It wasn't just the royal family that was damaged by Diana's death 10 years ago; it also marked the beginning of the end for alternative music.

 

I was really looking forward to Monday, September 1, 1997. Xfm, a radio station devoted to "alternative music" was due to begin its first day of unrestricted broadcasting in London. One of the key DJs was to be Gary Crowley who, before jumping ship from GLR, had made very encouraging noises about a band I was helping to manage. At the very least, a good dose of snotty-nosed feedback was just what we needed after the banal platitudes that had marked the media's output the previous day. Here at least we'd be able to avoid any hint of maudlin sentimentality. Surely the spiritual heirs of the Sex Pistols and the Smiths wouldn't be mourning the death of a princess.

 

At midday, Crowley began his show, solemnly dedicating the first day's programming to the beloved memory of ...

 

It was all over. Any sense that alternative music still had the capability to stick two fingers up to the social consensus, to express the views of alienated outsiders and those who felt their perspectives were never voiced in the mainstream media, evaporated at that moment. The glum howl of grunge, the abrasive sarcasm that characterised the best of Britpop, were swamped by a torrent of earnest, touchy-feely niceness. The likes of Coldplay were just around the corner.

 

None of this came out of the blue. Only a few months before Diana's death, Radiohead had released OK Computer, the latest landmark in a journey that began with Nirvana's Nevermind in 1991, and continued with groundbreaking releases from REM and Oasis, blurring the boundaries between "alternative" and "mainstream" and leading the music of shambling wallflowers to the centre of the room. Where, under Crowley's moist-eyed gaze, it was bludgeoned to death. Meanwhile, Oasis began dedicating Live Forever to Diana's memory.

 

Some would argue that Diana was as much an outsider and a revolutionary as Lydon or Cobain or Morrissey were, notwithstanding her musical tastes. But the concert that celebrated her memory this summer showcased the brave new world of indie rock that Xfm brought us. The Feeling, anyone? Orson? And the Xfm awards are now sponsored by Topman. Phew, rock'n'roll, eh?

 

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she's up there on a slate-grey cloud with Peelie and Wilson, arguing about Mighty Lemon Drops B-sides. But I can't help thinking that any sense of rock music as rebellion, as some kind of "other", perished in a tunnel in Paris. As Morrissey once trilled, in one of the many songs banned from Xfm (on grounds of taste and sensitivity) in the days following Diana's death:

 

"And in the darkened underpass

I thought, Oh God, my chance has come at last ..."

 

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tim_footman/2007/08/the_day_the_music_died.html

Replace "Music" with "Diana" and you got the story spot on.

Am I raving or is this article truly self-centered ? I don't understand how one can compare Lady D's death to his own little disappointing...

 

And if you listen to The Mars Volta, you'll know alternative music is not dead (yet, at least).