title: Alternative rock

text: In 1987, "Spin" magazine categorized college rock band Camper Van Beethoven as "alternative/indie", noting that their 1985 song "Where the Hell Is Bill" (from "Telephone Free Landslide Victory") "called out the alternative/independent scene and dryly tore it apart." David Lowery, then frontman of Camper Van Beethoven, later recalled: "I remember first seeing that word applied to us... The nearest I could figure is that we seemed like a punk band, but we were playing pop music, so they made up this word "alternative" for those of us who do that." DJs and promoters during the 1980s claim the term originates from American FM radio of the 1970s, which served as a progressive alternative to top 40 radio formats by featuring longer songs and giving DJs more freedom in song selection. According to one former DJ and promoter, "Somehow this term 'alternative' got rediscovered and heisted by college radio people during the 80s who applied it to new post-punk, indie, or underground-whatever music."


title: Alternative rock

text: At first the term referred to intentionally non-mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by "heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave" and "high-energy dance anthems". Usage of the term would broaden to include new wave, pop, punk rock, post-punk, and occasionally "college"/"indie" rock, all found on the American "commercial alternative" radio stations of the time such as Los Angeles' KROQ-FM. Journalist Jim Gerr wrote that "Alternative" also encompassed variants such as "rap, trash, metal and industrial". The bill of the first Lollapalooza, an itinerant festival in North America conceived by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, reunited "disparate elements of the alternative rock community" including Henry Rollins, Butthole Surfers, Ice-T, Nine Inch Nails, Siouxsie and the Banshees (as second headliners) and Jane's Addiction (as the headlining act). Covering for MTV the opening date of Lollapalooza in Phoenix in July 1991, Dave Kendall introduced the report saying the festival presented the "most diverse lineups of alternative rock". That summer, Farrell had coined the term "Alternative Nation".


title: Alternative rock

text: In December 1991, "Spin" magazine noted: "this year, for the first time, it became resoundingly clear that what has formerly been considered "alternative rock"—a college-centered marketing group with fairly lucrative, if limited, potential—has in fact moved into the mainstream."


title: Alternative rock

text: In the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. In 1997, Neil Strauss of "The New York Times" defined alternative rock as "hard-edged rock distinguished by brittle, '70s-inspired guitar riffing and singers agonizing over their problems until they take on epic proportions."


title: Alternative rock

text: Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word. "Alternative" can describe music that challenges the status quo and that is "fiercely iconoclastic, anticommercial, and antimainstream", and the term is also used in the music industry to denote "the choices available to consumers via record stores, radio, cable television, and the Internet." However alternative music has paradoxically become just as commercial and marketable as the mainstream rock, with record companies using the term "alternative" to market music to an audience that mainstream rock does not reach. Using a broad definition of the genre, Dave Thompson in his book "Alternative Rock" cites the formation of the Sex Pistols as well as the release of the albums "Horses" by Patti Smith and "Metal Machine Music" by Lou Reed as three key events that gave birth to alternative rock. Until the early 2000s, when indie rock became the most common term in the US to describe modern pop and rock, the terms "indie rock" and "alternative rock" were often used interchangeably; whilst there are aspects which both genres have in common, "indie rock" was regarded as a British-based term, unlike the more American "alternative rock".


title: Alternative rock

text: The name "alternative rock" essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture, although this could be contested ever since some of the major alternative artists have achieved mainstream success or co-opted with the major labels from the 1990s onward (especially since the new millennium and beyond). Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth. As such, there is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although "The New York Times" in 1989 asserted that the genre is "guitar music first of all, with guitars that blast out power chords, pick out chiming riffs, buzz with fuzztone and squeal in feedback." More often than in other rock-styles since the mainstreaming of rock music during the 1970s, alternative rock lyrics tend to address topics of social concern, such as drug use, depression, suicide, and environmentalism. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s.


title: Alternative rock

text: A precursor to alternative rock existed in the 1960s with the proto-punk scene. The origins of alternative rock can be traced back to "The Velvet Underground & Nico" (1967) by the Velvet Underground, which influenced many alternative rock bands that would come after it. Eccentric and quirky figures of the 1960s, such as Syd Barrett have influence on alternative rock in general.


title: Alternative rock

text: The Dead Kennedys formed the independent record label Alternative Tentacles in 1979, releasing influential underground music such as the 1983 self-titled EP from the Butthole Surfers. By 1984, a majority of groups signed to indie labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a sharp break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years.


title: Alternative rock

text: Throughout the 1980s, alternative rock remained mainly an underground phenomenon. While on occasion a song would become a commercial hit or albums would receive critical praise in mainstream publications like "Rolling Stone", alternative rock in the 1980s was primarily featured on independent record labels, fanzines, and college radio stations. Alternative bands built underground followings by touring constantly and by regularly releasing low-budget albums. In the case of the United States, new bands would form in the wake of previous bands, which created an extensive underground circuit in America, filled with different scenes in various parts of the country. College radio formed an essential part of breaking new alternative music. In the mid-1980s, college station KCPR in San Luis Obispo, California, described in a DJ handbook the tension between popular and "cutting edge" songs as played on "alternative radio".


title: Alternative rock

text: Although American alternative artists of the 1980s never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on later alternative musicians and laid the groundwork for their success. On September 10, 1988, an Alternative Songs chart was created by "Billboard", listing the 40 most-played songs on alternative and modern rock radio stations in the US: the first number one was Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Peek-a-Boo". By 1989 the genre had become popular enough that a package tour featuring New Order, Public Image Limited and the Sugarcubes toured the United States arena circuit.


title: Alternative rock

text: In contrast, British alternative rock was distinguished from that of the United States early on by a more pop-oriented focus (marked by an equal emphasis on albums and singles, as well as greater openness to incorporating elements of dance and club culture) and a lyrical emphasis on specifically British concerns. As a result, few British alternative bands have achieved commercial success in the US. Since the 1980s alternative rock has been played extensively on the radio in the UK, particularly by disc jockeys such as John Peel (who championed alternative music on BBC Radio 1), Richard Skinner, and Annie Nightingale. Artists that had cult followings in the United States received greater exposure through British national radio and the weekly music press, and many alternative bands had chart success there.


title: Alternative rock

text: Early American alternative bands such as the Dream Syndicate, the Bongos, 10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M., the Feelies and Violent Femmes combined punk influences with folk music and mainstream music influences. R.E.M. was the most immediately successful; their debut album, "Murmur" (1983), entered the Top 40 and spawned a number of jangle pop followers. One of the many jangle pop scenes of the early 1980s, Los Angeles' Paisley Underground revived the sounds of the 1960s, incorporating psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and the guitar interplay of folk rock as well as punk and underground influences such as the Velvet Underground.


title: Alternative rock

text: American indie record labels SST Records, Twin/Tone Records, Touch and Go Records, and Dischord Records presided over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. Minneapolis bands Hüsker Dü and the Replacements were indicative of this shift. Both started out as punk rock bands, but soon diversified their sounds and became more melodic. Michael Azerrad asserted that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and the more melodic, diverse music of college rock that emerged. Azerrad wrote, "Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren't antithetical." The band also set an example by being the first group from the American indie scene to sign to a major record label, which helped establish college rock as "a viable commercial enterprise". By focusing on heartfelt songwriting and wordplay instead of political concerns, the Replacements upended a number of underground scene conventions; Azerrad noted that "along with R.E.M., they were one of the few underground bands that mainstream people liked."


title: Alternative rock

text: By the late 1980s, the American alternative scene was dominated by styles ranging from quirky alternative pop (They Might Be Giants and Camper Van Beethoven), to noise rock (Sonic Youth, Big Black, the Jesus Lizard) and industrial rock (Ministry, Nine Inch Nails). These sounds were in turn followed by the advent of Boston's Pixies and Los Angeles' Jane's Addiction. Around the same time, the grunge subgenre emerged in Seattle, Washington, initially referred to as "The Seattle Sound" until its rise to popularity in the early 1990s. Grunge featured a sludgy, murky guitar sound that syncretized heavy metal and punk rock. Promoted largely by Seattle indie label Sub Pop, grunge bands were noted for their thrift store fashion which favored flannel shirts and combat boots suited to the local weather. Early grunge bands Soundgarden and Mudhoney found critical acclaim in the U.S. and UK, respectively.


title: Alternative rock

text: By the end of the decade, a number of alternative bands began to sign to major labels. While early major label signings Hüsker Dü and the Replacements had little success, acts who signed with majors in their wake such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction achieved gold and platinum records, setting the stage for alternative's later breakthrough. Some bands such as Pixies had massive success overseas while they were ignored domestically.


title: Alternative rock

text: In the middle of the decade, Hüsker Dü's album "Zen Arcade" influenced other hardcore acts by tackling personal issues. Out of Washington, D.C.'s hardcore scene what was called "emocore" or, later, "emo" emerged and was noted for its lyrics which delved into emotional, very personal subject matter (vocalists sometimes cried) and added free association poetry and a confessional tone. Rites of Spring has been described as the first "emo" band. Former Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye founded Dischord Records which became the center for the city's emo scene.


title: Alternative rock

text: Gothic rock developed out of late-1970s British post-punk. With a reputation as the "darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock", gothic rock utilizes a synthesizer-and-guitar based sound drawn from post-punk to construct "foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes", and the subgenre's lyrics often address literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and supernatural mysticism. Bands of this subgenre took inspiration from two British post-punk groups, Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Bauhaus' debut single "Bela Lugosi's Dead", released in 1979, is considered to be the proper beginning of the gothic rock subgenre. The Cure's "oppressively dispirited" albums including "Pornography" (1982) cemented that group's stature in that style and laid the foundation for its large cult following.


