedding Present
• Weezer

Reunions

• Jane's Addiction
• Sunny Day Real Estate
• The Verve

Albums

• 311 – Transistor
• A – How Ace Are Buildings
• AFI – Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes
• Björk – Homogenic
• Blink 182 – Dude Ranch
• Blur – Blur (US breakthrough)
• Built to Spill – Perfect from Now On
• Catherine Wheel – Adam and Eve
• The Charlatans – Tellin' Stories (breakthrough)
• Collective Soul – Disciplined Breakdown
• The Dandy Warhols – ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down
• Depeche Mode – Ultra
• Dinosaur Jr. – Hand It Over
• Echo & the Bunnymen – Evergreen
• Eraserheads – Bananatype
• Eraserheads – Sticker Happy
• Everclear – So Much for the Afterglow
• Faith No More – Album of the Year
• Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape (breakthrough)
• Green Day – Nimrod
• Guano Apes – Proud Like a God
• Guided by Voices – Mag Earwhig!
• Helmet – Aftertaste
• HIM – Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666
• Hole – The First Session
• Incubus – Enjoy Incubus
• Incubus – S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
• Jesus Jones – Already
• Kerbdog – On The Turn
• Live – Secret Samadhi
• Luna – Pup Tent
• Mansun – Attack of the Grey Lantern
• Matthew Good Band – Underdogs
• Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West
• Mogwai – Mogwai Young Team
• Morrissey – Maladjusted
• Oasis – Be Here Now
• Ocean Colour Scene – Marchin' Already
• Our Lady Peace – Clumsy
• Pavement – Brighten the Corners
• Primal Scream – Vanishing Point
• Primus – Brown Album
• Radiohead – OK Computer (breakthrough)
• Radiohead – Airbag / How Am I Driving? EP
• The Rasmus – Playboys
• Seven Mary Three – RockCrown
• Sigur Rós – Von
• Silverchair – Freak Show
• Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
• Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
• Stereolab – Dots and Loops
• Stereophonics – Word Gets Around
• Sixpence None the Richer - "Sixpence None the Richer"
• Star 69 - Eating February
• Super Furry Animals – Radiator
• Supergrass – In It for the Money
• Swervedriver – 99th Dream
• Switchfoot – The Legend of Chin
• Veruca Salt – Eight Arms to Hold You
• The Rasmus – Playboys
• Third Eye Blind – Third Eye Blind (breakthrough)
• Travis – Good Feeling
• The Verve – Urban Hymns (breakthrough)
• Ween – The Mollusk

Events

• Solo artist Jeff Buckley dies on 29 May as a result of accidental drowning in the Mississippi River.
• Jane's Addiction reunites; later that year, they disband again.
• On hiatus while Scott Weiland is in rehab and working on a solo album, members of Stone Temple Pilots form Talk Show; the new band lasts for only a short time.
• R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry announces his retirement; the rest of the band continue as a three-piece.
• Oasis' Be Here Now becomes the UK's fastest-selling album.
• Radiohead release album OK Computer which hits in over 1000 charts.

1998

Bands formed

• Thirty Seconds to Mars
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
• Breaking Benjamin
• CKY
• The Cooper Temple Clause
• Doves
• Eagles of Death Metal
• Gorillaz
• Interpol
• Metric
• The Rapture
• The Strokes

Disbandments

• Black Grape
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
• Faith No More
• Goats Don't Shave
• Helmet
• Kerbdog
• The Lemonheads
• Lush
• Shudder to Think

Reunions

• Bauhaus

Albums

• Ash – Nu-Clear Sounds
• Barenaked Ladies – Stunt (breakthrough)
• The Beautiful South – Quench
• Beck – Mutations
• Belle & Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
• Better Than Ezra – How Does Your Garden Grow?
• The Bluetones – Return to the Last Chance Saloon
• The Boo Radleys – Kingsize
• Cake – Prolonging The Magic
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - I Blame the Government
• Graham Coxon – The Sky Is Too High
• Eels – Electro-Shock Blues
• Eraserheads – Aloha Milkyway
• Far – Water & Solutions
• Fugazi – End Hits
• Jerry Cantrell – Boggy Depot
• Garbage – Version 2.0 (Most commercially successful album)
• Goo Goo Dolls – Dizzy Up the Girl
• Hole – Celebrity Skin
• Hum – Downward Is Heavenward
• James Iha – Let It Come Down
• Local H – Pack Up The Cats
• Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
• Mansun – Six
• Mercury Rev – Deserter's Songs
• Alanis Morissette – Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
• Mudhoney – Tomorrow Hit Today
• Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
• Oasis – The Masterplan
• Pearl Jam – Yield
• Liz Phair – Whitechocolatespaceegg
• Placebo – Without You I'm Nothing (breakthrough)
• Powderfinger – Internationalist
• Pulp – This Is Hardcore
• Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age
• The Rasmus – Hell of a Tester
• R.E.M. – Up
• The Rasmus – Hell of a Tester
• Seven Mary Three – Orange Ave.
• Shed Seven – Let It Ride
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore
• Sonic Youth – A Thousand Leaves
• Soul Asylum – Candy from a Stranger
• Soul Coughing – El Oso
• Spacehog – The Chinese Album
• Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
• Sunny Day Real Estate – How It Feels to Be Something On
• Scott Weiland – 12 Bar Blues

Events

• For the first year since it began, Lollapalooza does not take place, and goes on hiatus for six years.
• John Frusciante returns to the Red Hot Chili Peppers after a six-year hiatus.
• New Order returns to performing after an 8-year hiatus.

