College rock

College rock was the alternative rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream rock played on commercial radio stations.

Music

The bands of this category combined the experimentation of post-punk and new wave with a more melodic pop style and an underground sensibility. It is not necessarily a genre term, but there do exist some common aesthetics among college rock bands. Artists such as R.E.M., U2, The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Camper Van Beethoven, The Smiths, XTC, and The Replacements became some of the better-known examples in the mid 1980s.

Overview

By 1988, some college rock artists had begun to gain mainstream recognition with several having singles reach Top 40 portion of the Billboard Hot 100. Among these were The Church, whose single "Under the Milky Way" peaked at #26,Midnight Oil, who reached #17 with their single "Beds Are Burning" and Love and Rockets, whose single "So Alive" peaked at #3 in 1989. Also by 1988, R.E.M. had become popular on mainstream pop radio due to the success of their singles "The One I Love" and "Stand".