Mainstream - in Music

In Music

Mainstream music denotes music that is familiar and unthreatening to the masses, as for example popular music, pop music, middle of the road music, pop rap or pop rock; Mainstream jazz is generally seen as an evolution of be-bop, which was originally regarded as radical.

Opposing mainstream music is the music of subcultures. This exists in virtually all genres of music and is found commonly in punk rock, indie rock, alternative/underground hip hop, anti-folk and heavy metal, among others. In the 1960s this music was exemplified by the music of the hippie counterculture.

Punk rock has distinguished itself from other non-mainstream genres by self-asserting an active anti-mainstream social movement that resists commercialism and corporate control. The punk subculture generally frowns upon major label bands that play punk music that disavows the DIY punk ethic, and views them as synonymous with mainstream music. Several anti-corporate and not-for-profit forms of alternative protest have surfaced in the punk underground, such as self-made publications known as zines, where there is greater freedom to discuss controversial (usually far left) political issues such as discrimination, LGBT community issues, feminism, antitheism, and veganism. These principles have also been adopted to a certain extent also in heavy metal and alternative hip hop cultures, amongst others, but not to the same degree as punk.