Alternative Dance
Alternative dance, abbreviated as alt dance and also known as or closely related to indie dance?, is a broad genre of rock music from within the alternative rock? movement which combines traditional rock songwriting and instrumentation (guitars, drums) with electronic? instrumentation (synthesizers, samplers, drum machines) and rhythms or production drawn from various club? music genres. It is one of the most prominent forms of electronic rock?, dance rock?, and post-disco? music, though its prevalence is not well-recognised.
The earliest genre known as "alternative dance" was the club-influenced/oriented post-punk sound pioneered by New Order? during the early 1980s? New Pop? era, known by some measures at the time as "techno rock?" or "electro rock?", using the terms "techno?" and "electro?" in their early broad usages for any manner of futuristic or alien and electronic-forward recordings. In part inspired by the early dance-punk? movement in New York City?, New Order incorporated elements of punk-funk?, electro-disco?, synthpop?, and early EDM? like house? across several successful LPs and singles to establish this early form of the genre as a cultural force, along with newer acts like Big Audio Dynamite? and Chakk?. Alternative dance remained a strong undercurrent through the 1980s British indie? scene, blossoming into the baggy? and Madchester? movements by the end of the decade.
The funky? grooves of baggy and its incorporation of breakbeats?, alongside grebo?'s incorporation of hard-hitting hip hop? rhythms, marked the transformation of alternative dance into the dominant form it would take for the 1990s?.