Smells Like Alt Rock

2025 was the year of the concert for our family, and yes - we are those people there with their kids. And we get one of two reactions, those who question our parenting, and those who are like "Good job!" And we got pretty lucky with how many great acts played nearby in 2025. And I was pretty happy with how many venues allowed cameras. Between my phone and camera, I had plenty to reflect on, and I thought I'd share my fifteen favorites below.  But first a big thank you to the bands, their crews, their families, and the venues who hosted these shows. We had a great time getting out to shows, and we are looking forward to whatever shows 2026 brings - see you out there! 15. Matt Scannell (Vertical Horizon) - Alpine Valley 14. Chris Daughtry joins Ed Kowalczyk (+Live+) for Lakini's Juice - Alpine Valley 13. Brian Marshall (Creed) - Summer of 99 Cruise 12. Ajay and Jeremy Popoff (Lit) - Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino (Maricopa, AZ) 11. Brad and Brian Vander Ark (The Verve Pipe...

That's it! Dropping the final monthly playlist of the year. December 2025 turned out to be a strong month for new music, the playlist peaked at 55 songs.  Like other months, it has been trimmed back to our favorites of the month. At the end of each month, I often sit back and wonder: "What made these my favorites?". And like many months before I don't have a unifying trend to point to.  Some of the bands included are repeats from other playlists this year including: Shinedown, Dorothy, Yungblud, Voila, Flash Forward, and Deer Fang. Others are net new to the playlists like Oh The Larceny, Volumes, AMH, and Rosecoloredworld.  As always, many thanks to all of the bands for all of the great music, and a special thanks to bands who dropped new music in 2025 that landed on the Alt Rock: 2020-2025 playlist .  Without further ado, here are top tracks for December 2025: Loveless (pictures above) - The Cure Youthyear and Letdown. - Nightmare Shinedown - Searchlight Aerosmith, ...

2025 is officially in the books, and while we dropped our year‑end playlist the other week, let’s be honest — the songs that hit earlier in the year always have a bit of an advantage. More months, more spins. But Q4 came in swinging. Many of our favorite bands dropped absolute bangers this fall: Smash Into Pieces (pictured above) , Mayday Parade, Mammoth, Senses, Armor for Sleep, Yungblud, and plenty more. With so much great new music landing late in the year, we held off until now to share our top picks from Q4 2025. After listening to hundreds of tracks, we cut it down to 31: a mix of uptempo punk, emotional ballads, anthemic rock, and everything in between. Whether you’re here for the slow‑burn heartbreakers or the songs that make you want to jump around your living room, this quarter delivered. Without further ado, here are our top picks from Q4: ( Click here to play on Spotify. ) Smash Into Pieces - Villains Mayday Parade - Promises Mammoth - Same Old Song Anberlin - Ready Fuels S...

Despite there being less new music dropping this past week, I still managed to fall behind on updating the December playlist . I blame my musical priorities — I flew down to Arizona to catch the last Lit and Fuel show of 2025, this time with Quiet Riot and Saliva in the mix. Zero regrets. There’s just no substitute for live music. December’s been a surprisingly strong month for new releases, and we’ve got a few more tracks to share. These fresh tunes have now been added to both the December playlist and the 2020–2025 playlist . Check out the music videos below, and I’ll get to work trimming December down to just the essentials before the year wraps up. Volumes - Bad Habit Rosecoloredworld - Rock Bottom Has a Basement No Money Kids - Let It Drop Worry Club - Fade Away    

It’s been a minute since we’ve done a band spotlight, so picking up with a group we stumbled into in 2025 feels like the right move. BRKN LOVE first hit my Release Radar when “Pulling Leeches” dropped back in February, and it immediately grabbed me. The track sits comfortably alongside the grunge and post‑grunge bands I grew up on: mid‑tempo, loud, gritty, driven by that steady, pounding rhythm — and yes, it even throws in a Machu Picchu reference. It landed on my Favorites of Feb ’25 playlist , represented the band on our New To Us 2025 mix , and ultimately came in at #32 on our favorite new songs of the year. The Canadian rockers made our April playlist twice with “Cruel” and “Rearview Mirror.” “Cruel” hits especially close to home thanks to the line: “And now I’m having dreams that all my teeth are falling out.” That’s been one of my recurring nightmares since junior high, so going on three decades now, so hearing it pop up in a song was… something. These three tracks are a sharp ...

