Indie might be the biggest thing going on in terms having to wade through all the crap that sounds uninspiring and cookie-cutter to find the "indie" that is actually good. It's all opinion, I know... but to me indie is an overused name to describe way too many bands tryign to do the same thing and only a few of them pull it off with tact.
The fact that there is a thread here makes me SICK! Phil Collins is the WORST "musician" of all time. If he comes on and I'm at a bar, I will leave, probably not come back. They were playing an entire album of his at my grocery store I visit daily, I spoke with the manager and made it very clear they will lose me as a customer and likely others unless they change the AWFUL crap(I can't call it music). The best part was, the manager was equally annoyed with the noise, but an employee begged for it... sheesh, he's been legally deaf for how long now, yet people still think he is making good "music"?
Phil Collins DEFINITELY owes the world an apology... :twisted:
beyond the harsh comments, this might be the most disturbing part of the thread. i dont claim phil collins is the best musician of all time. he isnt. but if this story, pjtaper, is true, you have major issues my friend. if you fly off the handle for a grocery store playing phil collins in the store, what would you do if someone disagrees with an opinion you have in real life? If someone hates PJ or a band you love, do you punch and assault them? I mean come on.
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
but what else is it called? its indie music? The music that pitchfork covers, that brooklyn vegan covers, thats indie music, to me at least. short of calling it hipster music, what other term applies?
indie like any musical term is an umbrella term. does iron and wine sound anything like grizzly bear? AF sound like Death Cab? But that applies with any label. Is Pearl Jam's music at all similar to Mars Volta? Or Queens of the Stone Age, are they at all similar to Seether? Yet all are rock music right?
if you dont like indie music thats fine with me. im into it, it changed my life, and has scored my life for the past 5 years. I find indie music to be the most diverse and exciting scene in music and has been for the last decade. Im not into hearing seether or three days grace. Give me The Shins, and The Mars Volta, and AF, Godspeed, Explosions in the sky, anyday over that stuff.
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
but what else is it called? its indie music? The music that pitchfork covers, that brooklyn vegan covers, thats indie music, to me at least. short of calling it hipster music, what other term applies?
indie like any musical term is an umbrella term. does iron and wine sound anything like grizzly bear? AF sound like Death Cab? But that applies with any label. Is Pearl Jam's music at all similar to Mars Volta? Or Queens of the Stone Age, are they at all similar to Seether? Yet all are rock music right?
if you dont like indie music thats fine with me. im into it, it changed my life, and has scored my life for the past 5 years. I find indie music to be the most diverse and exciting scene in music and has been for the last decade. Im not into hearing seether or three days grace. Give me The Shins, and The Mars Volta, and AF, Godspeed, Explosions in the sky, anyday over that stuff.
maybe you should change your name to indimusicismylife78.
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
So, now that I'm a dad, I have to stop following Indie (however crudely I do it) and start listening to Shania Twain and Black Eyed Peas???
Sorry to bust your stones, but the way you say things comes off pretty smug sometimes.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
So, now that I'm a dad, I have to stop following Indie (however crudely I do it) and start listening to Shania Twain and Black Eyed Peas???
Sorry to bust your stones, but the way you say things comes off pretty smug sometimes.
you dont read or find nuance in things do you, friend. lets face it, music is a life long passion for many, but once people marry and have kids, and have to pay bills, alot of people who were music fanatics as kids and teens, start to lose touch with modern music and finding new bands. sure there are exceptions but this is the way it usually goes.
indie music and the whole idea of hipster identity, it isnt 50 year olds or dads and moms who are being marketed to in american apparel ads, and it isnt dads and moms moving to williamsburg, the skinny jeans wearing, american apparel clad, pitchfork reading hipster, that I picture in my own mind, isnt a mom or dad or a 50 year old, or 40 year old. they are a twentysomething. a kid basically.
I have no problem with moms and dads or older people listening to indie. Again, you arent fast on the nuance are you? I didnt suggest this was bad. The fact is, pick any music genre. Grunge immediately comes to mind for obvious reasons. It started out local, got attention, then became a national, then global phenomenon. Not just teens knew who kurt was, parents did as well. The commercialization of it, as evidenced by parents becoming aware of it, along with a multitude of other factors led to its demise.
