10 College Rock Bands That Became Massively Successful

College rock was notorious for finding underground rock bands and giving them a platform that in some cases turned into eventual mainstream success.

Here, we're giving some appreciation for the often underground stations that allowed the bands a chance to find their audience and eventually become some of the most iconic groups in rock history.

Do you remember a time when U2 weren't rocking your radio airwaves? Would it surprise you to know that R.E.M. were five albums into their career before achieving their first Top 40 hit? How did Red Hot Chili Peppers last five years and four albums before their first sniff of radio success?

They all have college rock radio for helping keep them afloat in those early years.

Before seeing those success stories further down the page, get yourself up to speed with some college rock 101 directly below.

What Should You Know About College Rock?

It's important to recognize that the path to radio success was quite a bit different in the '70s and '80s before corporate radio ruled the landscape.

Rock and pop stations were considered the mainstream, but numerous college stations served as an alternative to what was being played by the big stations. They gave a platform to what many would consider the unknown or underground bands of the day and offered a more eclectic playlist pulling from punk, new wave, electronic, retro country and power pop stylings.

Some acts would eventually graduate to mainstream success and be phased out while others had such core fandom in the college rock world that they still remained part of the programming even after hitting the big time.

READ MORE: WTF Is College Rock? 10 Songs That Defined the Pre-Grunge Alternative Era

But by and large, college rock was the home of the underdogs. It was where you discovered groups before they got big and laid claim to them. It was the proving ground for rock that didn't have a big label push behind it. These stations were often the introduction to new bands and tastemakers of the day.

How Was Success Tracked in the College Rock World?

Billboard didn't officially track alternative rock music until 1988 when they launched the Modern Rock Tracks chart (which eventually became known as the Alternative Airplay chart). For the most part, it was a rare occasion when a song big at college rock radio crossed over to hit the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40, but it did happen on occasion.

The primary tracker of alternative music over these years was CMJ (College Media Journal), who had their own charts similar to Billboard that typically spotlighted the music getting played on college rock stations. The publication started in 1979 and was largely the lone chart dedicated to college rock stations for a good portion of the era.

What Happened in 1991?

With Nirvana's commercial breakout in 1991, the brand of college rock programming that helped nurture them was now considered a viably profitable format. More corporate-backed "alternative" stations began to emerge giving bigger platforms to the acts that had populated to college radio airwaves.

College rock bands had gone from underground status to being the most prominent faces in the rock world. College rock stations still existed, but many of the acts they championed now had greater access to the masses.

So let's dig into the golden era of college rock.

It's amazing to think, but certain acts we now think of as legendary weren't always big mainstream radio bands. We take a closer look at their journey from underground upstarts to massive fan favorites below.

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