Alternative dance

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Alternative dance is a term used for the genre of music combining elements of dance-pop (or other forms of electronic house or techno) and alternative rock genres such as indie pop. Alternative dance music is typically predominantly electronic, with programmed beats from drum machines or sampled drum loops and sequenced synthesizer melodies, and thus musically very similar to commercial dance-pop. The indie element is most prevalent in the songwriting; unlike much dance music, alternative dance typically contains lyrics, and, as in indie pop or indie rock, these are often more thematically complex and/or less polished than those of commercial pop.

The seeds of alternative dance were sown when New Order, inspired by Kraftwerk and the New York club scene, started combining sequenced electronic elements with their brand of icy post-punk and often enigmatic lyrics. (Their best-selling single, "Blue Monday," is a prime example of this.) Other Manchester bands, such as the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays continued the tradition of combining traditionally guitar-based indie music with electronic instrumentation and production; this culminated in the Madchester scene. The later records of PiL are also a prime example of alternative dance.

Alternative dance gained in popularity after the Second Summer of Love, when the sounds of Acid House music had filtered through to and influenced the sounds of chart pop. Various people from an indie background soon adapted the equipment and techniques of dance-pop, combining it with a more astute and less populistic songwriting sensibility. Well-known examples of this movement include Saint Etienne and Dubstar. Modern bands inspired by the Alternative Dance music scene include The Rapture and Tom Vek.

As both the financial costs and levels of musical virtuosity required to make passable-sounding electronic music drop under the influence of technological improvements, and people who grew up listening to electronic pop take up music, the electronic style epitomised by alternative dance is increasingly becoming the mainstream of independent music, with the once dominant guitar-based form of pop that dominated low-budget independent recordings now becoming just another subgenre.

[edit] Alternative Dance as an umbrella term

The terms Alternative Dance and 'Alt-Dance' are sometimes used as an umbrella term for any non-mainstream electronic dance music, including various styles and genres. It can be used as a broad phrase which encompasses rarely used terms such as alternative trance and alternative house.