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Has Indie had it's day.


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Old 21-01-2010, 15:05
Karl Rove
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Was I right all along.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/ne...t-in-2009.html

Brit Pop the last time guitar music was good.
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Old 21-01-2010, 15:08
Pitman
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why are the Kaiser Chiefs piping up, as if their annoying shite is "Indie"?

guitar music in Britain is at an alltime low though
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Old 21-01-2010, 15:10
SourCherry
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I don't think the Britpop era was the last time guitar music was any good. The Noughties gave us The Strokes, The Libertines and quite a few other great bands.

The link just states that 2009 was the worst year for indie, which I'd probably agree woth somewhat. It doesn't mean to say that the whole decade was bad.

And lets hope that The Enemy and Kaiser Chiefs take an indefinite hiatus!
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Old 21-01-2010, 15:13
Karl Rove
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Look's like NME or Q or Zane Low are going to have to pull magic out of there hat.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:14
Coen
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True indie music has never been mainstream chart music, so nothing's really changed. The bands that people look back on now as the great indie/alternative guitar bands of the 80s never really troubled the charts either - people like The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, The Cure etc etc.

All that happened starting with Britpop in the 90s was that, for a while, mainstream chart music started to be dominated by guitar bands like Oasis, Blur etc and then later on bands like the Kaiser Chiefs. But they were never really "indie" bands, they were mainstream chart acts.

If this sort of mainstream guitar band has finally become unfashionable then it's no bad thing as they're universally dull and uninteresting. There's still plently of great and interesting guitar music being produced though, as there always has been - it just doesnt feature in the singles charts.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:26
Karl Rove
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What about Kasabian.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:30
MJ_lives
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We need The Libertines to reform!

But all the indie bands haven't been doing too badly on the albums chart. Singles aren't everything. Albums are far more important.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:34
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True indie music has never been mainstream chart music, so nothing's really changed. The bands that people look back on now as the great indie/alternative guitar bands of the 80s never really troubled the charts either - people like The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, The Cure etc etc.

All that happened starting with Britpop in the 90s was that, for a while, mainstream chart music started to be dominated by guitar bands like Oasis, Blur etc and then later on bands like the Kaiser Chiefs. But they were never really "indie" bands, they were mainstream chart acts.

If this sort of mainstream guitar band has finally become unfashionable then it's no bad thing as they're universally dull and uninteresting. There's still plently of great and interesting guitar music being produced though, as there always has been - it just doesnt feature in the singles charts.
I don't quite agree - in the 80s indie didn't trouble the highe reaches of the charts, but in the Britpop explosion, indie was huge. Being successful doesn't stop it being 'indie'. It's just the music I loved in the 80s was now selling to a wider audience

Success doesn't define the characteristics of the music, any more than it defines good or bad.

And you won't find many better indie albums than Definitely Maybe, Parklife or Different Class
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:43
Debugbytez
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Indie, as in independent music, will never die. But of course whatever modern "indie" sound there is today will stop someday soon. It'll just be replaced with something else that people keep calling indie, or alternative, or whatever.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:45
Coen
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I don't quite agree - in the 80s indie didn't trouble the highe reaches of the charts, but in the Britpop explosion, indie was huge. Being successful doesn't stop it being 'indie'. It's just the music I loved in the 80s was now selling to a wider audience

Success doesn't define the characteristics of the music, any more than it defines good or bad.

And you won't find many better indie albums than Definitely Maybe, Parklife or Different Class
In my view, though, the Britpop music of the 90s was different to the indie music of the 80s. The bands had a completely different attitude. When Oasis started up they wanted to be the biggest band in the world, they wanted to be the Beatles - they didn't want to be the Smiths.

It was aimed at a mainstream audience. So its not that the fact it was successful that meant it wasn't indie, its the fact that it wasn't indie that made it successful.

But that probably comes down to a debate about the definition of "indie", and I don't think there's a definitive answer to that.

The point remains, though, that there's still loads of great guitar music out there. It's just not in the charts.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:46
sarahcs
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It was never the same since the Wedding Present joined RCA.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:52
mushymanrob
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it isnt really 'indie' though is it... id suggest its 'new wave britpop'.. or even 'mod'.
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:56
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In my view, though, the Britpop music of the 90s was different to the indie music of the 80s. The bands had a completely different attitude. When Oasis started up they wanted to be the biggest band in the world, they wanted to be the Beatles - they didn't want to be the Smiths.

It was aimed at a mainstream audience. So its not that the fact it was successful that meant it wasn't indie, its the fact that it wasn't indie that made it successful.

But that probably comes down to a debate about the definition of "indie", and I don't think there's a definitive answer to that.