If I had to pick my favorite bands from high school, the list probably looks something like this: Fuel, Live, Bush, Pearl Jam, and Collective Soul. Of that group, Pearl Jam has had the fewest lineup changes since I started listening — at least until Matt Cameron’s recent departure. Collective Soul has swapped out drummers and lead guitarists since I became a fan. Bush went on hiatus from about 2003 to 2010, with Gavin and Robin being the only returning members, and today Gavin is the lone original member still in the band. Live is its own interesting case: you can catch them touring — and it’s a fun show — but it’s essentially Ed plus touring musicians. Fuel might have the most complicated member timeline on Wikipedia. For a lot of Fuelies, the “original” band was Brett, Carl, Jeff, and Kevin — but there was a version of the band before that, and the Sunburn album was recorded with a session drummer. The 2007 Angels & Devils album featured only Carl and Jeff from that “original” ...

I thought as the 2025 closes out, the fire hose of new music would slow. And while the All New Rock playlist on Spotify had fewer new songs this week than last, my Release Radar was full and there were plenty of new songs when looking across list like The New Alt and All New Punk.  Let's jump into the new songs added to the December Playlist this week.  (Note: These tunes have all been added to the 2020-2025 playlist as well, enjoy!) Health - Antidote Softcult - Queen of Nothing The Format - Boycott Heaven Zero 9:36 with No Love For the Middle Child - Make A Mess Volumes - Adrenaline Ally Evenson - AFO Flash Forward, Coast Down, Wait of the World - FYU Mumford & Sons - Prizefighter Dorothy - Prey On Me Silversun Pickups - New Wave AMH - Don't Believe In Love The Raven Age - Visions Royal Bliss - By My Side Glass Tides - Pieces of Me Lola Young - Post Sex Clarity Yungblud - Zombie (Acoustic) 

We know great music is still dropping in December, but we have to call it at some point. So we'll keep the December and Q4 playlists going until the end of the month, but we're calling it for the year end of playlist.  We tried hard to cut it down to 40 songs, but there were some songs we just couldn't cut and after reviewing our Spotify Wrapped there were some songs we needed to add, so we landed on 55 songs for 2025. Given that Wrapped says we listened to over 3700 songs this year, narrowing down to 55 is pretty good. In other words, here's the Something Like Alt Rock: Top 55 New Songs of 2025 :  Those Damn Crows (pictured above) - No Surrender Smash Into Pieces - Heroes The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Slipping Through Dorothy - Tombstone Town All Time Low - The Weather Senses - Stabilizer Bush - 60 Ways to Forget People Poesy - Home Royale Lynn - Greed Our Last Night - Version of Me Stereo Club - Familiar Faces Sawyer Hill - Masochistic Lover Knox - Pick Your Poison Sen...

 December is a tricky month because great new music is still dropping and at the same time, we're trying to wrap up our Q4 playlist and year end playlist. It's looking like the year end playlist will be closer to 55 songs than 40 songs, but that's okay -  2025 has been a great year for new music!  We'll probably drop the year end list before December is out - and drop the finalized / cutback December list and Q4 list at the end of the month.  Speaking of great new music, here are this week's new additions to the December playlist, they've also been added to the 2020-2025 playlist .  Deer Fang w/ Seventh Dose - Broken Tigers Jaw - Head is Like a Sinking Stone Charlotte Sands - One Eye Open Alter Bridge - Playing Aces Dorothy - Elevate Huddy - Burn the Ballroom Down Sam Fender - The Treadmill Youthyear w/ Letdown - Nightmare Grayscale w/ Cassadee Pope - Painting Over You Bermuda Search Party - Cookies n Cream Kensington - How It Goes The Band CAMINO - Afterthought...

Music lovers, your Spotify Wrapped dropped today - hopefully you took a few minutes to reflect on how much music you enjoyed this year, who your top artists were, and what songs you couldn't get enough of.  I ended my year on over 61,000 minutes listened and over 3,700 songs played. And that's the goal. Each week, I try to listen to ~50 or so new songs, so that alone gets one to 2,500 song pretty fast.  My wrapped looks a little different this year. Last year's 5 was full of my 90's favorites: Fuel, Bush, Creed, Pearl Jam, Live. Top songs were: Shimmer, Innocent, Falls On Me, Won't Back Down, Don't Say I - all by Fuel.  This year's wrapped still started with Fuel leading the way, my favorite band since 1998, 27 years and still going strong. Can't wait for their new album to drop in 2026. The punk friendly, emo curious duo, Senses made #2. Strongly recommend checking out their two EP's from 2025: I'm Still Breathing and Onto Something .  Bush ...

