Define "Indie"

[Radiobass81]

I'm not sure this is allowed, so sorry...

I'm having a hard time realizing when a band is indie and when it's not. Bands like Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, those bands have some... style that, when I hear it, I know it's considered indie, but other bands (The Smiths, early R.E.M... Strokes?!?) I find have no relation whatsoever to the others musically.

What do you think are the factors that define indie?

Terribly sorry for the thread...

[Tonys_Theme]

Indie means independent. So if a band isn't signed to a label they are independent, I don't know how indie started to define a sound.

[Radiobass81]

Well, atleast over here, there are some people who say they listen to indie, so I assumed it was a genre... :upset:.

[Tonys_Theme]

Yea, I know what you mean. I wish I knew how it became a genre.

[sr800bkBassist]

http://www.allmusic.com
somebody go there and copy/paste the indie genre deffinition.
i forgot my login info, so i can't.
they have the best deffinition, IMO.

[Dave de Sylvia]

Awesome thread, man.

[Zmev]

early R.E.M

They were never indie.

they have the best deffinition, IMO.

a whole new generation of emocore enthusiasts discovered Weezer's diamond-in-the-rough sophomore effort for the first time, and their audience grew despite not having a new album in the stores.

[EightMilesHigh]

The Shins.

The Shins are a band on an indie label, and therefore are an indie band.

However, for some people indie is some sort of lifestyle involving elitism, hipness, and scarves.

[Dave de Sylvia]

And greasy slicked back hair, which optional matching for their poo-coloured suede suit.

[morrissey]

+ skinny red leather ties and heeled loafers

Sorry buddy, but indie is one of those genres that I can hear but not describe. We had a recent thread on this subject that got some good discussio before some wheezeball showed up, I'll see if I can find it.

[EightMilesHigh]

And greasy slicked back hair, which optional matching for their poo-coloured suede suit.

So Nick Cave is the spitting image of indie.

[Zmev]

Don't forget those Paul Frank brand glasses.

[Dave de Sylvia]

So Nick Cave is the spitting image of indie.
Nick Cave is so indie he listens to the Game and doesn't even need to pretend to like it.

[Dave de Sylvia]

Don't forget those Paul Frank brand glasses.
My girlfriend got a Paul Frank shirt for xmas. It says 'The Cozy Molars' and depicts a bunch of teeth wearing winter clothes and singing.

[Zmev]

My girlfriend got a Paul Frank shirt for xmas. It says 'The Cozy Molars' and depicts a bunch of teeth wearing winter clothes and singing.

Sweet.

/has 2 pf sweatshirts

[Luxor]

stfu and gtfo

[JonM]

If you search for posts by me saying "**** you," you'll probably find 85 or so threads identical to this one.

However, if you're 15 and you've really read enough philosophy to find I Heart Huckabees funny, you're excused.

[cap]

I'm an indie.

[Zmev]

nu uh ur a pozr

[Sam]

How is I Heart Huckabees Indie?

[Radiobass81]

If you search for posts by me saying "**** you," you'll probably find 85 or so threads identical to this one.

However, if you're 15 and you've really read enough philosophy to find I Heart Huckabees funny, you're excused.

Haha :p.

[JonM]

How is I Heart Huckabees Indie?
It's not. It's good. Actually, yeah it is indie, and it's still good.

[YDload]

Listen to the music in Garden State or Lost in Translation and you'll start to get the idea. Indie IS a genre, it doesn't just mean "independent labels" anymore.

[Sam]

It's not. It's good. Actually, yeah it is indie, and it's still good.

Fair enough.

[Cocaine]

The whole indie thing amazes me, I mean, I'm not much of a fan of it, but just it's become an enigma of itself. It's a genre nearly anyone can acknowledge, but nobody can explain. You can hear a song and say "oh, that's indie", but not actually be able to attribute a musical characteristic to the genre. It's a genre based on independence, but many of the bands are now using major label distrubution (in the least). It's a genre with no discernable musical characteristic, but somehow a genre in itself. It boggles the mind, I tells ya.

[Zappa]

I don't call anything indie ever. There are always more specific terms, or you can simply substitute in "alternative rock."

[Cocaine]

I don't call anything indie ever. There are always more specific terms, or you can simply substitute in "alternative rock."

I try to avoid the term simply because it's so indefinable, but I always find myself crawling back to it.

[StrangelyBrewed13]

So is Sub-Pop still considered an indie label. I mean they've gotten pretty big since 1989.