1999

Bands formed

• A Perfect Circle
• The All-American Rejects
• Broken Social Scene
• Electric Eel Shock
• Enon
• My Vitriol
• The National
• Phoenix
• Rise Against
• Taking Back Sunday
• The Calling
• The Vines

Disbandments

• Blind Melon – after years of struggling to continue on without Shannon Hoon.
• The Boo Radleys
• Far
• The Jesus Lizard
• The Jesus and Mary Chain
• Kula Shaker
• Love and Rockets
• Luscious Jackson
• Pavement
• The Rentals
• The Verve (second disbandment)

Reunions

• Wire (second reunion)
• Weezer

Albums

• 311 – Soundsystem
• AFI – Black Sails in the Sunset
• AFI – All Hallow's EP
• A – A vs. Monkey Kong
• Beck – Midnite Vultures
• Blink 182 – Enema of the State (breakthrough)
• Blur – 13
• Built to Spill – Keep It Like a Secret
• Bush – The Science of Things
• Buzzcocks – Modern
• The Charlatans – Us and Us Only
• CKY – Volume 1
• Collective Soul – Dosage
• Chris Cornell – Euphoria Morning
• The Cranberries – Bury the Hatchet
• The Creatures – Anima Animus
• Echo & the Bunnymen – What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?
• Eraserheads – Natin99
• Filter – Title of Record
• The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
• Foo Fighters – There Is Nothing Left to Lose
• Fountains of Wayne – Utopia Parkway
• Guided by Voices – Do the Collapse
• HIM – Razorblade Romance
• Incubus – Make Yourself
• Kula Shaker – Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts
• Luna – The Days of Our Nights
• Matthew Good Band – Beautiful Midnight
• Mogwai – Come On Die Young
• Muse – Showbiz
• Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
• Ocean Colour Scene – One from the Modern
• Our Lady Peace – Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch
• Pavement – Terror Twilight
• Primus – Antipop
• Pezz (Billy Talent) – Watoosh!
• The Rapture – Mirror
• Rage Against the Machine – The Battle of Los Angeles
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication
• The Rentals – Seven More Minutes
• Sigur Rós – Ágætis byrjun
• Silverchair – Neon Ballroom
• Sleater-Kinney – The Hot Rock
• Sponge – New Pop Sunday
• Stone Temple Pilots – No. 4
• Suede – Head Music
• Super Furry Animals – Guerrilla
• Supergrass – Supergrass
• Switchfoot – New Way to Be Human
• They Might Be Giants – Long Tall Weekend
• The Verve Pipe – The Verve Pipe
• The White Stripes – The White Stripes
• Third Eye Blind – Blue
• Thursday – Waiting
• Travis – The Man Who (breakthrough)
• Wilco – Summerteeth

Events

• The No WTO Combo attempts to play at the WTO Meeting of 1999, but are unable to do so due to conflicts with the police.
• They Might Be Giants release "Long Tall Weekend" which is the first major full-length album released exclusively on the Internet by an established band.

2000s

2000

Bands formed

• Brand New
• British Sea Power
• The Decemberists
• Kings of Leon
• The Stills
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Disbandments

• At the Drive-In
• Catherine Wheel
• Hum
• Rage Against the Machine
• The Rentals
• Screaming Trees
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Soul Coughing

Reunions

• Meat Puppets

Albums

• A Perfect Circle – Mer de Noms (breakthrough)
• At the Drive-In – Relationship of Command
• Barenaked Ladies – Maroon
• The Beautiful South – Painting It Red
• The Bluetones – Science & Nature
• Catherine Wheel – Wishville
• Coldplay – Parachutes (breakthrough)
• Collective Soul – Blender
• Graham Coxon – The Golden D
• The Cure – Bloodflowers
• The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
• Doves – Lost Souls
• Elastica – The Menace
• Everclear – Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile
• Everclear – Songs from an American Movie Vol. Two: Good Time for a Bad Attitude
• Flying Saucer Attack - Mirror
• Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump
• Green Day – Warning
• Guano Apes – Don't Give Me Names
• Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory (breakthrough)
• Mansun – Little Kix
• Modest Mouse – The Moon and Antarctica
• No Doubt – Return of Saturn
• Oasis – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
• Pearl Jam – Binaural
• Placebo – Black Market Music
• Powderfinger – Odyssey Number Five
• The Presidents of the United States of America – Freaked Out and Small
• Primal Scream – XTRMNTR
• Primitive Radio Gods – White Hot Peach
• Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R
• Radiohead – Kid A (breakthrough)
• Rage Against the Machine – Renegades
• Sleater-Kinney – All Hands on the Bad One
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina/The Machines of God
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
• Sonic Youth – NYC Ghosts & Flowers
• Sunny Day Real Estate – The Rising Tide
• Super Furry Animals – Mwng
• Switchfoot – Learning to Breathe
• The The – NakedSelf
• U2 – All That You Can't Leave Behind
• Ween – White Pepper
• The White Stripes – De Stiji
• Blonde Readhead – For the Damaged Coda/Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons

Events

• The Smashing Pumpkins announce their breakup, indicating that "Machina" was intended as their final album during production, and play a farewell concert on December 2. They release Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music for free to music downloaders on the internet after feuds between Billy Corgan and Virgin Music emerged.
• Soul Coughing split up in 2000 after longstand arguments over royalties following their biggest releases Irresistible Bliss and El Oso.

2001

Bands formed

• Audioslave
• The Black Keys
• Deerhunter
• Fall Out Boy
• Franz Ferdinand
• Jet
• The Kooks
• The Libertines
• Mae
• My Chemical Romance
• Ratatat
• TV on the Radio
• The Zutons
• Zwan

Disbandments

• The Afghan Whigs
• At The Drive-In
• Elastica
• Fastbacks
• Sunny Day Real Estate (second disbandment)
• Toadies

Albums

• !!! – !!!
• 311 – From Chaos
• AFI – The Art of Drowning
• Ash – Free All Angels
• Better Than Ezra – Closer
• Björk – Vespertine
• Blink 182 –Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
• Built to Spill – Ancient Melodies of the Future
• Bush – Golden State
• Butthole Surfers – Weird Revolution
• Cake – Comfort Eagle
• The Calling – Camino Palmero (breakthrough)
• Camera Obscura – Biggest Bluest Hi Fi
• The Charlatans – Wonderland
• The Cranberries – Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
• Dave Matthews Band – Everyday
• Depeche Mode – Exciter
• Echo & the Bunnymmen – Flowers
• Elbow – Asleep in the Back
• Eraserheads – Carbon Stereoxide
• Fugazi – The Argument
• Garbage - Beautiful Garbage
• Gorillaz – Gorillaz (breakthrough)
• Graham Coxon – Crow Sit on Blood Tree
• Guided by Voices – Isolation Drills
• HIM – Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights
• Hoobastank – Hoobastank
• Incubus – Morning View (breakthrough)
• Jesus Jones – London
• Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American (breakthrough)
• Manic Street Preachers – Know Your Enemy
• Matthew Good Band – The Audio of Being
• Mercury Rev – All Is Dream
• Mogwai – Rock Action
• Muse – Origin of Symmetry
• My Vitriol – Finelines
• New Order – Get Ready
• Nickleback – Silver Side Up (breakthrough)
• No Doubt – Rock Steady
• Ocean Colour Scene – Mechanical Wonder
• Our Lady Peace – Spiritual Machines
• Radiohead – Amnesiac
• The Rasmus – Into
• R.E.M. – Reveal
• Seven Mary Three – The Economy of Sound
• Shed Seven – Truth Be Told
• The Shins – Oh, Inverted World
• Spacehog – The Hogyssey
• Sparklehorse – It's a Wonderful Life
• Stone Temple Pilots – Shangri-La Dee Da
• The Strokes – Is This It (breakthrough)
• Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World
• They Might Be Giants – Mink Car
• Toadies – Hell Below/Stars Above
• Travis – The Invisible Band
• The Verve Pipe – Underneath
• Thursday – Full Collapse (breakthrough)
• Weezer – Weezer
• The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – "Yeah Yeah Yeahs (EP)'

