Indie rock

A brief history of…

What is ‘indie’?

Indie is a sub-genre of alternative rock, indie is extremely diverse, encompassing styles of punk, pop, rock and dance.

The term ‘indie’ originally referred to the independent recording studios that manufactured this low budget music.

As artists were free from mainstream restrictions, they could be adventurous and experimental; this is why indie music is so diverse.

The inspiration for indie

Alternative rock

New Wave

Punk

PyschadeliaCountry

Folk

Indie in the 80s In the 80s the term ‘indie’ was put to use describing the music and bands that band out of independent studios; as opposed to just the studios themselves.

Inspired by massively successful R.E.M and The Smiths, UK bands such as The La’s and American bands such as Let’s Active made pop guitar music that began the indie revolution.

In the U.S, the label ‘indie’ was still being attributed to bands with aggressive, distorted sounds, such as Sonic Youth.

Many important indie labels began at this time. Most notably, Sub Pop Records, who Fleet Foxes, The Postal Service and CSS and signed to today.

NME magazine helped to promote the growth of indie.

Indie in the 90s

The 1990s saw the success as grunge bands such as Nirvana, Britpop bands such as Blur and Oasis and punk revival bands like Green Day. As Indie saw itself committed to its ‘anti-mainstream’ ethos these bands were described as alternative rock as opposed to indie.

Indie rock became reserved for those out of the music-super-sphere.

However, artists Beck and Weezer came into the limelight at this point to bring indie to the masses (along with many others).

Indie nowToday, indie remains a massively diverse genre with an equally expansive fanbase.

The growth of digital technology has allowed indie especially to thrive. True to independent origins, The Arctic Monkeys owe a great deal of their success to social networking.

Famous bands The Strokes, The Hives and The White Stripes were the first wave of internationally successful indie bands, dramatically dubbed the ‘saviours of rock’ by the media. NME magazine famously ran a story on how ‘The Strokes saved music’ with their debut album ‘Is This It’ (2001).

Amongst the second wave of indie giants were Kings of Leon and The Killers from the U.S and Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs from the UK.

Existing indie bands, such as Bright Eyes, entered the mainstream at this time.

Arcade Fire’s 2010 album The Suburbs won a Grammy for Album of The Year.

Indie electronic (which began in the 90s) was expanded by bands such as The Postal Service. Indie then branched further; pushing the boundaries of dance music were bands such as New Young Pony Club, The Whip and Late of The Pier.

Criticisms of ‘indie’.As indie is now so diverse the bands that are considered indie are so different and sound and style of dress that it is hard to group them as a genre.

As indie has become a mainstream genre it has become counter-culture; wayward from its independent origins.

Criticisms of indieMusic information website Allmusic describes indie as; “too sensitive and melancholy; too soft and delicate; too dreamy and hypnotic; too personal and intimately revealing in its lyrics; too low-fidelity and low-budget in its production; too angular in its melodies and riffs; too raw, skronky and abrasive, wrapped in too many sheets of Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr./Pixies/Jesus & Mary Chain-style guitar noise; too oblique and fractured in its song structures; too influenced by experimental or otherwise unpopular musical styles.”