title: Alternative rock

text: The key British alternative rock band to emerge during the 1980s was Manchester's the Smiths. Music journalist Simon Reynolds singled out the Smiths and their American contemporaries R.E.M. as "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day", commenting that they "were eighties bands only in the sense of being "against" the eighties". The Smiths exerted an influence over the British indie scene through the end of the decade, as various bands drew from singer Morrissey's English-centered lyrical topics and guitarist Johnny Marr's jangly guitar-playing style. The "C86" cassette, a 1986 "NME" premium featuring Primal Scream, the Wedding Present and others, was a major influence on the development of indie pop and the British indie scene as a whole.


title: Alternative rock

text: Other forms of alternative rock developed in the UK during the 1980s. the Jesus and Mary Chain's sound combined the Velvet Underground's "melancholy noise" with Beach Boys pop melodies and Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" production, while New Order emerged from the demise of post-punk band Joy Division and experimented with disco and dance music. The Mary Chain, along with Dinosaur Jr., C86 and the dream pop of Cocteau Twins, were the formative influences for the shoegazing movement of the late 1980s. Named for the band members' tendency to stare at their feet and guitar effects pedals onstage rather than interact with the audience, shoegazing acts like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive created an overwhelmingly loud "wash of sound" that obscured vocals and melodies with long, droning riffs, distortion, and feedback. Shoegazing bands dominated the British music press at the end of the decade along with the Madchester scene. Performing for the most part in the Haçienda, a nightclub in Manchester owned by New Order and Factory Records, Madchester bands such as Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses mixed acid house dance rhythms with melodic guitar pop.


title: Alternative rock

text: By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was enticed by alternative rock's commercial possibilities and major labels had already signed Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dinosaur Jr. In early 1991, R.E.M. went mainstream worldwide with "Out of Time" while becoming a blueprint for many alternative bands. The first edition of the Lollapalooza festival became the most successful tour in North America in July and August 1991. For Dave Grohl of Nirvana who caught it near Los Angeles in an open-air amphitheater, "it felt like something was happening, that was the beginning of it all". The tour helped change the mentalities in the music industry: "by that fall, radio and MTV and music had changed. I really think that if it weren’t for Perry [Farrell], if it weren’t for "Lollapalooza", you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation right now".


title: Alternative rock

text: The release of the Nirvana's single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in September 1991 "marked the instigation of the grunge music phenomenon". Helped by constant airplay of the song's music video on MTV, their album "Nevermind" was selling 400,000 copies a week by Christmas 1991. Its success surprised the music industry. "Nevermind" not only popularized grunge, but also established "the cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general." Michael Azerrad asserted that "Nevermind" symbolized "a sea-change in rock music" in which the hair metal that had dominated rock music at that time fell out of favor in the face of music that was authentic and culturally relevant. The breakthrough success of Nirvana led to the widespread popularization of alternative rock in the 1990s. It heralded a "new openness to alternative rock" among commercial radio stations, opening doors for heavier alternative bands in particular. In the wake of "Nevermind", alternative rock "found itself dragged-kicking and screaming ... into the mainstream" and record companies, confused by the genre's success yet eager to capitalize on it, scrambled to sign bands. "The New York Times" declared in 1993, "Alternative rock doesn't seem so alternative anymore. Every major label has a handful of guitar-driven bands in shapeless shirts and threadbare jeans, bands with bad posture and good riffs who cultivate the oblique and the evasive, who conceal catchy tunes with noise and hide craftsmanship behind nonchalance." However, many alternative rock artists rejected success, for it conflicted with the rebellious, DIY ethic the genre had espoused before mainstream exposure and their ideas of artistic authenticity.


title: Alternative rock

text: Other grunge bands subsequently replicated Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam had released its debut album "Ten" a month before "Nevermind" in 1991, but album sales only picked up a year later. By the second half of 1992 "Ten" became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on the "Billboard" 200 album chart. Soundgarden's album "Badmotorfinger", Alice in Chains' "Dirt" and Stone Temple Pilots' "Core" along with the "Temple of the Dog" album collaboration featuring members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were also among the 100 top-selling albums of 1992. The popular breakthrough of these grunge bands prompted "Rolling Stone" to nickname Seattle "the new Liverpool". Major record labels signed most of the prominent grunge bands in Seattle, while a second influx of bands moved to the city in hopes of success.


title: Alternative rock

text: At the same time, critics asserted that advertising was co-opting elements of grunge and turning it into a fad. "Entertainment Weekly" commented in a 1993 article, "There hasn't been this kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the '60s." "The New York Times" compared the "grunging of America" to the mass-marketing of punk rock, disco, and hip hop in previous years. As a result of the genre's popularity, a backlash against grunge developed in Seattle. Nirvana's follow-up album "In Utero" (1993) was an intentionally abrasive album that Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic described as a "wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record." Nevertheless, upon its release in September 1993 "In Utero" topped the "Billboard" charts. Pearl Jam also continued to perform well commercially with its second album, "Vs." (1993), which topped the "Billboard" charts by selling a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release.


title: Alternative rock

text: With the decline of the Madchester scene and the unglamorousness of shoegazing, the tide of grunge from America dominated the British alternative scene and music press in the early 1990s. As a reaction, a flurry of British bands emerged that wished to "get rid of grunge" and "declare war on America", taking the public and native music press by storm. Dubbed "Britpop" by the media, this movement represented by Pulp, Blur, Suede, and Oasis was the British equivalent of the grunge explosion, in that the artists propelled alternative rock to the top of the charts in their home country. Britpop bands were influenced by and displayed reverence for British guitar music of the past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion, glam rock, and punk rock. In 1995 the Britpop phenomenon culminated in a rivalry between its two chief groups, Oasis and Blur, symbolized by their release of competing singles on the same day. Blur won "The Battle of Britpop", but Oasis soon eclipsed the other band in popularity with their second album, "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" (1995), which went on to become the third best-selling album in the UK's history.


title: Alternative rock

text: Long synonymous with alternative rock as a whole in the US, indie rock became a distinct form following the popular breakthrough of Nirvana. Indie rock was formulated as a rejection of alternative rock's absorption into the mainstream by artists who could not or refused to cross over, and a wariness of its "macho" aesthetic. While indie rock artists share the punk rock distrust of commercialism, the genre does not entirely define itself against that, as "the general assumption is that it's virtually impossible to make indie rock's varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes in the first place".


title: Alternative rock

text: Labels such as Matador Records, Merge Records, and Dischord, and indie rockers like Pavement, Superchunk, Fugazi, and Sleater-Kinney dominated the American indie scene for most of the 1990s. One of the main indie rock movements of the 1990s was lo-fi. The movement, which focused on the recording and distribution of music on low-quality cassette tapes, initially emerged in the 1980s. By 1992, Pavement, Guided by Voices and Sebadoh became popular lo-fi cult acts in the United States, while subsequently artists like Beck and Liz Phair brought the aesthetic to mainstream audiences. The period also saw alternative confessional female singer-songwriters. Besides the aforementioned Liz Phair, PJ Harvey fit into this sub group.


title: Alternative rock

text: During the latter half of the 1990s, grunge was supplanted by post-grunge. Many post-grunge bands lacked the underground roots of grunge and were largely influenced by what grunge had become, namely "a wildly popular form of inward-looking, serious-minded hard rock."; many post-grunge bands emulated the sound and style of grunge, "but not necessarily the individual idiosyncracies of its original artists." Post-grunge was a more commercially viable genre that tempered the distorted guitars of grunge with polished, radio-ready production. Originally, post-grunge was a label used almost pejoratively on bands that emerged when grunge was mainstream and emulated the grunge sound. The label suggested that bands labelled as post-grunge were simply musically derivative, or a cynical response to an "authentic" rock movement. Bush, Candlebox and Collective Soul were labelled almost pejoratively as post-grunge which, according to Tim Grierson of About.com, is "suggesting that rather than being a musical movement in their own right, they were just a calculated, cynical response to a legitimate stylistic shift in rock music." Post-grunge morphed during the late 1990s as post-grunge bands such as Foo Fighters, Creed and Nickelback emerged.


title: Alternative rock

text: Post-rock was established by Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock" and Slint's "Spiderland" albums, both released in 1991. Post-rock draws influence from a number of genres, including Krautrock, progressive rock, and jazz. The genre subverts or rejects rock conventions, and often incorporates electronic music. While the name of the genre was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds in 1994 referring to "Hex" by the London group Bark Psychosis, the style of the genre was solidified by the release of "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" (1996) by the Chicago group Tortoise. Post-rock became the dominant form of experimental rock music in the 1990s and bands from the genre signed to such labels as Thrill Jockey, Kranky, Drag City, and Too Pure. A related genre, math rock, peaked in the mid-1990s. In comparison to post-rock, math rock relies on more complex time signatures and intertwining phrases. By the end of the decade a backlash had emerged against post-rock due to its "dispassionate intellectuality" and its perceived increasing predictability, but a new wave of post-rock bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Rós emerged who further expanded the genre.


title: Alternative rock

text: In 1993, Smashing Pumpkins album "Siamese Dream" was a major commercial success. The strong influence of heavy metal and progressive rock on the album helped to legitimize alternative rock to mainstream radio programmers and close the gap between alternative rock and the type of rock played on American 1970s Album Oriented Rock radio.


title: Alternative rock

text: In 1995, Smashing Pumpkins also released their double album "Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness" which went on to sell 10 million copies in the US alone, certifying it as a Diamond record.