Events

• The Matthew Good Band breaks up. Good continues as a solo artist.
• Manic Street Preachers become first major modern band to play a gig in Cuba. The gig is attended by Fidel Castro.
• At the Drive-In split down the middle, one half becoming an emo-focused rock group, Sparta, the other half continuing in the progressive rock vein as The Mars Volta.

2002

Bands formed

• The 1975
• Arctic Monkeys
• Editors
• The Fray
• The Killers
• LCD Soundsystem
• Silversun Pickups
• Wild Beasts

Disbandments

• Bush
• Hole
• Eraserheads
• Spacehog

Reunions

• Gin Blossoms
• Jane's Addiction (second reunion)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees
• Talking Heads

Albums

• 30 Seconds to Mars – 30 Seconds to Mars
• A – Hi-Fi Serious
• Audioslave – Audioslave (breakthrough)
• Beck – Sea Change
• Breaking Benjamin – Saturate
• The Breeders – Title TK
• Jerry Cantrell – Degradation Trip
• CKY – Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild
• Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
• Graham Coxon – The Kiss of Morning
• Doves – The Last Broadcast
• Filter – The Amalgamut
• The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (breakthrough)
• Foo Fighters – One by One
• Goo Goo Dolls – Gutterflower
• Guided by Voices – Universal Truths and Cycles
• Hot Hot Heat – Make Up the Breakdown
• Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
• Jet – Dirty Sweet
• The Libertines – Up the Bracket
• Local H – Here Comes the Zoo
• Luna – Romantica
• Motion City Soundtrack – I Am the Movie
• Muse – Hullabaloo
• My Chemical Romance – I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
• Oasis – Heathen Chemistry
• Our Lady Peace – Gravity
• Pearl Jam – Riot Act
• Primal Scream – Evil Heat
• Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf (breakthrough)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – By the Way
• Sigur Rós – ( )
• Silverchair – Diorama
• Sleater-Kinney – One Beat
• Sonic Youth – Murray Street
• Suede – A New Morning
• Sixpence None the Richer - Divine Discontent
• Supergrass – Life on Other Planets
• Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
• The Music – The Music
• The Vines – Highly Evolved (breakthrough)
• Weezer – Maladroit
• Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (breakthrough)

Events

• Eraserheads vocalist Ely Buendia and Lead guitarist Marcus Adoro left the band.
• Layne Staley of Alice in Chains dies on April 5; his body is found days later.
• Nirvana's "You Know You're Right", a previously unreleased song, becomes a hit single.
• Graham Coxon, the guitarist of Blur, quits the band.

2003

Bands formed

• The Academy Is...
• All Time Low
• Arcade Fire
• Babyshambles
• Bloc Party
• The Bravery
• Clor
• Downplay
• Glasvegas
• Hard-Fi
• Kaiser Chiefs
• The Wombats

Disbandments

• Blur
• The Cranberries
• Mansun
• Shed Seven
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Zwan

Albums

• 311 – Evolver
• AFI – Sing the Sorrow (breakthrough)
• A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step
• Barenaked Ladies – Everything to Everyone
• The Beautiful South – Gaze
• Billy Talent – Billy Talent
• Blink 182 - Blink 182
• The Bluetones – Luxembourg
• Blur – Think Tank
• David Bowie – Reality
• Buzzcocks – Buzzcocks
• Camera Obscura – Underachievers Please Try Harder
• Cat Power – You Are Free
• The Cooper Temple Clause – Kick Up the Fire, and Let the Flames Break Loose
• The Creatures – Hái!
• The Dandy Warhols – Welcome to the Monkey House
• Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism
• Elbow – Cast of Thousands
• Evanescence – Fallen (breakthrough)
• The Fall – The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
• Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave
• Fountains of Wayne – Welcome Interstate Managers
• Guano Apes – Walking on a Thin Line
• Guided by Voices – Earthquake Glue
• HIM – Love Metal
• Hoobastank – The Reason (breakthrough)
• Jane's Addiction – Strays
• Jet – Get Born (breakthrough)
• Kings of Leon – Youth and Young Manhood
• Linkin Park – Meteora
• Mae – Destination: Beautiful
• The Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium
• Matthew Good – Avalanche
• Metric –Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
• Mogwai – Happy Songs for Happy People
• Muse – Absolution (breakthrough)
• Ocean Colour Scene – North Atlantic Drift
• The Offspring – Splinter
• Peatbog Faeries – Welcome to Dun Vegas
• Placebo – Sleeping with Ghosts
• Powderfinger – Vulture Street
• Primitive Radio Gods – Mellotron On!
• Primitive Radio Gods – Still Electric
• Primus – Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People
• Radiohead – Hail to the Thief (breakthrough)
• The Rapture – Echoes
• The Rasmus – Dead Letters
• The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
• Sponge – For All the Drugs in the World
• Streetlight Manifesto – Everything Goes Numb
• The Strokes – Room on Fire
• Super Furry Animals – Phantom Power
• Supergrass – Road to Rouen
• Switchfoot – The Beautiful Letdown
• Third Eye Blind – Out of the Vein
• Three Days Grace – Three Days Grace (breakthrough)
• Thursday – War All the Time (breakthrough)
• Travis – 12 Memories
• TV on the Radio – Young Liars
• Ween – Quebec
• The White Stripes – Elephant (breakthrough)
• Wire – Send
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell
• Yellowcard – Ocean Avenue (breakthrough)
• Zwan – Mary Star of the Sea

Events

• The first Lollapalooza in six years takes place.
• Elliott Smith dies at age 34.

