Alternative? Not bloody likely...

Since when did alternative rock come to mean "mainstream rock"? Originally, I do believe that alternative music was supposed to be an alternative to something else, but now that there's nothing else, why can't they just reclaim the throne of "rock music" and let something new come along and be the alternative? It's like driving in the left lane of traffic and matching speed with the person in the right lane. It chokes up all the traffic trying to get through, and no one is going to get anywhere until you realize you're old (because, let's face it, the people who do this are ALWAYS old), and let someone else through.