title: Alternative rock

text: In the mid-1990s, Sunny Day Real Estate defined the emo genre. Weezer's album "Pinkerton" (1996) was also influential.


title: Alternative rock

text: After almost a decade in the underground, ska punk, a mixture of earlier British ska and punk acts, became popular in the United States. Rancid was the first of the "Third Wave Ska Revival" acts to break. In 1996, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, Sublime, Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake and Save Ferris charted or received radio exposure.


title: Alternative rock

text: By the end of the decade, alternative rock's style changed due to a number of events, notably the death of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain in 1994, Pearl Jam's lawsuit against concert venue promoter Ticketmaster (which in effect barred the group from playing many major venues around the United States for an extended period), and Soundgarden's break-up in 1997. In addition to the decline of grunge bands, Britpop faded as Oasis's third album, "Be Here Now" (1997), received lackluster reviews and Blur began to incorporate influences from American alternative rock. A signifier of alternative rock's changes was the hiatus of the Lollapalooza festival after an unsuccessful attempt to find a headliner in 1998. In light of the festival's troubles that year, "Spin" said, "Lollapalooza is as comatose as alternative rock right now".


title: Alternative rock

text: Despite a change in style, alternative rock still managed to be mainstream. Post-grunge remained commercially viable into the start of the 21st century, when bands like Creed and Matchbox Twenty became among the most popular rock bands in the United States. At the same time Britpop began to decline, Radiohead achieved critical acclaim with its third album "OK Computer" (1997), and its follow-ups "Kid A" (2000) and "Amnesiac" (2001), which were in marked contrast with the traditionalism of Britpop. Radiohead, along with post-Britpop groups like Travis and Coldplay, were major forces in British rock in subsequent years.


title: Alternative rock

text: Most references to alternative rock music in the United States past 2010 are to the indie rock genre, a term that previously had limited usage on alternative rock channels and media. Radio stations in the 2010s have been changing formats away from alternative rock, but this is mostly motivated by conglomeration efforts coupled with advertisers seeking more Top 40/Top 100 stations for sales. While there have been conflicting opinions on the relevance of alternative rock to mainstream audiences beyond 2010, Dave Grohl commented on an article from the December 29, 2013 issue of the "New York Daily News" stating that rock is dead: "speak for yourself... rock seems pretty alive to me."


title: Alternative rock

text: By 2000 and on into the new decade, emo was one of the most popular rock music genres. Popular acts included the sales success of "Bleed American" by Jimmy Eat World (2001) and Dashboard Confessional's "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" (2003). The new emo had a much more mainstream sound than in the 1990s and a far greater appeal amongst adolescents than its earlier incarnations. At the same time, use of the term "emo" expanded beyond the musical genre, becoming associated with fashion, a hairstyle and any music that expressed emotion. Emo's mainstream success continued with bands emerging in the 2000s, including multi-platinum acts such as Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance and mainstream groups such as Paramore and Panic! at the Disco.


title: Alternative rock

text: During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several alternative rock bands emerged, including the Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and the Rapture that drew primary inspiration from post-punk and new wave, establishing the post-punk revival movement. Preceded by the success of bands such as the Strokes and the White Stripes earlier in the decade, an influx of new alternative rock bands, including several post-punk revival artists and others such as the Killers, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, found commercial success in the early and mid 2000s. Owing to the success of these bands, "Entertainment Weekly" declared in 2004, "After almost a decade of domination by rap-rock and nu-metal bands, mainstream alt-rock is finally good again." Arctic Monkeys were a prominent act to owe their initial commercial success to the use of Internet social networking, with two UK No. 1 singles and "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (2006), which became the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history.


title: Alternative rock

text: American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers entered a new-found popularity in 1999 after the release of their album "Californication" (1999), with continued success throughout the 2000s. Thirty Seconds to Mars experienced a notable rise in popularity during the latter half of the 2000s.


title: Alternative rock

text: Contemporary mainstream alternative rock bands tend to fuse musical elements of hard rock, electronica, hip-hop, indie, and punk while placing emphasis on keyboards and guitar. In 2010s, British rock band Muse gained a worldwide recognition with their album "The Resistance" and "Drones" which won Grammy Awards. American alternative duo Twenty One Pilots blurs the lines between genres including hip hop, emo, rock, indie pop and reggae and has managed to break numerous records. They became the first alternative act to have two concurrent top five singles in the United States while their fourth studio album "Blurryface" (2015) was the first album in history to have every song receive at least a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Twenty One Pilots also became the first rock act to have a song reach a billion streams on Spotify. Their breakout hit single "Stressed Out" was the twenty-fifth song to achieve the rare feat of at least one billion plays on the streaming platform. The milestone comes at a time when music genres represented on streaming platforms like Spotify are fairly homogeneous, being dominated by genres such as hip hop, EDM, and adult contemporary-styled pop.


title: Alternative rock

text: Alternative pop (or alt-pop) is a term used to describe pop music with broad commercial appeal that is made by figures outside the mainstream, or which is considered more original, challenging, or eclectic than traditional pop music. "The Independent" described alt-pop as "a home-made, personalised imitation of the mainstream that speaks far closer to actual teenage experience," and which is commonly characterized by a dark or downbeat emotional tone with lyrics about insecurity, regret, drugs, and anxiety.