Generally as a rule of thumb, for any other genre other than indie, once the scene becomes a household word and becomes commercialized, and when parents know about the bands and listen to them as well, the scene dies. it becomes stale, and whatnot. indie is a rare exception.
music history 101 friend, not too tough to work it out
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
but what else is it called? its indie music? The music that pitchfork covers, that brooklyn vegan covers, thats indie music, to me at least. short of calling it hipster music, what other term applies?
indie like any musical term is an umbrella term. does iron and wine sound anything like grizzly bear? AF sound like Death Cab? But that applies with any label. Is Pearl Jam's music at all similar to Mars Volta? Or Queens of the Stone Age, are they at all similar to Seether? Yet all are rock music right?
if you dont like indie music thats fine with me. im into it, it changed my life, and has scored my life for the past 5 years. I find indie music to be the most diverse and exciting scene in music and has been for the last decade. Im not into hearing seether or three days grace. Give me The Shins, and The Mars Volta, and AF, Godspeed, Explosions in the sky, anyday over that stuff.
Indie rock, alt rock, alt-country-rock, alt-folk-rock, alt-indie-country-folk-emo-rock....My head could explode any moment. To quote another 70's-80's icon who is too often the butt of musical jokes, "It's still rock and roll to me."
Some of you folks need to lay off poor ole Phil Collins. He's a musician, right? Then he can't be all bad, right? Sure, some of that music of his from the 80's is a little dated, and a little cheesy, but I think some things are being taken for granted here. First off, he wrote most of his material. Second, he played instruments on many of his recordings (and he was a mighty fine drummer too). Third, he was huge in his day. Massive. Ginormous. That third point might not mean a whole lot to some of you, but you put those three things together, and what you've got is something that just doesn't seem to exist today. A musician, writing his own songs, playing instruments on his own recordings, and selling millions of copies of those recordings. How often does that happen today? Add to all that the vast amount of production work he was doing in the 80's for Eric Clapton and others, and what you get is a unique, talented, and extremely hard-working musician. And can that ever be a bad thing?
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
but what else is it called? its indie music? The music that pitchfork covers, that brooklyn vegan covers, thats indie music, to me at least. short of calling it hipster music, what other term applies?
indie like any musical term is an umbrella term. does iron and wine sound anything like grizzly bear? AF sound like Death Cab? But that applies with any label. Is Pearl Jam's music at all similar to Mars Volta? Or Queens of the Stone Age, are they at all similar to Seether? Yet all are rock music right?
if you dont like indie music thats fine with me. im into it, it changed my life, and has scored my life for the past 5 years. I find indie music to be the most diverse and exciting scene in music and has been for the last decade. Im not into hearing seether or three days grace. Give me The Shins, and The Mars Volta, and AF, Godspeed, Explosions in the sky, anyday over that stuff.
It's all rock music. Indie is as useless as a descriptive term as 'grunge'. If I like a band, I'll listen to 'em, I don't care if I'm at Lady Gaga in an arena or at The Head And The Heart at Zaphod's. And isn't being marketed to at places like American Apparel the same thing that happened to grunge?
Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
all of that was to say, parents knowing and listening to the decemberists and iron and wine is unique and rare and notable for the fact that indie hasnt imploded as of yet. thats all im suggesting. indie as a term is problematic, which is what i pointed out in the first place. how do you quantify and identify an indie band when moms and dad's listen and enjoy ray lamontagne just like their twenty year old daughter? Or when AF is enjoyed by people of all generations? Its odd, the term, indie is, but as of yet, i have yet to hear another more descriptive and apt term to describe the music of the bands we've been discussing here, beyond the stale term "rock music". I love rock music, but thats a problematic term as I pointed out, as well.
Someone saying they listen to rock music, really is about as vague as it gets. "hey what do you listen to"? "oh you know, rock music". Oh you dont say! If you say indie music, people automatically know of bands, specific bands, sounds, looks and identities based around the music and culture. Its still an umbrella term, but i prefer it, to stale and yawn inducing terms like rock music and the yucky alt rock!
all of that was to say, parents knowing and listening to the decemberists and iron and wine is unique and rare and notable for the fact that indie hasnt imploded as of yet. thats all im suggesting. indie as a term is problematic, which is what i pointed out in the first place. how do you quantify and identify an indie band when moms and dad's listen and enjoy ray lamontagne just like their twenty year old daughter? Or when AF is enjoyed by people of all generations? Its odd, the term, indie is, but as of yet, i have yet to hear another more descriptive and apt term to describe the music of the bands we've been discussing here, beyond the stale term "rock music". I love rock music, but thats a problematic term as I pointed out, as well.
