name some bands that made it popular in the 1990s.
Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dinosaur Jr.
Alternative rock
By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was enticed by alternative rock's commercial possibilities and major labels had already signed Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dinosaur Jr. 
where did death cab for cutie get their name From the song "Death Cab for Cutie" when was the band formed? 1997 where are they from? Bellingham, Washington what genre are they? Indie rock, indie pop, emo, and alternative rock when did the latter genre originate? Alternative rock  emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s
wiki:5282354
Alternative rock [SEP] Popularization in the 1990s
By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was enticed by alternative rock's commercial possibilities and major labels had already signed Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dinosaur Jr. In early 1991, R.E.M. went mainstream worldwide with "Out of Time" while becoming a blueprint for many alternative bands. The first edition of the Lollapalooza festival became the most successful tour in North America in July and August 1991. For Dave Grohl of Nirvana who caught it near Los Angeles in an open-air amphitheater, "it felt like something was happening, that was the beginning of it all". The tour helped change the mentalities in the music industry: "by that fall, radio and MTV and music had changed.