title: Alternative rock

text: According to AllMusic, the alternative scene's “left-of-center pop” failed to experience mainstream success during the 1980s, although the UK alternative pop band Siouxsie and the Banshees saw success in that decade. Canadian singer Avril Lavigne's success in the early 2000s, including her hit single "Sk8r Boi", helped set the stage for a subsequent generation of female alt-pop singers. In the early 2010s, American singer Lana Del Rey developed a "cult-like following" with her "cinematic, beat-heavy alt-pop," which was characterized by an "alluring sadness and melodrama." New Zealand alt-pop singer Lorde achieved global success in 2013 and 2014, topping charts and winning awards. In 2022, American singer Billie Eilish was credited with marking the "ascendence" of alternative pop in the mainstream with her dark, downbeat pop.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the "Red Dead" series and a prequel to the 2010 game "Red Dead Redemption". The story is set in 1899 and follows the exploits of outlaw Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang, in a fictionalized representation of the Western, Midwestern, and Southern United States. Arthur must deal with the decline of the Wild West whilst attempting to survive against government forces, rival gangs, and other adversaries. The game's epilogue follows fellow gang member John Marston, the protagonist of "Red Dead Redemption".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The game is presented through both first and third-person perspectives, and the player may freely roam in its interactive open world. Gameplay elements include shootouts, robberies, hunting, horseback riding, interacting with non-player characters, and maintaining the character's honor rating through moral choices and deeds. A bounty system similar to the "wanted" system from the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise governs the response of law enforcement and bounty hunters to crimes committed by the player. "Red Dead Online", the game's online multiplayer mode, lets up to 32 players engage in a variety of cooperative and competitive game modes.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The game's development lasted over eight years, beginning soon after "Red Dead Redemption"s release, and it became one of the most expensive video games ever made. Rockstar co-opted all of its studios into one large team to facilitate development. They drew influence from real locations as opposed to film or art, focused on creating an accurate reflection of the time with the game's characters and world. The game was Rockstar's first built specifically for eighth generation consoles, having tested their technical capabilities while porting "Grand Theft Auto V" to the platforms. The game's soundtrack features an original score composed by Woody Jackson and several vocal tracks produced by Daniel Lanois. Development included a crunch schedule of 100-hour weeks, leading to reports of mandatory and unpaid overtime.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2" was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2018, and for Windows and Stadia in November 2019. It broke several records and had the second-biggest launch in the history of entertainment, generating in sales from its opening weekend and exceeding the lifetime sales of "Red Dead Redemption" in two weeks. The game received critical acclaim, with praise directed at its story, characters, open world, graphics, music, and level of detail; some criticism was directed at its control scheme and emphasis on realism over player freedom. It won year-end accolades including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications, and is considered an example of video games as an art form as well as one of the greatest video games ever made. It is also among the best-selling video games with over 46million copies shipped.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2" is a Western-themed action-adventure game. Played from a first or third-person perspective, the game is set in an open-world environment featuring a fictionalized version of the Western, Midwestern, and Southern United States in 1899, during the latter half of the Wild West era and the turn of the twentieth century. The game features both single-player and online multiplayer components, the latter released under "Red Dead Online". For most of the game, the player controls outlaw Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang, as he completes numerous missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story; from the game's epilogue, the player controls John Marston, the playable protagonist of the game's predecessor, "Red Dead Redemption". Outside of missions, the player may freely roam the game's interactive world. The player may engage in combat with enemies using melee attacks, firearms, throwables, or explosives. Combat has been refined from the game's predecessor, and notable new mechanics consist of dual-wielding and the ability to use a bow. The player is granted the ability to swim as Arthur, but not as John—a reference to the previous game, where swimming led to instant death.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2"s unexploited land makes up the largest portion of the game world and features diverse landscapes with occasional travelers, bandits, and wildlife. There are urban settlements in the game, ranging from farmhouses to towns and cities. Horses are the main forms of transportation, of which there are various breeds, each with different attributes. The player can steal horses, and must either train or tame a wild horse to use it; to own a horse, the player must saddle or stable it. Increased use of a horse will begin a bonding process, which can be increased by leading, petting, cleaning, and feeding it, and the player will acquire advantages as they ride their horse. Stagecoaches and trains can also be used to travel. The player can hijack an incoming train or stagecoach by threatening the driver or passengers and then rob its contents or the passengers.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The player may also witness or take part in random events encountered from exploring the game world. These include ambushes, crimes committed by other people, pleas for assistance, ride-by shootings, public executions, and animal attacks. For example, as the player explores the Wild West, they can find specific people in distress. If the player decides to help them, they will be thankful and may reward the player if they cross them again. The player may also take part in side-activities, which include small tasks with companions and strangers, dueling, bounty hunting, searching for treasure or other collectibles around the map such as rock carvings, and playing poker, blackjack, dominoes, and five finger filet. Hunting animals also plays a major role in the game, providing food, income, and materials for crafting items. When hunting, the player needs to take into account several factors, including the choice of weapon and shot placement, which affect the quality of the meat and pelt and subsequently the price traders are willing to pay. The player can either skin the animal immediately or carry the carcass, which will rot over time and decrease its value and attract predators.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The game focuses heavily on player choice for the story and missions. Certain moments in the story will give the player the option to accept or decline additional missions and lightly shape the plot around their choices. The player can communicate with any non-player character (NPC) in dynamic ways new to the series. The player can choose different dialogue trees with NPCs, such as having a friendly chat or insulting them. If the player chooses to kill an NPC, they can loot their corpse. "Red Dead Redemption 2" brings back the Honor system from its predecessor by measuring how the player's actions are perceived in terms of morality. Morally positive choices and deeds like helping strangers, abiding the law, and sparing opponents in a duel will add up to the player's Honor. However, negative deeds such as theft and harming innocents will subtract from the player's Honor. The story is influenced by Honor, as the dialogue and outcomes for the player often differ based on their Honor level. Hitting milestones for the player's Honor level will grant unique benefits, such as rewarding the player with special outfits and large discounts in stores. A low Honor level is also beneficial, as the player will receive a greater number of items from looted corpses.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Maintaining Arthur and John is important, as they can undergo conditions that affect their health and stamina attributes. In addition to a health and stamina bar, the player also has cores, which affect the rate at which their health and stamina regenerate. For example, wearing warmer clothes will mean they avoid freezing in a cold environment, but wearing them in a hot environment will result in perspiration. Freezing or overheating will rapidly drain cores. The player can also gain or lose weight depending on how much he eats; an underweight character will have less health but at an increase of stamina, while an overweight character will be able to better absorb damage but will have less stamina. The player can eat and sleep to replenish their cores. The player can bathe to remain clean, and can visit a barber to change hairstyles; hair also grows realistically over time. The game features weapon degradation, with weapons requiring cleaning to maintain their performance. When the player uses a certain type of gun for a long period of time, they become more experienced with it, which improves weapon handling, reduces recoil, and increases the rate of reloading.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Gunfights are an essential mechanic in the game. The player can take cover, free aim, and target a person or animal. Individual body parts can also be targeted to take targets down without killing them. When the player shoots an enemy, the game's AI reactions and movements depend on where they were hit. Weapons consist of pistols, revolvers, repeaters, rifles, shotguns, bows, explosives, lassos, mounted Gatling guns, and melee weapons such as knives and tomahawks. "Red Dead Redemption 2" brings back the trademark mechanic in the franchise: Dead Eye, a targeting system that allows the player to slow down time and mark targets. Once the targeting sequence ends, the player fires to every marked location in a very short space of time. The Dead Eye system upgrades as the player progresses in the game and grants the player more abilities, such as being able to spot the fatal points of their enemies.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The bounty system also returns from "Red Dead Redemption", a crime-governing mechanic inspired by "Grand Theft Auto"s wanted system. When a player commits a crime, witnesses run to the nearest police station to get the law to intervene, and the player needs to stop the witness to avoid repercussions. Once the law is alerted, law enforcers appear and will start investigating. When the player is caught, the Wanted meter appears with a bounty sent on their head. The bounty grows higher as the player commits more crimes, and more lawmen will be sent to hunt them. If the player has committed serious crimes and then manages to escape the law, bounty hunters will be hired to track them down in the wilderness. After committing enough crime, the U.S. Marshals will be sent to the player's location. To escape law enforcement, the player must evade a red circular zone in the map and the wanted meter will slowly deplete. They can alternatively hide from the pursuers or kill them. Whether the player escapes or gets captured, the bounty will remain on their head, lawmen and civilians will be more vigilant, and regions where the crimes have been committed will be on lockdown. When caught by lawmen, the player has the opportunity to surrender if they are unarmed and on foot, though bounty hunters will not accept surrender if the player is known to slip out of apprehension attempts. The player can remove their bounty by paying it off at a post office or by surrendering to law enforcement and spending time in jail.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The world of "Red Dead Redemption 2" spans five fictitious U.S. states. The states of New Hanover, Ambarino, and Lemoyne are new to the series, and are located to the immediate north and east of "Red Dead Redemption"s world, whilst the states of New Austin and West Elizabeth return from "Red Dead Redemption". The states are centered on the San Luis and Lannahechee Rivers and the shores of Flat Iron Lake. Ambarino is a mountain wilderness, with the largest settlement being the Wapiti Native American reservation; New Hanover encompasses a sweeping valley and woody foothills that feature the cattle town of Valentine, the riverside Van Horn Trading Post, and the coal town of Annesburg; and Lemoyne is composed of bayous and plantations resembling the southeastern United States, and is home to the Southern town of Rhodes, the village of Lagras, and the former French colony of Saint Denis, analogous to New Orleans.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: West Elizabeth consists of wide plains, dense forests, and the prosperous port town of Blackwater. This region has been expanded from the original "Red Dead Redemption" with a vast northern portion containing the mountain resort town of Strawberry. New Austin is an arid desert region on the border with Mexico and centered on the frontier towns of Armadillo and Tumbleweed, also featured in the original game. Parts of New Austin and West Elizabeth have been redesigned to reflect the earlier time; for example, Blackwater is still under development, while Armadillo is a ghost town as a result of a cholera outbreak.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The player takes on the role of Arthur Morgan (Roger Clark), a lieutenant and veteran member of the Van der Linde gang. The gang is led by Dutch van der Linde (Benjamin Byron Davis), a charismatic man who extols personal freedom and decries the encroaching march of modern civilization. The gang also includes Dutch's best friend and co-leader Hosea Matthews (Curzon Dobell), "Red Dead Redemption" protagonist John Marston (Rob Wiethoff), his partner Abigail Roberts (Cali Elizabeth Moore) and son Jack Marston (Marissa Buccianti and Ted Sutherland), the lazy Uncle (John O'Creagh and James McBride), gunslingers Bill Williamson (Steve J. Palmer), Javier Escuella (Gabriel Sloyer), and Micah Bell (Peter Blomquist), Black Indian hunter Charles Smith (Noshir Dalal), and housewife-turned-gunslinger Sadie Adler (Alex McKenna).


