Dear legions of faithful readers: Please stop using the word ‘indie'
OTTAWA (CUP) -- I've abused my share of genre labels in the past (I know at some point I've described something as “minimalist post-hardcore, but more new wave than no wave”), but I refuse to use the word “indie” to describe anything. Every time I hear it I cringe, and every time I see it written in the pages of Rolling Stone (no doubt by some desperately hip 60-year-old man with a long, grey ponytail and indoor sunglasses) my eyes fall out a little bit. And if I read it any more than three times, I have to push my eyes back into my skull and it stings.
I don't need to tell anyone that indie is the abbreviated form of “independent.” It used to refer to bands that weren't on major labels before everyone became terrorists and prostitutes. Suddenly (now that everyone has realized that, objectively, the more obscure a band is, the better it is), indie has turned into some kind of neo-hipster esthetic. It's a label people use when they want to appeal to a younger, cooler crowd.
I'm going to go ahead and lay most of the blame on Zach Braff -- not just for compiling the all-too-marketable Garden State soundtrack (and inadvertently exposing thousands of uncool people to now-uncool cool music and forcing them to categorize all of their new favourite bands as something), but also for having that freaky face, which I'm sure accounts for, like, 80 per cent of the humour in “Scrubs.”
Along with Braff's aging hipster buddies, every band that has ever described itself as “indie” is to be punished. These are the young'uns that listened to the first wave of badly labelled bands and have projected an archetypal “indie” sound onto it. Every time their band, with its cutsie-coy name (like We Are Omaha or The Fucking Bunnies, or The Beatles) plays a show, they are enforcing the “indie”-sound stereotype.
The word pigeonholes thousands of great bands that people are simply too lazy to describe accurately. Let's look at some artists typically described as indie: Modest Mouse, The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, and Death Cab for Cutie. Not only are most of these guys on major labels now, but they play wildly different music. Unless indie means being young, white, and emotionally unstable, I cannot imagine any of these artists being related.
The word breeds lazy journalism and lazy marketing. As a smart and angry young person, you should know that every time you use the word, you're supporting laziness. If you're really into “indie” music, take some time to research influences and music genealogy. That way you can call your favourite bands what they really are: whiny post-punk.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
I don't need to tell anyone that indie is the abbreviated form of “independent.” It used to refer to bands that weren't on major labels before everyone became terrorists and prostitutes. Suddenly (now that everyone has realized that, objectively, the more obscure a band is, the better it is), indie has turned into some kind of neo-hipster esthetic. It's a label people use when they want to appeal to a younger, cooler crowd.
I'm going to go ahead and lay most of the blame on Zach Braff -- not just for compiling the all-too-marketable Garden State soundtrack (and inadvertently exposing thousands of uncool people to now-uncool cool music and forcing them to categorize all of their new favourite bands as something), but also for having that freaky face, which I'm sure accounts for, like, 80 per cent of the humour in “Scrubs.”
Along with Braff's aging hipster buddies, every band that has ever described itself as “indie” is to be punished. These are the young'uns that listened to the first wave of badly labelled bands and have projected an archetypal “indie” sound onto it. Every time their band, with its cutsie-coy name (like We Are Omaha or The Fucking Bunnies, or The Beatles) plays a show, they are enforcing the “indie”-sound stereotype.
The word pigeonholes thousands of great bands that people are simply too lazy to describe accurately. Let's look at some artists typically described as indie: Modest Mouse, The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, and Death Cab for Cutie. Not only are most of these guys on major labels now, but they play wildly different music. Unless indie means being young, white, and emotionally unstable, I cannot imagine any of these artists being related.
The word breeds lazy journalism and lazy marketing. As a smart and angry young person, you should know that every time you use the word, you're supporting laziness. If you're really into “indie” music, take some time to research influences and music genealogy. That way you can call your favourite bands what they really are: whiny post-punk.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