Someone saying they listen to rock music, really is about as vague as it gets. "hey what do you listen to"? "oh you know, rock music". Oh you dont say! If you say indie music, people automatically know of bands, specific bands, sounds, looks and identities based around the music and culture. Its still an umbrella term, but i prefer it, to stale and yawn inducing terms like rock music and the yucky alt rock!
Perhaps someone saying "I listen to rock" could mean that they like many, many different types of rock music. Don't view it in a negative light. Many people are very open-minded and don't care about classifications and labels, which is what "indie" is after all.
I host a "rock" radio show. I call it that because I want it to be vague. I want listeners to have no expectations and know that they will hear practically anything that can be classified as a "rock" sound.
7/2/06 - Denver, CO
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
but what else is it called? its indie music? The music that pitchfork covers, that brooklyn vegan covers, thats indie music, to me at least. short of calling it hipster music, what other term applies?
indie like any musical term is an umbrella term. does iron and wine sound anything like grizzly bear? AF sound like Death Cab? But that applies with any label. Is Pearl Jam's music at all similar to Mars Volta? Or Queens of the Stone Age, are they at all similar to Seether? Yet all are rock music right?
if you dont like indie music thats fine with me. im into it, it changed my life, and has scored my life for the past 5 years. I find indie music to be the most diverse and exciting scene in music and has been for the last decade. Im not into hearing seether or three days grace. Give me The Shins, and The Mars Volta, and AF, Godspeed, Explosions in the sky, anyday over that stuff.
It's all rock music. Indie is as useless as a descriptive term as 'grunge'. If I like a band, I'll listen to 'em, I don't care if I'm at Lady Gaga in an arena or at The Head And The Heart at Zaphod's. And isn't being marketed to at places like American Apparel the same thing that happened to grunge?
indeed the american apparel thing happened to grunge, albeit through other ways and venues, but i agree. but again, indie rock is fascinating even if you dont like the music, or listen to it, for the fact its been such a formidable and dominant form of music for so long, 2001 through now. Almost without exception, once a scene becomes commercialized and big, and massive and everyone knows about it, your sister, your mom, your dad, your uncle, and your teacher, then the scene dies and a new sound and scene is conjured up. Williamsburg is still a hotspot, pitchfork is still wildly popular and influential, and bands in the scene now win Album of the Year grammys. Few if any genres since hip hop have had this kind of stamina. Add that to the fact that the scene as a whole isnt riddled with heroin, cocaine, or meth users as lead singers or band members. The scene has been remarkably clean, or at least not public with drug use and self destructive behavior. What other music scene since maybe Dischord era punk has been less about drugs and abuse, than indie rock?
But do musicians doing drugs make the scene about drugs? I just don't think indie is all that descriptive, just as 'alternative' is now. Alternative might have meant something descriptive 20 years ago, but the alternative is now the mainstream, just like indie is. I'm not knocking the bands at all, being a 20 year old I love a lot of the tunes, the scene just bugs the shit out of me sometimes.
Is someone like Liam Finn indie? What about The Hold Steady? I find people classify indie bands based more around the look than their sound or their 'indie-ness' (ie being on an independent label).
Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
I had a friend once who said when he walks into a record store, he hates the different sections. He said to me once: "I wanna see Miles Davis next to Deep Purple, because that's the way it should be!" Amen, brother.
That said, haven't we gotten a little off-topic here?
I had a friend once who said when he walks into a record store, he hates the different sections. He said to me once: "I wanna see Miles Davis next to Deep Purple, because that's the way it should be!" Amen, brother.
As is the mindset for my show's format.
7/2/06 - Denver, CO
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
I had a friend once who said when he walks into a record store, he hates the different sections. He said to me once: "I wanna see Miles Davis next to Deep Purple, because that's the way it should be!" Amen, brother.
That said, haven't we gotten a little off-topic here?
This is very true.
Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
But do musicians doing drugs make the scene about drugs? I just don't think indie is all that descriptive, just as 'alternative' is now. Alternative might have meant something descriptive 20 years ago, but the alternative is now the mainstream, just like indie is. I'm not knocking the bands at all, being a 20 year old I love a lot of the tunes, the scene just bugs the shit out of me sometimes.