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The gang members' criminal acts bring them into conflict with various opposing forces including the wealthy oil magnate Leviticus Cornwall (John Rue), whose assets become a gang target. In response, he recruits a team of agents from the Pinkerton Detective Agency, led by Andrew Milton (John Hickok) and his subordinate Edgar Ross (Jim Bentley), to hunt down the gang. The gang also encounters the Saint Denis-based Italian crime lord Angelo Bronte (Jim Pirri), the controversial Guarman ruler Colonel Alberto Fussar (Alfredo Narciso), and Dutch's nemesis Colm O'Driscoll (Andrew Berg), leader of the rival O'Driscoll gang. Along its travels, the gang becomes entangled with the Gray and Braithwaite families, two warring families who are rumored to be hoarding Civil War gold; the gang's affiliation with the families primarily take place through Leigh Gray (Tim McGeever), the sheriff of Rhodes, and Catherine Braithwaite (Ellen Harvey), the matriarch of the Braithwaite family. Later in the game, Arthur helps Rains Fall (Graham Greene) and his son Eagle Flies (Jeremiah Bitsui), both members of the Native American Wapiti tribe whose land is being targeted by the Army.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: After a botched ferry heist in 1899, the Van der Linde gang are forced to leave their substantial money stash and flee Blackwater. Realizing the progress of civilization is ending the time of outlaws, they decide to gain enough money to escape the law and retire. They rob a train owned by Cornwall, who hires Pinkertons to apprehend them. The gang perform jobs to earn money, as Dutch continually promises the next heist will be their last. Following a shootout with Cornwall's men in Valentine, the gang relocate to Lemoyne, where they work simultaneously for the Grays and Braithwaites in an attempt to turn them against each other. However, the families double-cross them: the Grays kill a gang member in an ambush, while the Braithwaites kidnap and sell Jack to Bronte. The gang retaliate and destroy both families before retrieving Jack from Bronte, who offers them leads on work, but eventually double-crosses them. Dutch kidnaps and feeds him to an alligator as revenge, which disturbs Arthur.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The gang rob a bank in Saint Denis, but the Pinkertons intervene, killing Hosea and arresting John. Dutch, Arthur, Bill, Javier, and Micah escape the city via a ship heading to Cuba. A torrential storm sinks the ship, and the men wash ashore on the island of Guarma, where they become embroiled in a war between tyrannical sugar plantation owner Fussar and the enslaved local population. After helping the revolutionaries kill Fussar, the group secure transport back to the United States and reunite with the rest of the gang.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Dutch obsesses over one last heist and doubts Arthur's loyalty after he disobeys him by liberating John earlier than planned, naming Micah his top lieutenant in Arthur's place. Arthur becomes concerned that Dutch is no longer the man he knew, as he is becoming insular, abandons their ideals, and murders Cornwall. He is faced with his mortality when he is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Arthur reflects on his actions and how to protect the gang following his death, telling John to run away with Abigail and Jack and openly defying Dutch by aiding the local Native American people. When the Pinkertons assault the camp, Dutch becomes paranoid that a gang member is working as an informant. Several gang members become disenchanted and leave, while Dutch and Micah arrange one final heist of an Army payroll train.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Arthur's faith in Dutch is shattered when he abandons Arthur to the Army, leaves John for dead, and refuses to rescue Abigail when she is taken. Arthur and Sadie rescue Abigail from Milton, who names Micah as the Pinkertons' informer before Abigail kills him. Arthur returns to camp and openly accuses Micah of betrayal. Dutch, Bill, Javier, and Micah turn on Arthur and a newly returned John, but the standoff is broken when Pinkertons attack. The player can choose to have Arthur aid John's escape by delaying the Pinkertons or return to the camp to recover the gang's money. Micah ambushes Arthur, and Dutch intervenes in their fight. Arthur convinces Dutch to abandon Micah and leave. If the player has high honor, Arthur succumbs to his injuries and disease and dies while watching the sunrise; if the player has low honor, Micah executes him.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Eight years later, in 1907, John and his family are trying to lead honest lives. They find work at a ranch where John fights back against outlaws threatening his employer. Believing John is unwilling to give up his old ways, Abigail leaves with Jack. John takes a loan from the bank to purchase a ranch. He works with Uncle, Sadie, and Charles to build a new home, and proposes to Abigail on her return. Afterwards, learning Micah is still alive and formed his own gang, John, Sadie, and Charles assault his camp and find a recently arrived Dutch, who shoots Micah after a tense standoff and leaves in silence, allowing John to kill Micah and claim the gang's Blackwater stash to pay his debt. John then marries Abigail and they start a new life on their ranch alongside Jack and Uncle, as Sadie and Charles leave for other pursuits.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The final scene shows Edgar Ross observing John's ranch, foreshadowing the events of "Red Dead Redemption".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Preliminary work on "Red Dead Redemption 2" began shortly following the release of the original game, "Red Dead Redemption" (2010). Rockstar San Diego, the studio behind the original game, had a rough outline of the game by mid-2011, and by late 2012, rough scripts of the game had been completed. When Rockstar Games realized that a group of distinct studios would not necessarily work, it co-opted all of its studios into one large team, dubbed Rockstar Studios, to facilitate development between 1,600 people; a total of around 2,000 people worked on the game. Analyst estimations place the game's combined development and marketing budget between and , which would make it one of the most expensive video games to develop.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: While the main theme of the original game was to protect family at all costs, "Red Dead Redemption 2" tells the story of the breakdown of a family in the form of the Van der Linde gang. The team was interested in exploring the story of why the gang fell apart, as frequently mentioned in the first game. Rockstar's Vice President of Creativity Dan Houser was inspired by film and literature when writing the game, though he avoided contemporary works to avoid being accused of stealing ideas. The team was not specifically inspired by film or art but rather real locations. The team was focused on creating an accurate reflection of the time, with people and locations. The citizens in the game feature a contrast between rich and poor, while the locales contrast between the civilization and the wilderness.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2"s recording sessions began in 2013. Rockstar wanted a diverse cast of characters within the Van der Linde gang. The writers put particular focus on the individual stories behind each character, exploring their life before the gang and their reasons for remaining with the group. Several characters were cut from the game during development as their personalities failed to add to the narrative. The actors sometimes improvized some additional lines, but mostly remained faithful to the script. The team decided that the player would control one character in "Red Dead Redemption 2", as opposed to the three protagonists in Rockstar's previous title "Grand Theft Auto V" (2013), to follow the character more personally and understand how the events impact him. They felt that a single character is more appropriate for the narrative structure of a Western.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2" is the first game from Rockstar built specifically for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Rockstar had tested these consoles' technical capabilities when porting "Grand Theft Auto V", initially released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, to them. Once the team had defined what limitations were sustainable, they found the areas that required the most focus. One of Rockstar's goals with "Red Dead Redemption 2"s gameplay was to make the player feel as though they are living in a world, instead of playing missions and watching cutscenes. A method used to achieve this was through the gang's moving camp, where the player can interact with other characters. The team ensured that the characters maintained the same personality and mood from cutscene to gameplay to make the world feel more alive and realistic.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Woody Jackson, who worked with Rockstar on the original game and "Grand Theft Auto V", returned to compose "Red Dead Redemption 2"s original score. "Red Dead Redemption 2" has three different types of score: narrative, which is heard during the missions in the game's story; interactive, when the player is roaming the open world or in multiplayer; and environmental, which includes campfire singing songs or a character playing music in the world. The game's music regularly reacts according to the player's decisions in the world. Jackson purchased several instruments from the Wrecking Crew that were featured on classic cowboy films. In total, over 110 musicians worked on the music for the game. Daniel Lanois produced the original vocal tracks for the game, collaborating with artists such as D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Rhiannon Giddens, and Josh Homme. Director of music and audio Ivan Pavlovich also engaged saxophone player Colin Stetson, experimental band Senyawa, and musician Arca to work on the score.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Rockstar Games first teased "Red Dead Redemption 2" on October 16–17, 2016, before the official announcement on October 18, 2016. Originally due for release in the second half of 2017, the game was delayed twice: first to Q1/Q2 2018, and later to October 26, 2018. According to Rockstar, the game required extra development time for "polish". To spur pre-order sales, Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets to provide special edition versions of the game. A companion app, released alongside the game for Android and iOS devices, acts as a second screen wherein the player can view in-game items such as catalogs, journals, and a real-time mini-map. The game was released for Windows on November 5, 2019, and was a launch title for Stadia when the service launched on November 19, 2019. The Windows version has visual and technical improvements.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2" received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game is the highest-rated PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game on Metacritic alongside Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto V", and is the fifth-highest rated game overall, tied with several others. Reviewers praised the story, characters, open world, graphics, music, and level of detail. Matt Bertz of "Game Informer" described the game as "the biggest and most cohesive adventure Rockstar Games has ever created", and "GamesRadar"s David Meikleham felt that it "represents the current pinnacle of video game design". Keza MacDonald of "The Guardian" declared it "a landmark game" and "a new high water-mark for lifelike video game worlds"; "IGN"s Luke Reilly named it "one of the greatest games of the modern age". Peter Suderman, writing for "The New York Times", considered "Red Dead Redemption 2" as an example of video games as a work of art, comparing the game's abilities to "[tell] individual stories against the backdrop of national and cultural identity, deconstructing their genres while advancing the form" to the current state of film and television with similar works like "The Godfather" and "The Sopranos".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Meikleham of "GamesRadar" wrote that, "story-wise, this is perhaps the boldest triple-A game ever made", praising the unpredictability of the narrative and comparing the game's "high caliber" epilogue to the narrative of "The Last of Us" (2013). "The Guardian"s MacDonald also praised the twists within the story, applauding the writers' ability to feed the smaller stories into the overall narrative. Nick Plessas of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" noted that the game's best stories "are to be found in the margins", discovered and written by the player. "Game Informer"s Bertz felt that the game's narrative rarely suffered from repetition, an impressive feat considering the game's scope. Conversely, "GameSpot"s Kallie Plagge was frustrated by the predictability later in the narrative, though admitted that such repetition was a "crucial" part of Arthur's story. Alex Navarro of "Giant Bomb" felt that the narrative suffered in its clichéd Native American portrayal and "blandly obnoxious" side missions. Some reviewers also commented on the game's slow opening hours and its lengthy epilogue.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s Plessas found the journey of redemption for Arthur Morgan to be "far more redeeming" than John Marston's in "Red Dead Redemption", noting that his sins heightened his sympathy for the character. Conversely, "Eurogamer"s Martin Robinson considered Arthur to be less compelling than Marston, leading to a confusing narrative as a result. "GameSpot"s Plagge wrote that the new characters in the game contribute significantly to the quality of the story. Mike Williams of "USgamer" felt that the secondary characters "feel like actual people" due to their varied personalities, and the player feels a closer connection when events occur in the game. "IGN"s Reilly praised the cultural variety within the cast of characters and the game's avoidance of caricatures. "Giant Bomb"s Navarro echoed this sentiment, noting that the characters possess humanity often lacking in other Rockstar games, particularly in the thoughtful portrayal of Arthur's internal conflicts. MacDonald of "The Guardian" felt that the characters felt more believable due to the "excellent performances with unexpected range". "Polygon"s Chris Plante found the game's portrayal of Native American characters, inspired by a "mashing together of real-world people, locations, and groups into single entities", to be insensitive and confusing, but that the game's political commentary shone when focusing on the entitlement and power of the Braithwaite and Gray families.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Game Informer"s Bertz felt that the game has "unequivocally the most well-crafted and fully realized open world in video games". Many other critics echoed this sentiment: "Giant Bomb"s Navarro considered the open-world population to be the game's best aspect, and "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s Plessas noted that the game's map "pushes industry boundaries in both size and detail". Robinson of "Eurogamer" considered the world to be Rockstar's largest since "" (2004). "The Guardian"s MacDonald described the open world as "close to miraculous", praising its imitation of real American landscapes. Reilly of "IGN" considered the game's world to be "broader, more beautiful, and more varied" than its predecessor's, due in part to how each environment feels alive. "GameSpot"s Plagge felt compelled to explore the open world due to its variety, reactivity, and surprises.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "GamesRadar"s Meikleham declared "Red Dead Redemption 2" as "the best looking video game of all time" with some of the most impressive lighting and weather systems. "IGN"s Reilly described the game as "undeniably pretty" due to the lighting engine, facial animation, and level of granular detail present in the world. "Game Informer"s Bertz praised the attention to detail of the historical period, writing that the "wide expanses of wilderness feel alive thanks to an unrivaled dynamic weather system, ambient sound effects, and the most ambitious ecology of flora and fauna ever seen in games". Plessas of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" felt that the game's artistic and graphical design was impressive in its physicality and reactivity, as well as visuals. "USgamer"s Williams found the game to be one of the best-looking on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Woody Jackson's musical score was called "top notch" by "IGN"s Reilly, who described it as "an evocative mix of jangling Ennio Morricone-esque guitar and more soulful pieces". "GamesRadar"s Meikleham wrote that the score is "both electrifying and eclectic". Dean Takahashi of "VentureBeat" felt that the soundtrack contributed significantly to the game's immersion, while Bertz of "Game Informer" noted that the soundtrack added authenticity to the game world by using elements of American folk music. "VG247"s Kirk McKeand praised the blending of music during exploration and its intensity in combat, and lauded the sparing use of vocal tracks to highlight important narrative moments. Graham Banas of "Push Square" retrospectively named it among the best soundtracks of the 2010s, writing that it "raised the bar on what a soundtrack could accomplish".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2"s gameplay received praise from "Giant Bomb"s Navarro, who noted that, "from the biggest missions right down to the smallest interactions, all of this stuff feels like it was constructed individually". "GamesRadar"s Meikleham similarly lauded the amount of detail and worth in the game's secondary mechanics. Plessas of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" wrote that the game's subtle details are "vital for immersion", noting that they remove any divide between the player and the overall experience. "Game Informer"s Bertz appreciated the game's missions that avoided violence, wanting more "quiet moments sprinkled throughout the story". "IGN"s Reilly felt that, despite feeling "heavier" than the protagonists of "Grand Theft Auto V", Arthur's movement throughout the world did not feel cumbersome. "Polygon"s Plante considered the game's conversation options limited, but still an improvement over the violence of other action games. "Eurogamer"s Robinson voiced frustration at the game's lack of freedom in some story missions.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "IGN"s Reilly felt that, while the game's combat borrowed from the formula of "Grand Theft Auto" games, the closer battles with more primitive firearms led to more intimate and "exciting" encounters. Chris Carter of "Destructoid" described the gunplay as "fantastic" and praised the game's Dead Eye mechanic for allowing the "further beautification of some of the more hectic confrontations". "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s Plessas wrote that "few games attempt to reinvent the point-gun-pull-trigger quintessence of shooters, but "Red Dead 2" achieves it with confidence and grace". Sam White of "GQ" found that the guns are "slower, more meaningful tools", making them feel deadlier in combat. "USgamer"s Williams felt that the game is better than its predecessor, but is "not the best third-person combat system".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Film Crit Hulk, writing for "Polygon", criticized the game's control system, summarizing the feeling of it as "not one of difficulty and accomplishment, but constant monotony or frustration". "Kotaku"s Kirk Hamilton disparaged that interacting with the world became "frustrating and inconsistent" as a result of the game's "sludgy kinesthetics, jumbled control scheme, and unclear user interface"; they described gameplay as akin to giving directions to an actor due to both "arduous, heavy, and inelegant" navigation and slow or unsatisfying button inputs. Robert Ramsey of "Push Square" called the controls "serviceable" but at their worst "infuriating", and that the button layouts for various actions were too convoluted.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Gaming journalist Jim Sterling felt that the sheer amount of realism in the game limited capabilities and caused scenarios or animations to be prolonged, such as hunting animals for their pelts. Film Crit Hulk, writing for "Polygon", felt that the ability to interact with numerous items resulted in meaningless interactions, and that striving for realism in a video game did not work in practice. Jeff Grubb of "VentureBeat" wrote that, in spite of presenting a range of options for the player, the gameplay was still restrictive by preventing other opportunities. "USgamer"s Williams felt that the wanted system was unfairly punishing to the player for committing crimes that were difficult to avoid, such as accidentally killing NPCs in collisions. "Wired"s Matt Reynolds was mixed on gameplay elements relating to the well-being of the player character and the required dedication, noting that the game "exchanges immersion for observation" and that "at times, the constant character maintenance feels like a chore".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2"s Windows release also received "universal acclaim", according to Metacritic; it is one of the highest-rated PC games. Sam White of "PCGamesN" thought the graphics improvements made the open world "[look] the best it ever has". "Destructoid"s Carter praised the addition of the Photo Mode. Sam Machkovech of "Ars Technica" felt that the game's animations during cutscenes do not scale well to higher frame rates, but considered the gameplay to be far superior to the console versions. Matthew Castle of "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" lauded the adapted controls, particularly when painting targets in Dead Eye, though felt they took time to familiarize oneself with. "PC Gamer"s James Davenport found the first-person perspective to be superior on the Windows version due to the responsiveness of the mouse, but noted that the game crashed several times; Jean-Kléber Lauret of "Jeuxvideo.com" echoed similar criticisms, observing that the graphical and technical enhancements meant that advanced hardware was required. "Polygon"s Samit Sarkar criticized the port's technical issues, writing that "the freezing issue is bad enough that I simply can't play the game until Rockstar fixes it". Tony Polanco of "PCMag" wrote that, one week after release, the technical issues had been mostly solved.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2" received multiple nominations and awards from gaming publications. Before release, it was nominated for Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards in 2016 and 2017, and for Most Wanted Game at the Golden Joystick Awards. At The Game Awards 2018, the game received eight nominations and went on to win four awards: Best Audio Design, Best Narrative, Best Score/Music, and Best Performance for Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan. At "IGN"s Best of 2018, the game garnered seven nominations, winning two awards and named runner-up in four (behind "God of War"). The game earned eight nominations at the 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, including Game of the Year. At the 6th SXSW Gaming Awards, "Red Dead Redemption 2" was named the Trending Game of the Year and won for Excellence in SFX and Technical Achievement. The game received seven nominations at the 19th Game Developers Choice Awards, and six at the 15th British Academy Games Awards.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: On Metacritic, "Red Dead Redemption 2" was the highest-rated game of 2018. The game also appeared on several year-end lists of the best games of 2018, receiving Game of the Year wins at the Australian Games Awards, Brazil Game Awards, Fun & Serious Game Festival, Global Game Awards, "IGN Australia" Select Awards, and Italian Video Game Awards, and from outlets such as "4Players", "AusGamers", "Complex", "Digital Trends", "Edge", "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Gamereactor", "GameSpot", "The Guardian", "Hot Press", "news.com.au", "The Telegraph", "USgamer", and "Vulture"; it was named runner-up by several other publications. The game was named among the best games of the 2010s by "Entertainment.ie", "The Hollywood Reporter", Metacritic, "National Post", "NME", "Stuff", "Thrillist", "VG247", and "Wired UK".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Since the previous installment in the series was among the highest-reviewed and best-selling games of the seventh generation of video game consoles, many analysts believed that "Red Dead Redemption 2" would be one of the highest-selling games of 2018 and would have a great effect on other game sales during the fourth quarter. After the game's announcement in October 2016, analyst Ben Schacter of Macquarie Research estimated that it would sell 12 million copies in its first quarter, while analysts at Cowen and Company gave a "conservative" estimate of 15 million sales. In July 2018, industry analyst Mat Piscatella predicted that "Red Dead Redemption 2" would be the best-selling game of 2018, outselling other blockbuster titles such as "Battlefield V", "", and "Fallout 76"; some industry commentators noted that frequent franchises like "Assassin's Creed" and "Call of Duty" were launching their 2018 entries—"Odyssey" and "Black Ops 4", respectively—earlier than usual, predicting an avoidance of competition with "Red Dead Redemption 2". Shortly before the game's release in October 2018, Schacter estimated that the game would sell 15 million copies in its first quarter, though noted that investor expectations were at 20million copies; Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities predicted 25 million. Michael Olson of Piper Jaffray projected revenue between and in the first three days, while Doug Creutz of Cowen Inc. estimated between and .


