From Deep Underground to Islands in the Sun: The Evolution of Indie Music
Perhaps one of the most revolutionary movements in the history of music was the emergence of indie. One might think of indie as a single genre – but it is really a collection of genres that fall under the same umbrella. Indie music started in the 1970s as a counterculture movement in both the US and UK, where many musicians started to question the bureaucracy and loopholes associated with big record labels such as Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. While signing onto a major record label was a huge opportunity for many musicians, one of the drawbacks included artists losing creative control over their own music. A transition to an independent form of music-making became desirable, as it gave artists the freedom to focus on full creative expression and put more authenticity into their content. One of the first groups that pioneered indie’s success in the music world was a punk rock band from England called Buzzcocks, with their late-1970s release of EP album Spiral Scratch. The album has a chaotic, energetic, and completely unhinged feel, and really encapsulates the “going against the grain” theme that defines the culture of indie.
At this point, indie took off as a mainly underground punk/alternative rock music scene in the 80s, with the genesis of groups such as R.E.M., The Smiths, and Violent Femmes. Songs would often represent the discourse of the era, containing strong socio-political undertones. For example, R.E.M.’s hit “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”, acknowledges that the world had become apathetic to global threats as a result of the Cold War, with people using readily-available distractions such as television as psychological numbing agents.
As musicians caught on to the growing popularity of independent music-making, the indie genre quickly grew more diverse and a lot of the socio-political angst reminiscent in the 80s was lost as a result. Nonetheless, indie music only continued to grow in popularity, especially with the emergence of rock bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Weezer, The Killers, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Oasis. In the 1990s going into the 2000s, indie bands started to become more experimental (perhaps taking inspiration from the 80s band Depeche Mode) and incorporate electronic beats into their music, such as in “Electric Feel”, a popular song by MGMT. More lesser known experimental artists emerged later as well, such as Dirty Projectors, fearofmakingout, and The Avalanches. This time marked the beginning of a new era where it was impossible to put indie music into one box. It now enveloped a multitude of genres including, but not limited to, alternative rock, lo-fi, post-punk, folk, and electronica.
I have felt connected to indie music for a really long time, and as a 2000s kid I especially fell in love with many modern-day artists such as The Strokes, Young the Giant, Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys, and Vampire Weekend. Though this article is just about the music, indie has evolved to encapsulate a whole lifestyle that I feel drawn to, defined by raw authenticity, adventure, experimentation, and creative freedom. To end this post I will share a list of some of my favorite indie songs, some of which you may also know and love:
*Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
culture music lifestyle