Know Some of the History

Once you're dressed for the occasion, you need to immerse yourself in the history of indie rock.

The '60s

The Velvet Underground, a band that hit the scene during the '60s, is the roots of indie rock. As the rest of the world was into peace, love and really good hallucinogenics, the Velvet Underground was tearing the pages out of the rock rulebook. The band's music sounded kind of like rock, but incorporated elements of social realism and the beginnings of punk and new wave. In short, the Velvet Underground was way ahead of its time.

The '70s

After the VU, the deconstructive proposition born in the bowels on New York's Bowery quickly took the form of punk. Punk became somewhat successful and mainstream, so it had to die. That left a bunch of post-punk bands, such as Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and the Pretenders, who started getting airplay and became successful. Post-punk bottomed out when the Clash made "Combat Rock," a radio-friendly album that included such commercially viable songs as "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go."

The '80s

Sometime in the late '80s, the moniker of underground tunes changed from "punk" to "college music" because the only people who played it were DJs at college radio stations. Anybody with a radio was free to listen, but not very many people did--until people realized that, despite the weird names of some of these bands, they weren't scary like punks. In fact, a lot of college music was just pop music. R.E.M., U2 and Camper Van Beethoven were all college bands, and they were harmless.

As many of those bands became popular, college radio stations became a little harder and a little darker (a la Nirvana). That's when college music started to become known as "alternative," or very different that what you'd hear on mainstream radio.

The '90s

In the early '90s, Nirvana released "Nevermind." As a result, alternative launched its own radio format, and paradoxically became mainstream. So the bands who were still an alternative to something that was getting airplay became, of course, "indie rock."

Next: Become Familiar With Current Indie Rock Bands and Labels

Page:
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5

Printer Friendly

Comments

jamitout said

Flag This Comment

on 10/28/2009 Wow. I think I just saw "cool" melt before my eyes.

on 10/28/2009 The most daft, annoying article I have ever read.

Faking anything is asinine, and it makes a complete mockery of any desperate boob who flagrantly emulates trends -- and not to mention, of indie itself.

Indie spawned from independent thought. Go wear your thrift store tshirts, and download VU mp3s, but regurgitating tripe like this will not make you appear anything but transparent and hollow.

And despite this, thank you.
Bumbling louts like you are the reason indie rock exists.

kyoruiko said

on 10/6/2009 Hilarious article, but a good one. What's wrong with introducing people to indie music, pissdagger? I think that was whole point of the article (proof being that the majority of the article focused on the music, not the fashion--of which there is none).

For the uninitiated, let me suggest some great indie bands, who stand out for their musicality and longevity.

Polvo (Merge & Touch & Go),
Stereolab (Duphonic Records)
Sebadoh ( Sub Pop)
The Sea & Cake ( Thrill Jockey)

The 25 to 30+ crowd should appreciate that. The under 25 crowd...well, rep your own ****.

pissdagger said

on 4/20/2009 I am a non-violent person, and I pay my convictions a disservice when I admit to myself and to you that you deserve physical punishment for publishing this.