Most Gen X alt-rock purists, if we were still as young and anti-establishment as some of us were in 1991, would now call 1991 the year that alt-rock sold out, our personal favorite bands became too mainstream, and our peers across the country and world were simply jumping on the cool bandwagon that we established with our Sub Pop Singles Club memberships, flannel shirts, goatees, piercings, and penchant for dark sounding yet often times lyrically uplifting music. Most Gen X alt-rock purists, all grown up and approaching or already into middle age, now call 1991 the year that we forever left our musical mark on the landscape and ushered in the last “new rock/cultural revolution” that we will, as a species, most likely ever see. It is just too improbable that one musical movement, or one cultural mindset (one set on change and individuality) will ever spread and change the collective unconscious as the music and events of 1991 did. Now, with the incredibly splintering power of the internet, a mass cultural movement like the one inspired by the music and Cultural Revolution of 1991 is highly unlikely. It really doesn’t seem possible that a meme based on a specific musical style and the look inspired by its most culturally recognized region will ever have as much mass appeal and affect as the grunge/alt rock movement did.
