Comments on: Bye-Bye “Indie,” Hello Again “Alternative”

By: George Aston

George Aston — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:21:55 +0000

Hi there!
My band just recorded our very own proper song!!!

Have a look, we’ve learnt a lot from your blog! :)
xxx

By: breedavies

breedavies — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:35:10 +0000

I got really excited because I thought this was going to be a piece on the No Alternative compilation and how the 90s gave birth to so many cool ALTERNATIVE comps like that one (A secret Nirvana track?!My first introduction to American Music Club and Urge Overkill!), and the If I were A Carpenter comp (Superstar was ruined by Juno, unfortunately,) The Saturday Mroing Cartoons collections, etc.

But instead it was just an article on how old I am. Long live the ambiguity/corniness/antiquity of INDIE ROCK and ALTERNATIVE MUSIC.

p.s.- Ask MTV to bring back 120 minutes, pretty please?

By: Silverfuture

Silverfuture — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:48:52 +0000

If it ain’t metal, it ain’t music.

By: Dick Laurent is dead.

Dick Laurent is dead. — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:21:09 +0000

Part of me wants to say we discard Genres and start organizing by Labels, but that’s hardly any better. When asked what I listen to I usually just sigh and say, “Shit you’ve never heard of.” unless they seem genuinely interested in the question.

By: BakerStreetSaxSolo

BakerStreetSaxSolo — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:45:22 +0000

I’ve never been happy with genre labels which are actually just radio station demographics, which is what ‘alternative’ is (also ‘adult contemporary’ and all that – not a genre, a marketing stereotype). As a Brit, I’ll always defend the use of indie as opposed to the “I’m Special!” bragging of ‘alternative’, which talks more to music-as-identity than it does music-as-aesthetic.

But really both terms are so far removed from their initial meaning now, arguing that one meaning is less spurious than the other is like arguing that the Invisible Pink Unicorn is more/less plausible than the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Americans can and will continue to mock ‘indie’ for being meaningless, and we will continue to smirk “alternative to what!? fnar fnar” in your direction until some genius can come up with A Third Way.

How about – ALTERNATINDIE?

By: LMizellJr

LMizellJr — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:26:52 +0000

IN A WORLD OF HUMAN WRECKAGE!
i actually bought "Plowed" on Itunes months ago b/c I couldn't get it out of my head.

By: NervousBreakdance

NervousBreakdance — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:22:57 +0000

There was an excellent round-table piece on this very topic in last month's Independent (newspaper) in the UK. Conclusion was that we really need to lay the term "indie" to rest, and I'm inclined to agree.

The whole piece is really worth reading (clicky here), but three quotes in particular stuck out for me:

Tim Walker: "Someone has even compounded a helpful term to use when you call the record companies in a [festival] line-up emergency; this uninspiring, guitar-gelled Polyfilla - of which The Fratellis are a fine example - is now known by some as "landfill indie"."

Simon Reynolds: "By 1986 'indie' pretty much equated with a refusal of the pop present. Because it now meant a style of music, not a means of production and distribution, it could be uncoupled from the independent label system, and that is what gradually happened."

Andrew Collins: "[Britpop] was great fun... But it wasn't indie, and it pushed a whole slew of workmanlike guitar bands centre-stage, where they were even expected to represent their rebranded country, giving the quite false impression that Cool Britannia was an Indie Nation. The essence of New Labour, indie was capitalism dressed up as revolutionary socialism."

Hmmm. In conclusion, I'd definitely like to see that phrase "landfill indie" used a lot more.

By: mackro

mackro — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:18:58 +0000

If music is saved on or represented by a physical object, it's pop music.

The degree of how "pop" it is: completely relative.

I know that's not useful now, but when music is eventually outlawed, none of this will matter.

By: science vs romance

science vs romance — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:14:01 +0000

I agree with what you’re saying but I just can’t buy into it. I’d much rather redefine indie or just cast aside the independent/mainstream distinction (because you’re right that it doesn’t really make sense in most contexts) and just describe music for what it is and not who paid for it to get made.

By: moulty

moulty — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:34:56 +0000

I always tell people I listen to rock and roll, which I always mean in a pretty broad sense.

I dunno about alternative in all cases though. With a band like Sebadoh, who picked up some fans during the alternative era but never made the major label jump, it just seems inappropriate. Their music predates what we usually think of as alt-rock and came from a tradition that a lot of people, both then and now, preferred to call 'indie rock'. Or maybe 'indie' is more a confusing term now than it used to be? Still, what about a band like Wye Oak? Are they an alternative rock band?

We all just gotta suck it up and be more descriptive.