Is someone like Liam Finn indie? What about The Hold Steady? I find people classify indie bands based more around the look than their sound or their 'indie-ness' (ie being on an independent label).
indeed liam and the hold steady are indie. i classify them as such. indie to me is more descriptive than plain old rock. rock music-thats like the guy above said, its vague, so many things could be rock. you like rock music? does that mean you like punk rock? Or psychedelic rock? Modern rock? pop rock? instrumental rock? Do they like blues rock? Early rock and roll like elvis and chuck berry? or do they like 80's rock? Maybe they like 90's rock?
With indie music, its narrowed down. Im an indie rock or indie music fan. I picture someone listening to pitckfork endorsed music, and the flagship indie bands. its shorthand, and i prefer it. If someone likes indie music, then they probably like grizzly bear and animal collective, they probably like the garden state soundtrack, and are into band of horses and modest mouse.
But whatever.
and no musicians doing drugs doesnt make a scene about drugs, but lets be real alot of scenes and movements and genres have ended because of drug problems. grunge ended for a lot of reasons, and one of the main ones was drug use.
for all i know isaac brock could be a cocaine user, and panda bear could have groupies every night in the tour bus, maybe james mercer embezzled millions of dollars from his band mates. Maybe Win Butler abuses heroin. All i know is, for a genre thats lasted as long as this has, a decade, its been remarkably clean and few major problems and deaths have resulted or gone down. thats a good thing. The fact that these allegations above have not been suggested and that the main flagship bands have had relatively few problems along those lines is a good thing as well, and as i said highly unique
i agree indie is hard to quality or identity nowadays with indie bands regularly topping the billboard charts, and AF winning a grammy, and mothers and fathers who know and are aware of who the shins or the decemberists are.
So, now that I'm a dad, I have to stop following Indie (however crudely I do it) and start listening to Shania Twain and Black Eyed Peas???
Sorry to bust your stones, but the way you say things comes off pretty smug sometimes.
you dont read or find nuance in things do you, friend. lets face it, music is a life long passion for many, but once people marry and have kids, and have to pay bills, alot of people who were music fanatics as kids and teens, start to lose touch with modern music and finding new bands. sure there are exceptions but this is the way it usually goes.
indie music and the whole idea of hipster identity, it isnt 50 year olds or dads and moms who are being marketed to in american apparel ads, and it isnt dads and moms moving to williamsburg, the skinny jeans wearing, american apparel clad, pitchfork reading hipster, that I picture in my own mind, isnt a mom or dad or a 50 year old, or 40 year old. they are a twentysomething. a kid basically.
I have no problem with moms and dads or older people listening to indie. Again, you arent fast on the nuance are you? I didnt suggest this was bad. The fact is, pick any music genre. Grunge immediately comes to mind for obvious reasons. It started out local, got attention, then became a national, then global phenomenon. Not just teens knew who kurt was, parents did as well. The commercialization of it, as evidenced by parents becoming aware of it, along with a multitude of other factors led to its demise.
Generally as a rule of thumb, for any other genre other than indie, once the scene becomes a household word and becomes commercialized, and when parents know about the bands and listen to them as well, the scene dies. it becomes stale, and whatnot. indie is a rare exception.
music history 101 friend, not too tough to work it out
I'm done trying to have any rational conversation with this guy. How many of those beloved indie artists do you think are parents themselves?
By the way, I'm a huge Decemberists fan. I even went through an exercise to combine songs in itunes so The Hazards of Love sounds better on shuffle.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Funny you think The Hold Steady are indie... They seem to reject the genre entirely truth be told. They berate 'sniffling indie kids' and those 'clever kids' throughout a lot of their music, and instead of writing about big themes or even beautiful heartbreak, they write about getting hammered and hooking up in a bathroom with a girl.
I guess the scene just annoys me because it detracts from the music. I don't care what a band looks like, but I especially hate when bands try to pretend not to care but instead dress like every other indie band. And don't get me started on Urban Outfitters.
Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
Funny you think The Hold Steady are indie... They seem to reject the genre entirely truth be told. They berate 'sniffling indie kids' and those 'clever kids' throughout a lot of their music, and instead of writing about big themes or even beautiful heartbreak, they write about getting hammered and hooking up in a bathroom with a girl.