2004

Bands formed

• The Dead 60s
• Jack's Mannequin
• Louis XIV
• Manchester Orchestra
• Paramore
• Panic! at the Disco
• Portugal. The Man
• The Tears
• Warpaint
• Young the Giant

Disbandments

• Guided by Voices
• The Libertines
• Sixpence None the Richer
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Suede

Reunions

• Kula Shaker
• Helmet
• Pixies
• The Wedding Present

Albums

• !!! – Louden Up Now
• A Perfect Circle – eMOTIVe
• Arcade Fire – Funeral
• Ash – Meltdown
• Melissa Auf der Maur – Auf der Maur
• Björk – Medúlla
• The Calling – Two
• Cake – Pressure Chief
• The Charlatans – Up at the Lake
• Collective Soul – Youth
• Graham Coxon – Happiness in Magazines
• The Cure – The Cure
• Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand (breakthrough)
• Green Day – American Idiot
• Guided by Voices – Half-Smiles of the Decomposed
• Hawthorne Heights – The Silence in Black and White (breakthrough)
• Helmet – Size Matters
• Incubus – A Crow Left of the Murder
• Interpol – Antics
• Jimmy Eat World – Futures
• Kings of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak
• The Killers – Hot Fuss (breakthrough)
• The Libertines – The Libertines
• Local H – Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?
• Luna – Rendezvous
• Manic Street Preachers – Lifeblood
• Mansun – Kleptomania
• Matthew Good – White Light Rock & Roll Review
• Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Love Bad News (breakthrough)
• Morrissey – You Are the Quarry
• My Chemical Romance – Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (breakthrough)
• The Presidents of the United States of America – Love Everybody
• Ratatat – Ratatat
• R.E.M. – Around the Sun
• Seven Mary Three – Dis/Location
• Sonic Youth – Sonic Nurse
• Stereolab – Margerine Eclipse
• They Might Be Giants – The Spine
• TV on the Radio – Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
• U2 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
• The Used – In Love and Death
• The Vines – Winning Days
• Wilco – A Ghost Is Born

Events

• Influential British DJ John Peel, whose advocacy helped increase the profiles of many punk and alternative acts, dies on October 25.
• Pixies reunite and release a new single entitled "Bam Thwok".
• Lollapalooza is cancelled due to low ticket sales.
• Brett Anderson quits Suede and reunites with former Suede bandmate Bernard Butler to form The Tears.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers release their first live album Red Hot Chili Peppers Live in Hyde Park. The album was recorded during the three record breaking shows performed in Hyde Park, London. The shows broke the record for the most money made at a live show (a record previously held by The Beatles).
• No Doubt goes on hiatus while frontwoman Gwen Stefani pursues a solo career.

2005

Bands formed

• Bombay Bicycle Club
• Dirty Pretty Things
• Foals
• The Horrors
• MGMT
• The Raconteurs
• The View
• The xx

Disbandments

• Curve
• Guided by Voices
• Luna
• blink-182
• The Calling

Reunions

• The House of Love
• The Lemonheads

Albums

• 30 Seconds to Mars – A Beautiful Lie (breakthrough)
• 311 – Don't Tread on Me
• A – Teen Dance Ordinance
• Audioslave – Out of Exile
• Beck – Guero
• Bloc Party – Silent Alarm (breakthrough)
• The Bravery – The Bravery
• Jimmy Chamberlin Complex – Life Begins Again
• CKY – An Answer Can Be Found
• Clor – Clor
• Coldplay – X&Y
• Billy Corgan – TheFutureEmbrace
• The Dandy Warhols – Odditorium or Warlords of Mars
• Dave Matthews Band – Stand Up
• The Dead 60s – The Dead 60s
• Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
• Deerhunter – Turn It Up Faggot
• Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel
• Doves – Some Cities
• Echo & the Bunnymen – Siberia
• Editors – The Back Room
• Eisley – Room Noises
• Elbow – Leaders of the Free World
• Fall Out Boy - From Under The Cork Tree (breakthrough)
• Foo Fighters – In Your Honor
• Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better
• The Fray – How to Save a Life
• Garbage – Bleed Like Me
• Gorillaz – Demon Days
• Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV
• HIM – Dark Light
• Hot Hot Heat – Elevator
• The House of Love – Days Run Away
• Jack's Mannequin – Everything in Transit
• Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
• LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
• Mae – The Everglow
• Mercury Rev – The Secret Migration
• Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This to Memory (breakthrough)
• New Order – Waiting for the Sirens' Call
• Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth
• Oasis – Don't Believe the Truth
• Ocean Colour Scene – A Hyperactive Workout for the Flying Squad
• Our Lady Peace – Healthy in Paranoid Times
• Panic! at the Disco – A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (breakthrough)
• Queens of the Stone Age – Lullabies to Paralyze
• The Rasmus – Hide from the Sun
• Sigur Rós – Takk...
• Sleater-Kinney – The Woods
• Sponge – The Man
• Super Furry Animals – Love Kraft
• Supergrass – Road to Rouen
• Switchfoot – Nothing Is Sound
• The Wedding Present – Take Fountain
• Weezer – Make Believe
• The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan

Events

• U2 are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• Billy Corgan announces his intention to reform The Smashing Pumpkins after five years of disbandment.
• Audioslave become only the second major rock band to play a gig in Cuba, following Manic Street Preachers in 2001.
• Garbage announce a long hiatus after their final show supporting Bleed Like Me.
• The surviving members of Alice in Chains reform to play their first concert in nine years at a tsunami benefit concert with former Damageplan vocalist Pat Lachman. The band launches a world tour with William Duvall taking the vocal spot, while many guests vocalists perform at various shows, including Maynard James Keenan, Billy Corgan and Phil Anselmo.

