A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Indie rock

Too white or too class-based?

Or just sexless and boring? 😉

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3 responses to “Indie rock”

  1. My Ghillie » Indie rock

    […] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptIndie rock Posted on October 19, 2007 by Lee Too white or too class-based? … Or just sexless and boring? Filed under: Music, pop culture | […]

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  2. Joshie

    You knew I’d have chime in on this…

    Part of the problem is that indie rock has never really been a “genre” with its own distinct elements and idioms in the same way metal and punk have.

    When most people think of American indie rock in the 1990’s they think of Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins or the one-hit (if that) wonders like Dishawalla or the Toadies. And the example given today of Indie-rock are Wilco, Arcade fire, etc. But there were in the 1990’s, at least a number of “indie” artists that were bluesy and sexy, two of my faves, for instance, the Afghan Whigs and PJ Harvey.

    PJ’s first 2-4 albums were really bluesy and sexy in a raw, agressive way. The Afghan Whigs , even in their grungey early years, were intentional (maybe too intentional in some cases) about combining Rock and traditional R & B elements. Of course there were also FNM, Rage and RHCP which although not Indie Rock, were very popular with the Indie Rock crowd.

    Part of the problem, too, is the way Indie Rock is defined. If you define it so as to exclude “H.O.R.D.E.” tour-type bands, or bands like Son Volt then you’ve pretty much excluded any bluesy band right off the bat. It seems unfair to then critize those bands left for not being bluesy enough.

    Another factor I think plays into this is what has happened to Black American music itself. Despite the efforts of many artists, as Chris Rock observed years ago, most R & B is still just people singing over rap beats. R & B has long been a source of inspiration and revitalization for Rock, but given it’s current state it is hard for anyone to be inspired by another interchangable song by the singer du jour.

    And as for class, well, there are class divions in any musical universe you can think of. Even in classical circles some composers like Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky are considered too popular with the masses to be taken seriously. So I think it’s kind of unfair to criticize “Indie Rock” (whatever that might be) for being to white or classist especially when white bourgeois online columnists (or bloggers like us) with graduate degrees are the ones doing the criticizing.

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  3. Lee

    Good to have you back!

    Yeah, you’re right of course. I think the authors of those two articles are using “indie rock” in the narrower sense to refer to overly literate jangly guitar bands like Arcade Fire, etc. So, I think “indie” has taken on connotations of a particular sound, rather than just being a designation for non-major-label music (this is made pretty clear by the fact that many “indie” bands are now on major labels, or subdivisions thereof). This is like what happened to the term “alternative” which went from being a catch-all term that included everyone form Siouxsie and the Banshees, to the Cure, to Depeche Mode, to Jane’s Addiction, to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to Fishbone, to Nine Inch Nails to being a term that referred to a particular style of music (i.e. post-grunge “alternative rock”).

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