Editing Alternative rock (section)

=== Indie rock ===
[[File:Pavement, the band, in Tokyo.jpg|thumb|[[Indie rock]] band [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]] in 1993]]
{{Main|Indie rock}}
Long synonymous with alternative rock as a whole in the U.S., [[indie rock]] became a distinct form following the popular breakthrough of Nirvana.<ref name="allmusic indie rock" /> Indie rock was formulated as a rejection of alternative rock's absorption into the mainstream by artists who could not or refused to cross over, and a wariness of its "macho" aesthetic. While indie rock artists share the punk rock distrust of commercialism, the genre does not entirely define itself against that, as "the general assumption is that it's virtually impossible to make indie rock's varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes in the first place".<ref name="allmusic indie rock">{{cite web | url={{AllMusic|class=style|id=indie-rock-ma0000004453|pure_url=yes}} | title=Indie Rock | access-date=August 2, 2009 | website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>

Labels such as [[Matador Records]], [[Merge Records]], and [[Dischord Records|Dischord]], and indie rockers like [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]], [[Superchunk]], [[Fugazi (band)|Fugazi]], and [[Sleater-Kinney]] dominated the American [[Indie music scene|indie scene]] for most of the 1990s.{{sfn|Azerrad|2001|pp=495–497}} One of the main indie rock movements of the 1990s was [[slacker rock|lo-fi]]. The movement, which focused on the recording and distribution of music on low-quality [[cassette tapes]], initially emerged in the 1980s. By 1992, Pavement, [[Guided by Voices]] and [[Sebadoh]] became popular lo-fi cult acts in the United States, while subsequently artists like [[Beck]] and [[Liz Phair]] brought the aesthetic to mainstream audiences.<ref name="allmusic lofi">{{cite web | url={{AllMusic|class=style|id=lo-fi-ma0000002701|pure_url=yes}} | title=Lo-Fi | access-date=August 2, 2009 | website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> The period also saw alternative confessional female singer-songwriters. Besides the aforementioned Liz Phair, [[PJ Harvey]] fit into this sub group.<ref>Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. [{{BillboardURLbyName|artist=pj harvey|bio=true}} "PJ Harvey Biography"]. Billboard.com. Retrieved July 20, 2012.</ref>

In the mid-1990s, [[Sunny Day Real Estate]] defined the [[emo]] genre. [[Weezer]]'s album ''[[Pinkerton (album)|Pinkerton]]'' (1996) was also influential.<ref name="Allmusicemo" />