I guess the scene just annoys me because it detracts from the music. I don't care what a band looks like, but I especially hate when bands try to pretend not to care but instead dress like every other indie band. And don't get me started on Urban Outfitters.
its definitely become a commodity, but i love it. i am a walking stereotype. zach braff haircut, skinny jeans, read p4k religiously, go to concerts obsessively, and love all the stereotypical bands.
Funny you think The Hold Steady are indie... They seem to reject the genre entirely truth be told. They berate 'sniffling indie kids' and those 'clever kids' throughout a lot of their music, and instead of writing about big themes or even beautiful heartbreak, they write about getting hammered and hooking up in a bathroom with a girl.
I guess the scene just annoys me because it detracts from the music. I don't care what a band looks like, but I especially hate when bands try to pretend not to care but instead dress like every other indie band. And don't get me started on Urban Outfitters.
its definitely become a commodity, but i love it. i am a walking stereotype. zach braff haircut, skinny jeans, read p4k religiously, go to concerts obsessively, and love all the stereotypical bands.
Funny you think The Hold Steady are indie... They seem to reject the genre entirely truth be told. They berate 'sniffling indie kids' and those 'clever kids' throughout a lot of their music, and instead of writing about big themes or even beautiful heartbreak, they write about getting hammered and hooking up in a bathroom with a girl.
I guess the scene just annoys me because it detracts from the music. I don't care what a band looks like, but I especially hate when bands try to pretend not to care but instead dress like every other indie band. And don't get me started on Urban Outfitters.
its definitely become a commodity, but i love it. i am a walking stereotype. zach braff haircut, skinny jeans, read p4k religiously, go to concerts obsessively, and love all the stereotypical bands.
I'm not trying to attack you, so please don't take it this way.
Isn't being a walking stereotype and following what everyone else is doing the exact opposite of what 'indie' is supposed to be about?
Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
I'm not trying to attack you, so please don't take it this way.
Isn't being a walking stereotype and following what everyone else is doing the exact opposite of what 'indie' is supposed to be about?
No, it's all about doing whatever brooklynvegan tells you.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
well im also a straightedger, never done drugs, drank, or smoked ever, i spent a brief time in a commune, i identify as a anarchist/commie radical, and i aspire to live a monk like existence of minimalism. I;d happily move to a secluded forest cottage, ala Walden, and spend the rest of my days writing, gardening, growing my own food and painting. So i'd say i walk to the beat of my own drummer fine, even being a stereotype in the indie scene.
For me, a major part of the appeal of indie is how it feels to be part of something. with the exception of grunge, and living through the years vicariously through my cooler older cousins, i have never been a part of a scene before. being 5th row center, in a arena with Arcade Fire playing live and thousands screaming every word to Wake up and Power Out, its hard to describe but its something, and its meaningful.
I feel a part of a movement, a scene. And its something thats important to me. The fact that other people are as excited about the new James Blake record as I am, is pretty damn cool. Or that others read the almighty holy pitchfork like me as well.
its a rush to feel part of something, just as it was in the grunge days. just as it must have felt to be living in LA or Brooklyn in the mid 90's in terms of hip hop. Or britain in the late 70's for punk. the collective part of it is huge.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
For me, a major part of the appeal of indie is how it feels to be part of something. with the exception of grunge, and living through the years vicariously through my cooler older cousins, i have never been a part of a scene before. being 5th row center, in a arena with Arcade Fire playing live and thousands screaming every word to Wake up and Power Out, its hard to describe but its something, and its meaningful.
That's what PJ fans do at shows.
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
well im also a straightedger, never done drugs, drank, or smoked ever, i spent a brief time in a commune, i identify as a anarchist/commie radical, and i aspire to live a monk like existence of minimalism. I;d happily move to a secluded forest cottage, ala Walden, and spend the rest of my days writing, gardening, growing my own food and painting. So i'd say i walk to the beat of my own drummer fine, even being a stereotype in the indie scene.
For me, a major part of the appeal of indie is how it feels to be part of something. with the exception of grunge, and living through the years vicariously through my cooler older cousins, i have never been a part of a scene before. being 5th row center, in a arena with Arcade Fire playing live and thousands screaming every word to Wake up and Power Out, its hard to describe but its something, and its meaningful.