2006

Bands formed

• Cage the Elephant
• Carolina Liar
• The Enemy
• Friendly Fires
• Los Campesinos!
• Vampire Weekend
• Walk the Moon

Disbandments

• Clor
• Sleater-Kinney
• Grandaddy

Reunions

• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Toadies

Albums

• AFI – Decemberunderground
• Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (breakthrough)
• Audioslave – Revelations
• Barenaked Ladies – Barenaked Ladies Are Me
• The Beautiful South – Superbi
• Beck – The Information
• Billy Talent – Billy Talent II
• Blue October – Foiled
• The Bluetones – The Bluetones
• Built to Spill – You in Reverse
• Camera Obscura – Let's Get Out of This Country
• The Charlatans – Simpatico
• Graham Coxon – Love Travels at Illegal Speeds
• The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
• Ratatat – Classics
• Evanescence – The Open Door
• Goo Goo Dolls – Let Love In
• Helmet – Monochrome
• Hoobastank – Every Man for Himself
• Incubus – Light Grenades
• Jet – Shine On
• The Killers – Sam's Town
• The Kooks – Inside In/Inside Out
• The Lemonheads – The Lemonheads
• The Mars Volta – Amputechture
• Mogwai – Mr Beast
• Morrissey – Ringleader of the Tormentors
• Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
• My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
• Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam
• Placebo – Meds
• Portugal. The Man – Waiter: "You Vultures!"
• Powderfinger – Dream Days at the Hotel Existence
• Primal Scream – Riot City Blues
• Primitive Radio Gods – Sweet Venus
• The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
• The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium
• The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
• Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
• Silversun Pickups – Carnavas
• Sparklehorse – Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
• Soul Asylum – The Silver Lining
• Stereolab – Fab Four Suture
• The Strokes – First Impressions of Earth
• Switchfoot – Oh! Gravity.
• Three Days Grace – One-X
• Thursday – A City by the Light Divided
• TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
• The Vines – Vision Valley
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
• Yellowcard – Lights and Sounds
• Thom Yorke – The Eraser

Events

• The Smashing Pumpkins officially reunite, issuing an announcement on their website in April.
• Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens dies.
• Alice in Chains reforms, featuring Comes With the Fall singer William DuVall replacing Layne Staley.

2007

Bands formed

• Alt-J
• Catfish and the Bottlemen
• Defrage
• Girls
• Ringo Deathstarr
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
• Tame Impala
• Two Door Cinema Club
• Twin Atlantic
• White Lies

Disbandments

• Audioslave
• The Beautiful South
• The Cooper Temple Clause

Reunions

• Garbage
• The Jesus and Mary Chain
• My Bloody Valentine
• Rage Against the Machine
• Shed Seven
• Shudder to Think
• The Verve (second reunion)

Albums

• !!! – Myth Takes
• Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
• Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
• Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
• Ash – Twilight of the Innocents
• Babyshambles – Shotter's Nation
• Barenaked Ladies – Barenaked Ladies Are Men
• Björk – Volta
• Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City
• The Bravery – The Sun and the Moon
• Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
• Chris Cornell – Carry On
• The Cooper Temple Clause – Make This Your Own
• Deerhunter – Cryptograms
• Editors – An End Has a Start
• Eisley – Combinations
• The Enemy – We'll Live and Die in These Towns
• Fall Out Boy – Infinity On High
• Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
• Fountains of Wayne – Traffic and Weather
• Happy Mondays – Uncle Dysfunktional
• Hard-Fi – Once Upon a Time in the West
• HIM – Venus Doom
• The Horrors – Strange House
• Interpol – Our Love to Admire
• Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light
• Kaiser Chiefs – Yours Truly, Angry Mob
• Kings of Leon – Because of the Times
• Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future
• Kula Shaker – Strangefolk
• LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
• Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight
• Mae – Singularity
• Manic Street Preachers – Send Away the Tigers
• Maxïmo Park – Our Earthly Pleasures
• Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
• Motion City Soundtrack – Even If It Kills Me
• Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero
• Ocean Colour Scene – On the Leyline
• Paramore – Riot! (breakthrough)
• Portugal. The Man – Church Mouth
• The Presidents of the United States of America – These Are the Good Times People
• Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris
• Radiohead – In Rainbows (breakthrough)
• Sandra Nasic – The Signal
• Silverchair – Young Modern
• Siouxsie – Mantaray
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist
• The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
• St. Vincent – Marry Me
• Sponge – Galore Galore
• Super Furry Animals – Hey Venus!
• Travis – The Boy with No Name
• The White Stripes – Icky Thump
• Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
• Wolfstone – Terra Firma
• Tyler Joseph – No Phun Intended
• Yellowcard – Paper Walls

Events

• R.E.M. are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• Audioslave disbands after third album: Cornell returned to a solo career for the time being; Commerford, Wilk and Morello performed with Zach De La Rocha as Rage Against the Machine at Coachella Music Festival playing together for the first time since 2001.
• The Smashing Pumpkins perform their first concerts since 2000.
• Conflicting reports are released about the status of New Order, with bassist Peter Hook insisting that band has broken up, while Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris issued a statement denying Hook's statements. Regardless, the band proceeds to remain inactive for four years.
• Factory Records founder Tony Wilson dies; his casket is assigned the final Factory catalog number to date, FAC-501.
• My Bloody Valentine reunite, and announce plans to release a third album that they have been working on since 1996.
• Radiohead releases In Rainbows over the Internet and allows fans to set their own purchase price.

2008

Bands formed

• Don Broco
• The Drums
• Imagine Dragons
• Passion Pit
• Pulled Apart by Horses
• Sleigh Bells
• Tonight Alive
• Young Guns

Disbandments

• Bauhaus

Reunions

• Eraserheads
• Far
• Love and Rockets
• No Doubt
• Spacehog
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Sixpence None the Richer

Albums

• Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
• Bauhaus – Go Away White
• Beck – Modern Guilt
• Bloc Party – Intimacy
• The Breeders – Mountain Battles
• British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
• Cage the Elephant – Cage the Elephant
• Carolina Liar – Coming to Terms
• Cat Power – Jukebox
• The Charlatans – You Cross My Path
• Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
• The Cure – 4:13 Dream
• Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
• Deerhunter – Microcastle
• Deerhunter – Weird Era Cont.
• Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
• Filter – Anthems for the Damned
• Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
• Glasvegas – Glasvegas
• Jack's Mannequin – The Glass Passenger
• The Killers – Day & Age
• Kings of Leon – Only by the Night (breakthrough)
• The Kooks – Konk
• Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of the Understatement
• Local H – Twelve Angry Months
• Mercury Rev – Snowflake Midnight
• MGMT – Oracular Spectacular (breakthrough)
• Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling
• Muse – HAARP
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
• Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I–IV
• Nine Inch Nails – The Slip
• Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul
• The Offspring – Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
• Panic! at the Disco – Pretty. Odd.
• Portugal. The Man – Censored Colors
• Primal Scream – Beautiful Future
• The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
• The Rasmus – Black Roses
• Ratatat – LP3
• R.E.M. – Accelerate
• Sixpence None The Richer - The Dawn of Grace
• Seven Mary Three – Day & Nightdriving
• Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
• Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha
• Toadies – No Deliverance
• Travis – Ode to J. Smith
• TV on the Radio – Dear Science
• Seven Mary Three – Day & Nightdriving
• The Smashing Pumpkins – American Gothic EP
• Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (breakthrough)
• The Verve – Forth
• The Vines – Melodia
• The Wedding Present – El Rey
• Weezer – Weezer
• Wire – Object 47

