that's not alternative!

by the way, before i get any comment that the songs i post here are not alternative, allow me to explain (yeah right, like you can't), and this comes from my own recent post on lonelyplanet's thorntree, one of the forums i frequent the most:

you don't have to look at how record stores and record labels categorize the artists on their shelves to know the definition of alternative music. i take the definition personally, and my definition of it is simply that it's alternative to the kind of music i get exposed to outside of my control, and that just happens to be the billboard and rolling stone fare i get to hear in public, in restaurants, on tv, in taxi cabs day in and out. the fact that i hear these types of songs a lot makes me wonder what else is out there, so i go out of my way to find other artists. in that sense the so-called rebel is not the artist, but myself, because i in effect go against what is supplied by my immediate environment. of course, what's alternative to me may be mainstream to you, but that just goes to show that music is a very personal experience, and in my view, should be taken as such, regardless of labels.

how do you define alternative?