Rock music has been the mostpopular style among young people, and not only. Groups gather huge stadiums, which are attended by thousands and tens of thousands of fans. This direction has generated a huge number of subgenres, so each student can find a group or artist for himself. Indie rock is one of the most popular destinations today. But what is this style?
Brief initial characteristic
Indie rock is the direction that exists inindependent commercial and information space. The name comes from the word independent, which in translation from English means "independent." By and large, this genre can not be called a separate peculiar style of music, as this term includes a wide range of ways of expression, which, however, have some common features. In particular, such performers are published exclusively on independent music labels (the so-called indie labels). That counterculture is a unifying moment for all groups of this genre.
Eighties: origins
The prototype of such a direction as indie rock,became the so-called college scene in the United States, the key performers of which were such groups as R.E.M. and The Smiths. Since these guys played mostly guitar music, they were able to make an alternative to synth-pop, which was popular in the early eighties. Initially, indie rock was associated with harsh and rough music with strong punk rock influences, such as Pixies, Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr. Another “father” of the modern independent scene is noise rock, which is a disorderly and chaotic musical canvas with a distorted sound of guitars. The main representatives are Swans, Sonic Youth, Big Black.
Indie pop birth
The output of the collection called "C86", in whichmusicians such as The Pastels, Primal Scream, Wedding Present, had a huge influence on many indie rock bands in the future. It is through this compilation that noise-pop appeared, for example The Jesus and Mary Chain, which combined a “wall of sound” with simple melodies and noise elements. Also a popular trend was indie-dance, a significant group of which was New Order, experimenting with house and techno. Another important style was shugeyzing, which was characterized by the active use of guitar effects and loud “floating” sound, an abundance of feedback and distortion (My Bloody Valentine, Ride).
The nineties, and the exit style in the mainstream
Альтернативная сцена в начале девяностых transformed by grunge and performers like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam. These groups were able to achieve deafening commercial success. In the face of The Offspring and Green Day revived punk movement. At the same time, a trend such as Britpop, whose "fathers" were indie-rock artists of the late eighties, gained popularity. As a result of such transformations, the term “alternative” began to be applied to light commercial rock music. “Indie Rock” became known only as groups that were published on independent labels.
Nowadays
At the moment, indie rock is a collectiondifferent styles. Here and low-end, and emo, and post-rock, and sadkor, and mat-rock, and shogging, and space-rock, and kraut-rock, and dream-pop, and different noise, and even post-punk. All groups of these areas are characterized by an experimental attitude to music, mixing different orthodox genres (electronics and rock, classical, folk, jazz and blues). The spread of the Internet has contributed to the promotion of indie performers among fans. At the beginning of the two thousandth, there appeared a fashion for the style of emo, which quickly reached the mainstream. Postpunk-rivivel became popular thanks to a huge number of groups imitating the aesthetics of garage rock and old school post-punk. Mixing indie music and electronics has created such a subgenre, as "inditronika", which is characterized by dance rhythms in the spirit of rave music.
