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Indie Elitism
nescience:
I got confused for a sec and thought the Makeout Hobo was admitting to a small dick. I was all like WHAAAAA
ProphetHobo:
--- Quote from: nescience ---I got confused for a sec and thought the Makeout Hobo was admitting to a small dick. I was all like WHAAAAA
--- End quote ---
Nah man, I was a hobo before hoboing was cool.
jcknbl:
--- Quote ---I'm getting pretty sick of the term "indie music" as it evolves as convenient identifier for whichever set of styles mainstream media thinks it can package and sell as "indie".
--- End quote ---
I really agree with this. I remember looking at the MTV website a few months back (I have no idea why but there goes my indie cred) and was really confused to find an entire section dedicated to "indie".
Even though it was never a real genre the term used to say something about your music taste: that you cared about music enough to discover and pursue stuff that wasn't played on the radio or tv. That you might have some unique taste that wasn't the same as everyone elses. The word "indie" described the process of making, selling and listening to music- not the actual music itself. Now days, if someone says "I like indie music" the response is usually "oh, like the Postal Service?"
Most genre names tend to survive commodification. Khar can still say "I listen to Metal" and mean something by it even though he probably doesn't mean Linkin Park. Since the word "metal" actually describes a particular aesthetic and form it's still useful even if its been commodified. The word indie, once its been commodified ceases to signify ANYTHING.
So heres the question: will the term "indie" still be used by anyone five years from now? If not, will some term replace it as a way to describe music that isn't played on the radio and television or sold by major labels (like the word indie replaced the word "alternative")? What would that term be? Or have we reached a point where we've moved past ridiculous genre names and can just appreciate music without labeling it?
blanko blanco:
I agree. The term indie has gotten to bug me. At times it can help lend to the description of music, but more often than not it's just useless. In its good and most understandable context, I guess indie is basically supposed to mean that the music has more depth and is more artistic and, somehow, somewhat more original than most "mainstream" music. This is the definition I tend to think of when I hear "indie". In its bad context, it seems to mean it's barely listenable elitist garbage that you have to be cool to like. But now any band that's virtually unknown (which, last I checked, was how just about every band has started) can be classified as Indie purely for that reason.
Rubby:
I think indie is this generation's "alternative". Before the big alternative rock scene in the early and mid 90's, the word was used in proper context. That is; an alternative to the accepted norms, something "other-than". The word was used as a sort of generalization as opposed to being a specification. Once a certain style of music ("alternative rock") became popularized, a specification was needed for purely marketing purposes. You can’t sell a product without a description for said product. "Alternative Rock" was born out of a desire to regain the credibility of mainstream music within the youth culture because an honest to god alternative did exist. This subculture was a huge mass of people not giving money to big name music distributors providing - in essence - the very same service. Of course this was frustrating to those people who were making music for music's sake. The result was a group of like minded people doing their thing independently of the marketers who commodified their previous attempts. The same cycle repeats itself with a new moniker. I honestly believe this elitism is born of a fear of this process of commodification.
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