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Echt made a kind of music that is/was known in the States as 'adult alternative', with artists like the Goo Goo Dolls, Sarah McLachlan, Ben Folds and Dave Matthews. As allmusic writes:

allmusic

What ties adult alternative pop/rock together is a sense of maturity: it's essentially mainstream, pop/rock-based music of the '90s that appeals to a more refined, mellowed-out adult sensibility, intentionally or otherwise. The rock & rollers tended to be more laid-back, prizing songcraft and good vibes above visceral energy, and the others -- especially the singer/songwriters -- made music for thoughtful contemplation. At its worst, adult alternative pop/rock was a superficial approximation of the substance in its alt-rock inspirations -- often because of performers' assumptions about what constituted maturity. Anxious to make music that was pretty and likable, some artists wound up inoffensive to the point of blandness; others self-consciously tried to sound "deep," resulting in forced melancholia and heaps of overwrought, amateurish poetry.

I do like some of the music, but I don't care much for adult alternative production - mellowed out distorted guitar rock mixed with some electronics put on as an afterthought. It seems to have died down a bit in the US, but the style is still going strong in Germany. Juli and Silbermond are other examples.

The Ich+Ich track is really terrible. 'I've been waiting so long for the one moment, I am on the lookout for 100 percent'. I mean. There's bland. And then there's bland. This kind of forced rhyming is normally reserved for Schlager songs.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 04:11:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That may be the worst genre name ever. How bloody old would listening to "adult alternative" make you feel?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 04:14:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'd guess it's not a marketing term, more that some of the Mark Penn like categorisations the industry makes for its formats get picked up and used by the press.
by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 04:38:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well I'd like an alternative to being adult. (that doesn't involve pine boxes, or intense heat)

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 04:53:31 PM EST
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Juli and Silbermond are other examples.

So much so that I always failed to separate those two. In Echt's case, it appears 'adult alternative' is entirely appropiate to describe their efforts to get away from the not at all adult beginnings (e.g. Wir haben's getan = we did it)...

This kind of forced rhyming is normally reserved for Schlager songs.

Didn't notice - for such songs, I have automatic lyrics filter on :-)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 04:45:17 PM EST
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