Events

• Thirteen years after his disappearance, Manic Street Preachers' Richard James Edwards is officially declared dead in absentia in November.
• After two solo albums, Gwen Stefani reunites with No Doubt to begin songwriting and subsequent tour in 2009.
• After six years since they disbanded, Eraserheads performs again in one stage in their Reunion Concert held in The Fort, Taguig City Metro Manila. But after 15 songs, the concert was cut short when Lead Vocalist Ely Buendia was rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
• Scott Weiland leaves Velvet Revolver to reunite with Stone Temple Pilots for a reunion tour starting in 2008, and a new album in 2010.
• John Frusciante leaves Red Hot Chili Peppers a second time.
• Nine Inch Nails releases Ghosts I-IV and The Slip under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license.

2009

Bands formed

• Atoms for Peace
• Beady Eye
• Broken Bells
• Django Django
• Echosmith
• Foster the People
• Grouplove
• Highly Suspect
• New Politics
• Them Crooked Vultures
• The Dead Weather
• X Ambassadors
• Twenty One Pilots

Disbandments

• Dirty Pretty Things
• Fall Out Boy
• Oasis
• Shudder to Think (second disbandment)
• Silver Jews
• The Verve (third disbandment)
• Violent Femmes

Reunions

• blink-182
• Blur
• Guano Apes
• Hole
• Skunk Anansie
• Sunny Day Real Estate (second reunion)

Albums

• 30 Seconds to Mars – This Is War
• 311 – Uplifter
• Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue
• Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
• Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
• Atlas Sound – Logos
• Billy Talent – Billy Talent III
• The Bravery – Stir the Blood
• Built to Spill – There Is No Enemy
• Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
• CKY – Carver City
• Graham Coxon – The Spinning Top
• The Dead Weather – Horehound
• Default – Comes and Goes
• Depeche Mode – Sounds of the Universe
• Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
• Doves – Kingdom of Rust
• Echo & the Bunnymen – The Fountain
• Editors – In This Light and on This Evening
• The Enemy – Music for the People
• Franz Ferdinand – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
• Girls – Album
• Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
• The Horrors – Primary Colours
• Jet – Shaka Rock
• Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young
• The Lemonheads – Varshons
• Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
• Meat Puppets – Sewn Together
• Morrissey – Years of Refusal
• Muse – The Resistance
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
• Paramore – Brand New Eyes
• Passion Pit – Manners
• Pearl Jam – Backspacer
• Placebo – Battle for the Sun
• Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist
• Powderfinger – Golden Rule
• Silversun Pickups – Swoon
• Sonic Youth – The Eternal
• Sparklehorse – Dark Night of the Soul (With Danger Mouse)
• St. Vincent – Actor
• Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years
• Switchfoot – Hello Hurricane
• Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
• Three Days Grace – Life Starts Now
• Twenty One Pilots – Twenty One Pilots
• U2 – No Line on the Horizon
• The Verve Pipe – A Family Album
• Thursday – Common Existence
• Weezer – Raditude
• White Lies – To Lose My Life...
• Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
• The xx – xx
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz!

Events

• Alice in Chains releases their first studio album in 14 years with new lead singer William DuVall.
• Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor declares that the band is done with touring for the foreseeable future.
• American Idiot, the musical featuring songs by Green Day, premiers at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California on September 4, 2009. The story was written by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and director Michael Mayer.[1]

2010s

2010

Bands formed

• Bastille
• Cults
• Howler
• Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
• The Vaccines
• Wolf Alice

Disbandments

• Far (second disbandment)
• Supergrass
• Sparklehorse

Reunions

• Bush
• Faith No More
• Guided by Voices
• The Libertines
• Pavement
• Soundgarden
• Suede

Albums

• !!! – Strange Weather, Isn't It?
• Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
• The Black Keys – Brothers (breakthrough)
• The Bluetones – A New Athens
• The Charlatans – Who We Touch
• Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
• The Drums – The Drums
• Far – At Night We Live
• Feeder – Renegades
• Filter – The Trouble with Angels
• Girls – Broken Dreams Club EP
• Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
• Helmet – Seeing Eye Dog
• Hole – Nobody's Daughter
• Interpol – Interpol
• Jimmy Eat World – Invented
• Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown
• Klaxons – Surfing the Void
• Kula Shaker – Pilgrims Progress
• Linkin Park – A Thousand Suns
• LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
• Manic Street Preachers – Postcards from a Young Man
• MGMT – Congratulations
• Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life
• My Chemical Romance – Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
• The National – High Violet
• Neon Trees – Habits
• New Politics – New Politics
• Ocean Colour Scene – Saturday
• Portugal. The Man – American Ghetto
• Ratatat – LP4
• Sleigh Bells – Treats
• Soundgarden;- Telephantasm
• Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots
• Toadies – Feeler
• Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
• Vampire Weekend – Contra
• Weezer – Death to False Metal
• Weezer – Hurley

Events

• Stone Temple Pilots release their first album in nine years after reuniting.
• Soundgarden reforms and is one of the headliners at Lollapalooza.
• American Idiot, the musical featuring songs by Green Day, opens in New York on Broadway at the St. James Theatre.[2]