If you’re nostalgic like me, (and if you’ve found Smells Like Alt Rock , you probably are) then you might look back on the grunge, post‑grunge, pop‑punk, and emo days as the true peak of alternative rock. The trouble is, tuning into today’s airwaves often leaves you flipping between classic rock, mainstream alternative, and modern rock stations, feeling never quite satisfied. But here’s the good news: many of the bands you grew up with are still making music, and 2025 brought a wave of new albums worth your time. I didn’t spin every release this year, but these are the ones I listened to enough to confidently recommend. Think of them as the soundtrack to your teenage drives or your college move‑in days — updated for right now.  (Links jump to albums on YouTube)  All Time Low - Everyone's Talking The Black Keys -  No Rain, No Flowers Buckcherry - Roar Like Thunder Bush -   I Beat Loneliness CheVelle -  Bright as Blasphemy Garbage - Let All That We Imagine Be Th...

The last month of the year may be slow for new music drops, but Smells Like Alt Rock is always looking for great new tracks to share. So we've got 9 great tracks added to the December playlist this week.  If you are new to Smells Like Alt Rock - here's how this works. Monthly, we build up a Something Like Alt Rock playlist to ~50 (also adding them to the 2020-2025 playlist ). At the end of the month, we cut it back to the best ~15 songs. Quarterly, we cut again to highlight the best of new alt rock.  And we're working towards the best 40 songs of 2025. December is a busy month of listening to new tunes to assemble the December playlist, the 2025 Q4 playlist, and ultimately the best 40 songs of 2025.  Here's what's new this week: Kensington - Call You Home The All-American Rejects - Get This The Silversun Pickups - The Wreckage Pabst - Limbo No. 5 May-A - Claws Football Head - Used To Be Magnolia Park - Chasing Shadows Florence Road - Storm Warnings Culture Wars - In...

Thanksgiving has always been one of our favorite holidays. A day to pause, reflect on who and what we’re grateful for, and share a meal with friends and family—without the pressure of gift‑giving. Today, we’ll be enjoying time with family, watching our kids soak up cousin‑time, and cheering on the Green Bay Packers as they take on the Lions. This year, we also want to share some musical gratitude —starting with you. Moving from Facebook posts to the Smells Like Alt Rock blog has been a big shift, and we’re thrilled to see 10–20 readers checking in daily. Thank you for reading, listening, and coming back for more. Fuel A huge thank you to Fuel and their crew. Your shows this year have been phenomenal—we should know, since we made it to nine of them (including three on the Creed Cruise). We appreciate you hitting the Midwest hard, making it easy for us to catch shows in Bowler, WI and Alpine Valley. You always go the extra mile: greeting fans after the set, interacting with the crowd mi...

I know a lot of folks don't start playing Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but some great, rock holiday songs dropped recently. They were easy adds to our Alt Rock Christmas playlist.   If you are looking to rock your holiday hard - check out Skillet's "O Come O Come Emmanuel." They released two versions of this one - a harder version - as seen/heard in the video below:  And a lighter version, which we added to the Alt Rock Christmas playlist, which you can check out here: Skillet isn't the only rock band dropping holiday tunes. Good Charlotte also dropped a fresh holiday cover, with their take on "Fairytale of New York". It's frankly pretty remarkable how many of the pop-punk / emo bands of the early 2000's have release Christmas tracks - it certainly makes it easy to have robust list of rock Christmas songs. Check out Good Charlotte below:

We're approaching the end of a another month, and according to AAA a bunch of us will be on the road for the Thanksgiving holiday with something like 75 million Americans expecting to be traveling by car. So I'm getting this top songs of the  November list out to you without delay, hoping you will be able rock out on your travels.  As always a big think you to all of the bands for another month of great music. The November list hit 62 songs before I started cutting them back. You can find all of them on the Alt Rock 2020-2025 playlist. Here are our top songs of November 2025 : Top 15 Mammoth - Same Old Song Senses - You and I Smash Into Pieces - Villian Lansdowne - Burn It Down Dayseeker - Crawl in My Coffin Armor for Sleep - Sky Full of Blackholes Strumbellas - Hanging Out in My Head Sly Withers - Make My Mind Up  New Found Glory - Treat Yourself Action/Adventure w/ Armor for Sleep - Background Citizen Soldier - Dead Butterflies Adelita's Way - We Are Unbroke...

