As far as i'm concerned, mainstream is complete utter shit.
I don't listen to the radio, I don't watch MTV, and I don't listen to a band because others listen to it.
I listen to music that I like.
Which in my case, is usually heavy metal.
Right now I listen to testament, I was referred to it by a friend of mine. before that, I had never in my entire life heard of them
Never saw them on MTV, never heard them on the radio.
But I see your point, I can't stand all the main stream crap I hear every day at school... I'll see some kid listening to green day, meanwhile i'm in the corner blasting Testament's The Ritual.
Everyonce in a LONG while I turn on the radio if I forget my mp3 player, and there is only one station I like. Here in utah 103.5 is a classic rock station, and everyonce in a while they turn on some ZZTop and Styx... ahh the good old days... (funny I should say that, i'm 16..)
In either case, the only bands you'll catch me singing along to are:
Styx
ZZTop
Testament
Pantera
HammerFall
Stratovarius
Sword
AC/DC
Alice Cooper
Linkin Park
Metallica <--- Yes, perhaps they were big, am I poser? no, I just like thier 80s albums.
And the 1.5 gigs of OCremixes I have
Love that stuff.