2011

Bands formed

• Distortion Mirrors
• Drenge
• Savages

Disbandments

• R.E.M.
• The White Stripes
• Thursday

Reunions

• Archers of Loaf
• Pulp
• The Stone Roses
• Endless Bob Brown

Albums

• Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
• Atlas Sound – Parallax
• The Black Keys – El Camino
• Beady Eye – Different Gear, Still Speeding
• Björk – Biophilia
• blink-182 – Neighbourhoods
• Bright Eyes – The People's Key
• Bush – The Sea of Memories
• Cake – Showroom of Compassion
• Cage the Elephant – Thank You, Happy Birthday
• Carolina Liar – Wild Blessed Freedom
• Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto
• Cults – Cults
• The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
• The Drums – Portamento
• Eisley – The Valley
• Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys!
• Evanescence – Evanescence
• Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
• Foster the People – Torches (breakthrough)
• Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes
• Friendly Fires – Pala
• Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
• Gorillaz – The Fall
• Guano Apes – Bel Air
• Hard-Fi – Killer Sounds
• The Horrors – Skying
• Incubus – If Not Now, When?
• Jane's Addiction – The Great Escape Artist
• Jónsi – Go
• Kaiser Chiefs – The Future Is Medieval
• Kasabian – Velociraptor!
• The Kooks – Junk of the Heart
• Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
• Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong
• Panic! at the Disco – Vices & Virtues
• PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
• Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain in the Cloud
• Primus – Green Naugahyde
• Radiohead – The King of Limbs
• The Rapture – In the Grace of Your Love
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – I'm with You
• R.E.M. – Collapse into Now
• Social Distortion – Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
• St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
• The Strokes – Angles
• Switchfoot – Vice Verses
• They Might Be Giants – Join Us
• Thursday – No Devolución
• Tonight Alive – What Are You So Scared Of?
• TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
• The Vines – Future Primitive
• Twenty One Pilots – Regional at Best
• White Lies – Ritual
• Wire – Red Barked Tree
• Yellowcard – When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes

Events

• Mike Starr, former bassist of Alice in Chains, dies of an overdose on March 8.
• Arcade Fire wins the Album of the Year award at the Grammy Awards.
• Thirty Seconds to Mars set a Guinness World Record for the most shows played during a single album cycle.
• Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth separate after 27 years of marriage. Consequently, the band itself goes on hiatus.

2012

Bands formed

• Bad Suns
• Elektric Orbit
• Black spectrum
• Nothing But Thieves
• Vinyl Theatre

Disbandments

• Jet

Reunions

• Codeine

Deaths

• Mitch Lucker, lead singer of metal band Suicide Silence, after a motorcycle accident at Huntington Beach, California

Albums

• Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
• Animal Collective – Centipede Hz
• Beach House – Bloom
• Billy Talent – Dead Silence
• Bloc Party – Four
• Butt Nothings – Attack on Memory
• Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet on Sky
• Django Django - Django Django
• Everclear - Invisible Stars
• Graham Coxon – A+E
• The Enemy – Streets in the Sky
• Feeder – Generation Freakshow
• Garbage – Not Your Kind of People
• Green Day – ¡Uno!
• Green Day – ¡Dos!
• Green Day – ¡Tre!
• Guided by Voices – Let's Go Eat the Factory
• Howler – America Give Up
• Imagine Dragons – Night Visions
• The Killers – Battle Born
• Linkin Park – Living Things
• Lotus Plaza – Spooky Action at a Distance
• Muse – The 2nd Law
• No Doubt – Push and Shove
• The Offspring – Days Go By
• Rocket Juice & the Moon – Rocket Juice & the Moon
• Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania
• Soundgarden – King Animal
• Soul Asylum – Delayed Reaction
• Tame Impala – Lonerism
• Three Days Grace – Transit of Venus
• The Wedding Present – Valentina
• Walk the Moon – Walk the Moon

2013

Bands formed

• Fickle Friends
• Hippo Campus
• Royal Blood
• Smallpools
• Starset

Events

• On February 3, 2013, My Bloody Valentine releases "m b v", their third title, and first album since their 22-year-long hiatus began in 1991.
• Sonic Youth disbands, with the separation of Moore and Gordon's marriage.
• Nine Inch Nails returns on tour in February, supporting the new album "Hesitation Marks".

Disbandments

• My Chemical Romance
• Elektric Orbit
• Lostprophets
• Sonic Youth

Deaths

• Lou Reed, founder of Velvet Underground, and frequent collaborator with Alt Rock acts.
• Chi Cheng, Deftones bassist after nearly 5 years of medical complications from an automotive collision.

Reunions

• Elektric Orbit
• Fall Out Boy

Albums

• !!! – Thr!!!er
• 30 Seconds to Mars – Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams
• The 1975 – The 1975
• A Day to Remember – Common Courtesy
• AFI – Burials
• Alice in Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
• Arcade Fire – Reflektor
• Arctic Monkeys – AM
• Barenaked Ladies – Grinning Streak
• Bastille – Bad Blood
• Bosnian Rainbows – Bosnian Rainbows
• Biffy Clyro – Opposites
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Specter at the Feast
• Blue October – Sway
• British Sea Power – Machineries of Joy
• Cage The Elephant – Melophobia
• The Courteeners – Anna
• Depeche Mode – Delta Machine
• Echosmith – Talking Dreams
• Eels – Wonderful, Glorious
• Fall Out Boy – Save Rock And Roll
• Foals – Holy Fire
• Filter – The Sun Comes Out Tonight
• Franz Ferdinand – Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
• Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse
• Jim James – Regions of Light and Sound of God
• Jimmy Eat World – Damage
• Johnny Marr – The Messenger
• The Joy Formidable – Wolf's Law
• Kings of Leon – Mechanical Bull
• Local Natives – Hummingbird
• Manic Street Preachers – Rewind the Film
• MGMT – MGMT
• My Bloody Valentine – MBV
• The National – Trouble Will Find Me
• New Order – Lost Sirens
• New Politics – A Bad Girl in Harlem
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
• Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks
• Panic! At the Disco – Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!
• Palma Violets – 180
• Paramore – Paramore
• Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt
• Placebo – Loud Like Love
• Portugal. The Man – Evil Friends
• Primal Scream – More Light
• Queens of the Stone Age – ...Like Clockwork
• The Red Paintings – The Revolution Is Never Coming
• Savages – Silence Yourself
• Stereophonics – Graffiti on the Train
• The Strokes – Comedown Machine
• Suede – Bloodsports
• Three Days Grace – Transit of Venus
• Tonight Alive – The Other Side
• Travis – Where You Stand
• Twenty One Pilots – Vessel
• Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City
• Wavves – Afraid of Heights
• White Lies – Big TV
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mosquito
• Yo La Tengo – Fade
• Youth Lagoon – Wondrous Bughouse

