Underground music in the context of "Lou Reed"

Grime is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed out of the earlier UK dance style UK garage, and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and Hip-hop. The style is typified by rapid, syncopated breakbeats, generally around 140 beats per minute, and often features an aggressive or jagged electronic sound. Emceeing is a significant element of the style, and lyrics often revolve around gritty depictions of urban life.

The style initially spread among pirate radio stations and underground scenes before achieving some mainstream recognition in the UK during the mid-2000s through artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Lethal Bizzle, and Wiley. Grime's rise in the early 2000s benefited from a time before smartphones and social media dominated the music landscape, allowing the genre to develop at a slower, organic pace. Many of grime's foundational MCs, such as Ghetts, Kano, and Skepta, spent years refining their craft, with early career periods often lasting five to ten years. This period also produced significant archival material, from Run the Road compilations and Lord of the Mics DVDs to the RWD magazine, all of which captured grime's evolution at its peak. The genre’s emergence has often been compared to punk rock, a comparison solidified by tracks like Jammer's "Dagenham Dave," a nod to The Stranglers' song of the same name.

Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Performances are usually introduced by a master of ceremonies (M.C.). The entertainment, as performed by an ensemble of actors and according to its European origins, is often (but not always) oriented towards adult audiences and of a clearly underground nature. In the United States, striptease, burlesque, drag shows, or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as cabarets.

Grunge (originally known as the Seattle Sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and Olympia, and other nearby cities. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal, and features the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, as well as bass guitar, drums, and vocals. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth, Pixies, and Dinosaur Jr. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, neglect, betrayal, social isolation and emotional isolation, addiction, psychological trauma, and a desire for freedom.

The early grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop and the region's underground music scene, with local bands such as Green River, the Melvins, and Mudhoney playing key roles in the genre's development. Sub Pop marketed the style shrewdly, encouraging media outlets to describe the Seattle sound as "grunge"; the style became known as a hybrid of punk and metal. By the early 1990s, its popularity had spread, with similar sounding bands appearing in California, then emerging in other parts of the United States and Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals. Grunge broke through into the mainstream in the early-to-mid-1990s, led by Nirvana's Nevermind in 1991, and followed by other crossover successes including Pearl Jam's Ten, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, and Alice in Chains' Dirt. The success of these bands boosted the popularity of alternative rock, eventually making grunge the most popular form of hard rock music during the 1990s.

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The New York Times wrote that the Velvet Underground was "arguably the most influential American rock band of our time". Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde earned them little commercial success during their initial nine-year run, they are now widely regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock music, as well as underground, experimental, and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter and experimentation were instrumental in the development of punk rock, new wave and other genres.

The group performed under several names before settling on the Velvet Underground in 1965, taken from the title of a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionist Moe Tucker. In 1966, pop artist Andy Warhol became their official manager. They served as the house band at Warhol's studio, The Factory, and performed with his traveling multimedia show, Exploding Plastic Inevitable, from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, featuring the German singer and model Nico, was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales, although it has since been hailed as one of the greatest albums in music history.

Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings with electronics and digital production as a means of enabling the exploration of textures, timbres and different styles. Vocals, when present, are often used as an instrumental layer, with many bands opting for entirely instrumental compositions. The genre began in indie and underground music scenes, but deviated.

The term post-rock was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds and popularized in his review of Bark Psychosis' 1994 album Hex. He later expanded the concept as music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes". The term has since developed to refer to bands oriented around dramatic and suspense-driven instrumental rock, making the term controversial among listeners and artists alike.

Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative music.

"Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock. Traditionally, alternative rock varied in terms of its sound, social context, and regional roots. Throughout the 1980s, magazines and zines, college radio airplay, and word of mouth had increased the prominence and highlighted the diversity of alternative rock's distinct styles (and music scenes), such as noise pop, indie rock, grunge, and shoegaze. In September 1988, Billboard introduced "alternative" into their charting system to reflect the rise of the format across radio stations in the United States by stations like KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and WDRE-FM in New York, which were playing music from more underground, independent, and non-commercial rock artists.

Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual transgression", and refers to metal that is harsher, heavier, more aggressive and less commercialized than other subgenres. Extreme metal is generally underground music that values authenticity and strives to remain outside the mainstream. The term usually includes thrash metal, death metal, black metal and doom metal. Some definitions do not recognise doom metal, or consider that only some of its subgenres are extreme. Most extreme metal styles have very fast tempos and originally took inspiration from hardcore punk.