[JonM]

So is Sub-Pop still considered an indie label. I mean they've gotten pretty big since 1989.
I'd say so, absolutely. In my mind, and perhaps by definition, you're not a major until you're going across media, genre, and generation.

[Sam]

The whole indie thing amazes me, I mean, I'm not much of a fan of it, but just it's become an enigma of itself. It's a genre nearly anyone can acknowledge, but nobody can explain. You can hear a song and say "oh, that's indie", but not actually be able to attribute a musical characteristic to the genre. It's a genre based on independence, but many of the bands are now using major label distrubution (in the least). It's a genre with no discernable musical characteristic, but somehow a genre in itself. It boggles the mind, I tells ya.

Pretentiousness.

In addition, I'm not really a fan of indie either come to think of it.

[Cocaine]

Pretentiousness.

In addition, I'm not really a fan of indie either come to think of it.

I'm not trying to be pretentious, I'm saying what I feel it's like. I can identify "indie music", but somehow cannot distinguish what musical traits make it "indie"

[Sam]

I don't mean you, I mean pretentiousness is the defining characteristic of indie rock.

[Cocaine]

I don't mean you, I mean pretentiousness is the defining characteristic of indie rock.

Oh, gotcha.

[bubbledeath]

Isn't indie anything that sounds remotely different from anything Top 40 with a stupid name? And cigarettes and blazers?

I really see it just as pop music with more flourishes, though.

I also don't like the subgenres because I can never tell if a band's supposed to be "indie pop" or "indie rock" or "dream pop" or "chamber pop" or "post-genre of choice" or anything like that. AGH!

[EightMilesHigh]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/images.php?imageid=24465

Gotta love how some douchebags are vain enough to post pictures of themselves as a musical genre.

[Radiobass81]

Listen to the music in Garden State or Lost in Translation and you'll start to get the idea. Indie IS a genre, it doesn't just mean "independent labels" anymore.

Garden State is what got me into The Shins, and I've been listening to the songs on the LiT soundtrack for quite a while now. Ironic :p.

[Zmev]

Maybe you should read the cool review (http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?p=4709) of that soundtrack.

[Radiobass81]

Haha, I did :p (when you posted it in the Community thread).

Great review.

[marcusthecat]

there is no sound to indie. It could be any type of music as long as its underground i geuss. Rap can be indie, country can be indie, i mean i love rap.

[marcusthecat]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/images.php?imageid=24465

Gotta love how some douchebags are vain enough to post pictures of themselves as a musical genre.


LMAO!!! those are scenester kids.

[dilettante]

Indie doesn't have a sound. You're a retard if you think it does.

[StrangelyBrewed13]

Indie doesn't have a sound. You're a retard if you think it does.


You're a retard if you think you can define indie with "no sound".

[sr800bkBassist]

Indie doesn't have a sound. You're a retard if you think it does.
you have a lottttt to learn.

[Scott Herren]

"Indie rock takes its name from "independent," which describes both the do-it-yourself attitudes of its bands and the small, lower-budget nature of the labels that release the music. The biggest indie labels might strike distribution deals with major corporate labels, but their decision-making processes remain autonomous. As such, indie rock is free to explore sounds, emotions, and lyrical subjects that don't appeal to large, mainstream audiences -- profit isn't as much of a concern as personal taste (though the labels do, after all, want to stay in business). It's very much rooted in the sound and sensibility of American underground and alternative rock of the '80s, albeit with a few differences that account for the changes in underground rock since then. In the sense that the term is most widely used, indie rock truly separated itself from alternative rock around the time that Nirvana hit the mainstream. Mainstream tastes gradually reshaped alternative into a new form of serious-minded hard rock, in the process making it more predictable and testosterone-driven. Indie rock was a reaction against that phenomenon; not all strains of alternative rock crossed over in Nirvana's wake, and not all of them wanted to, either. Yet while indie rock definitely shares the punk community's concerns about commercialism, it isn't as particular about whether bands remain independent or "sell out"; the general assumption is that it's virtually impossible to make indie rock's varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes in the first place. There are almost as many reasons for that incompatibility as there are indie-rock bands, but following are some of the most common: the music may be too whimsical and innocent; too weird; 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. Regardless of the specifics, it's rock made by and for outsiders -- much like alternative once was, except that thanks to its crossover, indie rock has a far greater wariness of excess testosterone. It's certainly not that indie rock is never visceral or powerful; it's just rarely -- if ever -- macho about it. As the '90s wore on, indie rock developed quite a few substyles and close cousins (indie pop, dream pop, noise-pop, lo-fi, math rock, post-rock, space rock, sadcore, and emo among them), all of which seemed poised to remain strictly underground phenomena." - Allmusic.com

[Scott Herren]

Oh, and the Indie cannot be defined as "songs that sound like this", but songs can be classified as sounding indie. That is where people seem to get lost.