2014

Bands formed

• Flor
• No Devotion
• Pale Waves

Reunions

• Slowdive
• The Libertines
• Ride

Albums

• 311 – Stereolithic
• Anberlin – Lowborn
• Bad Suns – Language & Perspective
• Beck – Morning Phase
• The Black Keys – Turn Blue
• Broken Bells – After the Disco (breakthrough)
• Bush – Man on the Run
• Coldplay – Ghost Stories
• Dirty Heads – Sound of Change
• Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything
• Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways
• Foster the People – Supermodel
• The Fray – Helios
• The Horrors – Luminous
• Interpol – El Pintor
• Jack White – Lazaretto
• Kaiser Chiefs – Education, Education, Education and War
• Linkin Park – The Hunting Party
• Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business
• Pixies – Indie Cindy
• The Presidents of the United States of America – Kudos to You!
• The Pretty Reckless – Going to Hell (breakthrough)
• Royal Blood – Royal Blood (breakthrough)
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Monuments to an Elegy
• Spoon – They Want My Soul
• Starset – Transmissions (breakthrough)
• Switchfoot – Fading West
• Thurston Moore – The Best Day
• TV on the Radio – Seeds
• U2 – Songs of Innocence
• Vinyl Theatre – Electrogram
• Walk the Moon – Talking Is Hard
• Warpaint – Warpaint
• Weezer – Everything Will Be Alright in the End
• Young the Giant – Mind Over Matter (breakthrough)

2015

Disbandments

• Klaxons

Events

• In November 2015, Foo Fighters announce an open-ended hiatus after releasing the EP, Saint Cecilia.

Reunions

• The Bluetones

Deaths

• Scott Weiland, former vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots dies on December 3.

Albums

• Ash – Kablammo!
• Björk – Vulnicura
• Blur – The Magic Whip
• Cage the Elephant – Tell Me I'm Pretty
• The Charlatans – Modern Nature
• Coldplay – A Head Full of Dreams
• Collective Soul – See What You Started by Continuing
• Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
• Don Broco – Automatic
• Editors – In Dream
• Faith No More – Sol Invictus
• Fall Out Boy – American Beauty/American Psycho
• Franz Ferdinand and Sparks – FFS
• Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors
• The Libertines – Anthems for Doomed Youth
• Lifehouse – Out of the Wasteland
• Melanie Martinez – Cry Baby
• Modest Mouse – Strangers to Ourselves
• Mumford & Sons – Wilder Mind
• Muse – Drones
• New Order – Music Complete
• No Devotion – Permanence
• Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Chasing Yesterday
• Nothing But Thieves – Nothing But Thieves
• Ratatat – Magnifique
• Ryn Weaver – The Fool
• Silversun Pickups – Better Nature
• Sleater-Kinney – No Cities to Love
• Smallpools – Lovetap!
• Stereophonics – Keep the Village Alive
• Tame Impala – Currents
• Third Eye Blind – Dopamine
• Three Days Grace – Human
• Twenty One Pilots – Blurryface
• Wolf Alice – My Love Is Cool

2016

Reunions

• At the Drive-In
• Thursday
• The Number Twelve Looks Like You

Deaths

• David Bowie dies on January 10 due to liver cancer, just two days after the release of his final album, ★.

Albums

• The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It
• Animal Collective – Painting With
• Bad Suns – Disappear Here
• Bastille – Wild World
• Billy Talent – Afraid of Heights
• Blink-182 – California
• Dinosaur Jr. – Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
• Garbage – Strange Little Birds
• Green Day – Revolution Radio
• Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues
• Kings Of Leon – Walls
• Nine Inch Nails – Not the Actual Events EP
• Panic! at the Disco – Death of a Bachelor
• Pixies – Head Carrier
• Primal Scream – Chaosmosis
• Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (breakthrough)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Getaway
• Soul Asylum – Change of Fortune
• Suede – Night Thoughts
• Sum 41 – 13 Voices
• Young the Giant – Home of the Strange
• Weezer – Weezer
• White Lies – Friends

2017

Deaths

• Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave hangs himself on May 18.
• Chester Bennington of Linkin Park hangs himself on July 20.

Albums

• 311 – Mosaic
• All Time Low – Last Young Renegade
• AFI – AFI
• Barenaked Ladies – Fake Nudes
• Beck – Colors
• Björk – Utopia
• CKY – The Phoenix
• Coldplay – Kaleidoscope EP
• Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice
• William Patrick Corgan – Ogilala
• The Cranberries – Something Else
• Depeche Mode – Spirit
• Dishwalla – Juniper Road
• Elbow – Little Fictions
• Foo Fighters – Concrete and Gold
• Hippo Campus – Landmark
• Imagine Dragons – Evolve
• Incubus – 8
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Damage and Joy
• The Killers – Wonderful Wonderful
• LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
• Linkin Park – One More Light
• Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Who Built the Moon?
• Nine Inch Nails – Add Violence EP
• Nothing But Thieves – Broken Machine
• Paramore – After Laughter
• Portugal. The Man – Woodstock
• Queens of the Stone Age – Villains
• Ride – Weather Diaries
• Royal Blood – How Did We Get So Dark?
• Slowdive – Slowdive
• Sparks – Hippopotamus
• Starset – Vessels
• Stereophonics – Scream Above the Sounds
• U2 – Songs of Experience
• Vinyl Theatre – Origami
• Walk the Moon – What If Nothing
• Weezer – Pacific Daydream
• Wolf Alice – Visions of a Life
• The xx – I See You

2018

Deaths

• Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries dies by accidental drowning on January 15.

Albums

• A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant
• Alice in Chains – Rainier Fog
• Animal Collective – Tangerine Reef
• Belly – DOVE
• Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
• Editors – Violence
• Guided by Voices – Space Gun
• Imagine Dragons – Origins
• Interpol – Marauder
• Jack White – Boarding House Reach
• Johnny Marr – Call the Comet
• Fall Out Boy – Mania
• Franz Ferdinand – Always Ascending
• Gorillaz – The Now Now
• Manic Street Preachers – Resistance Is Futile
• MGMT – Little Dark Age
• Mt. Joy – Mt. Joy
• Mumford & Sons – Delta
• Muse – Simulation Theory
• Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch
• Panic! at the Disco – Pray for the Wicked
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.
• Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots
• Suede – The Blue Hour
• They Might Be Giants – I Like Fun
• Three Days Grace – Outsider
• Twenty One Pilots – Trench
• The Vaccines – Combat Sports

2019

Albums

• Cage The Elephant – Social Cues
• Coldplay – Everyday Life
• Depth Charger – Hands
• The Raconteurs – Help Us Stranger
• Weezer – Weezer (Black Album)
• Weezer – Weezer (Teal Album)
• White Lies – Five

References

This article "Timeline of alternative rock" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Timeline of alternative rock. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• Lazer (music)
• Timeline of heavy metal and hard rock music
• Alternative rock
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