Alright, I'll be calling it this morning. A ton of good music dropped in November, and I'd like to get the top songs of the month out to you today for your Thanksgiving travels. The November List is currently at like 60 songs and I'm still listening this week's new drops.  So I'm going to punt on the new songs from this week and use them to start a December list. And I'll post the cutdown November later.   Let's start with this week's new music: Glitterer - Stainless Steal   L0L0 - Me With No Shirt On The Loveless - The Cure The Fray - The Song I'd Rather Not Sing Shinedown - Searchlight Voila - No Way To Live Aerosmith / Yungblud - Wild Woman Blanket - True Blue Stone - Sweet Heroine Cliffords - Marsh Good Kid - Rift

There's a lot of great punk, emo, rock, and alternative Christmas songs or covers on our Alt Rock Christmas playlist. But there were some songs that we couldn't find in Spotify's massive catalog, so if you are looking for some additional festive music that rocks - add these 5 videos on YouTube to your Christmas music rotation. Enjoy! Aaron Scott of Fuel (formerly of One Way North) - Hallelujah  Shane Greenhall of Those Damn Crows - O Holy Night Yungblud - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Ed Kowalczyck of Live - Silent Night Collective Soul - Blue Christmas

Artists from outside the U.S. have left an undeniable mark on alternative rock — shaping its sound, spirit, and global reach. From the haunting vocals of The Cranberries to the swagger of Oasis, the anthemic power of U2, and the raw emotion of Alanis Morissette and Nickelback, international acts have helped define the genre across generations. This playlist focuses on some of today’s most compelling alt rock artists from around the world, highlighting their work in 2025. Their voices are pushing boundaries, telling bold stories, and keeping the genre alive and evolving. Whether you're into gritty riffs, emotional ballads, or genre-blending experiments, these artists bring something fresh to the table. Those Damn Crows make the top of our list for 2025 album - God Shaped Hole Check out this playlist for a sample of our favorites.  Rank Artist Country Release 1 Those Damn Crows Wales Album: God Shaped Hole 2 Yungblud England Album: Idols 3 One Ok Rock Japan Album: Detox 4 Smash Into...

The November playlist is currently three and half hours long after adding more new tunes yesterday. Before we breakdown what's been newly added to the November list and the Alt Rock 2020-2025 playlist, let's recap how this works: Each month, we create a new playlist. Each week, songs are added to the monthly playlist and the Alt Rock 2020-2025 playlist. At the end of each month, the monthly playlist is cut back to a top 10 or 15, with 5 or honorable mentions. At the end of each quarter, a quarterly best of playlist is put together. At the end of the year, we'll share our favorite songs of the year. We're getting close to this now. Here's what's been added to the list this week: Lakeview - Sorry Fallen Within, Saliva, Bobby Amaru, Judge & Jury - Worlds Apart Citizen Soldier - It Ends With Me Taylor Acorn - Masquerade Dayseeker - Meet the Reaper Mumford & Sons w/ Hozier - Rubberband Man Ben Quad - All Your Luck Chokecherry - Porcelain Warrior The Format ...

With their 2025 The Magic Word Tour selling out entirely — and a homecoming stop in Milwaukee tomorrow at the Vivarium — it feels like the perfect time to put the spotlight on the LA‑based duo Voilà. Gus Ross, originally from London, and Luke Eisner, originally from Greendale, WI, landed on the Smells Like Alt Rock radar about this time last year when they dropped Ballerina featuring The Word Alive. It shot straight to the number one spot on our November 24 playlist. The track’s gentle music‑box melody layered with heavy guitar is slick and original. Clever wordplay is a hallmark of a Voilà song, and Ballerina is no exception: “I’m sorry what’s your excuse, you’re dancing around the subject, tiptoe around the bad news, somehow I think you love it, ballerina dressed in black…” Like several of their other music videos, Ballerina arrived with a classic black‑and‑white visual — a style that’s quickly becoming a Voilà staple. Their single After(h)ours also grabbed our attention for i...