before the genre got its official name, the idealogy of creating a new different style of rock was see, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s the musical style - college rock, named after its prominence on college radio, emerged as an alternative and trendy sound.

eventually, the name of the genre changed, mainly because of its uniqueness and differences from the mainstream or familiar music, which caused dj's on radio stations to categorize it as alternative music.