By 1993, Alternative Rock, that dumbest of musical labels -- second only to what it was called before that: "New Music" -- became as natural and accepted as any music that got measured airplay and wasn't aimed at the lowest common denominator could become. It was still a big improvement over the 1980s when the music was COMPLETELY IGNORED in mainstream markets.

The awkwardly labeled "Generation X" (no thanks!) never had the numbers to kick the baby-boomers out of power, but it didn't help that many from the youthful ranks were still listening to the boring-est ends of "classic rock" and those with a clue had no interest in standing up and being counted and all that nonsense.

But with the success of Nirvana and the subsequent rush jobs of Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Hard Rock disguised as Alternative Rock was on its way to dominating the vernacular. But that didn't mean some cool stuff didn't sneak past the gatekeepers!

Today, The Breeders are out there touring Last Splash!

Photo: Evening Standard/Getty ImagesSports, the 10x Platinum album from the unusually straight and athlete-conscious Huey Lewis and the News band, is receiving an accountant-friendly '30th Anniversary Edition' to celebrate the album's 30th birthday. The original album will be remastered and a second CD of live versions of the songs is said to be included in this now-common exploitation come-on where record labels try to rectify their short-sightedness with modern music by convincing old music fans to simply buy their old albums yet again!

Kids today think music should be free, man. But you bought the album! You bought the CD! You bought the 1999 expanded edition! It's my hope that this new reissue will feature that awful super-hot remastered sound that has fans at audio discussion boards fuming over other reissues. But as someone who never bought the album in the first place, I'll just have to wait and read what the label did for this new reissue!

While in the past I pulled out all the good stuff that was often lost in

Minor Threat [Photo: Malco23]Note: I'd like to dedicate this column to Sean Ison, a friend and fellow writer who shared music and his thoughts with me on a regular basis. Sean was just about to set me straight on Johnny Thunders and I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say. Best of all, we could disagree on things and still understand and respect where each other was coming from. It's with heavy heart that I say goodbye to my friend. Save me a seat, Sean. We'll catch up one day and compare notes once again.

Punk rock -- soon to be, if not already, post-punk -- soldiered on into the 1980s. Hardcore sped things up to the speed of light and made the funny, sarcastic, brilliant lyrics sound like one long yell into the abyss. If you didn't sit home and memorize the lyric sheet -- on your own time!!! -- then you were just left to slamdance as long as your young, stupid body allowed and know in your heart that you were standing up for something surely righteous.

To go along with the new youth movement, there were the weird offshoots from old punks who kept their names in the ring by releasing something and while there's a good chance that I'm overrating a few things, it's also likely that so is everyone else. Punk rock was provincial and the alternative scene was as much what you heard as what existed. The network was up and running but the glitches were fatal for some groups. Who knows how hard they rocked in the outskirts of Lawrence, Kansas.