Share your favourite "indie" music

Indie has never been a genre of music. Under the indie umbrella I have heard country, jazz, prog, metal, folk, psych and hip hop. All these indie songs were different than what the mainstream of these genres were. Lambchop is an indie country band but you will not hear their music on the local country station. Their style of country is completely diffrent than the style you hear with today's mainstream country artists.

 

But the average listener would have no idea what songs were indie and what were not according to your definition. I have heard an indie band move their style oif music towards the mainstream sound (see Tegan & Sara, Snow Patrol...) and one could argue whether thet are still indie or not but certain artists whatever label they are signed to are still indie.

 

You go on believing whatever you want, but you're the one trying to define it as a style of music. Take the most mainstream sounding act imaginable, and if the artist releases the music on his or her own, that artist is an indie.

 

That first sentence is right, you don't know what artist is indie unless you know about their label affiliation. And when Death Cab for Cutie got signed by Atlantic, they were technically no longer an indie band, but most of their fans still love them.

 

As dicussed before some artists have gone through a revolving door of labels. Can you imagine someone stating, "Hey listen to this band, I think this song was on an indie album or was it the mainstream label they went to afterwards, but they did eventually sign back with an independentlent label again, that was bought out by a major label years later." Get the picture, not everyone has to get a clear and concise category of what label the artist is currently signed with before they can call them indie or not and it would be stupid to even categorizing any atist like that.

 

Sorry I didn't check what label this song was released on but this is indie. Period.

Portugal. The Man - Atomic Man

 

No one I know of would even talk like your hypothetical at all, maybe you're the only one in the universe.

 

Sorry, it's not indie. It's on Atlantic Records. Portugal. The Man hasn't been an indie band since April, 2010.

 

But it is you I'm talking about. Unless your a reference guide to every indie band out there how would you know a band is indie or not if you couldn't check what label a certain song or album was released on. A friend pointed out to me a song that was released on a single on an independent label but the song also made it on an album that was a major label. I guess someone like you would have to find a new category for songs like that.

 

Yet when this album was released it was posted all over the "indie" lists and stations and not the mainstream ones. I guess all those indie stations have it all wrong.

 

It's about the artist, as I said before. There is absolutely no song which requires a genre named indie.

 

My favorite is the Jackson 5.

 

Well many indie stations don't have a strict never-play-anything-except-indies policy. They might even play a Beatles song. You might have a DJ out there who thinks indie only refers to alternative, you should straighten him out, if so.

 

Well, you've got that first sentence kind of right. "Alternative" was originally a term used to describe any music that was different from the mainstream. It was most usually made by bands on Independent record labels, because most bands who got picked up by the majors either were, or quickly became mainstream music. Before the term Alternative started being bandied about, it used to be called "Post Modern" or sometimes just "Modern", because it was music that was new or different sounding than what came before. The term "Alternative" came about as an easier way to describe what was different about these bands than trying to explain to someone what "Post Modern" meant.

The problem started when what were all these "Alternative" bands became the mainstream in the early 90's. The mainstream industry didn't high jack anything, so much as what the mainstream was changed. Needing a new term to describe what "Alternative" used to stand for, some folks started, somewhat incorrectly, using the term "Indie"; as again, it was most often being made by bands on Independent record labels, as opposed to those on the majors. With the emphasis on "Indie" being short for independent.

To me "Indie" means what it pretty much always has - music made by bands on Independent record labels. However, since many of the bigger indie labels got co-opted by the majors, today I sometimes also use the term to include any "Unsigned" band, too. Especially as these folks are truly independent, and are often releasing the albums on their own, without any kind of label support as we've come to know it from either Indie or Major labels.

 

Yes they did, when bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam & REM started to gain in popularity, the industry started pumpimg out their own alternative bands like Creed, Matchox 20, Blink 182, Limp Bizkit...etc into new mainstream driven arenas. Alternative music changed overnight. Indie became the new alternative. As I stated in the beginning the term indie meant artists on independent labels but it was short lived. By the mid 90's some indie bands had already signed to major labels or their independent label was being distributed by a major label or their independent label was owned or under the umbrealla of a major label. Although indie was not a genre the sound was still different from the mainstream artists. Some indie artists had their popularity rise to mainstream status and a few even topped the charts like Modest Mouse, Bright Eyes & Death Cab For Cutie. Artists like Radiohead, Beck, The Eels, The Strokes seem to be in between mainstream & indie.

Im just wanted this thread to be about sharing music that comes under the umbrella of indie. That is why I stated "or a reasonable facsimile". I didn't want it to turn into a debate about what indie is or was. I also didn't want people posting the latest Katy Perry or One Direction video. Yet we still got people posting dancy/poppy videos and movie theme songs. We even had someone argue that because a certain band switched to a major label that they are no longer indie. This is why to me the term indie is about the music and not the label and if you cannot hear the difference between Portugal. The Man or Built To Spill and what's being played on mainstream radio then I'm afraid I can't help you.

 

Pernice Brothers - Flaming Wreck

 

The Staggers - Wild Teens

 

Ok, apparently you're the one who "can't be helped", as you can't seem to understand a word about what I and others have tried to explain to you, and just want to believe what you want to believe. If that's what makes life easier for you, you can go right on believing that. I'm guessing you're fairly young and either weren't around to experience these changes when they happened, or were too young to fully understand them, but your perspective on the matter clearly seems to be clouding your judgement.

You are letting what you think "Indie" means dictate what you think should or shouldn't be posted. Yet in reality, if your definition of what "Indie" means is flawed, then who are you to say what is or isn't "Indie" music? You clearly think it means one thing, while I and others have tried to point out to you that is not the case. Perhaps you should have titled your thread differently, something more along the lines of 'Favorite non-mainstream' music instead.

 

Adrienne Young and Little Sadie, "Hills and Hollers," 7/15/2008

 

Well, if "Indie" is primarily attitudinal, as in 'independence of thought', then the good Captain is the King of the Indies :

 

yes, what Rocketdog says here. Some of us were trying to help you understand but you just go on insisting that your misconception is accurate, like if you keep saying the same thing, that will make it true.

 

Here is a question for Scotts. and Rocketdog. Just checked an indie radiostation top 20 playlist. 6 of the artists who started out on indie labels are now on mainstream labels. 4 are still on indie labels that are distributed by a mainstream label and 5 are are on indie labels that are owned by major labels. Which are indie and which are not. Will not play the music as both of you clearly said this did not matter.

 

You are saying my definition of indie is flawed yet tune into any internet indie station and you will find several artists on mainstream labels. If indie music is only music released on totally independent labels then every single station that plays indie music is wrong. I was around when it all happened. Please point out one falsehood. IO already proved yours when you claimed the mainstream did not hijack the term alternative yet a gave you an example of this which you were not able to refute. I agreed with you on the origin of indie music but by the mid 90's the term indie has changed somewhat. Even though an indie band switched to a major label they were still an in indie band.

 

I still am confused on what we're arguing here. @mschrist had a great explanation as to what "indie" actually means to people. I can't find it though.