by Philip Joseph
Anyone who's a fan of Indie music has a feeling that the genre has been around for decades and has evolved over time with the cultural on-goings of an age being deeply embedded in its substance. I know I do, but the raw fact is that Indie as a genre is fairly a recent discovery and comes from a time where non- commercial music was shunned down by a large part of society. And this society I talk of is mainly Britain and America in the late 70s and early 80s.
'Indie' as a word comes from 'Independent' and tells a story of how musicians in the early 80's found it hard to get record labels to sign them unless they produced music for the masses, music that was socially acceptable and music that would amuse their profit driven minds. The bands that wanted to make their own kind of music, however different from popular culture, had to sign with labels or studios that were independent of the major ones like Warner Music Group, EMI and PolyGram and often enough pays a lot lesser than the million dollar deals other bands in popular culture used to sign those days. Over the years 'Indie' has moved along from being a part of a independent record label with a number of genres to having more definition in style of music and lyrical layout. Bands in the present with the tag do not necessarily come from an independent label but still chose to be called so because they're inspiration and styles often mimic those in the 80's. Some of the most popular 'Indie' bands out there right now are The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and The White Stripes. Next time you listen to them, remember where they've come from.
'Indie' as a word comes from 'Independent' and tells a story of how musicians in the early 80's found it hard to get record labels to sign them unless they produced music for the masses, music that was socially acceptable and music that would amuse their profit driven minds. The bands that wanted to make their own kind of music, however different from popular culture, had to sign with labels or studios that were independent of the major ones like Warner Music Group, EMI and PolyGram and often enough pays a lot lesser than the million dollar deals other bands in popular culture used to sign those days. Over the years 'Indie' has moved along from being a part of a independent record label with a number of genres to having more definition in style of music and lyrical layout. Bands in the present with the tag do not necessarily come from an independent label but still chose to be called so because they're inspiration and styles often mimic those in the 80's. Some of the most popular 'Indie' bands out there right now are The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and The White Stripes. Next time you listen to them, remember where they've come from.