I feel a part of a movement, a scene. And its something thats important to me. The fact that other people are as excited about the new James Blake record as I am, is pretty damn cool. Or that others read the almighty holy pitchfork like me as well.
its a rush to feel part of something, just as it was in the grunge days. just as it must have felt to be living in LA or Brooklyn in the mid 90's in terms of hip hop. Or britain in the late 70's for punk. the collective part of it is huge.
As someone who was sitting on the rail at the arcade fire this summer, I know what you mean, I just don't get why I should dress like everybody else or be a walking stereotype? I can be at Head And The Heart one day and Gaga the next week (this was my last two weeks) as well as liking Guns N' Roses. I feel a part of the indie scene to an extent just by digging the music, but I can feel a part of the scene without wearing tight pants.
I guess part of my view was after living in Montreal last year, and living with a lot of hipsters, I just got jaded by the whole scene.
Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
I feel a part of the indie scene to an extent just by digging the music, but I can feel a part of the scene without wearing tight pants.
Brilliant. Feeling a part of the scene has nothing to do with where you shop, and what you wear, or what literature you read. Personally, I feel it comes down to your belief. It's how you act, not how you look. If you like and follow these indie bands and pay for their material and pay to go see them, you're already a part of the scene... more so than you ever will be from wearing tight jeans, drinking PBR, wearing a v-neck shirt, and having a shitty beard, or a disposition that you're more hip and cool than everything else walking.
musicismylife, I'm not singling you out... just identifying the whole scene with how I've been exposed to it for a while now.
The music scene is the music that is created, not in the fashion being worn when it's created. That is a fashion scene. Although, I guess everyone needs to conform and wear a "uniform".
7/2/06 - Denver, CO
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
I keep saying this, but Indie is no longer a relevant term.
What started as "college radio music" in the 80s morphed into "indie" in the 90s and 00s. Was REM indie in 1984?
They opened for the police on the synchronicity tour. Indie? Talking heads indie? Replacements? Sugar? Posies? Joe jackson?
In the last ten years, it has become almost impossible to classify the dizzying array and broad spectrum of music that is out there. The digital world has exposed so many people to so many different types of music. To try an pigeon hole an artist is to over analyze the music itself. Songs are songs.
Having said that, I will say that it is possible to classify three types of music (except for jazz, classical, opera and country, although the lines have been blurred with respect to country)-and those three would be pop, rap/hip-hop and r&b.
EDIT: topic integrity
I saw the Abacab tour and it was killer. Vari-lites? Chester and Phil drum duo. Awesome.
I saw Phil solo in 83 and in 85-awesome Earth wind and fire horns! Again chester and phil drumtastic.
You tube behind the lines and the roof is leaking.
Comments
Good description.
beyond the harsh comments, this might be the most disturbing part of the thread. i dont claim phil collins is the best musician of all time. he isnt. but if this story, pjtaper, is true, you have major issues my friend. if you fly off the handle for a grocery store playing phil collins in the store, what would you do if someone disagrees with an opinion you have in real life? If someone hates PJ or a band you love, do you punch and assault them? I mean come on.
but what else is it called? its indie music? The music that pitchfork covers, that brooklyn vegan covers, thats indie music, to me at least. short of calling it hipster music, what other term applies?
indie like any musical term is an umbrella term. does iron and wine sound anything like grizzly bear? AF sound like Death Cab? But that applies with any label. Is Pearl Jam's music at all similar to Mars Volta? Or Queens of the Stone Age, are they at all similar to Seether? Yet all are rock music right?
if you dont like indie music thats fine with me. im into it, it changed my life, and has scored my life for the past 5 years. I find indie music to be the most diverse and exciting scene in music and has been for the last decade. Im not into hearing seether or three days grace. Give me The Shins, and The Mars Volta, and AF, Godspeed, Explosions in the sky, anyday over that stuff.
maybe you should change your name to indimusicismylife78.
So, now that I'm a dad, I have to stop following Indie (however crudely I do it) and start listening to Shania Twain and Black Eyed Peas???
Sorry to bust your stones, but the way you say things comes off pretty smug sometimes.
