And for the past 30 years his label Alternative Tentacles has flung musical Molotov cocktails at the masses.
He has continued to publish, do radio broadcasts and even release spoken-word albums through the San Francisco punk label Alternative Tentacles.
In the case of property, which accounts for around a third of the total that institutions allocate to these assets, the label "alternative" is a misnomer.
Ambiguity is expected of Mr. Maron: one reason he and a few like-minded comics adopted the label alternative in the mid-1990's was to signal audiences that they were not quick-laugh artists like most stand-up comics.
It's hard, too, to know how to label "alternative" filmmaking in the YouTube age: experimental technique, like pastiche and the use of found footage, has seeped into pop culture.
Their own label Alternative Tentacles (still run by Jello Biafra but, alas, no longer in charge of the Dead Kennedys' back catalogue) helped to set up the international hardcore punk bible, Maximumrock'n'roll, an all-ages "social center", and released some of the US underground's most important primers such as the Butthole Surfers, Alice Donut and No Means No.
Other retailers have been building their private-label alternatives as well.
A consumer brand can lose prestige if it is seen on supermarket shelves next to cheaper, own-label alternatives.
As the January hangover continues to stretch both belts and bank balances, would you give up your favourite food brands for own-label alternatives?
Apart from the inherently lower cost of frozen food, which is cheaper to transport and store than fresh, Farmfoods keeps prices low by offering own-label alternatives such as Betty Smith's.
