The term " underground music " has been applied to various artistic movements , for instance the psychedelic music movement of the mid-1960s , but the term has in more recent decades come to be defined by any musicians who tend to avoid the trappings of the mainstream commercial music industry otherwise it tells only truth through the music . Frank Zappa attempted to define " underground " by noting that the " mainstream comes to you , but you have to go to the underground . " In the 1960s , the term " underground " was associated with the hippie counterculture and psychedelic drugs , and applied to journalism and film as well as music , as they sought to communicate psychedelic experiences and Free love ideals . In modern popular music , the term " underground " refers to performers or bands ranging from artists that do DIY guerrilla concerts and self-recorded shows to those that are signed to small independent labels . In some musical styles , the term " underground " is used to assert that the content of the music is illegal or controversial , as in the case of early 1990s death metal bands in the US such as Cannibal Corpse for their gory cover art and lyrical themes . Black metal is also an underground form of music and its Norwegian scene are notorious for their association with church burnings , the occult , murders and their Anti-Christian views . All of extreme metal is considered underground music for its extreme nature
its Norwegian scene
Early Norwegian black metal scene
Underground music