Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. The name "alternative" was coined in the 1980s to describe punk rock-inspired bands on independent record labels that didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time. As a specific genre of music, alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the indie music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, indie rock, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.

Though the genre is considered to be rock, some of its subgenres are influenced by folk music, reggae, electronic music and jazz among other genres. At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk), and, ironically, for rock music in general in the 1990s and 2000s.

"Alternative rock" is essentially an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of the punk rock movement since the mid 1980s. Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth. As such, there is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although common traits among many alternative bands and subgenres include distorted or jangly guitars. Sounds range from the dirty guitars of grunge and the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock, to the guitar pop revivalism of Britpop and the shambling innocence of twee pop, to name just a few examples. Lyrics in alternative rock songs typically address topics of greater social concern, such as drug use, depression, and environmentalism, an approach that developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Alternative music styles: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock | Alternative Dance | Alternative Metal | Alternative Pop/Rock | American Punk | Avant-Prog | British Punk | Electro-Industrial | Emo | Experimental | Explicit content | Funk Metal | Funk Rock | Garage Punk | Hardcore Punk | Hatecore | Industrial | Industrial Dance (EBM) | Industrial Drum'n'Bass | Industrial Metal | Interview | Lo-Fi | Neo-Psychedelia | No Wave | Oi! | Poetry/Soundbook | Post-Grunge | Post-Hardcore | Post-Punk | Post-Rock/Experimental | Proto-Punk | Psychedelic | Psychobilly | Punk | Punk Metal | Punk Revival | Rap Metal | Rap Rock | Ska Revival | Ska-Punk | Skatepunk | Tribute Albums | Underground |

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