What is indie to you?
 

no doubt this has been done before. but seeing as we've had an influx of new members lately i want to here your views on what you think is the real meaning of indie. is it an attitude? is it a status? is it a sound? is it a hybrid of all 3? tell me what you think.

i have real trouble determining what is and what isnt indie but i think its a blend of all three of the things you mentioned...

i too think it's all three, i don't know which is most important either but i don't think i could say status because some people might just call themselves indie or whatever just to get that status, but again, i have to think about it....

I don't think the word 'indie' has much meaning anymore. How can a band distance themselves from the mainstream and be apart of it at the same time? Examples- Modest Mouse, Interpol, The Killers, Hot Hot Heat, Bloc Party, etc.

i associate indie with college music and REM

I concur.

Indie is a pretty meaningless term now , in fact it`s not really meant anything since the late 80s early 90s.

Back then you had hundreds of great bands all on independent record labels. The Pixies , The Sugarcubes , The Birthday Party , Primal Scream , The Smiths , Jesus & Mary Chain , Spacemen 3 and many many more , none of which sounded anything like each other. They just did what the hell they liked without worrying about things like exposure & airplay.

Then the record companies saw that it sold & ruined it by making up hundreds of new subsiduary labels & tried to pass off stuff as 'indie' when pretty much all it was , was generic white boy guitar rock.And because of that the real independent labels got swamped by it & had little access to get their stuff heard.

So now you have the situation where peoples perception of 'indie' seems to be big selling soundalike flavour of the month stuff like the Killers & Coldplay.

UGH

^ best post in this thread so far. Well that and mine, which was pretty much the abbreviated version of Urbans.

to me its more of a status now for bands to make themselves more accesible to rock fans with "anti-conformity" attitudes....if you understand what i mean. ive never associated it with a sound and as urban and hookers have said, only in the past has it been an attitude.

But it wasn`t an attitude

For most of those bands being on independent record labels wasn`t a choice. It was the only way they could get their music out regardless of whatever styles or trends were around at the time. The record companies had less power then (In Europe anyway). You COULD make your own records & get into the charts back then.

If there`s one thing I hate it`s the whole 'underground' lifestyle choice myth. It`s absolute bollocks.People in bands need to eat too.

thats some ballsy rhetoric. Yeah I don't agree, as much as "indie" may have been born from label association, people forget theres alot of crap indie labels that are trying to be the next Epic. (coughspitfirecough) anyways, indie just measn to me that music is independant from the major movements in music.

but the major movement in music at the moment is without a doubt 'indie' so that sorta contradicts whats being said

^ I agree.

All these bands like the Killers and Franz Ferdinand are being pegged as indie because they look and sound a certain way. Defining "indie" as a sound is useless. Indie bands have never had a single common sound. Try comparing Iron & Wine to Wolf Eyes, or the dB's to Royal Trux.

The only thing being that Franz Ferdinand are on Domino Records which IS a genuine Indie label.

The way I see it, Indie is any music done independently, or, sometimes, art rock.

Technically, It's anything on an independent label. But, To me it's almost emo but much less "My-girlfriend-left-me-I'll-slit-myself-and-write-songs" and more so "pretty". Also Most indie musicians make their music for the pure enjoyment of making music, not for money. Thats what makes their music so good.