Task 6: Research on genre of chosen music

Indie Rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include indie pop, jangle pop, among others. Originally used to describe record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. As grunge and punk revival bands in the US, and then Britpop bands in the UK, broke into the mainstream in the 1990s. In the 2000s, as a result of changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet, a number of indie rock acts began to enjoy commercial success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term.

Indie rock, derived from "independent", describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released and the do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved. Although distribution deals are often struck with major corporate companies, these labels and the bands they host have attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds, emotions and subjects of limited appeal to large, mainstream audiences. The influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, rock and country. The terms alternative rock and indie rock were used interchangeably in the 1980s, but after many alternative bands followed Nirvana into the mainstream in the early 1990s it began to be used to distinguish those bands, working in a variety of styles, that did not pursue or achieve commercial success.

All music identifies indie rock as including a number of styles that are: "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, too influenced by experimental or otherwise unpopular musical styles." The indie rock movement encompassed a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge-influenced bands, through do-it-yourself experimental bands like Pavement. Many countries have developed an extensive local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country, but virtually unknown outside them.

Indie rock has been identified as a reaction against the "macho" culture that developed in alternative rock in the aftermath of Nirvana's success. It has been noted that indie rock has a relatively high proportion of female artists compared with rock genres.

History of Indie Rock

In the mid-1980s, the term "indie" began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the college rock that dominated college radio playlists, which included key bands like R.E.M. from the US and The Smiths from the UK. In the 1980’s genre labels “College rock”, “noise rock” and “Indie pop” were formed with bands such as The Smiths and many more

The 1990s brought major changes to the alternative rock scene. Grunge bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains broke into the mainstream, achieving

commercial chart success and widespread exposure. Punk revival bands like Green Day and The Offspring also became popular and were grouped under the "alternative" umbrella. Similarly, in the United Kingdom Britpop saw bands like Blur and Oasis emerge into the mainstream, abandoning the regional, small-scale and political elements of the 1980s indie scene. As a result of these changes the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning and began to refer to the new, commercially lighter form of music that was now achieving mainstream success. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. Ryan Moore has argued that in the wake of the appropriation of alternative rock by the corporate music industry that what became known as indie rock increasingly turned to the past to produce forms of "retro" rock that drew on garage rock, rockabilly, blues, country and swing. Following indie pop these included lo-fi, noise pop, emo, sadcore, post-rock, space rock and math rock.

Presently there has been a change in indie rock and the sub-genre groups it has, there has been Garage rock/post-punk revival, bands such as The Strokes, an indie rock garage rock band created in new York, the black keys that are indie rock or blues rock that come from the US, Kaiser Chiefs, The Kooks and the Arctic Monkeys. Other sub-genre groups such as emo music bands like panic! At the disco, paramore, fall out boy and my chemical romance. Another sub-genre group is Indietronic, bands such as Klaxons, Trash fashion and Hadouken!

Indie Rock Artists

The Black Keys

Arctic Monkeys

The Kooks

The Strokes

Kings of Leon

The Killers

Kaiser Chiefs

The Fratellis

Example of magazines that include indie rock bands/artists

Clash magazine

The one on the left is a much more new version of Clash’s layout. The band’s name is bold and clear and lays over their image on the front over but doesn’t take over their image completely just shows that the band’s name is linked to that image. Their images are with a simple background showing a professional look and also that they are a simple band, if there was to be say for example a dramatic patterned background it would distract the reader from the main image of the band/artist. Their clothing isn’t bright reflecting the band, showing that they aren’t attracting a young 11 to 15 audience; they are for an older audience also as an indie rock band they tend to wear less bright clothing.

NME magazine

Q magazine

KERRANG MAYBE

REVOLVER