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: "Red Dead Redemption 2" had the largest opening weekend in the history of entertainment, making over in revenue in three days, and over 17million copies shipped in total in two weeks, exceeding the lifetime sales of "Red Dead Redemption". Additionally, "Red Dead Redemption 2" was the second-highest-grossing entertainment launch (behind "Grand Theft Auto V") and set records for largest-ever pre-orders, largest first-day sales, and largest sales for the first three days in market on PlayStation Network. The share price for Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, rose nine percent in the week after release. "VentureBeat"s Takahashi noted that the game likely broke-even in its first week and, based on analyst estimates, would begin to earn a profit by December 2018. The game shipped 23million copies in 2018, generating in revenue, and sales reached 29million in 2019, 36million in 2020, and 43million in 2021; as of September 2022, it has shipped 46million units. By dollar sales, it was the best-selling game of the latter half of the 2010s, and the seventh-best-selling game of the decade overall. It is among the best-selling video games.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: In the United States, "Red Dead Redemption 2" was the second-best-selling game of October 2018, behind "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4". It was the nation's best-selling-game in November, and the third-best-selling in December. Overall, it was the best-selling game of the year. In 2019, it maintained its placement in the nation's top charts, and was the twelfth-best-selling game of the year. It remained in the charts for the first half of 2020. In the United Kingdom, "Red Dead Redemption 2" was the best-selling retail game in its first week of release and the second-fastest-selling game of 2018 (behind "FIFA 19"). The game's opening week physical sales were doubled from its predecessor's, with 68% of sales from the PlayStation 4 version. "Red Dead Redemption 2" is also the third-fastest-selling non-"FIFA" game released in its generation, behind "" and "". In the United Kingdom, it was the second-best-selling game of 2018, fifth-best of 2019, eleventh-best of 2020, and sixth-best of 2021.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Within its first week on sale in Japan, the PlayStation 4 version of "Red Dead Redemption 2" sold 132,984 copies, which placed it at number one on the all-format video game sales chart. In Australia, it was the best-selling game of 2018, and the fifteenth-best-selling of 2020. Worldwide, the Windows version sold 406,000 copies upon launch in November 2019, doubling to over one million after its release on Steam the following month.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: The online multiplayer component to "Red Dead Redemption 2", titled "Red Dead Online", was released as a public beta on November 27, 2018, to players who owned a special edition of the base game, and then progressively opened to all owners. Upon entering the game world, players customize a character and are free to explore the environment alone or in a "posse" group. As players complete activities throughout the game world, they receive experience points to raise their characters in rank and receive bonuses, thereby progressing in the game. Though "Red Dead Online" and "Red Dead Redemption 2" share assets and gameplay, Rockstar views them as separate products with independent trajectories, reflected in its decision to launch the multiplayer title separately. Player progression in the public beta carried over when the beta ended on May 15, 2019. A standalone client for "Red Dead Online", which does not require the base game, was released on December 1, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Post-release content is added to the game through free title updates. In July 2022, Rockstar announced that "Red Dead Online" would not be receiving any more major updates, instead focusing on smaller missions and the expansion of existing modes as development resources were withdrawn to focus on the next entry in the "Grand Theft Auto" series.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: In February 2018, online technology publication "Trusted Reviews" published an article leaking several features that were due to be included in "Red Dead Redemption 2", including a first-person perspective, and a battle royale mode in "Red Dead Online". The information was obtained from a leaked document in August 2017, but the site had hesitated to publish the article as the claims were "unsubstantiated" until promotional material validated its legitimacy; the document was also sent to other sites at the time. In November 2018, "Trusted Reviews" replaced the article with an apology, noting that the "information was confidential" and should not have been published. In a settlement with Take-Two Interactive, "Trusted Reviews" agreed to donate () to charities chosen by Take-Two; Rockstar directed that the funds be donated to the American Indian College Fund, the American Prairie Reserve, and the First Nations Development Institute. Neither "Trusted Reviews" nor Take-Two indicated that any specific laws had been violated. Several journalists recognized the uniqueness of successful legal action against media outlets; Seth Barton of "MCV/Develop" called the outcome "an incredible development for games industry journalism" and felt that it would result in hesitancy to leak information regarding Rockstar in future. "Kotaku"s Keza MacDonald similarly described the events as "extraordinary" as it likely meant that Take-Two argued that the information was a trade secret and that "Trusted Reviews" was unable to use a public interest defense; she added that "it might prove to be influential" and prevent publications from leaking information in the future, even if obtained legally.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Prior to the game's release, Dan Houser stated that the team had been working 100-hour weeks "several times in 2018". Many sources interpreted this statement as "crunch time" for the entire development staff of the game, comparable to similar accusations made by wives of Rockstar San Diego employees in regards to the development of the game's predecessor. The following day, Rockstar clarified in a statement that the work duration mentioned by Houser only affected the senior writing staff for "Red Dead Redemption 2", and that the duration had only been the case for three weeks during the entire development. Houser also added that the company would never expect or force any employee to work as long as was stated, and those staying late at the development studios were powered by their passion for the project. However, other Rockstar employees argued that Houser's statements did not give an accurate picture of the "crunch-time culture" at the company that many of its employees worked under, which included "mandatory" overtime and years-long periods of crunch. Due to the salary-based nature of employment contracts, many employees were not compensated for their overtime work and instead depended on year-end bonus payments that hinged on the sales performance of the game. Nonetheless, a sentiment echoed across many employee statements was the observation that working conditions had somewhat improved since development on the original "Red Dead Redemption". By April 2020, several employees reported that the company had made significant changes as a result of the publicity surrounding the work culture, and many were cautiously optimistic about Rockstar's future.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: In November 2018, YouTuber Shirrako posted several videos of his player character murdering a female suffragette NPC, including feeding her to an alligator and dropping her down a mineshaft. Critics noted that the majority of comments on the videos were sexist and misogynistic. Shirrako claimed that the actions were apolitical and that he did not support the sexist comments but did not wish to censor them. Matt Leonard of "GameRevolution" called Shirrako's response "plain bullshit", noting that he continued to post similar videos encouraging the same behavior. In response, YouTube suspended the channel for violation of their community guidelines, citing its graphic nature for shock purposes and for promoting violence. Shirrako protested the decision, claiming it was hypocritical as in-game violence against men did not receive the same response. YouTube restored the channel and designated an age restriction to the suffragette videos, commenting that "the reviewer will be educated on this outcome and on how to avoid repeating this mistake". Some critics questioned if Rockstar was partly to blame for the behavior, as the game does not limit attacks on the suffragette as it does other characters, such as children; scholars Kristine Jørgensen and Torill Elvira Mortensen, writing in "Games and Culture", acknowledged this concern, but recognized that the responsibility ultimately lay with the player, and that limiting attacks could be interpeted as both a political statement from Rockstar and a restriction on the player's freedom of expression. Writing for "Public History Weekly", Moritz Hoffman noted that the incident reflects a newer issue of open world games: that granting freedom without penalties promotes disinhibition. In "The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era", scholars Hilary Jane Locke and Thomas Mackay wrote that it "points to a sharp contrast between the game's portrayal of Progressive Era politics ... and how some players have responded to its depictions thereof".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Securitas AB, the parent company of the modern-day Pinkerton agency, issued a cease and desist notice to Take-Two Interactive on December 13, 2018, asserting that "Red Dead Redemption 2"s use of the Pinkerton name and badge imagery was against their trademark and demanded royalties for each copy of the game sold or that they would take legal action. Take-Two filed a complaint against Securitas on January 11, 2019, maintaining that the Pinkerton name was strongly associated with the Wild West, and its use of the term did not infringe on the Pinkerton trademark. Take-Two sought a summary judgment to declare the use of Pinkerton in the game as allowed fair use. "Game Informer"s Javy Gwaltney agreed with Take-Two's claims, questioning why Securitas had not targeted other works depicting the Pinkerton agency in the past; he felt that "the company likely just wants a cut of [the game's] profits". In response to Take-Two's complaint, Pinkerton president Jack Zahran described the game's portrayal of Pinkertons as "baseless" and "inaccurate", noting that Pinkerton employees would "have to explain to their young game players why "Red Dead Redemption 2" encourages people to murder Pinkertons", but hoped that the companies could come to an "amicable solution". By April 2019, Securitas withdrew its claims and Take-Two moved to withdraw its complaint.


