Music: Are the early '90s back?

If you flip on the TV or turn on the radio, you're liable to think that you're stuck in an early '90s time warp. From the return of bands fronted by grunge progenitors Chris Cornell and Billy Corgan in the form of Audioslave and Zwan to the revival of Lollapalooza, by all superficial accounts it would seem that the '90s are back.

However, behind Cornell's raspy voice and Corgan's familiar face, a much more subtle transformation is revealing itself through both the music and the way it's being received. Despite the presence of blaring headlines declaring that "Rock is Back," the years of pop-heavy music at the end of the '90s have taken their toll, and the revival, more glitz than grunge, is not a revolution.

In the early '90s themselves, the onslaught of grunge amounted to a complete overhaul of the teen pop that dominated the late '80s. This time around, though, pop in its various forms seems to be hanging on a little longer, pervading the sound of rock. Zwan, for instance, replaces the Smashing Pumpkins' searing hard rock with poppier hooks and a happier, more hopeful Billy Corgan. This carefree attitude is also present, to some extent, in the more aggressive supergroup Audioslave. Both Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden had serious overtones, with Rage's emphasis on politics and Soundgarden's on introspection. While Audioslave sounds a lot like these earlier groups, they aren't saying anything, and their more carefree vibe makes them seem more like the direct descendants of the late '90s rap-rock explosion.

But while these groups seem to have the pop-influenced nature of modern rock down, they lack the innovative spirit of their early '90s ancestors. What's more, it's this very creativity that the music-buying public seems to be seeking. The Strokes and Norah Jones illustrate the more inventive side of the current music scene, and people are buying it.

Moreover, a quick Billboard analysis reveals that the public is once again hungry for the innovation Nirvana and their ilk provided to a starved audience. The most explicit evidence of this may be the fact that neither Zwan nor Audioslave have caught on with American buyers. Zwan's Mary, Star of the Sea debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 albums chart and has since dropped like a rock, falling to number 27 its second week out and to number 58 this week. Audioslave isn't faring much better. After peaking at number seven, their album has since languished.

In light of this, the return of Lollapalooza seems ill-conceived. The latest relic in this early '90s resurgence plans to feature Jane's Addiction and Audioslave among other bands on its revival tour this summer. Once again, this lineup seems like a throwback, given that many of the members of these bands have played the festival before.

However, according to Perry Farrell, one of the tour's co-founders, these groups reflect a brand-new musical revolution. But what Farrell doesn't realize is that the very counter-revolutionary nature of these acts suggest that Lollapalooza may be out of touch with the innovative music it claims to represent. Unfortunately for Farrell, the wave he's riding crashed long ago.

• Hilary Lewis