The Rainwater LP

Alternative is an umbrella term for non-mainstream popular music that grew out of independent and college-radio scenes. It emphasizes artistic autonomy, eclectic influences, and a willingness to subvert commercial formulas.

Alternative rock is a broad umbrella for guitar-based rock that emerged from the independent and college-radio scenes as a counterpoint to mainstream, commercial rock.

Indie rock is a subgenre of rock and a branch of alternative rock that coalesced in the early–mid 1980s around independent labels and DIY practices in the United Kingdom, the United States, and New Zealand.