College Rock Essentials

Apple Music Alternative

Colleges and universities have traditionally been hotbeds for countercultural activity, and in the early-‘80s post-punk era, campus radio stations emerged as crucial megaphones for promoting a groundswell of DIY bands that had little hope of cracking Top 40 playlists. Initially, the term “college rock” was as much about the medium as the music, but by the mid-’80s, it had come to symbolise a strain of alternative rock that reflected a certain grad-student personality: well-read but underfed, deceptively tidy in appearance but combative in spirit. Thanks to the cryptic musings of R.E.M., the ramshackle romanticism of The Replacements and the cheeky sing-alongs of They Might Be Giants, college rock was the Trojan Horse knocking on the doors to the mainstream later bulldozed by the ’90s alternative revolution.
Camper Van Beethoven
Take the Skinheads Bowling
Camper Van Beethoven
Telephone Free Landslide Victory
The Go-Betweens
Head Full of Steam (Remastered)
The Go-Betweens
Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express (Remastered)
Hüsker Dü
Makes No Sense At All
Hüsker Dü
Flip Your Wig
R.E.M.
Talk About the Passion
R.E.M.
Murmur
They Might Be Giants
Birdhouse In Your Soul
They Might Be Giants
Flood
Pixies
Debaser
Pixies
Doolittle
New Order
Age of Consent
New Order
Power, Corruption & Lies
Galaxie 500
Blue Thunder
Galaxie 500
On Fire
The Cure
Just Like Heaven
The Cure
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Prefab Sprout
Bonny
Prefab Sprout
Steve McQueen (Remastered)
Violent Femmes
Blister In The Sun
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Just Like Honey (Demo Version)
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Psychocandy (Expanded Version)
Dinosaur Jr.
Freak Scene
Dinosaur Jr.
Bug
Meat Puppets
Up On the Sun
Meat Puppets
Up On the Sun
Bauhaus
In the Flat Field
Bauhaus
In the Flat Field
The Smiths
This Charming Man
The Smiths
The Smiths
The La's
There She Goes
The La's
The La's (Remastered) [Bonus Track Version]
The Replacements
Bastards of Young
The Replacements
Tim (Expanded Edition)
The Breeders
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
The Breeders
Pod
The Psychedelic Furs
Pretty In Pink
The Psychedelic Furs
Midnight to Midnight
10,000 Maniacs
Like the Weather
10,000 Maniacs
In My Tribe
Sonic Youth
Teen Age Riot
Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation (Remastered)
Midnight Oil
Read About It
Midnight Oil
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Dear Prudence
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Hyaena (Remastered and Expanded)
Buffalo Tom
Birdbrain
Buffalo Tom
Birdbrain
Hoodoo Gurus
Like Wow - Wipeout! (2005 Remaster)
Hoodoo Gurus
Mars Needs Guitars!
The Sugarcubes
Birthday
The Sugarcubes
Life's Too Good
The Pogues
Dirty Old Town
The Pogues
Rum Sodomy & the Lash (Expanded Version)
XTC
Dear God
XTC
Skylarking (Remastered)
The Chills
Pink Frost
The Chills
Kaleidoscope World
Soul Asylum
Cartoon
Soul Asylum
Hang Time
INXS
Don't Change
INXS
Shabooh Shoobah ((Remastered))
Cowboy Junkies
Sweet Jane
Cowboy Junkies
The Trinity Session
The Housemartins
Happy Hour
The Housemartins
London 0 Hull 4
Public Image Ltd.
This Is Not a Love Song
Public Image Ltd.
This Is What You Want ... This Is What You Get (Remastered)
Cocteau Twins
Lorelei
Cocteau Twins
Treasure
The Lemonheads
Luka
The Lemonheads
Lick (Deluxe)
The Dream Syndicate
That's What You Always Say
The Dream Syndicate
The Days of Wine And Roses
Fugazi
Suggestion
Fugazi
13 Songs
The Dead Milkmen
Punk Rock Girl
The Dead Milkmen
Beelzebubba
This Mortal Coil
Song to the Siren
This Mortal Coil
It'll End in Tears (Remastered)
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
Perfect Skin
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
Rattlesnakes (Deluxe Edition)
The Feelies
Let's Go
The Feelies
The Good Earth
R.E.M.
Radio Free Europe
R.E.M.
Murmur
Aztec Camera
Oblivious
Aztec Camera
High Land, Hard Rain (Expanded)
The Smithereens
A Girl Like You
The Smithereens
11
Orange Juice
Falling and Laughing
Orange Juice
