Orville Lee : Alternative after 1996 should be any music that is an alternative to the mainstream. That's what Nirvana and grunge rock started out as being but by 1996 you couldn't get more mainstream than Nirvana (who ceased to exist)Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. Pearl Jam is probably more alternative now since they are farther away from the mainstream than ever before. When I think of alternative I think about Bjorks new album, PJ Harvey, The Flaming Lips, and Wilco. Music loses alternative cred not only based on sales but when the mainstream moves towards the music. After Nirvana everyone wrote songs about loneliness and isolation and played power chords. Everyone sounded like Eddie Vedder after Pearl Jam hit it big and so on. Alternative music after 1996 is music the record companies don't stuff down our gullets (Like bling bling rappers and Linkin Park) but musicians the public is willing to work a little harder in discovering for themselves.