The point remains, though, that there's still loads of great guitar music out there. It's just not in the charts.
Given the number of very average indie/Britpop bands that has success in the 90s, I tend to think it's more right place/right time. The best bands of the 80s would have been massive in the 90s, and still been 'indie'. In 1987, Oasis would have been an 'indie' band, and wouldn't have troubled the charts. In 1995 The Smiths would have been huge(r)

And you're right, there is still great music out there
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Old 21-01-2010, 16:58
Karl Rove
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The Zutons and The Coral would anyone say there Indies.

But again people forget The Smiths & The Stone Roses has a huge infulence on Oasis and Blur during the years.

Not to forget Oasis also got most of the Brit Pop idea from Liverpool bands like The Shack La,s and The Real People.
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Old 21-01-2010, 17:02
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The Zutons and The Coral would anyone say there Indies.
I would, but I suspect I have a broader view of 'Indie' than others. Britpop was just a rebrand..
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Old 21-01-2010, 17:17
brotherbilbo2
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I would say that this is coming from completly the wrong angle. Very few indie singles ever go that high in the chart as they're too full of the massivly hyped pop music that the pop machines of the times like Cowell and Waterman churn out. I would say that many indie fans would go out and buy the album rather than just getting a single.

He's a prime example for you: Vampire Weekend's new album is at #3 here and #1 ( i think) in the US but the lead single is only at #39 in the singles chart. Becuase people are buying the album...

Most bands of this genre never make waves in the singles but the albums sell well. So whenever you look at the album chart there is always lots of indie bands and I doubt that has changed over the decades. So, personally, i think all the 'indie is dead' articles that always appear are just nonsense!
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Old 21-01-2010, 17:21
MJ_lives
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What about Arctic Monkeys? Their album did really well last year. Singles? No, not so good, but fair enough, the video for Cornerstone was crap. I was really loserish and waited till midnight to see the premier of that video on 4music, and it was just Alex Turner in a shitty red jumper!
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Old 21-01-2010, 17:25
SourCherry
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What about Kasabian.
Kasabian bore me to tears, but that's just my opinion
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Old 21-01-2010, 17:27
SourCherry
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We need The Libertines to reform!
But all the indie bands haven't been doing too badly on the albums chart. Singles aren't everything. Albums are far more important.
The libs are my favourite band ever, but I don't know if I'd like them to reform. I think it would spoil the magic for me a little.....
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Old 21-01-2010, 17:32
Karl Rove
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Kasabian bore me to tears, but that's just my opinion
Same but I think there more up to beat than Bloc Party or Artic Monkeys or Kisers.

If you ask me the real thing uncool about indie now is each band just sound the same as last week.Insted of doing something new or hip they just copy one another now and don't do something total diffrent.
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Old 21-01-2010, 18:18
Randy Gibbons
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It was never the same since the Wedding Present joined RCA.
Yeah, and The Primitives, around the same time.
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Old 21-01-2010, 18:23
Coen
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Same but I think there more up to beat than Bloc Party or Artic Monkeys or Kisers.

If you ask me the real thing uncool about indie now is each band just sound the same as last week.Insted of doing something new or hip they just copy one another now and don't do something total diffrent.
I'd agree many "indie" bands do just sound the same, but I'd class those as the rubbish ones.

There are plenty that don't - Bloc Party for example have come up with completely different sounds on a number of their albums.

Maybe the best way to argue that guitar music was actually good in 2009 would be to mention some of the bands that I thought released good albums in 2009 - for me some great guitar based albums were released in 2009 by Metric, The Horrors, Engineers, The Boxer Rebellion, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Joy Formidable, Animal Collective, The Antlers, Brand New, Idlewild, Mew, Jamie T (maybe not really "indie" tho), Silversun Pickups, Red Light Company, Official Secrets Act, The Temper Trap, and The XX.

People might not agree that these are good bands, of course, not even sure people would agree they're "indie", but for me they released some of the best albums of the year which is why I think that guitar music was good in 2009.

(And I'm sure most of em didn't really trouble the charts either, although I don't tend to pay much attention to the charts.)
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Old 21-01-2010, 20:21
Tom8592
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Is Indie dead ? of course not there's still loads of underground/indie bands and its never been popular in the charts

Is Alternative Rock dead ? No , Kings of Leon were the 2nd biggest selling artist last year and White Lies , Arctic Monkeys , Muse , Kasabian , Green Day , U2 all had number one albums

Its not as popular as it was a few years ago but it will rise again
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Old 21-01-2010, 21:43
MJ_lives
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Pop music will come and go, and evolve, because that's what it is: popular music.

But we will always have indie music, because that's what is is: independant music
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Old 21-01-2010, 21:50
Retrospective
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Whatever happened to Starsailor? I used to like them a lot.
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