Impact From the first episode,Ally McBealcaught
the attention of young, professional people, women
in particular. With her quick wit, vulnerability, and
yearning for romance, Ally was someone to admire.
Audiences did not want to be like her emotionally,
but they did aspire to her wardrobe and her income.
Further Reading
Jefferson, Margo. “You Want to Slap Ally McBeal,
But Do You Like Her?”The New York Times, March
18, 1998, p. E2.
Start, Steven D. “Lady’s Night.”The New Republic,De-
cember 29, 1997, 13-14.
Marcia B. Dinneen
See also Chick lit;Friends; Television;Sex and the
City; Women in the workforce.
Alternative rock
Definition A musical genre that professed
dissatisfaction with the commercialism that
pervaded the music industry
During the 1990’s, bands that were dismayed by the shal-
lowness of the mainstream music industr y took it upon
themselves to produce a more gritty and purposeful form of
music that gained prominence among teenagers and college
students. While the popularity of alternative rock lasted for
merely a few years, its impact was felt into the twenty-first
centur y.
While “alternative” rock had its beginnings in the
1980’s with such bands as R.E.M., Sonic Youth, the
Smiths, the Cure, Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili
Peppers, the Replacements, and others, it did not
become hugely popular until the 1990’s. While the
various loosely grouped bands came from several
musical roots, they all had a rebellious fervor that
bonded them together. Whether their roots were in
country, punk, heavy metal, or rock music, they pre-
sented themselves as more independent and adven-
turous instruments of change. The one unifying fac-
tor that linked them all was their disdain for and
mistrust of the commercialism that permeated the
music industry. While each of these musical acts at-
tempted to remain true to their ideals, it became dif-
ficult for several of them as one alternative band af-
ter another became immensely popular. Success for
bands such as Nirvana became a double-edged
sword and, unfortunately, led to tragic endings that
could not have been imagined.
Laying the Groundwork The rebellious spirit that
pushed most of the alternative acts can be traced
back to the punk era of the 1970’s. Alternative bands
took inspiration from such authentic and forceful
musicians as the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash,
Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Joe Jackson, and oth-
ers. The musicians who took their lead from the in-
your-face approach of the punk movement focused
on remaining as honest as possible in their music.
Shallow and simplistic approaches to music did not
interest the true alternative band. The roots of rock
music were certainly antiestablishment, and these
new bands believed wholeheartedly in not compro-
mising their principles merely to please the industry.
Grunge Rises to the Surface In the early 1990’s,
one of the most important subgenres of alternativeThe Nineties in America Alternative rock 29
Billy Corgan, lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins.(Hulton
Archive/Getty Images)