the opposite of mainstream. usually not the 'trend' and usually not what everybody else is doing. original and individual. can usually be identified as something original and/or something that will probably never become popular, but awesome nevertheless.
mainstream : conformists :: non-mainstream : individuals.
SOMETIMES alternative/emo/indie music. other music, such as pop punk, can be mistaken as non-mainstream.
SOMETIMES alternative/emo/indie music. other music, such as pop punk, can be mistaken as non-mainstream.
by ruth February 14, 2005
Get the non-mainstream mug.Pretty much the opposite of Mainstream music. Rarely, if ever, gets on the radio or top 40, and it's not usually well known to the general public. Also known as "Underground Music".
by 1729 February 16, 2009
Get the Non-Mainstream Music mug.A broader category encompassing any way of knowing that doesn't dominate institutional or cultural conversation. This includes minority epistemologies but also includes outsider knowledge from privileged people who simply work outside established frameworks—maverick scientists, independent researchers, artists whose methods reveal truths that measurement misses. Non-mainstream doesn't mean oppressed; it just means not currently running the show. Some of these epistemologies will eventually become mainstream; others will always remain marginal because they resist the standardization that mainstream requires.
Non-Mainstream Epistemologies "He's a brilliant biologist who was too weird for any university, so he studies ecosystems by living in them for years at a time. Totally Non-Mainstream Epistemology—and his insights are better than half the peer-reviewed papers I've read."
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 22, 2026
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