What actually is indie music? How have the term and genre evolved from the 1970s to today? Why is it that “indie,” short for “independent,” can be applied to artists signed to major record labels?
Well, “indie” originally was a term that described low-budget, do-it-yourself record labels and the music produced by those labels. Then at some point, the term became synonymous with alternative rock. We often think of outsider and alternative bands when the word ‘indie’ comes up, and indeed when the music and culture of grunge and punk revival bands injected itself into the mainstream of the US and UK in the 1990s, this is what indie was. In the ‘90s after “Smells Like Teen Spirit” drove Nirvana on the path to commercial success, indie was no longer a descriptor for bands similar to the Nevermind helmers or, in other words, bands disinterested in commercial success; the term has evolved and now includes indie artists who have merged with the mainstream.
The artists categorized in the indie genre share not a similar musical style, but an ethos. When listening to the subgenres of indie rock, and the subgenres of those subgenres, it is evident that the musical approaches of the artists vary – for example, The Jesus and Mary Chain’s shoegaze sound is very different from British alt rock/neo-psychedelic group The Stone Roses’ abrasive, guitar-driven melodies – but what they share is spirit and intent.
Indie music’s roots are typically traced back to the late 1970s or early 1980s, and appropriately so; although the term indie wasn’t existent in the 1960s, it was really the music of that decade that shaped the indie genre of the ‘70s and ‘80s. When talking about indie as a style rather than just a term that describes an independent record label, we could say that the Velvet Underground was one of the first bands to influence indie; or perhaps they were even one of the first indie bands. In 1967, they released their first album, “The Velvet Underground & Nico,” a record that embodies the crude do-it-yourself sound and is cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as influencing the future of rock and indie music. Lou Reed himself said that he and the Velvets were the original alternative band.
Fast-forward roughly twenty years: Sonic Youth, Big Black and other bands on American indie labels who make raucous, distortion-filled music begin to characterize what is now known as indie rock. These bands in the US and UK – Sex Pistols, The Pixies, The Smiths, Nirvana, Pavement – were some of the first to influence the indie genre. Indeed, independent music has been around forever, but indie as a genre had its beginnings in the early ‘80s. Indie of course can define an affiliation with an independent record label, but starting in the ‘80s, “indie” became a term that was descriptive of musical intent and culture instead of label affiliation.
It’s interesting and paradoxical how indie music came to be. Bands that were hidden from the public eye (Nirvana is one of them) shifted to the mainstream, creating an audience and an entire genre. This is why merely defining “indie” as being signed to an independent record label is lackluster. Indie is really about the do-it-yourself and anti-commercial aspects, and the audience as well. It’s a genre shaped by music’s past leaders, artists who predominantly started off on indie labels and college radio.
With Nirvana’s mainstream success considered, it’s sound (pun intended) to question why the band would ever be classified as an indie one. Almost everything Kurt Cobain created for Nirvana exuded anti-commercial rhetoric and the last thing he probably wanted was a number-one hit. Kurt didn’t want to be a sellout and he didn’t give a shit about commercial success. Unfortunately for Kurt, alternative entered the mainstream in the ‘90s. With the success of grunge outfits such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden, alternative (which in the ‘90s essentially became interchangeable with the term indie) gained widespread exposure, with grunge songs and previously underground bands now topping the charts.
Alternative was originally a counter-culture, but when alternative artists shifted into the mainstream, alternative started being used to describe the lighter, more palatable music that began to infiltrate the radio and charts. With alternative’s success, the term “sellout” that Kurt Cobain so often used no longer had a place in the world of alternative when the idea of anti-commercialism faded away.
There was a point after the sweeping success of Nevermind and ‘90s alternative where there became little distinction between mainstream music and alternative or its subgenres. This led to artists crafting music that was more “outsider” and independent; they needed to distinguish themselves somehow. This is still the path that the indie genre is taking today, as bands try to diversify themselves and create what they deem to be creative music. The transformation of indie in the ‘90s is what shaped the subgenres we have today: lo-fi, sadcore, noise pop, post-rock, space rock and math rock. Since the mainstream has co-opted indie, the number of indie musicians is increasing every year. Yes, indie has been swept up by the mainstream, but it’s still its own entity. It’s not just music, its a culture and an ethos.
Sara Barry lives in NYC and likes to call herself a writer. Her writing has appeared on Medium, PEN America, and The Lineup, and she is the editor and creator of the publication The Reflector. When she’s not writing, she enjoys collecting old books, exploring new parts of familiar cities, and trying to (unsuccessfully) put her dog on a diet.