[ardy42]

>> It's any music that wasn't played on pop stations

> Not sure about the US but in the early to mid-1990s MTV Europe was playing groups like Nirvana or Soundgarden in heavy rotation, all day, it was glorious.

I was a bit too young and didn't have cable back then to see for myself, but my understanding was MTV in the US played a lot of alternative rock in that time period, too. Those bands even set the fashion trends for a time (e.g. flannel, and lots of it).

Where I grew up, there were basically three radio stations teenagers listened too: one "pop" station that played the stuff in this list, and two contemporary rock stations that played the rock and alternative music that was omitted from this list.