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
you dont read or find nuance in things do you, friend. lets face it, music is a life long passion for many, but once people marry and have kids, and have to pay bills, alot of people who were music fanatics as kids and teens, start to lose touch with modern music and finding new bands. sure there are exceptions but this is the way it usually goes.
indie music and the whole idea of hipster identity, it isnt 50 year olds or dads and moms who are being marketed to in american apparel ads, and it isnt dads and moms moving to williamsburg, the skinny jeans wearing, american apparel clad, pitchfork reading hipster, that I picture in my own mind, isnt a mom or dad or a 50 year old, or 40 year old. they are a twentysomething. a kid basically.
I have no problem with moms and dads or older people listening to indie. Again, you arent fast on the nuance are you? I didnt suggest this was bad. The fact is, pick any music genre. Grunge immediately comes to mind for obvious reasons. It started out local, got attention, then became a national, then global phenomenon. Not just teens knew who kurt was, parents did as well. The commercialization of it, as evidenced by parents becoming aware of it, along with a multitude of other factors led to its demise.
Generally as a rule of thumb, for any other genre other than indie, once the scene becomes a household word and becomes commercialized, and when parents know about the bands and listen to them as well, the scene dies. it becomes stale, and whatnot. indie is a rare exception.
music history 101 friend, not too tough to work it out
Indie rock, alt rock, alt-country-rock, alt-folk-rock, alt-indie-country-folk-emo-rock....My head could explode any moment. To quote another 70's-80's icon who is too often the butt of musical jokes, "It's still rock and roll to me."
Some of you folks need to lay off poor ole Phil Collins. He's a musician, right? Then he can't be all bad, right? Sure, some of that music of his from the 80's is a little dated, and a little cheesy, but I think some things are being taken for granted here. First off, he wrote most of his material. Second, he played instruments on many of his recordings (and he was a mighty fine drummer too). Third, he was huge in his day. Massive. Ginormous. That third point might not mean a whole lot to some of you, but you put those three things together, and what you've got is something that just doesn't seem to exist today. A musician, writing his own songs, playing instruments on his own recordings, and selling millions of copies of those recordings. How often does that happen today? Add to all that the vast amount of production work he was doing in the 80's for Eric Clapton and others, and what you get is a unique, talented, and extremely hard-working musician. And can that ever be a bad thing?
Someone saying they listen to rock music, really is about as vague as it gets. "hey what do you listen to"? "oh you know, rock music". Oh you dont say! If you say indie music, people automatically know of bands, specific bands, sounds, looks and identities based around the music and culture. Its still an umbrella term, but i prefer it, to stale and yawn inducing terms like rock music and the yucky alt rock!
Perhaps someone saying "I listen to rock" could mean that they like many, many different types of rock music. Don't view it in a negative light. Many people are very open-minded and don't care about classifications and labels, which is what "indie" is after all.
I host a "rock" radio show. I call it that because I want it to be vague. I want listeners to have no expectations and know that they will hear practically anything that can be classified as a "rock" sound.
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
indeed the american apparel thing happened to grunge, albeit through other ways and venues, but i agree. but again, indie rock is fascinating even if you dont like the music, or listen to it, for the fact its been such a formidable and dominant form of music for so long, 2001 through now. Almost without exception, once a scene becomes commercialized and big, and massive and everyone knows about it, your sister, your mom, your dad, your uncle, and your teacher, then the scene dies and a new sound and scene is conjured up. Williamsburg is still a hotspot, pitchfork is still wildly popular and influential, and bands in the scene now win Album of the Year grammys. Few if any genres since hip hop have had this kind of stamina. Add that to the fact that the scene as a whole isnt riddled with heroin, cocaine, or meth users as lead singers or band members. The scene has been remarkably clean, or at least not public with drug use and self destructive behavior. What other music scene since maybe Dischord era punk has been less about drugs and abuse, than indie rock?
Is someone like Liam Finn indie? What about The Hold Steady? I find people classify indie bands based more around the look than their sound or their 'indie-ness' (ie being on an independent label).
That said, haven't we gotten a little off-topic here?
As is the mindset for my show's format.
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
indeed liam and the hold steady are indie. i classify them as such. indie to me is more descriptive than plain old rock. rock music-thats like the guy above said, its vague, so many things could be rock. you like rock music? does that mean you like punk rock? Or psychedelic rock? Modern rock? pop rock? instrumental rock? Do they like blues rock? Early rock and roll like elvis and chuck berry? or do they like 80's rock? Maybe they like 90's rock?
