American Songwriter has published a feature identifying three rock songs from the 1960s that the writer argues foreshadowed the sound and sensibility of alternative rock, decades before the genre existed. The piece is an opinion-driven retrospective rather than breaking news, tracing musical and lyrical DNA from proto-punk and experimental rock acts of the era through to grunge and alt-rock bands of the 1990s.

The three tracks highlighted are "H*roin" by The Velvet Underground (1967), praised for its noise, taboo subject matter and stripped-back two-chord structure, which the author links to Sonic Youth; "1969" by The Stooges (1969), whose repetitive riff and raw vocals are tied to the influence on Nirvana and Mudhoney; and "Shangri-La" by The Kinks (1969), whose Ray Davies-penned storytelling and irony are credited as an influence on R.E.M. and The Smiths.