Recommended hard rock and heavy metal

Recommended Western alternative rock bands that connect to the modern rock scene

Live Spot LugHiroyasu Hirata
I’m Hiroyasu Hirata from Live Spot RAG. When I was 15, I was blown away by how cool music—especially rock—was, and I started playing guitar and formed a band. I’m from Kochi Prefecture, where there weren’t many live houses or concert venues, so there were few opportunities to experience live music. Back then, our sources of information were magazines, CDs, and even VHS tapes (!?). Still, I was captivated by the sparkle of music, and I spent my days enjoying guitar and music, mostly neglecting my studies. I moved to Kyoto for university and “graduated” from the light music club, so to speak (laugh). Until then, I mainly listened to Japanese rock and Western hard rock, but thanks to seniors and peers I learned there was so much more music in the world. Now I listen to anything that strikes me as good, regardless of genre. After graduating, I joined RAG. After about six years in the office and about ten years in the music studio, I now work at the long-established Live Spot RAG, which has been around for 39 years, mainly handling promotions. Being exposed to the “real music” performed by Japan’s top musicians and delivering it to our audience lets me feel the brilliance of music anew every day. I still play guitar and keep a band going casually, and in recent years I’ve even started singing—better late than never. I’ve fully become an old guy by now, but I hope we can continue to chase “what lies beyond the dreams I painted with music back then” together.

In the 1980s, rock music gained a vast audience, and at the same time a mainstream industry took shape.

Meanwhile, as various genres emerged and branched out, the media introduced a category defined as “rock that didn’t fit the existing mold”: alternative rock.

This time, while tracing the roots of alternative rock, we’re also focusing on the musicians who went on to lead the scene.

Be sure to check it out.

Top 10 recommended alternative rock bands from overseas that connect to the modern rock scene

Serve The ServantsNirvana

Nirvana – Serve The Servants (Live On “Tunnel”, Rome, Italy/1994) (Official Music Video)

Serve The ServantsNirvana

This is the opening track of In Utero, the final album by Nirvana, the band that disbanded following Kurt Cobain’s suicide.

The album seems to reject the worldwide success of its predecessor, Nevermind, and yearn for a return to the underground; fittingly, this song begins abruptly with dissonance.

Produced by Steve Albini, In Utero features a hard, raw sound.

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Suck My KissRed Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Suck My Kiss [Official Music Video]

Suck My KissRed Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1992 release, the insanely high-energy alternative rock number “Suck My Kiss.” With its pretty intense sound and lyrics, it stands out in 1992—a year when many other bands leaned toward introspective, slow-tempo, slightly delicate sounds.

This track is downright aggressive, showcases impressive musicianship, and follows a somewhat different lineage from other popular bands.

As a band, RHCP have incredible longevity, crossing multiple generations.

Even amid the fiercely competitive ’90s, this is a standout classic that truly shines.

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Give It AwayRed Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away [Official Music Video]

Give It AwayRed Hot Chili Peppers

A very famous song that was also released as a single from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ fifth album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

With Flea’s snarling, ultra-thick bass tone and John Frusciante’s funky playing that makes effective use of a wah pedal—earning him comparisons to a “white Jimi Hendrix”—it’s a track that’s bound to get anyone fired up.

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Recommended Western alternative rock bands (11–20) that connect to the modern rock scene

WaterfallThe Stone Roses

The Stone Roses – Waterfall (with lyrics) HQ

WaterfallThe Stone Roses

The Stone Roses reunited in 2011 and, in 2016, released their first new songs in 22 years.

This track is from their 1989 debut album.

Featuring guitarist John Squire’s soft, sometimes distorted, waterfall-like sound that seems to emit “negative ions,” the song encapsulates the band’s signature style.

Incidentally, if you reverse-play and rearrange this track, you get their song “Don’t Stop.”

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TodayThe Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins – Today

TodayThe Smashing Pumpkins

When it comes to quintessential American alternative rock of the ’90s, The Smashing Pumpkins are surely the first name that comes to mind.

They debuted in the midst of the grunge boom sparked by Nirvana, and then rose to prominence with their second album, Siamese Dream.

Their signature song on that album is Today—a slow rock number whose thick, distorted guitar sound somehow also conveys a sense of beauty, resulting in a fresh, exhilarating listening experience.

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Been There All The TimeDinosaur Jr.

Been There All The Time – Dinosaur Jr.

Been There All The TimeDinosaur Jr.

This is a track from Dinosaur Jr.

’s eighth album, with the band having held court in the alternative scene since the ’80s.

Rather than the gritty earthiness heard in the past, the sound here evokes a refreshing sense of youth.

The song also has a music video featuring cameo appearances by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and his daughter, Coco.

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Silver RocketSonic youth

SILVER ROCKET (Sonic Youth)

Silver RocketSonic youth

This is a track from the landmark ’90s album Daydream Nation.

Among Sonic Youth’s songs, it maintains a relatively traditional rock structure, but it has a striking arrangement where all the members unleash noise during the development section and then return to the original song.

It’s really cool.

My Bloody Valentine’s track You Made Me Realise uses the same structure, showing how greatly the band influenced those that followed.

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