Music Genre Indie
Hi, I am Dasha. I can say that I’m a lover of music and one of the genres I like listening to is indie. I hope you’ll find this information interesting and useful.
What is the genre and how did it get its name?
Indie is an abbreviation of the word ‘independent.’ Independent music or indie music or simply indie is music produced independently from commercial record labels, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself to recording and publishing. The term indie is sometimes used to describe a genre, such as indie rock and indie pop. Many independent music artists do not fall into a single, defined musical style or genre and create self-published music that can be categorized into diverse genres. The term ‘indie’ or ‘independent music’ can be traced back to as early as the 1920s after it was first used to reference independent film companies but was later used as a term to classify an independent band or record producer.
When in 1970-1980 it was impossible to release a movie or record a song without the participation of huge corporations, independent studios appeared – the Independent, shorter – “indie”. Thanks to independent studios, many musicians experimented with sound and suggested new variations of musical styles, and could release albums. During that time the term became associated with music that was predominantly arty, less commercial, often more experimental, frequently guitar-driven, rock and pop. If you say “indie music” now that’s what most people will think of.
Bands like The Smiths, The The, R.E.M., Pixies, Hüsker Dü and The Fall are typical of 1980s indie. Going into the 90s you have indie/dance crossovers like Happy Mondays, American “college rock” like Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth, a lot of the Britpop stuff, feminist punk like Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill, etc. In the 2000s the garage rock revival bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The White Stripes, critically and commercially successful bands like Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade.
There’s more to indie music than that; dance, electronica, hip-hop, and everything in between but stereotypically that’s what it means.
Do you know how it sounds and what the subgenres are?
As a rule, indie is soft and melodic music with a light shade of retro, without aggressive sound. There are a lot of subgenres, but the most popular are indie-pop, indie-rock, indie-folk.
What kind of people are into indie?
Fans of the indie genre are typically introverted, intellectual, and creative. According to researchers, they also tend to be less hardworking and less gentle.
What are the popular indie groups and singers?
- Indie-pop: KAZKA, MGMT, Lana Del Rey, Marina and the Diamonds, Florence + the Machine, Lykke Li;
- Indie-rock: Artic Monkeys, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Radiohead, Coldplay, OK Go, The Smiths;
- Indie-folk: Tailor Swift, Vance Joy , Ruins, Beirut.
I am a music lover and my favourite music genres are rock and metal, but I’m keen on much more music genres and indie is one of them. I’m crazy about rock indie and groups like Pixies, Radiohead, The Smiths and Arctic Monkeys. Also I enjoy the group called The XX and I’ve got a merch T-Shirt of it. I agree with the words that indie is going to bring back the spirit in music.