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Critics agreed that "Red Dead Redemption 2" was among the best games of the eighth generation of video game consoles. "GQ"s White described it as "a generation-defining release", and "VG247"s McKeand named it "a benchmark for other open world games to aspire to". In March 2019, "Popular Mechanics" ranked it 24th on its list of greatest games. In October, "IGN" added "Red Dead Redemption 2" to its list of top 100 video games, ranked 62nd in 2019 and promoted to 8th in 2021; editor Luke Reilly praised its "uncompromising detail" and wrote that it "stands shoulder-to-shoulder with "Grand Theft Auto V" as one of gaming's greatest open-world achievements". "IGN" also ranked the game as the third-best Xbox One game and eleventh-best PC and PlayStation 4 game. In July 2020, Dylan Haas of "Mashable" considered the game his second favorite of all time, citing its realism, world, characters, and narrative. In November, "TechRadar" listed it among the greatest games of the eighth generation; editor Gerald Lynch felt that it set the bar for believable open world games. In December, "GamesRadar+" ranked it the fifth best game of the generation, noting that it had already begun to influence the open-world and role-playing genres; in November 2021, "GamesRadar+" ranked it 28th on its list of top 50 games, describing it as "one of the best sandbox games ever made". In April 2022, "GamingBolt"s Ravi Sinha ranked "Red Dead Redemption 2" the second-best game of all time, citing its characters, narrative, attention to detail, and visual fidelity, and naming it Rockstar's "finest work". In September, "USA Today" ranked it 21st on its list of best games, praising Arthur as "one of the most likable protagonists in games" and describing the game world as "the real star of the show".


title: Red Dead Redemption 2

text: Footage from "Red Dead Redemption 2" was used in the first music video for the song "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X in March 2019. In July 2021, a study published by the University of Exeter and Truro and Penwith College found that "Red Dead Redemption 2" players had an increased understanding of ecology and animal behavior; players were able to identify three more animals on average than other gamers. In April 2022, Joe Meizies won Virtual Photographer of the Year at the London Games Festival for his virtual photography in "Red Dead Redemption 2".


title: Courtney Love

text: Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989. Love has drawn public attention for her uninhibited live performances and confrontational lyrics, as well as her highly publicized personal life following her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2020, "NME" named her one of the most influential singers in alternative culture of the last 30 years.


title: Courtney Love

text: Born to countercultural parents in San Francisco, Love had an itinerant childhood, but was primarily raised in Portland, Oregon, where she played in a series of short-lived bands and was active in the local punk scene. After briefly being in a juvenile hall, she spent a year living in Dublin and Liverpool before returning to the United States and pursuing an acting career. She appeared in supporting roles in the Alex Cox films "Sid and Nancy" (1986) and "Straight to Hell" (1987) before forming the band Hole in Los Angeles with guitarist Eric Erlandson. The group received critical acclaim from underground rock press for their 1991 debut album, produced by Kim Gordon, while their second release, "Live Through This" (1994), was met with critical accolades and multi-platinum sales. In 1995, Love returned to acting, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance as Althea Leasure in Miloš Forman's "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996), which established her as a mainstream actress. The following year, Hole's third album, "Celebrity Skin" (1998), was nominated for three Grammy Awards.