You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
Love and Rockets
Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)
Love and Rockets
Express
Great Plains
Letter to a Fanzine
Great Plains
Length of Growth (1981-1989)
Pylon
Cool (Extra)
Pylon
Cool / Dub - Single
Echo & The Bunnymen
The Back of Love
Echo & The Bunnymen
Porcupine
The Clean
Anything Could Happen
The Clean
Compilation
Dinosaur Jr.
Repulsion
Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur
The Fall
Cruiser's Creek (Single Version Remastered)
The Fall
This Nation’s Saving Grace (Expanded Edition)
Mission of Burma
Academy Fight Song
Mission of Burma
Signals, Calls and Marches
The Cure
Inbetween Days
The Cure
The Head On the Door (Deluxe Edition)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Yertle the Turtle
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Freaky Styley
The Godfathers
Birth, School, Work, Death
The Godfathers
Birth, School, Work, Death (Expanded Edition)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Deanna [2010 Remastered Edition]
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Tender Prey (2010 Remastered Edition)
Sonic Youth
Schizophrenia
Sonic Youth
Sister
Pixies
Where Is My Mind?
Pixies
Surfer Rosa (Remastered)
Fishbone
Party At Ground Zero
Fishbone
Fishbone - EP
Hüsker Dü
Could You Be the One?
Hüsker Dü
Warehouse: Songs and Stories
The dB's
Black and White (Don Dixon Mix)
The dB's
I Thought You Wanted to Know: 1978-1981
The Jesus and Mary Chain
April Skies
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Darklands (Expanded Version)
Galaxie 500
Tugboat
Galaxie 500
Today
Sinéad O'Connor
Mandinka
Sinéad O'Connor
Lion and the Cobra
They Might Be Giants
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
They Might Be Giants
Flood
Wire
Ahead
Wire
The Ideal Copy
New Order
Bizarre Love Triangle
New Order
Brotherhood
Camper Van Beethoven
The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon
Camper Van Beethoven
Telephone Free Landslide Victory
The Replacements
Sixteen Blue
The Replacements
Let It Be (Expanded Edition)
The House of Love
Shine On
The House of Love
House of Love
Prefab Sprout
When Love Breaks Down
Prefab Sprout
Steve McQueen (Remastered)
XTC
The Mayor of Simpleton
XTC
Oranges & Lemons
The The
This Is the Day
The The
Soul Mining
Violent Femmes
Add It Up
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
Meat Puppets
Confusion Fog
Meat Puppets
Mirage
The Smiths
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want
The Smiths
Louder Than Bombs
The Connells
Something To Say
The Connells
Fun & Games
Robyn Hitchcock & Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
Balloon Man
Robyn Hitchcock & Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
Chronolology (The Very Best of Robyn Hitchcock)
Miracle Legion
All for the Best
Miracle Legion
Surprise Surprise Surprise
Throwing Muses
Not Too Soon
Throwing Muses
The Real Ramona
Julian Cope
World Shut Your Mouth
Julian Cope
Julian Cope: The Collection
The Pogues
Sally MacLennane
The Pogues
Rum Sodomy & the Lash (Expanded Version)
Guadalcanal Diary
Litany (Life Goes On)
Guadalcanal Diary
2X4
R.E.M.
Can't Get There from Here (Remastered)
R.E.M.
Fables of the Reconstruction (Deluxe Edition)
Midnight Oil
Power and the Passion
Midnight Oil
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
The Psychedelic Furs
Love My Way
The Psychedelic Furs
Forever Now
Butthole Surfers
I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas
Butthole Surfers
Hairway to Steven
The Go-Betweens
Streets of Your Town (Remastered)
The Go-Betweens
16 Lovers Lane (Remastered)
Cocteau Twins
Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops
Cocteau Twins
Stars and Topsoil: A Collection (1982-1990)
The Mighty Lemon Drops
Inside Out
The Mighty Lemon Drops
World Without End
Game Theory
24
Game Theory
Real Nighttime
The Church
Under the Milky Way
The Church
Starfish (Deluxe Edition)
The Primitives
Crash
The Primitives
Lovely
The Green Pajamas
Kim the Waitress
The Green Pajamas
Indian Winter
97 Songs, 6 Hours, 6 Minutes

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