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".
The CMJ New Music Report was both a publication that reported on the scene and created a chart that measured popularity of artists played on college radio. The journal's charts were used by Rolling Stone magazine and other media. In September 1988, Billboard introduced the Modern Rock Tracks chart which monitored airplay on so-called "modern rock" and college radio stations. Several college rock artists were highly successful on the chart during its first few years in existence.
By the 1990s, the use of the term "college rock" for this style of music was largely replaced with the terms "alternative" and "indie rock". Many 1980s college radio music directors went on to have successful careers in the mainstream American music industry.
Read more about this topic: College Rock