title: Courtney Love

text: Love continued to work as an actress into the early 2000s, appearing in big-budget pictures such as "Man on the Moon" (1999) and "Trapped" (2002), before releasing her first solo album, "America's Sweetheart", in 2004. The subsequent several years were marred with publicity surrounding Love's legal troubles and drug relapse, which resulted in a mandatory lockdown rehabilitation sentence in 2005 while she was writing a second solo album. That project became "Nobody's Daughter", released in 2010 as a Hole album but without the former Hole lineup. Between 2014 and 2015, Love released two solo singles and returned to acting in the network series "Sons of Anarchy" and "Empire". In 2020, she confirmed she was writing new music. Love has also been active as a writer; she co-created and co-wrote three volumes of a manga, "Princess Ai", between 2004 and 2006, and wrote a memoir, "" (2006).


title: Courtney Love

text: Courtney Michelle Harrison was born July 9, 1964, at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, California, the first child of psychotherapist Linda Carroll (née Risi; born 1944) and Hank Harrison (1941–2022), a publisher and road manager for the Grateful Dead. Her parents met at a party held for Dizzy Gillespie in 1963, and the two married in Reno, Nevada after Carroll discovered she was pregnant. Carroll, who was adopted at birth, is the biological daughter of novelist Paula Fox. Love's maternal great-grandmother was Elsie Fox (née de Sola), a Cuban writer who co-wrote the film "The Last Train from Madrid" with Love's great-grandfather, Paul Hervey Fox, cousin of writer Faith Baldwin and actor Douglas Fairbanks. Phil Lesh, the founding bassist of the Grateful Dead, is Love's godfather. According to Love, she was named after Courtney Farrell, the protagonist of Pamela Moore's 1956 novel "Chocolates for Breakfast". Love is of Cuban, English, German, Irish, and Welsh descent. Through her mother's subsequent marriages, Love has two younger half-sisters, three younger half-brothers (one of whom died in infancy), and one adopted brother.


title: Courtney Love

text: Love spent her early years in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, until her parents divorced in 1970. In a custody hearing, her mother, as well as one of her father's girlfriends, testified that Hank had dosed Courtney with LSD when she was a toddler. Carroll also alleged that Hank threatened to abduct his daughter and flee with her to a foreign country. Though Hank denied these allegations, his custody was revoked. In 1970, Carroll relocated with Love to the rural community of Marcola, Oregon where they lived along the Mohawk River while Carroll completed her psychology degree at the University of Oregon. There, Carroll remarried to schoolteacher Frank Rodríguez, who legally adopted Love. Though Love was baptized a Roman Catholic, her mother maintained an unorthodox home; according to Love, "There were hairy, wangly-ass hippies running around naked [doing] Gestalt therapy", and her mother raised her in a gender-free household with "no dresses, no patent leather shoes, no canopy beds, nothing". Love attended a Montessori school in Eugene, Oregon, where she struggled academically and socially. She has said that she began seeing psychiatrists at "like, [age] three. Observational therapy. TM for tots. You name it, I’ve been there." At age nine, a psychologist noted that she exhibited signs of autism, among them tactile defensiveness.


title: Courtney Love

text: In 1972, Love's mother divorced Rodríguez, remarried to sportswriter David Menely, and moved the family to Nelson, New Zealand. Love was enrolled at Nelson College for Girls, but soon expelled for misbehavior. In 1973, Carroll sent Love back to Portland, Oregon, to be raised by her former stepfather and other family friends. At age 14, Love was arrested for shoplifting from a Portland department store and remanded at Hillcrest Correctional Facility, a juvenile hall in Salem, Oregon. While at Hillcrest, she became acquainted with records by Patti Smith, the Runaways, and the Pretenders, who later inspired her to start a band. She was intermittently placed in foster care throughout late 1979 until becoming legally emancipated in 1980, after which she remained staunchly estranged from her mother. Shortly after her emancipation, Love spent two months in Japan working as a topless dancer, but was deported after her passport was confiscated. She returned to Portland and began working at the strip club Mary's Club, adopting the surname Love to conceal her identity; she later adopted Love as her surname. She worked odd jobs, including as a DJ at a gay disco. Love said she lacked social skills, and learned them while frequenting gay clubs and spending time with drag queens. During this period, she enrolled at Portland State University, studying English and philosophy. She later commented that, had she not found a passion for music, she would have sought a career working with children.


title: Courtney Love

text: In 1981, Love was granted a small trust fund that had been left by her maternal grandparents, which she used to travel to Dublin, Ireland, where her biological father was living. She audited courses at Trinity College, studying theology for two semesters. She later received honorary patronage from Trinity's University Philosophical Society in 2010. While in Dublin, Love met musician Julian Cope of the Teardrop Explodes at one of the band's concerts. Cope took a liking to Love and offered to let her stay at his Liverpool home in his absence. She traveled to London, where she was met by her friend and future bandmate, Robin Barbur, from Portland. Recalling Cope's offer, Love and Barbur moved into Cope's home with him and several other artists, including Pete de Freitas of Echo & the Bunnymen. De Freitas was initially hesitant to allow the girls to stay, but acquiesced as they were "alarmingly young and obviously had nowhere else to go". Love recalled: "They kind of took me in. I was sort of a mascot; I would get them coffee or tea during rehearsals." Cope writes of Love frequently in his 1994 autobiography, "Head-On", in which he refers to her as "the adolescent".


title: Courtney Love

text: In July 1982, Love returned to the United States. In late 1982, she attended a Faith No More concert in San Francisco and convinced the members to let her join as a singer. The group recorded material with Love as a vocalist, but fired her; according to keyboardist Roddy Bottum, who remained Love's friend in the years after, the band wanted a "male energy". Love returned to working abroad as an erotic dancer, briefly in Taiwan, and then at a taxi dance hall in Hong Kong. By Love's account, she first used heroin while working at the Hong Kong dance hall, having mistaken it for cocaine. While still inebriated from the drug, Love was pursued by a wealthy male client who requested that she return with him to the Philippines, and gave her money to purchase new clothes. She used the money to purchase an airfare back to the United States.


title: Courtney Love

text: At age 19, through her then-boyfriend's mother, film costume designer Bernadene Mann, Love took a job at Paramount Studios cleaning out the wardrobe department of vintage pieces that had suffered dry rot or other damage. During this time, Love became interested in vintage fashion. She subsequently returned to Portland, where she formed short-lived musical projects with her friends Ursula Wehr and Robin Barbur (namely Sugar Babylon, later known as Sugar Babydoll). After meeting Kat Bjelland at the Satyricon nightclub in 1984, the two formed the group the Pagan Babies. Love asked Bjelland to start the band with her as a guitarist, and the two moved to San Francisco in June 1985, where they recruited bassist Jennifer Finch and drummer Janis Tanaka. According to Bjelland, "[Courtney] didn't play an instrument at the time" aside from keyboards, so Bjelland would transcribe Love's musical ideas on guitar for her. The group played several house shows and recorded one 4-track demo before disbanding in late 1985. After Pagan Babies, Love moved to Minneapolis, where Bjelland had formed the group Babes in Toyland, and briefly worked as a concert promoter before returning to California. Drummer Lori Barbero recalled Love's time in Minneapolis:


title: Courtney Love

text: Deciding to shift her focus to acting, Love enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute and studied film under experimental director George Kuchar, featuring in one of his short films, "Club Vatican". She also took experimental theater courses in Oakland taught by Whoopi Goldberg. In 1985, Love submitted an audition tape for the role of Nancy Spungen in the Sid Vicious biopic "Sid and Nancy" (1986), and was given a minor supporting role by director Alex Cox. After filming "Sid and Nancy" in New York City, she worked at a peep show in Times Square and squatted at the ABC No Rio social center and Pyramid Club in the East Village. The same year, Cox cast her in a leading role in his film "Straight to Hell" (1987), a Spaghetti Western starring Joe Strummer, Dennis Hopper, and Grace Jones, shot in Spain in 1986. The film was poorly reviewed by critics, but caught the attention of Andy Warhol, who featured Love in an episode of "Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes". She also had a part in the 1988 Ramones music video for "I Wanna Be Sedated", appearing as a bride among dozens of party guests.


title: Courtney Love

text: Displeased by the "celebutante" fame she had attained, Love abandoned her acting career in 1988 and resumed work as a stripper in Oregon, where she was recognized by customers at a bar in the small town of McMinnville. This prompted Love to go into isolation, so she relocated to Anchorage, Alaska, where she lived for three months to "gather her thoughts", supporting herself by working at a strip club frequented by local fishermen. "I decided to move to Alaska because I needed to get my shit together and learn how to work", she said in retrospect. "So I went on this sort of vision quest. I got rid of all my earthly possessions. I had my bad little strip clothes and some big sweaters, and I moved into a trailer with a bunch of other strippers."


title: Courtney Love

text: At the end of 1988, Love taught herself to play guitar and relocated to Los Angeles, where she placed an ad in a local music zine: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." By 1989, Love had recruited guitarist Eric Erlandson; bassist Lisa Roberts, her neighbor; and drummer Caroline Rue, whom she met at a Gwar concert. Love named the band Hole after a line from Euripides' "Medea" ("There is a hole that pierces right through me") and a conversation in which her mother told her that she could not live her life "with a hole running through her". On July 23, 1989, Love married Leaving Trains vocalist James Moreland in Las Vegas; the marriage was annulled the same year. She later said that Moreland was a transvestite and that they had married "as a joke". After forming Hole, Love and Erlandson had a romantic relationship that lasted over a year.