With indie music, its narrowed down. Im an indie rock or indie music fan. I picture someone listening to pitckfork endorsed music, and the flagship indie bands. its shorthand, and i prefer it. If someone likes indie music, then they probably like grizzly bear and animal collective, they probably like the garden state soundtrack, and are into band of horses and modest mouse.
But whatever.
and no musicians doing drugs doesnt make a scene about drugs, but lets be real alot of scenes and movements and genres have ended because of drug problems. grunge ended for a lot of reasons, and one of the main ones was drug use.
for all i know isaac brock could be a cocaine user, and panda bear could have groupies every night in the tour bus, maybe james mercer embezzled millions of dollars from his band mates. Maybe Win Butler abuses heroin. All i know is, for a genre thats lasted as long as this has, a decade, its been remarkably clean and few major problems and deaths have resulted or gone down. thats a good thing. The fact that these allegations above have not been suggested and that the main flagship bands have had relatively few problems along those lines is a good thing as well, and as i said highly unique
I'm done trying to have any rational conversation with this guy. How many of those beloved indie artists do you think are parents themselves?
By the way, I'm a huge Decemberists fan. I even went through an exercise to combine songs in itunes so The Hazards of Love sounds better on shuffle.
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
I guess the scene just annoys me because it detracts from the music. I don't care what a band looks like, but I especially hate when bands try to pretend not to care but instead dress like every other indie band. And don't get me started on Urban Outfitters.
its definitely become a commodity, but i love it. i am a walking stereotype. zach braff haircut, skinny jeans, read p4k religiously, go to concerts obsessively, and love all the stereotypical bands.
indiemusicismylife78
DO IT.
Isn't being a walking stereotype and following what everyone else is doing the exact opposite of what 'indie' is supposed to be about?
No, it's all about doing whatever brooklynvegan tells you.
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
For me, a major part of the appeal of indie is how it feels to be part of something. with the exception of grunge, and living through the years vicariously through my cooler older cousins, i have never been a part of a scene before. being 5th row center, in a arena with Arcade Fire playing live and thousands screaming every word to Wake up and Power Out, its hard to describe but its something, and its meaningful.
I feel a part of a movement, a scene. And its something thats important to me. The fact that other people are as excited about the new James Blake record as I am, is pretty damn cool. Or that others read the almighty holy pitchfork like me as well.
its a rush to feel part of something, just as it was in the grunge days. just as it must have felt to be living in LA or Brooklyn in the mid 90's in terms of hip hop. Or britain in the late 70's for punk. the collective part of it is huge.
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6210-pearl-jam/
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
I guess part of my view was after living in Montreal last year, and living with a lot of hipsters, I just got jaded by the whole scene.
Brilliant. Feeling a part of the scene has nothing to do with where you shop, and what you wear, or what literature you read. Personally, I feel it comes down to your belief. It's how you act, not how you look. If you like and follow these indie bands and pay for their material and pay to go see them, you're already a part of the scene... more so than you ever will be from wearing tight jeans, drinking PBR, wearing a v-neck shirt, and having a shitty beard, or a disposition that you're more hip and cool than everything else walking.
musicismylife, I'm not singling you out... just identifying the whole scene with how I've been exposed to it for a while now.
The music scene is the music that is created, not in the fashion being worn when it's created. That is a fashion scene. Although, I guess everyone needs to conform and wear a "uniform".
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
P Collins was a talented musician, but once he started doing his solo stuff ("you can't hurry love"), he became more of a "personality".
What started as "college radio music" in the 80s morphed into "indie" in the 90s and 00s. Was REM indie in 1984?
They opened for the police on the synchronicity tour. Indie? Talking heads indie? Replacements? Sugar? Posies? Joe jackson?
In the last ten years, it has become almost impossible to classify the dizzying array and broad spectrum of music that is out there. The digital world has exposed so many people to so many different types of music. To try an pigeon hole an artist is to over analyze the music itself. Songs are songs.
Having said that, I will say that it is possible to classify three types of music (except for jazz, classical, opera and country, although the lines have been blurred with respect to country)-and those three would be pop, rap/hip-hop and r&b.
EDIT: topic integrity
I saw the Abacab tour and it was killer. Vari-lites? Chester and Phil drum duo. Awesome.
I saw Phil solo in 83 and in 85-awesome Earth wind and fire horns! Again chester and phil drumtastic.
You tube behind the lines and the roof is leaking.