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No Aloha: Olivia Rodrigo and The Breeders Reconnect Alt-Rock’s Severed History at MSG Show (Critic’s Essay)

Olivia Rodrigo and The Breeders helped to re-establish a rock timeline at their Monday MSG show that was nearly lost in the 30 years between them.

When some people from Paramore’s team came by the Billboard offices in 2016 to play some tracks from their stellar After Laughter album, I expressed to an older then-co-worker that while I liked the songs, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that the band was moving in a poppier, more groove-oriented direction at a time when they were one of the few modern rock artists of any real currency left in the mainstream. 2-peaking Alternative Airplay hit “Cannonball” and the RIAA Platinum-certified Last Splash were, the band only sold a fraction of what more conventional peers like Candlebox or Stone Temple Pilots did, and intra-band issues ensured that they weren’t able to build off the album’s momentum until their moment had long since passed. But the alt-rock elements were no mere affectation or sonic window dressing – hearing Rodrigo wail “Each time I step outside/ It’s social suicide” over gnawing Nirvana chords during “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl” felt as genuinely and awesomely ‘90s as anything the Deal sisters brought to the stage on Monday night.

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