"In the three years since "Sigh No More" arrived in the United Kingdom in October 2009, mainstream rock music, specifically that being consumed in the United States, has rearranged its profile to allow for banjo breaks. New artists like Of Monsters and Men and the Lumineers have had their singles gain traction on alternative radio. Longer-running acts like the Avett Brothers and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros have released albums that scored top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200 and career-best sales weeks in 2012.

 

James Steele, PD of alternative WROX-FM (96X) Norfolk, Va., says that rock radio has had to accommodate new sounds during the past three years: As bands like Phoenix and Foster the People have built more complex, electronic offerings into the genre, bands like the Avett Brothers and the Lumineers have stripped things down. "Program directors and people who shape music realize that there's a want for something more," Steele says."