[Sam]

Oh, and the Indie cannot be defined as "songs that sound like this", but songs can be classified as sounding indie.

That's a good description.

[StrangelyBrewed13]

"Yet while indie rock definitely shares the punk community's concerns about commercialism, it isn't as particular about whether bands remain independent or "sell out";." - Allmusic.com


Actually, when Modest Mouse started getting famous a bunch of people wrote "Sell Out" in mud on their van. They're definitely less preoccupied but still preoccupied none the less.

[mooseyfate]

Indie, Independent, unsigned band. I don't know either how it became a genre. I guess a lot of people just started to go with it, even though there really wouldn't be an explanation of how indie sounds like, because it's not a sound to begin with. Some britpop-mod revivals are sometimes said to be under indie, some dance-punk are in indie.

[StrangelyBrewed13]

I think that it became a genre because it was cheap. I mean most if not all the concerts took place in tiny personal clubs that didnt require a two drink minimum or a cover charge, plus the CDs were only about 5 or 6 dollars. You could see a band develop and buy all their CDs for 5 years and it wouldnt even be half of what it cost to go to a rolling stones concert.

[ToolBox]

Jorge, welcome to the indie/alt section :P.

[Radiobass81]

Thanks, Matt :).

[littledrummerboy]

Music thats origional and tryng to differ from the sound of the everyday **** fest that is mainstream.

thatd be my best guess eh?

[YDload]

nah, some of it doesn't try to be original at all. that's the whole reason I think there IS an indie sound, because all the bands on independent labels playing post-punk/garage rock music had a similar sound.

[mdc017]

personally I think Americans like myself think of indie in a completely different way. We think of indie when you say bands like Franz Ferdinand, bloc party or the Strokes,when in reality in Europe those are major "rock" bands. Truthfully what I think would be indie is something very experimental with a pop and rock mixed together. I think a good idea of indie is the killers. Their album is like nothing i've ever heard from this generation. It reminds me a lot of the 80's. Or it could be way far out from being like anything. Something like the decemberists. Ya see. We think the strokes have some kind of indie experimental sound when really they aren't that experimental. In america they're indie in europe they're rock.kinda see where i'm goin with this. I mean i used the strokes as an example because I can't get that damn song jukebox out of my head.

Peace and love,
Michael

[sr800bkBassist]

personally I think Americans like myself think of indie in a completely different way. We think of indie when you say bands like Franz Ferdinand, bloc party or the Strokes,when in reality in Europe those are major "rock" bands. Truthfully what I think would be indie is something very experimental with a pop and rock mixed together. I think a good idea of indie is the killers. Their album is like nothing i've ever heard from this generation. It reminds me a lot of the 80's. Or it could be way far out from being like anything. Something like the decemberists. Ya see. We think the strokes have some kind of indie experimental sound when really they aren't that experimental. In america they're indie in europe they're rock.kinda see where i'm goin with this. I mean i used the strokes as an example because I can't get that damn song jukebox out of my head.

Peace and love,
MichaelNONONO.
none of those bands are experimental, or indie.
well the Decemberists are indie, but besides that, NO.
you've never heard a real experimental band before, clearly.

stop watching MTV.

(by the way, i'm NOT european.)

[Wanker]

^^Thank you.

I think a good idea of indie is the killers. Their album is like nothing i've ever heard from this generation.

Listen to more music plzkthx.

[JonM]

blahblahblahblah peace and love
Way to speak for everybody in America.

[Scott Herren]

the killers aren't indie lol

[littledrummerboy]

haha the killers are suck. I despise them.
listen to thunderbirds are now! if you want dancey indie stuff :)

[Cocaine]

haha the killers are suck. I despise them.
listen to thunderbirds are now! if you want dancey indie stuff :)

Or just listen to the 80s music those bands are all doing a terrible job at ripping off.

[Midnight]

NONONO.
none of those bands are experimental, or indie.
well the Decemberists are indie, but besides that, NO.
you've never heard a real experimental band before, clearly.

stop watching MTV.

(by the way, i'm NOT european.)
Lightning Bolt are experimental.

But they are also unlistenable **** 98% of the time.

[Sam]

Nah, Lightning Bolt is awesome.

[just_a_girl]

So Indie today is basically what less-popular Alternative Rock music became when the kids listening to it turned it into a "scene." (i.e. Punk)